When I was in VFS, I noticed there were 3 kinds of students. Ones who just didn’t have the eye and didn’t really give it the effort needed to succeed. Students who literally worked non-stop till there bodies shut down not allowing them to learn in a healthy way. And the smart ones who dedicated there lives to this one year goal on getting a good demo reel to send them into a great career. I knew Remo, and I believe him to be a great guy, very talented. But i remember he had some stressful times at VFS, no sleep, late nights, which lead him to see this negative atmosphere he described. Most of us have been through all this aswell, but its up to us on how we deal with it.
VFS was one of the best years of my life, thanks to VFS and most of its staff, I am doing what I love today! VFS is like most other schools in that it is not perfect, and yes it was very expensive. But these days, money can only do so much, even if it is $50,000. Software licenses, hardware, staff payroll… It all adds up! I am glad they were able to provide us with all of this. And to be honest, the building was like being in a comfortable office. Describing the building as run down and dilapidated is a bit much. But taking into consideration all the other schools, I am happy with the choice I made. VFS is like life, its what you make of it.
Adam Vorous
11.21.09
http://www.artschoolreviews.ca/reviews/vancouver-film-school/3d-animation-visual-effects/a-risky-investment
Showing posts with label VFS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VFS. Show all posts
Saturday, 3 December 2011
VFS - Try to be real honest and realistic to yourself
I was in Remo’s class, thanks to VFS he is one of the people that I became really good friends with and highly respect as an individual and as an artist. Everything Remo has said in his review is great advice. If you are considering VFS pay close attention to this review and try to be real honest and realistic to yourself.
Of course every student’s experience is going to vary from one person to another. Remo is by no means the worst, and his experience is by no means exaggerated. In fact due to his dedication and hard work I think his outcome was one of the more positive experiences out of VFS. As for myself, I took the 3d animation stream. Started off with an amazing teacher, by the time we were graduating to the ant farm, we got introduced to our new teacher and that was the end of the useful input I was getting from that school. To keep my comments short I will say this.
The experience at VFS for me at least was a good one but not because of the school itself and it was not worth my $50k investment (20K for living expense for one year). In my opinion VFS provided an environment where ambitious students with common passion would unit under one roof. Without my fellow classmates the experience at VFS would have been garbage. When half your class is paying $30k and the other half $50K(international students) in tuition fees, as a learning institution you owe them a few things.
You owe them nice facilities, you owe them descent computers and monitors, but most of all you owe them good teachers that love their job and are committed to you and can give you better advice then “look at more reference”. VFS had a few good teachers, don’t get me wrong but that’s just not good enough. So the harsh reality is this: VFS is a business that is making 30 to 50k *30 students every 2 months, for one program. By the time you are ready to graduate you will have met 5 classes that were ahead of you and 5 others that came after you, and each one of those classes is generating about 30 demo reels that wants to find their place in the industry.
Samer S.
2.23.09
http://www.artschoolreviews.ca/reviews/vancouver-film-school/3d-animation-visual-effects/a-risky-investment
Of course every student’s experience is going to vary from one person to another. Remo is by no means the worst, and his experience is by no means exaggerated. In fact due to his dedication and hard work I think his outcome was one of the more positive experiences out of VFS. As for myself, I took the 3d animation stream. Started off with an amazing teacher, by the time we were graduating to the ant farm, we got introduced to our new teacher and that was the end of the useful input I was getting from that school. To keep my comments short I will say this.
The experience at VFS for me at least was a good one but not because of the school itself and it was not worth my $50k investment (20K for living expense for one year). In my opinion VFS provided an environment where ambitious students with common passion would unit under one roof. Without my fellow classmates the experience at VFS would have been garbage. When half your class is paying $30k and the other half $50K(international students) in tuition fees, as a learning institution you owe them a few things.
You owe them nice facilities, you owe them descent computers and monitors, but most of all you owe them good teachers that love their job and are committed to you and can give you better advice then “look at more reference”. VFS had a few good teachers, don’t get me wrong but that’s just not good enough. So the harsh reality is this: VFS is a business that is making 30 to 50k *30 students every 2 months, for one program. By the time you are ready to graduate you will have met 5 classes that were ahead of you and 5 others that came after you, and each one of those classes is generating about 30 demo reels that wants to find their place in the industry.
Samer S.
2.23.09
http://www.artschoolreviews.ca/reviews/vancouver-film-school/3d-animation-visual-effects/a-risky-investment
VFS - This “experience” is very subjective
This review could be considered as an important factor while making a decision about vfs,the oodles of money they ask for,and what u get in return.
However,like a lot of other people rightly pointed out,this “experience” is very subjective.
I graduated from the Classical Animation Program in 2006,and being an indian student,and also a fresh beginner in the industry,it was a pointless,futile,and expensive option to get a job in vancouver,or rest of canada. However,id still say whatever that was taught to me,or rather whatever i learnt from the wonderful instructors,still comes handy,even though ive switched my field from classical animation,to doing storyboards for live-action/vfx.
Id agree with goujian,that you really really need to spend like a good month and a half,maybe more,just reviewing whatever program ure coming for,getting in touch with the ex-students,etc etc.
All in all,uve really got to give it ur best,all the time,365 days ure there,however from goujian’s review of the whole “vfs” scene,it looks like nothing has changed since 2006,other than the tuition ! :)
karan awasthi
3.10.11
http://www.artschoolreviews.ca/reviews/vancouver-film-school/3d-animation-visual-effects/a-risky-investment
However,like a lot of other people rightly pointed out,this “experience” is very subjective.
I graduated from the Classical Animation Program in 2006,and being an indian student,and also a fresh beginner in the industry,it was a pointless,futile,and expensive option to get a job in vancouver,or rest of canada. However,id still say whatever that was taught to me,or rather whatever i learnt from the wonderful instructors,still comes handy,even though ive switched my field from classical animation,to doing storyboards for live-action/vfx.
