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Post by **Meg** » February 1st, 2006, 5:51 pm

I've been starting to look for a college to go to when I graduate from high school. As I really want to get into the animation field, I was wondering if anybody could point me to some colleges that offer good animation programs. Thanks!

Post by **Sullivan** » February 1st, 2006, 6:31 pm

Here's a good link:

http://www.animationschoolsindex.com/

Post by **Meg** » February 1st, 2006, 6:40 pm

Thanks.

So, what college did you go to?

Post by **Sullivan** » February 1st, 2006, 6:50 pm

Here.

http://www.csulb.edu/depts/fea/

But I wouldn't recommend it.

Post by **Brandon Neeld** » February 1st, 2006, 7:00 pm

Cal Arts is a no duh choice but I've also got friends who go to Ringling in Sarasota, FL and give it great reviews.

Post by **Meg** » February 1st, 2006, 7:08 pm

Yeah, those are my firts two choices.

Post by **ShyViolet** » February 1st, 2006, 10:48 pm

My favorite (modern) short is Geri's Game.

Post by **ShyViolet** » February 2nd, 2006, 2:04 pm

I think NYU and Brown also have animation programs. Plus USC. (University of Southern California)

Post by **Meg** » February 2nd, 2006, 3:04 pm

I love that short! My favortie Pixar shorts are probably For the Birds and Tin Toy.

You used to be able to view their shorts for free on their site, but ever since they put them on Itunes you have to pay for them. Argh.

Post by **fani** » February 2nd, 2006, 5:11 pm

In Sheridan College in Canada. We got some of the fired people from the Florida unit who are just excellent, dedicated, teachers.(Peter Emslie, Piotr Bielicki/Peter Bielicki, Andrew Hickson, Angello Libuti(angelo used to draw Disney comics))

My animation teacher and storyboard teacher comes from Nelvana(one of the pioneering commercial animation in Canada). My storyboard teacher did the Magic Schoolbus, Care Bears,and Rupert, to name a few.

My layout teacher worked at Mulan, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Atlantis.

My character design teacherdoes the Disney storybooks for the movies.

Admittedly,we also have some wash-outs/bad teachers too but which college doesn't?

Post by **Ben** » February 3rd, 2006, 10:21 am

I still love the look and feel of Red's Dream.

Oh that they would make a feature that felt like that...

Post by **Meg** » February 3rd, 2006, 2:31 pm

Red's Dream was my least favortie...The pacing felt off to me.

Post by **Christian** » February 3rd, 2006, 2:37 pm

I thought they used to only have brief clips of their shorts on pixar.com. Not the whole thing.

Post by **Meg** » February 3rd, 2006, 2:40 pm

They offered clips of the newer shorts, but you could watch the older ones.

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » February 4th, 2006, 7:55 am

Sullivan wrote:Here.

http://www.csulb.edu/depts/fea/

But I wouldn't recommend it.

There's NOTHING in the Midwest that I'd recommend.

Definitely stay away from Columbia College Chicago.

Also, as far as NYU goes, not much to recommend it. There are differences of opinion because not long ago a student there won the Grand Prize for the Student Academy Awards in Animation, but I've also heard the animation program at Tischo School of Film doesn't have a lot to recommend it, either...

A lot of the big-name schools are as expensive as Ivy League schools. ($30,000 + per year.) Both Sheridan AND Cal Arts get off charging as much as they do because of name. There's been a lot of rumbling about changes made in the curriculum at Sheridan in particular.

You might be better off getting a liberal arts degree at a school in a city that has art colleges that offer animation courses INSTEAD of going to an art school or animation-specialist school.

The big danger in specializing in animation-only now is that you may set yourself up for disappointment. There's not a lot of employment opportunities out there (especially for 2-D) and 3-D prospects are overhyped. Consider how many animated films get released per year in North America and you get an idea of how crowded the employment field is already (for too few jobs).

I don't know that many people are aware of the realities of 60-80 hour workweeks IF they get lucky to land a job and the prospects of working for salaries that really don't compensate for the blood-and-sweat people shed.

That's just a fair bit of warning, there.

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