Does the school matter?

#1

I’ve decided to study animation but does the school you attend matter. I can study nearby in Kortrijk Belgium or abroad. Now I don’t exactly know if the school in Kortrijk is well known but does that even matter??

#2

Hi Shanck,

It’s important that you study and learn. There are a myriad of ways to do this. I dont think the school you learn from matters - what matters is what you learn, and your resulting reel. Study, but then submit your reel for feedback -send it to places you want work and see what they say. Then act on it. If you don’t hear back from them, don’t be discouraged. Send it again every few months, with changes you’ve made. Persistence is everything. Hope this helps!

#3

One important item that your school should be providing you is a good set of connections. Ask the faculty and recent graduates of a school what kind of industry connections the school has. Do they have established internships possibilities? Do they have industry mentoring? Where are their alumni currently working? Your networking/connections is something your school can and should help you build. If nothing else, when you leave a school you should hopefully have a good network among your fellow students, people that enjoy working with you and would recommend you to their current employers as opportunities arise.

#4

They have internships at DICE ( they made Battlefield 4) and a few other big companies abroad.
81% of their students graduated students have a job, 7% are doing other studies now.

They have a few good graduated students, one works at DICE now, another works at guerilla games ( creators of Killzone), onother worked on the Star Wars the clone wars series, etc.

I thinks it’s a good school, they show some good stuff on their site and they offer a program where you can study for a master in ICT after the bachelor in digital arts ( which is the degree I wanted to get if I didn’t study digital arts

#5

I completely agree with this in essence but I do wish to point out not all schools are equal.

There is certainly aspects of this industry that has nothing to do with how to export a displacement map from package xyz that leaves a lot of students unprepared for the industry in many ways.

Look for a school that understand industry practices and has not only an academic foundation, but also strong industry based staff and practices in place and you’ll be in good hands :slight_smile:

#6

If you are going to attend a school I think that although your hard work will make a difference, the right school can help open doors and guide you along the way to the career. They are there to support you and teach you. The wrong school can slow you down and harm your employment opportunities.

I would check out Lost Boys - School of VFX. We have a high placement rate and are industry recommended. Before deciding on a school I would advise connecting with the alumni and looking at their work and asking about the experience they had. Be careful with some of the larger schools as they tend to only show you the best students and do not allow access to all alumni to contact. Also do not be fooled by the big marketing that some of the larger schools have.

Good luck in whatever you decide.

If you would like more information about Lost Boys feel free to contact me ria@lostboys-studios.com.

Ria

#7

I’ve decided to study animation but does the school you attend matter. I can study nearby in Kortrijk Belgium or abroad. Now I don’t exactly know if the school in Kortrijk is well known but does that even matter??

i’ll use my personal experience when answering your question…

does the school even matter? yes. since you mentioned you’re interested in animation, i’d personally look into schools that are animation specific. other issues like visas and what not are beyond me, so it’s up to you to make that decision but personally, a good mentor means the difference between getting you a solid reel and a mediocre reel. however, don’t be so quick to blame the mentor or the school if you fail…they’re there to guide you, they don’t guarantee you a job when you’re done…it’s your job to plan and execute at your best capability.

to start things off, research what’s out there. check out the highlight reels from schools like AM, iAnimate etc. release every year…these are student work that you’re going up against. see what’s been done, how do you stack up to their quality, then do something different and do it well.

in my case, just as an example…i’ve never seen the dragon rig do a barrel roll…i figured, why the hell not?! so i planned it out, and it was bad…this is where having a good mentor really comes in to your advantage. getting valuable feedback made it 100 times better than my original idea.

again, it’s up to you whether you can successfully implement their feedback into your work…which makes sense, since this is pretty much how things work on the job. implementing changes your lead or director wants. if you can’t do this on an educational level, then it reflects on how you’ll perform professionally.

i’d like to think i was successful as a student, and i owe a lot of that success to my mentors, but again the other half of it comes from you.

self learning can get you to a solid head start, but it’s those feedback you get from experienced mentors that bump up your work to the next level and gives you an edge on your competition…and a good mentor will be able to guide you properly. always ask for feedback, pick their brains on things you really want to learn. make full use of your access to their knowledge.

with all that being said…there’s a lot more to it than having a solid reel, good connections and a proper educational background to land you a job…location, timing, and luck also factor in…but tackle all of these one at a time and give it your best…it’s also always a good idea to have a back up plan. best of luck to you!

-rj