Id agree with goujian,that you really really need to spend like a good month and a half,maybe more,just reviewing whatever program ure coming for,getting in touch with the ex-students,etc etc.
All in all,uve really got to give it ur best,all the time,365 days ure there,however from goujian’s review of the whole “vfs” scene,it looks like nothing has changed since 2006,other than the tuition ! :)
karan awasthi
3.10.11
http://www.artschoolreviews.ca/reviews/vancouver-film-school/3d-animation-visual-effects/a-risky-investment
VFS - DO NOT, AND I mean DO NOT just listen to the VFS “sales people
This is a great review, the reality is as the author describes.
Initially I didn’t want to comment since most of the facts are well described in this review. However, seeing there’s commentators or “self claiming grads” twisting facts on this site, I just had to say something.
I’m currently enrolled in this program (3d/vfx) 2011, will not say what term due to prying eyes, and will not mention names.
Before you hear my ramble, for anyone interested in 3D/vfx and is considering vfs. I must stress to you that 3D as a career is a life long process, it is very “TECHNICAL”, it is very “ARTISTIC”, and not something instantly learnt in 1 year. Before considering this school, “Protect yourself and get past the sales person or suffer!” Make sure to talk to students on campus in “PRIVATE”, especially the teachers on the 4th floor campus of 1380 burrard in “PRIVATE”, because that’s where you’ll be spending 35k + 1 year of your life. Believe me, that kind of investment will burn a hole in your pocket when you’re not getting certain education you should be getting, plus there’s hardworking people that ended up with health issues afterwards, but that’s another story.
DO NOT, AND I mean DO NOT just listen to the VFS “sales people”. In any situation when money is involved, do not just listen to 1 person. It’s one thing to market a product/service on YouTube, but it’s another to ruin someone’s health and time.
“The program”
The program is divided into 6 terms, first 2 terms you learn everything from animation basics to modeling + some compositing. 3rd term you develop your concepts for demo reel. If you’re in the “modeling stream” like me, most likely you’ll be doing at least 1 environment in term 4, 1 character in term5, term 6 for compositing fixes and sound sync “soft lock”.
“What’s learnt/Software”
-maya, xsi, zbrush, photoshop, nuke, aftereffects
“Tuition vs. Quality”
35k since I am Canadian citizen, was it worth it? I’d say yes for terms 1-2 which are intense and learned new things each day, but for rest of the terms, no. Why?
In terms 1-2, you have courses from 9am morning to 10pm at night on certain days of the week. Course content range from animation in the morning 9am-12noon, 3D modeling in the afternoon 1pm-4pm, to Photoshop/compositing at night 7-10pm.
However, term 3 started to fall apart in terms of course layout and quality, you start planning demo reels but only for 1 out of 3 streams. This wasn’t the case years before, 3D/VFX/Animation go hand in hand always, especially when you’re paying 35-50k. I can only see separating the streams as a time saver for the students’ demo reel production, or the school’s way to make more money. Ask yourself this, if you were an employer, would you hire someone only good with modeling? Or hire someone that knows modeling, vfx, and some animation. This is due to vfs’s internal staff/structure change, the school was sold years ago, the owners changed and want more students (especially international ones) for money, hence stressed out teachers, and downhill education quality. My class alone had 30 people, at least 25 of them were all international students. My vfs contract during that time has been “locked” as well, my rights for a legit refund expired, not to mention I paid half of the tuition upfront to them. They’ve recently increased and upgraded alot computers, looks like future terms will be around 32+ students per class/term, imagine that.
During term 3, you’re also constantly bombarded with ideas of students helping each other following the industry’s work flow. That maybe true in the actual industry, but you’re paying 35k (50k) for 4 terms of peer support? I have several friends already in the 3D industry and they’ve told me that in the actual industry, it all cuts down to “know your shit, no bullshit, or get fired.” Simple.
“Time”
- 1 year is not enough for 3D as a whole. Period. It’s a life long career.
- I have friends in the 3D industry at this very moment to justify how “self taught 3D” is 100% possible, you just need dedication.
- Actual work time for demo reel during the school year cuts down to 3-4 months (terms 4-5) Term 6 does not count due to the hassle you’ll go through fighting for computers to render alongside technical gimmicks.
- Youtube Vfs demo reel (the good ones) are by people with prior 3D education, and are used as a marketing tool. Time wise it’s not humanly possible, unless you don’t eat, don’t sleep, and if lucky, get minimum health damage + a few lesser years on this planet.
- We were lucky to have someone from the industry come in and speak to us the truth at one time, she said that some studios are literally like a hospital, with people that just entered the industry already drained and strained. Google “Carpal tunnel syndrome”.
“Industry”
The industry in Canada is very small for 3D/vfx, so you got to know as much as possible and show it in your reel to get in, in the states there’s the economic crisis, you get my drift.
For learning, 3D is worth it if you’re truly passionate during this time, but know that Vancouver housing/renting/food price/monthly bills has risen by 2-3 folds in the past few years, hence the high expense in tuition. If it’s not the tuition that burns a hole in your pocket, the HST + Vancouver downtown apartment rents will.
“Bottom line”
Research the following and you’ll see if 3D or VFS is for you as a life long career:
1. for those interested in animation: gimbal lock, IK, blendshape
2. for modeling: 3D topology, edge loop, passes, Npoles, SSS scatter
3. for VFX: film plates, 1080p, 3D projection, gamma correction
Hopefully my comments above doesn’t appear all that biased and shed more light, I’m just stating my experiences so far and have nothing to gain or lose.
Thanks.
~Goujian
1.12.11
http://www.artschoolreviews.ca/reviews/vancouver-film-school/3d-animation-visual-effects/a-risky-investment
Initially I didn’t want to comment since most of the facts are well described in this review. However, seeing there’s commentators or “self claiming grads” twisting facts on this site, I just had to say something.
