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The Canadian angle
Canada is the place to go to if you want to make it in the animation industry, says Hazel Siromoni, Director, Canadian Education Centre (Network) India.
Canada is the place to go to if you want to make it in the animation industry, says Hazel Siromoni, Director, Canadian Education Centre (Network) India.
What is the scope of animation in India today? How is this different from the opportunities available in the West?
The scope of the profession is unlimited due to the satellite television boom in India. However, lack of academic and professional training that meets world standards has led many students interested in making a career in animation choose Canada as their educational destination. Most animation technology is Canadian and therefore the opportunities both for academic as well as professional growth is amazing. The academic programmes in this field in Canada are world-class, making the graduate employable anywhere in the world.
Give us some details of the courses available as well as the best institutes to do them from.
Courses: Computer Animation-Digital Characterisation, Computer Animation-Digital Visual Effects, Computer Graphics, New Media Design, Computer Animation, Graphic Designing, 2D and 3D Animation and many more.
Some good institutions are: Sheridan College, Algonquin College, Vancouver Film School, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Technology, Art Institute, Capilano College, Seneca College etc.
Eligibility: Varies from institution to institution, but for a post-graduate diploma programme, typically one needs a Bachelors degree/ diploma in Fine Arts or 2-3 years of minimum work experience in a related field and a professional portfolio. For diplomas, a portfolio of your previous work is required.
Fees: C$12,000 to $26,000 for tuition and around C$10,000 for living
costs. Accommodation could be on campus, home stay or in off-campus residences.
What are the job opportunities?
Successful graduates of the programme find employment in the computer animation industry in the areas of film, television production, television commercials and the video game industry. Students often find work as computer and digital character animators and in character modelling.
Any tips for those who want to enter this field?
Keep yourselves updated about the industry requirements and trends. Students should concentrate on their portfolios and give them a professional look. Portfolios should have samples using all mediums in which students have worked before.
For further information contact: Canadian Education Centre (Network) India, 86, Paschimi Marg, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi, Ph: 26146648 Web site: www.studycanada.ca/india
Did you know?
Here are some little known facts about the Canadian animation industry:
The technology to transmit photographs by wireless was developed in 1922 by the man who went on to become a World War II spymaster, Sir William Stephenson.
Three Canadians — Grahame Ferguson, Roman Kroiter and Robert Kerr — invented IMAX motion pictures for the Canadian pavilion at Expo 1970.
In the 1970s, National Research Centre-Canada scientists Nestor Burtnyk and Marcelli Wein earned the inventors an Academy Award in 1997. These two scientists developed the key frame animation system (the algorithm for computer animation), which eliminates the need for the artist to draw each frame. This technology revolutionised the animation industry worldwide.
The 1980s were a boom time in Canadian audio/ visual and film production industries. By the mid-1980s, three of the world’s five major computer animation companies were Canadian.
More than 80 per cent of the world’s animation and special effects software like Softimage and Discreet Logic comes from companies in Canada.
Canadian researchers were among the first to deploy the now omnipresent graphical-user interface approach to human-machine communication (pre-dating Xerox by several years), in a set of projects on musical composition and film animation.
Canada continues to be the largest exporter of animators in the world.
Source: Canadian Education Centre
