Professional Mentors from Top Animation Studios, Cutting Edge Curriculum and Advanced Online Technology Sets the Bar for Character Animation Learning
Animation Mentor ((AnimationMentor.com)), the leading online character animation school created by animators for animators, today unveils its new winter term curriculum for January 2009 and releases the new version of the school’s state-of-the-art online campus.
Unique among art schools worldwide, Animation Mentor exclusively teaches character animation in an environment where students learn directly from professional animators from top studios including Disney Animation Studios, DreamWorks, Industrial Light & Magic, Pixar Animation Studios, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and more. Within classes that maintain a
mentor-to-student ratio of no more than 1-to-15, students learn the art of animation and the real-world production skills needed to be successful in a studio environment โ all within a truly interactive online classroom where students collaborate and learn side-by-side with direction from mentors. The personal attention, combined with a condensed 18-month online education
program without the “fluff” of traditional art school curricula, produces production-ready graduates that are sought after by animation studios.
“Our goal is to create the best school on the planet for character animation,” said Bobby Beck, chief executive officer and cofounder of Animation Mentor. “We continue to look for ways to make our program more valuable to aspiring animators and cultivate a strong sense of community. I am humbled by the dedication and expertise of our mentors. Their contributions combined with a cutting- edge curriculum and advanced online technology helps us lead the way for innovation in character animation education and online learning.”
Dedicated to continuous improvement, Animation Mentor’s new curriculum incorporates feedback from students, ideas from mentors, and input from industry professionals to create best practices instrumental to having a successful career in animation. While still maintaining the core elements of the program that have led to an exceptional 78 percent job placement rate of graduates, Animation Mentor has also incorporated more training in developing body
mechanics expertise. This new course content is designed to better teach students how to overcome the inherent challenges in animating body mechanics, avoid common mistakes, and allow them to better apply advanced concepts and complex acting choices to their characters.
In addition, the school has added a polishing and portfolio class that will give expert guidance from mentors to help students select their best work, polish it to perfection and create an outstanding demo reel. The new portfolio class will involve learning the ins and outs of getting a job in the animation industry from professional recruiters and other industry experts.
The new curriculum, which is still 18-months in length, will no longer offer the two short film classes that were in the previous curriculum. Starting in the winter term, those courses will be offered as electives to all Animation Mentor graduates upon completion of the new program.
Animation Mentor’s online campus leverages a hybrid of Web 2.0 and next generation technology to give students and mentors the most powerful tools available for remote learning. Within the virtual classroom mentors are able to easily view and critique student work and host real-time Q&A sessions that are archived for future reference. Here, students also download lectures on demand by industry experts on all aspects of production, and interact with other students and mentors in the same way they would on popular social media sites such as Facebook. The new release of the online campus upgrades the functionality of the online campus and enables even faster uploads and downloads of digital content, and more intuitive navigation, documentation, and reporting of student work.
Animation Mentor at SIGGRAPH 2008
Animation Mentor is participating in SIGGRAPH 2008 in Los Angeles, California from Monday, August 11 through Friday, August 15, 2008. Event attendees are invited to visit Animation Mentor at SIGGRAPH 2008, exhibition booth 1401.
To learn more about Animation Mentor events at SIGGRAPH 2008, visit http://www.(AnimationMentor.com)/siggraph.
For more information about SIGGRAPH 2008, visit http://www.siggraph.org/s2008/.
About Animation Mentor ((AnimationMentor.com))
Animation Mentor is a state-of-the-art online education and mentorship program teaching students the skills needed to succeed as a professional animator in the studio environment. Focused 100% on character animation, the 18-month program is designed and taught by some of the industry’s top professional animators from top studios. Animation Mentor’s online campus environment provides students around the world with a convenient, flexible, and accessible learning environment 24 hours a day, seven days a week. By graduation, every student will have worked in a production-style environment with mentors who are working studio animators. Students learn how to accept guidance and criticism, to meet deadlines and to budget and schedule their time to succeed in the working world. The program leads students to a diploma in Advanced Studies in Character Animation and is built with a focus on production studio skills, allowing students to get comfortable with the many challenges and opportunities they will experience when working in a studio environment. Upon graduation, Animation Mentor coaches graduates and connects them to job opportunities with major recruiters, video game companies, and film studios.
For more information, visit http://www.(AnimationMentor.com).
“ฦvolution” Comes Full Circle At The Chelsea Film Festival
The Chelsea Film Festival, running from October 16th through October 20th, 2024, at Regal Cinemas here in Union Square, is set to host the East Coast premiere of ฦvolution, a thought-provoking experimental micro-short film that proves big ideas can come in small packages and in perfect circles.
In just 1 minute 16 seconds, this cinematic gem by Award-Winning Director Romina Schwedler, with original music by Argentine Composer Ignacio Montoya Carlotto, explores a cycle as old as time: life leads to progress, progress leads to destruction, and destruction, well, leads back to life. But is this vicious circle unbreakable? ฦvolutionย suggests the answer is yes, unless we decide to open our eyes.
Inspired by the overwhelming number of recent events that threaten human existence,ย ฦvolution, possibly the shortest film in this 12th edition of the festival, plays out entirely through the symbolism of circles, cleverly illustrating โin the blink of an eyeโ the repeating patterns of history, and confronting viewers with the uncomfortable truth that our so-called โprogressโ may, in fact, be guiding us to our own ruin.Premiering at the Regal 14 Union Square, New York City, on October 18, 2024, at 11 a.m., Romina Schwedler's micro-short, featuring Leah Young with cinematography by Alan J. Carmona, will be sure to spark conversations longer than the film itself! Forcing viewers to reconsider the true meaning of evolution, not just as a biological process, but as a reflection of our collective journey as humans.
With a string of festival appearances across the globe, including CineGlobe at CERN (Switzerland/France), Oscarยฎ... Read More