I’m currently enrolled in this program (3d/vfx) 2011, will not say what term due to prying eyes, and will not mention names.
Before you hear my ramble, for anyone interested in 3D/vfx and is considering vfs. I must stress to you that 3D as a career is a life long process, it is very “TECHNICAL”, it is very “ARTISTIC”, and not something instantly learnt in 1 year. Before considering this school, “Protect yourself and get past the sales person or suffer!” Make sure to talk to students on campus in “PRIVATE”, especially the teachers on the 4th floor campus of 1380 burrard in “PRIVATE”, because that’s where you’ll be spending 35k + 1 year of your life. Believe me, that kind of investment will burn a hole in your pocket when you’re not getting certain education you should be getting, plus there’s hardworking people that ended up with health issues afterwards, but that’s another story.
DO NOT, AND I mean DO NOT just listen to the VFS “sales people”. In any situation when money is involved, do not just listen to 1 person. It’s one thing to market a product/service on YouTube, but it’s another to ruin someone’s health and time.
“The program”
The program is divided into 6 terms, first 2 terms you learn everything from animation basics to modeling + some compositing. 3rd term you develop your concepts for demo reel. If you’re in the “modeling stream” like me, most likely you’ll be doing at least 1 environment in term 4, 1 character in term5, term 6 for compositing fixes and sound sync “soft lock”.
“What’s learnt/Software”
-maya, xsi, zbrush, photoshop, nuke, aftereffects
“Tuition vs. Quality”
35k since I am Canadian citizen, was it worth it? I’d say yes for terms 1-2 which are intense and learned new things each day, but for rest of the terms, no. Why?
In terms 1-2, you have courses from 9am morning to 10pm at night on certain days of the week. Course content range from animation in the morning 9am-12noon, 3D modeling in the afternoon 1pm-4pm, to Photoshop/compositing at night 7-10pm.
However, term 3 started to fall apart in terms of course layout and quality, you start planning demo reels but only for 1 out of 3 streams. This wasn’t the case years before, 3D/VFX/Animation go hand in hand always, especially when you’re paying 35-50k. I can only see separating the streams as a time saver for the students’ demo reel production, or the school’s way to make more money. Ask yourself this, if you were an employer, would you hire someone only good with modeling? Or hire someone that knows modeling, vfx, and some animation. This is due to vfs’s internal staff/structure change, the school was sold years ago, the owners changed and want more students (especially international ones) for money, hence stressed out teachers, and downhill education quality. My class alone had 30 people, at least 25 of them were all international students. My vfs contract during that time has been “locked” as well, my rights for a legit refund expired, not to mention I paid half of the tuition upfront to them. They’ve recently increased and upgraded alot computers, looks like future terms will be around 32+ students per class/term, imagine that.
During term 3, you’re also constantly bombarded with ideas of students helping each other following the industry’s work flow. That maybe true in the actual industry, but you’re paying 35k (50k) for 4 terms of peer support? I have several friends already in the 3D industry and they’ve told me that in the actual industry, it all cuts down to “know your shit, no bullshit, or get fired.” Simple.
“Time”
- 1 year is not enough for 3D as a whole. Period. It’s a life long career.
- I have friends in the 3D industry at this very moment to justify how “self taught 3D” is 100% possible, you just need dedication.
- Actual work time for demo reel during the school year cuts down to 3-4 months (terms 4-5) Term 6 does not count due to the hassle you’ll go through fighting for computers to render alongside technical gimmicks.
- Youtube Vfs demo reel (the good ones) are by people with prior 3D education, and are used as a marketing tool. Time wise it’s not humanly possible, unless you don’t eat, don’t sleep, and if lucky, get minimum health damage + a few lesser years on this planet.
- We were lucky to have someone from the industry come in and speak to us the truth at one time, she said that some studios are literally like a hospital, with people that just entered the industry already drained and strained. Google “Carpal tunnel syndrome”.
“Industry”
The industry in Canada is very small for 3D/vfx, so you got to know as much as possible and show it in your reel to get in, in the states there’s the economic crisis, you get my drift.
For learning, 3D is worth it if you’re truly passionate during this time, but know that Vancouver housing/renting/food price/monthly bills has risen by 2-3 folds in the past few years, hence the high expense in tuition. If it’s not the tuition that burns a hole in your pocket, the HST + Vancouver downtown apartment rents will.
“Bottom line”
Research the following and you’ll see if 3D or VFS is for you as a life long career:
1. for those interested in animation: gimbal lock, IK, blendshape
2. for modeling: 3D topology, edge loop, passes, Npoles, SSS scatter
3. for VFX: film plates, 1080p, 3D projection, gamma correction
Hopefully my comments above doesn’t appear all that biased and shed more light, I’m just stating my experiences so far and have nothing to gain or lose.
Thanks.
~Goujian
1.12.11
http://www.artschoolreviews.ca/reviews/vancouver-film-school/3d-animation-visual-effects/a-risky-investment
VFS – From Foundation To Visual Effects
A REVIEW OF THE Vancouver Film School (VFS) - 3D Animation & Visual Effects PROGRAM.
BY PAUL D WHO GRADUATED IN 2006.
Well, I had made the choice to attend both Foundation and 3D successively about a year and a half before I started. I knew that I probably could have jumped into 3D right off, but I just felt like I didn’t want to miss out on the freedom and experimentation that came with taking a Foundation course. Going into Foundation, I knew what I was there to do. It wasn’t about creating my masterpiece; it was about learning as much as possible about as many things as possible. This is what most people don’t get. The majority of my class were sort of pigeon-holed into what they wanted to do. That’s not to say that they wouldn’t try what each class had to offer, but you could definitely tell what people were putting the most effort into. The key to having a successful run through the Foundation course is to put your all into everything, no matter how much you hate it. Your future self will love you for it.
