Course Curriculum Watch

[Rodney]

Everyone's gotta have a hobby right?

One of my hobbies is reviewing curriculum from courses of interest to me.

While it is unlikely I will attend many of these courses I enjoy reviewing the outline for information and trends.

It allows me to understand better where I am at on my ongoing life-long-learning journey as well as keep an eye on the general cost of social education.

 

Here's an example from last year

(The school was Van Arts and the course was taught by Pixar animators)

 

The 2-day curriculum:

Animation (Instructor Andrew Gordon)

- Principles of Animation

- Staging & Pose Design

- Locomotion

- Acting for Animation

- Gestures

- Planning

- Blocking

- Facial Animation

- Polish

Q & A

 

Story Development (Instructor Matthew Luhn)

- Storyboarding & the Story Artist

- Preliminary Storyboards

- 3-Act Story Structure

- Sequence Boards & Character Development

- Gags

- Storyboarding from a Script

- Composing Your Storyboards

- Line & Value

Q & A

 

The tuition for the 2-day class was $499 (with some of the proceeds going towards the Red Cross for Japan Earthquake Relief).

Besides the coursework, the tuition price also included:

 

(1) Workbook with notes from Matthew Luhn & Andrew Gordon

(1) Custom class t-shirt

Refreshments during morning & afternoon coffee breaks

Draws for prizes & giveaways

 

The New York City class was scheduled to be held June 24-25 at the Sunshine Cinema on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, while the class in Austin, Texas was to be held on July 8-9 at The Long Center for the Performing Arts. Heading back to Canada, the class in Montreal is on July 29-30 at the Cinematheque Quebecoise.

 

For those who are interested in animation, you have a chance to learn from those in the industry. It is almost like attending the famed Pixar University for a few days.

Note: Minor adjustments to the text has been made.

 

 

Many notes can be compiled from this list and several points could be made... a self pace study plan can also be created. One thing for sure is that the list indicated is a heck of a lot of information to be covered in only two days! The most important thing you could do if you were planning to attend one of these courses (or a similar course) is to have a pretty good idea beforehand about each of the subject areas indicated. Then you aren't struggling to get up to speed when you should be fully engaged.

 

If you are new to this hobby (which most sane people should be) ask yourself why each of these subject areas is worth being in the curriculum in the first place. Why is that subject worth teaching?

[robcat2075]

All of that in two days? I prefer your self-study idea.

 

I suppose having them tie it all together in one presentation is useful but for $499 one could buy a lot of books and/or instructional videos on the same topics and get get more information.

[Rodney]

Keep in mind also that during those two days you are also competing for quality time and attention from the instructors with more than a few people. As such, one on one instruction will be limited. I don't see any mention of assistants (perhaps an undergraduate equivalent?) and I assume there may one or two in attendance.

[robcat2075]

I'd presume those are almost zero one-on-one and almost all lecture since there wouldn't be time in that short span to really do any practice animation and properly critique it.

 

A notion I've had in the back of my mind for a long time is "college for free"... based on my observation that most of what I took in college was heavily based on a text book that I could have bought and read on my own (or read something better instead) and the instructors weren't adding much value in what they did. One could probably compile a list of free or low cost things that would pretty much duplicate a couple years of college.

 

For example I learned French over the last year because there's a college level course video course out there on the internet. I bought the textbook used on ebay, watched the videos and did the exercises and now I can sort of make sense of the French I encounter on the internet which is about what most people who take college French are able to do.

 

We live in a golden age of available learning resources. So why are there still so many stupid people around?

[Rodney]

We live in a golden age of available learning resources. So why are there still so many stupid people around?

 

Hey now there's no need be calling me names now.

 

In years to come we are headed for a fall out phase with this whole idea of the 'information age' and it'll be interesting to see where that goes. As proprietary sources that are now exclusive and kept out of the infosphere are freed up and shared this will fill in gaps in our common understanding of how things work and are created, should work and should be created, and will work and will be created. It seems to me that this could usher in a industrial age of information that empowers people in ways not even dreamed of today. Perhaps we are already in that industrial information age?