3D Animation & Visual Effects
The 3D Program was where I really got into my specialization. The things I had done in Foundation definitely set me ahead of pack. There was a little redundancy in the first few classes but it quickened up before I knew it and I was already working on my final project. Overall the 3D Program was great. I was still in some sense searching for what I wanted to do. Although I had narrowed down from Foundation and chosen 3D animation (VFX more specifically), there was still a wide scope of projects I could do.
I leaned toward making something that integrated some of the skills I had acquired in Foundation as well. A lot of my fellow classmates were very much into “making a reel with all the technical motions so I can get a job” thing, which I completely respect because a lot of them did get jobs soon after grad, but I was a little more into the artsy side of things and I attributed that to having just come out of a year of a general arts sort of course. It was a little difficult to switch gears into a very technically oriented and challenging field. That made the learning curve a bit steeper for me because instead of just learning the lessons about how to model this or light that, I was always trying to relate it to projects and pieces of art that I could create. I would often get bogged down in the ideas and forget that the rest of the class had already moved on to the next lesson.
The whole experience was a very personal one and everybody takes something different away from the course.
The Verdict
Of course, the biggest determining factor in people making a schooling choice would be the tuition. When I signed up, it was for both courses. At that time (middle of 2004), Foundation was $15,000 and 3D was $22,000. Today, at the beginning of 2009, Foundation runs $30,000 and 3D is $50,000 (U.S citizen tuition prices). So the prices have doubled in only 4 and a half years. If that’s not enough to deter people, I don’t know what is. Personally, I had no money to my name having just come out of high school. My parents never really had the capacity to put money away for my schooling. So I had to take on some fairly large student loans. This was also quite an easy process for me and my advisor at VFS supplied me with everything and took care of any questions I had.
At this point I would almost suggest just taking the 50k and living off of it for 3 years while doing tutorials everyday online.
I’m a fan of the school and what they teach but I just don’t know if I can justify the current prices of the programs. If you went through only the 3D program today, you’d be paying about what I did for both the Foundation and 3D program combined. At this point I would almost suggest just taking the 50k and living off of it for 3 years while doing tutorials everyday online. You’d probably be farther ahead by the end of it.
Since graduating I’ve been working freelance on Short films, Indie features, Music Videos, etc. I get the freedom I want to give my input creatively on set and in post-production and I make enough money from that to support myself which, as long as I get to do what I love, is enough for me.
If you have any questions about either program, I’d be more than happy to answer them at paul.desilva@gmail.com. You can also check out my demo reel at pauldesilvavfx.blogspot.com.
http://www.artschoolreviews.ca/reviews/vancouver-film-school/3d-animation-visual-effects/from-foundation-to-visual-effects
BY PAUL D WHO GRADUATED IN 2006.
Well, I had made the choice to attend both Foundation and 3D successively about a year and a half before I started. I knew that I probably could have jumped into 3D right off, but I just felt like I didn’t want to miss out on the freedom and experimentation that came with taking a Foundation course. Going into Foundation, I knew what I was there to do. It wasn’t about creating my masterpiece; it was about learning as much as possible about as many things as possible. This is what most people don’t get. The majority of my class were sort of pigeon-holed into what they wanted to do. That’s not to say that they wouldn’t try what each class had to offer, but you could definitely tell what people were putting the most effort into. The key to having a successful run through the Foundation course is to put your all into everything, no matter how much you hate it. Your future self will love you for it.
3D Animation & Visual Effects
The 3D Program was where I really got into my specialization. The things I had done in Foundation definitely set me ahead of pack. There was a little redundancy in the first few classes but it quickened up before I knew it and I was already working on my final project. Overall the 3D Program was great. I was still in some sense searching for what I wanted to do. Although I had narrowed down from Foundation and chosen 3D animation (VFX more specifically), there was still a wide scope of projects I could do.
I leaned toward making something that integrated some of the skills I had acquired in Foundation as well. A lot of my fellow classmates were very much into “making a reel with all the technical motions so I can get a job” thing, which I completely respect because a lot of them did get jobs soon after grad, but I was a little more into the artsy side of things and I attributed that to having just come out of a year of a general arts sort of course. It was a little difficult to switch gears into a very technically oriented and challenging field. That made the learning curve a bit steeper for me because instead of just learning the lessons about how to model this or light that, I was always trying to relate it to projects and pieces of art that I could create. I would often get bogged down in the ideas and forget that the rest of the class had already moved on to the next lesson.
The whole experience was a very personal one and everybody takes something different away from the course.
The Verdict
Of course, the biggest determining factor in people making a schooling choice would be the tuition. When I signed up, it was for both courses. At that time (middle of 2004), Foundation was $15,000 and 3D was $22,000. Today, at the beginning of 2009, Foundation runs $30,000 and 3D is $50,000 (U.S citizen tuition prices). So the prices have doubled in only 4 and a half years. If that’s not enough to deter people, I don’t know what is. Personally, I had no money to my name having just come out of high school. My parents never really had the capacity to put money away for my schooling. So I had to take on some fairly large student loans. This was also quite an easy process for me and my advisor at VFS supplied me with everything and took care of any questions I had.
At this point I would almost suggest just taking the 50k and living off of it for 3 years while doing tutorials everyday online.
I’m a fan of the school and what they teach but I just don’t know if I can justify the current prices of the programs. If you went through only the 3D program today, you’d be paying about what I did for both the Foundation and 3D program combined. At this point I would almost suggest just taking the 50k and living off of it for 3 years while doing tutorials everyday online. You’d probably be farther ahead by the end of it.
Since graduating I’ve been working freelance on Short films, Indie features, Music Videos, etc. I get the freedom I want to give my input creatively on set and in post-production and I make enough money from that to support myself which, as long as I get to do what I love, is enough for me.
If you have any questions about either program, I’d be more than happy to answer them at paul.desilva@gmail.com. You can also check out my demo reel at pauldesilvavfx.blogspot.com.
http://www.artschoolreviews.ca/reviews/vancouver-film-school/3d-animation-visual-effects/from-foundation-to-visual-effects
VFS – A Risky Investment
A REVIEW OF THE Vancouver Film School (VFS) - 3D Animation & Visual Effects PROGRAM.
BY REMO W. WHO GRADUATED IN 2007
I enrolled in the Vancouver Film School’s 3D Animation and VFX Program back in 2007. My background was in graphic design for print and web. I always had a passion for art in general and was a total movie junky. I was looking at VFS to help me start a new career in the middle of my life. I was 35 when I enrolled which pretty much made me a senior citizen in the field, but to their credit, nobody ever made me feel awkward about that. We were all there with hope and enthusiasm and the bond of our shared goals more than made up for any age differences. Among my classmates I have come to respect many as the fantastic artists they are, and I count several as great friends to this day.
First Impressions
The insanely high tuition was a hard pill to swallow. At the time of my enrollment it was just under $30,000. I felt that even though this was a lot of money to spend, if it really leads to a new and exciting career, it would be a small price to pay. Going back to University and finishing a 4 or 5 year program would after all be even more expensive if you count in lost wages and living expenses for that time. And ultimately having made such a huge and non-refundable financial commitment was one of the things that drove me to work so hard during my year at VFS. My initial impression based on the work former students continually post on forums like CGtalk, and the very professional appearance of the school based on their promotional materials and orientations made me think they might be worth all that money. My first day in the program was a bit of a rude awakening. The actual location of the 3D program is in a very cramped and dilapidated office building just south of Davie St. It looks like a poor cousin to the facilities of any of the other local schools for 3D animation, and this is the place where you will practically live for the next year if you enrol. But so what? What really matters is the quality of the instruction and the valuable connections you make while you are there.
I have never worked so hard in my life. I spent between 11 – 14 hours a day, 7 days a week in that place for a year.
Now, everyone will tell you that this program is hard, but it’s difficult to imagine what they mean by that. It’s like when you go to a pub and order the “spicy” chicken wings. I mean, they say they are spicy, but you like spicy food, so you should be fine, right? But how spicy is their “spicy”? Well, let me tell you: at VFS the answer is “VERY”. I have never worked so hard in my life. I spent between 11 – 14 hours a day, 7 days a week in that place for a year. Breaks between most terms were a 4 day weekend. In the first 6 months we had 48 hours of instruction per week, and lots and lots of homework on top of that. Every second of my day was accounted for. I had to completely adjust everything about my lifestyle. For example, I stopped making peanut butter sandwiches because the peanut butter is sticky and makes it hard to swallow which wastes time that I could be spending doing my homework or getting a bit of sleep before I have to be in class again. It was that kind of crazy. And no amount of work ever seemed like enough. We kept being told that at most only a quarter of us would get jobs upon graduating, and that we would have to try much harder if we wanted to have a future. With the constant pressure, and us all packed in like sardines in that dingy place I also ended up being sick much of the time. The workload in that place nearly did me in. By the time I graduated I looked 10 years older, I was skinny and pale and trembling as I accepted my diploma, but I had accomplished more in a shorter time than I would have ever dreamed. I had a very original demo reel and felt optimistic about my prospects for the future.
A Few Specific Notes About The Program
Even though VFS is a private career oriented school, their programs are still have quite a few B.S. courses that really won’t help you get a job. My personal grievance was with the Classical Animation classes. We had 6 hours a week of those in the first 2 terms with lots of homework, and for those of us who had no plans to even enter into the animation stream they were really not all that helpful. Those concepts could have been taught really easily and quickly in 3D rather than having us spend hours and hours hand drawing 2d animation exercises with pencil and paper and scanning them. The History of Animation class was also useless, but at least enjoyable for the most part. History of Film was fairly painful, we were forced to watch a never ending stream of scenes from musicals and really only talked about camera angles and moves there. Not a single current movie in the bunch which seems like a major oversight if you are hoping to work in VFX. I could also easily have done without any of the sculpture classes as modeling in 3D just seems basically like the same thing. It sounds nitpicky, but when you are paying so much money, these things really get to you. But let’s be honest, any program is going to be like that. If you were going to a college you’d have a lot more prerequisites even less related to your field. So my advice is this: Pay attention in those classes, do your work, but don’t stress out about them. Focus just on what matters to you. In the middle of your program you have to declare your specialty. Either Modeling, Animation, or VFX. The problem is that by the time you have to make that decision they really have not taught you anything about VFX so it is really hard to know what you should do. You spend so much time on animation and have only one crappy course in After Effects of all things. They do tell you that you will have to learn a bunch of new software if you go into VFX which seems really insane at that point in the program as you are only just barely getting a handle on the software they’ve taught you so far. The VFX stream in general was a disaster as far as I could tell during the time when I had to make my decision. So I went into the modeling stream instead because at least I knew that this was something VFS did really well. But as soon as I made my decision, the mentor of the VFX stream was replaced by Al, an extremely competent and likeable instructor which really made me wish I had gone into that stream after all, but it was too late by then. For the last 3 months you are in the “Ant Farm”; A huge open lab where you have access to a computer of your own 24/7. Your class load is reduced to a minimum, and from that point on you are really learning more from your classmates than any of the mentors, instructors or lab aids. This is not intended as a slight, and it is not as if the instructors or aids are unapproachable, this really just is how things work in the industry. If you are in a good class and get along great with your classmates then this is where you will really begin to shine.
The Ant Farm is really the secret of VFS’s success. The fact that they give you a full 6 months to work on your demo reel is the reason why the work from VFS students always outshines that of almost all other schools. This is of course good for you, though I’m not convinced that it means you learned more than you could have at another school. It is however really good for VFS’s business as the impressive work of their graduates becomes in turn their advertising to attract new students. The other thing you should know is that almost all the most outstanding demo reels come from students who already had a background in 3d BEFORE they came to VFS. Some of them even reuse assets they created before coming to VFS to enhance their reel. Don’t expect your work to look like theirs if you are new to the field as I was. My demo reel is a good example of what you can actually accomplish if you are a fairly good artist, are disciplined and work insanely hard: www.remow.info. Every few weeks during the last 3 terms you have to make a presentation in front of all your classmates and a panel composed of the director of the 3D program and the mentors of the 3 respective streams. These presentations felt just like American Idol, only there were 2 Simon Cowells. Every time we would have to hear how we were never going to finish what we proposed to do, that it wasn’t good enough, that we should just give up and try something easier. The animation mentor’s contributions (ironically the only woman) were a bit like Paula Abdul’s in their eccentricity and uselessness. The fourth panellist was the VFX mentor who is now the head of the whole program and I have nothing but good things to say about him. He really raised the bar.
The Job Search
I didn’t get a job immediately after graduation. Luckily I had my old career to fall back on while I looked for something in the 3d field. My first disappointment was that there are virtually no companies using XSI anymore. I had just spent a whole year getting intimately acquainted with XSI, I knew all its ticklish spots, knew how to behave when it was being moody, and ultimately fell in love with it. But it was looking like it was not meant to be. Other than Nerd Corps in Vancouver, Ubisoft in Montreal, or Hybride in Piedmont Quebec, there are really hardly any XSI shops in Canada. So before you decide to go to VFS, ask what software package they are teaching, and take a look at some job boards to see how many jobs there really are. Currently Maya seems most popular, Max is still doing quite well, but XSI is really hurting.
After about 4 months of going to interviews in the Vancouver area for crappy 3D jobs, I ended up getting the opportunity of a lifetime.
After about 4 months of going to interviews in the Vancouver area for crappy 3D jobs (mostly short term contract work for very little money, none of it XSI), I ended up getting the opportunity of a lifetime: I got a job offer to come work for the elite in-house special effects team of director Robert Rodriguez. He was at the time planning to film a remake of the cult classic “Barbarella”, and I was so excited about it I would have paid them just for the opportunity to be a part of it. The only problem was that the job was in the US and I was a Canadian citizen. Jobs in this industry are generally short term contracts for relatively small companies. They do not have staff lawyers or a department to deal with getting you a visa, and they will never plan ahead. They post a job and want you to start within a week generally. So it fell upon me to quickly become an expert of US immigration policy and here is what I found: As a Canadian, your best bet is a TN work permit. Look up the requirements for it to see if you qualify. If you have the right background you can come into the country that way as a “Graphic Designer” or “Computer Analyst”. The reason I stress this is because there are just so many more jobs in the US than there are in Canada. But beware: there are no guarantees; if you get the wrong border guard you will be denied your permit. And your permit is only temporary, when it runs out you have to leave the country or renew it before it runs out. But it is always going to be scary and stressful. You can’t ever make long-term plans because you can never count on being able to get or renew your permit. On one occasion I was actually kicked out of the country on a technicality while trying to renew my permit and had a very hard time getting back in. You spend your life on standby, always ready to move, never putting down roots. It’s hard and lonely. In general my career has not gone as smoothly as I had hoped. The “Barbarella” movie I worked on died after a few months. The production company failed to inform me that they didn’t even have a green light yet. Always be sure to establish that before you make a big move for a job. After that I worked at Janimation in Dallas for a little while, and then returned to Austin Texas to work on another movie for Robert doing both previs and post-production that time. Now my work permit has run out again, and I am back in Canada looking for new projects, but the economy is bad, there is still a possible actor’s strike which is making it risky to produce new films, and I am finding that I need to retrain myself to use Maya and be willing to relocate again to go-knows-where in the world if I want to get another gig. There are just so few jobs in this field and so many people applying for them. VFS itself puts out 30 new people every 2 months just from their 3d Animation and VFX program, and then there is also their Maya Animation program. And VFS is only one of half a dozen schools like it in Vancouver, and Vancouver is only one of many cities in Canada with schools like that. The end result is that your odds of finding work after graduation are very, very slim. My advice: if you want an exciting new career, audition for Canadian Idol and be a Rockstar. Your odds of achieving that are probably about the same and it’s a lot cheaper.
Final Verdict
But if you have more money than you know what to do with and want to give it to VFS, and are willing to spend the rest of your life in front of a computer, constantly retrain yourself, never see the light of day anymore, constantly look for new work, move a lot, have no job security, make fairly little money, probably end up popping mood stabilizers as if they were M&M’s just to cope with the stress, eventually probably have your girlfriend or wife leave you (that is, if you can even find one. Computer nerd work = not sexy), never work less than 50 hours a week, be out of work every time any one of the innumerable unions of the film world goes on strike, work miracles every day and still have nobody know your name. If that kind of thing appeals to you, then VFS might be a good choice for you. I’m not complaining though. VFS gave me a good kick in the ass at a time in my life when I really needed one. I was lucky enough to be able to afford the tuition, and I had some fantastic adventures since graduation. Sure I spent a lot of money on the tuition, but I’ve lost more money than that in recent months due to the performance of the stock market. That’s life. But if you have to get loans to pay for the tuition, think long and hard about it. I would call that a very risky investment.
http://www.remow.info/
http://www.artschoolreviews.ca/reviews/vancouver-film-school/3d-animation-visual-effects/a-risky-investment
BY REMO W. WHO GRADUATED IN 2007
I enrolled in the Vancouver Film School’s 3D Animation and VFX Program back in 2007. My background was in graphic design for print and web. I always had a passion for art in general and was a total movie junky. I was looking at VFS to help me start a new career in the middle of my life. I was 35 when I enrolled which pretty much made me a senior citizen in the field, but to their credit, nobody ever made me feel awkward about that. We were all there with hope and enthusiasm and the bond of our shared goals more than made up for any age differences. Among my classmates I have come to respect many as the fantastic artists they are, and I count several as great friends to this day.
First Impressions
The insanely high tuition was a hard pill to swallow. At the time of my enrollment it was just under $30,000. I felt that even though this was a lot of money to spend, if it really leads to a new and exciting career, it would be a small price to pay. Going back to University and finishing a 4 or 5 year program would after all be even more expensive if you count in lost wages and living expenses for that time. And ultimately having made such a huge and non-refundable financial commitment was one of the things that drove me to work so hard during my year at VFS. My initial impression based on the work former students continually post on forums like CGtalk, and the very professional appearance of the school based on their promotional materials and orientations made me think they might be worth all that money. My first day in the program was a bit of a rude awakening. The actual location of the 3D program is in a very cramped and dilapidated office building just south of Davie St. It looks like a poor cousin to the facilities of any of the other local schools for 3D animation, and this is the place where you will practically live for the next year if you enrol. But so what? What really matters is the quality of the instruction and the valuable connections you make while you are there.
I have never worked so hard in my life. I spent between 11 – 14 hours a day, 7 days a week in that place for a year.
Now, everyone will tell you that this program is hard, but it’s difficult to imagine what they mean by that. It’s like when you go to a pub and order the “spicy” chicken wings. I mean, they say they are spicy, but you like spicy food, so you should be fine, right? But how spicy is their “spicy”? Well, let me tell you: at VFS the answer is “VERY”. I have never worked so hard in my life. I spent between 11 – 14 hours a day, 7 days a week in that place for a year. Breaks between most terms were a 4 day weekend. In the first 6 months we had 48 hours of instruction per week, and lots and lots of homework on top of that. Every second of my day was accounted for. I had to completely adjust everything about my lifestyle. For example, I stopped making peanut butter sandwiches because the peanut butter is sticky and makes it hard to swallow which wastes time that I could be spending doing my homework or getting a bit of sleep before I have to be in class again. It was that kind of crazy. And no amount of work ever seemed like enough. We kept being told that at most only a quarter of us would get jobs upon graduating, and that we would have to try much harder if we wanted to have a future. With the constant pressure, and us all packed in like sardines in that dingy place I also ended up being sick much of the time. The workload in that place nearly did me in. By the time I graduated I looked 10 years older, I was skinny and pale and trembling as I accepted my diploma, but I had accomplished more in a shorter time than I would have ever dreamed. I had a very original demo reel and felt optimistic about my prospects for the future.
A Few Specific Notes About The Program
Even though VFS is a private career oriented school, their programs are still have quite a few B.S. courses that really won’t help you get a job. My personal grievance was with the Classical Animation classes. We had 6 hours a week of those in the first 2 terms with lots of homework, and for those of us who had no plans to even enter into the animation stream they were really not all that helpful. Those concepts could have been taught really easily and quickly in 3D rather than having us spend hours and hours hand drawing 2d animation exercises with pencil and paper and scanning them. The History of Animation class was also useless, but at least enjoyable for the most part. History of Film was fairly painful, we were forced to watch a never ending stream of scenes from musicals and really only talked about camera angles and moves there. Not a single current movie in the bunch which seems like a major oversight if you are hoping to work in VFX. I could also easily have done without any of the sculpture classes as modeling in 3D just seems basically like the same thing. It sounds nitpicky, but when you are paying so much money, these things really get to you. But let’s be honest, any program is going to be like that. If you were going to a college you’d have a lot more prerequisites even less related to your field. So my advice is this: Pay attention in those classes, do your work, but don’t stress out about them. Focus just on what matters to you. In the middle of your program you have to declare your specialty. Either Modeling, Animation, or VFX. The problem is that by the time you have to make that decision they really have not taught you anything about VFX so it is really hard to know what you should do. You spend so much time on animation and have only one crappy course in After Effects of all things. They do tell you that you will have to learn a bunch of new software if you go into VFX which seems really insane at that point in the program as you are only just barely getting a handle on the software they’ve taught you so far. The VFX stream in general was a disaster as far as I could tell during the time when I had to make my decision. So I went into the modeling stream instead because at least I knew that this was something VFS did really well. But as soon as I made my decision, the mentor of the VFX stream was replaced by Al, an extremely competent and likeable instructor which really made me wish I had gone into that stream after all, but it was too late by then. For the last 3 months you are in the “Ant Farm”; A huge open lab where you have access to a computer of your own 24/7. Your class load is reduced to a minimum, and from that point on you are really learning more from your classmates than any of the mentors, instructors or lab aids. This is not intended as a slight, and it is not as if the instructors or aids are unapproachable, this really just is how things work in the industry. If you are in a good class and get along great with your classmates then this is where you will really begin to shine.
The Ant Farm is really the secret of VFS’s success. The fact that they give you a full 6 months to work on your demo reel is the reason why the work from VFS students always outshines that of almost all other schools. This is of course good for you, though I’m not convinced that it means you learned more than you could have at another school. It is however really good for VFS’s business as the impressive work of their graduates becomes in turn their advertising to attract new students. The other thing you should know is that almost all the most outstanding demo reels come from students who already had a background in 3d BEFORE they came to VFS. Some of them even reuse assets they created before coming to VFS to enhance their reel. Don’t expect your work to look like theirs if you are new to the field as I was. My demo reel is a good example of what you can actually accomplish if you are a fairly good artist, are disciplined and work insanely hard: www.remow.info. Every few weeks during the last 3 terms you have to make a presentation in front of all your classmates and a panel composed of the director of the 3D program and the mentors of the 3 respective streams. These presentations felt just like American Idol, only there were 2 Simon Cowells. Every time we would have to hear how we were never going to finish what we proposed to do, that it wasn’t good enough, that we should just give up and try something easier. The animation mentor’s contributions (ironically the only woman) were a bit like Paula Abdul’s in their eccentricity and uselessness. The fourth panellist was the VFX mentor who is now the head of the whole program and I have nothing but good things to say about him. He really raised the bar.
The Job Search
I didn’t get a job immediately after graduation. Luckily I had my old career to fall back on while I looked for something in the 3d field. My first disappointment was that there are virtually no companies using XSI anymore. I had just spent a whole year getting intimately acquainted with XSI, I knew all its ticklish spots, knew how to behave when it was being moody, and ultimately fell in love with it. But it was looking like it was not meant to be. Other than Nerd Corps in Vancouver, Ubisoft in Montreal, or Hybride in Piedmont Quebec, there are really hardly any XSI shops in Canada. So before you decide to go to VFS, ask what software package they are teaching, and take a look at some job boards to see how many jobs there really are. Currently Maya seems most popular, Max is still doing quite well, but XSI is really hurting.
After about 4 months of going to interviews in the Vancouver area for crappy 3D jobs, I ended up getting the opportunity of a lifetime.
After about 4 months of going to interviews in the Vancouver area for crappy 3D jobs (mostly short term contract work for very little money, none of it XSI), I ended up getting the opportunity of a lifetime: I got a job offer to come work for the elite in-house special effects team of director Robert Rodriguez. He was at the time planning to film a remake of the cult classic “Barbarella”, and I was so excited about it I would have paid them just for the opportunity to be a part of it. The only problem was that the job was in the US and I was a Canadian citizen. Jobs in this industry are generally short term contracts for relatively small companies. They do not have staff lawyers or a department to deal with getting you a visa, and they will never plan ahead. They post a job and want you to start within a week generally. So it fell upon me to quickly become an expert of US immigration policy and here is what I found: As a Canadian, your best bet is a TN work permit. Look up the requirements for it to see if you qualify. If you have the right background you can come into the country that way as a “Graphic Designer” or “Computer Analyst”. The reason I stress this is because there are just so many more jobs in the US than there are in Canada. But beware: there are no guarantees; if you get the wrong border guard you will be denied your permit. And your permit is only temporary, when it runs out you have to leave the country or renew it before it runs out. But it is always going to be scary and stressful. You can’t ever make long-term plans because you can never count on being able to get or renew your permit. On one occasion I was actually kicked out of the country on a technicality while trying to renew my permit and had a very hard time getting back in. You spend your life on standby, always ready to move, never putting down roots. It’s hard and lonely. In general my career has not gone as smoothly as I had hoped. The “Barbarella” movie I worked on died after a few months. The production company failed to inform me that they didn’t even have a green light yet. Always be sure to establish that before you make a big move for a job. After that I worked at Janimation in Dallas for a little while, and then returned to Austin Texas to work on another movie for Robert doing both previs and post-production that time. Now my work permit has run out again, and I am back in Canada looking for new projects, but the economy is bad, there is still a possible actor’s strike which is making it risky to produce new films, and I am finding that I need to retrain myself to use Maya and be willing to relocate again to go-knows-where in the world if I want to get another gig. There are just so few jobs in this field and so many people applying for them. VFS itself puts out 30 new people every 2 months just from their 3d Animation and VFX program, and then there is also their Maya Animation program. And VFS is only one of half a dozen schools like it in Vancouver, and Vancouver is only one of many cities in Canada with schools like that. The end result is that your odds of finding work after graduation are very, very slim. My advice: if you want an exciting new career, audition for Canadian Idol and be a Rockstar. Your odds of achieving that are probably about the same and it’s a lot cheaper.
Final Verdict
But if you have more money than you know what to do with and want to give it to VFS, and are willing to spend the rest of your life in front of a computer, constantly retrain yourself, never see the light of day anymore, constantly look for new work, move a lot, have no job security, make fairly little money, probably end up popping mood stabilizers as if they were M&M’s just to cope with the stress, eventually probably have your girlfriend or wife leave you (that is, if you can even find one. Computer nerd work = not sexy), never work less than 50 hours a week, be out of work every time any one of the innumerable unions of the film world goes on strike, work miracles every day and still have nobody know your name. If that kind of thing appeals to you, then VFS might be a good choice for you. I’m not complaining though. VFS gave me a good kick in the ass at a time in my life when I really needed one. I was lucky enough to be able to afford the tuition, and I had some fantastic adventures since graduation. Sure I spent a lot of money on the tuition, but I’ve lost more money than that in recent months due to the performance of the stock market. That’s life. But if you have to get loans to pay for the tuition, think long and hard about it. I would call that a very risky investment.
http://www.remow.info/
http://www.artschoolreviews.ca/reviews/vancouver-film-school/3d-animation-visual-effects/a-risky-investment
VFS
VFS has a bad reputation because some people who go there had problems with it. Kevin Smith, of Clerks fame, dropped out of VFS because he thought it was a waste of time.
That was a long time ago, even before I took one course at VFS in 1996.
But I know people who went there more recently and have complaints about it. I'll collect some of their thoughts and post them for you.
One problem I know of - they take a lot of foreign students just for their money, just push them through the system and don't bother with them much. So you get these guys from Hong Kong who do nothing but talk on their cell phones all day supposedly "making deals" and end up being dead weight in a learning environment.
You still might want to go to VFS. I'm not gonna trash it outright. But you want to get as much info as you can on a place before you enroll.
http://www.kult-rpg.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=3859
That was a long time ago, even before I took one course at VFS in 1996.
But I know people who went there more recently and have complaints about it. I'll collect some of their thoughts and post them for you.
One problem I know of - they take a lot of foreign students just for their money, just push them through the system and don't bother with them much. So you get these guys from Hong Kong who do nothing but talk on their cell phones all day supposedly "making deals" and end up being dead weight in a learning environment.
You still might want to go to VFS. I'm not gonna trash it outright. But you want to get as much info as you can on a place before you enroll.
http://www.kult-rpg.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=3859
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