 

There is a question of what to do with the older ways and it is of enough concern that they should be carefully preserved along the way. An excellence example of this fading away are the languages that are dying out every day with the end of each generation. When someone dies... we not only lose the person... we lose a lot of insight into how the world works (or is presumed to work) and time-tested contextual information.

 

I must assume that colleges and universities are in the loop on this and are creating schemes from which to leverage their considerable store of knowledge. Many of these institutions are collection houses where peoples life works are gifted. For instance, I can't help but think of SCAD (Savanna in Georgia USA) that received practically the entire collection of Don Bluth's animation assets. These represent a treasure trove of animation-related information but very little of that information is currently available. For many years (and theoretically forever) the majority of these works will be accessible to only those willing and able to access them at SCAD. I'm not at all sure what this represents in the long term but it does suggest that one must take some care in determining who to release your work to in order to ensure it will be distributed as you want it to be shared. These gifts to universities are incredibly valuable and I think its a model that works well for universities. There are still many hurtles to overcome, but they'll get there.

 

Regarding "college for free" the jury is still out on that one but this to me seems inevitable.

[robcat2075]

I guess if you want to be smart (well-learned and informed) there's not much stopping anyone, but if you want to someone else to certify it you have to pay the college tuition.

[Rodney]

I guess if you want to be smart (well-learned and informed) there's not much stopping anyone, but if you want to someone else to certify it you have to pay the college tuition.

 

The subject of Certifications came up here in the forum not only with TaoA:M but also with the initial Mentorship program that David Rogers had oversight on. For my part, in the TaoA:M certifications, I settled on a minimal approach to certification because I didn't feel qualified to offer more. The certification that I could approve was one of completing the course. Those that went above and beyond I tried to shower with a little more attention than those simply moving through the course and meeting the minimum requirements.

 

Certification is an interesting thing and I still haven't fully wrapped my brain around it. I do know a weighted measurement must be applied to each certificate, as not all certificates are of equal value/worth. This weighting is usually done locally but only as a result of comparisons of multiple certificates from more than one program against a given standard or expectation.

 

I think companies should look hard at cutting through this nonsense because it is a real mess out there and everyone seems to know it.

We'd all save lots of time if we could just go in to corporate headquarters and say, "Here's my $79K", sign the contract and go to work at PIXAR.

This is the world we currently live in but with many artificial obstacles and delays willfully built in and a majority of that $79K being invested wastefully.

In the meantime the clock keeps ticking down on the number of days each person will be able to actively contribute (to the project, team, corporation, community... whatever).

 

Colleges are suppose to be institutes of higher learning but they must be run as businesses or they will deteriorate, break down and close their doors.

One way they keep going is through partnerships in industry*.

I think this is a key to how these things work.

 

Of course, the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction in completing the course is in itself it's own reward. I will say that without a personal face applied to it, someone to put weight behind the certification, someone that understands the value in the work, the certification itself is rather hollow and of little value. It may be artificially propped up for awhile but it is inevitably doomed.

 

 

*Note here that while I recognize the corporate element of industry my focus is on the due diligence and hard work of the individual... where the word 'industry' itself is rooted.

[Roger]

I'd presume those are almost zero one-on-one and almost all lecture since there wouldn't be time in that short span to really do any practice animation and properly critique it.

 

A notion I've had in the back of my mind for a long time is "college for free"... based on my observation that most of what I took in college was heavily based on a text book that I could have bought and read on my own (or read something better instead) and the instructors weren't adding much value in what they did. One could probably compile a list of free or low cost things that would pretty much duplicate a couple years of college.

 

For example I learned French over the last year because there's a college level course video course out there on the internet. I bought the textbook used on ebay, watched the videos and did the exercises and now I can sort of make sense of the French I encounter on the internet which is about what most people who take college French are able to do.

 

We live in a golden age of available learning resources. So why are there still so many stupid people around?

Because you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink?

 

I remember reading somewhere that Harvard could basically offer free tuition given they have a multi-billion dollar endowment.

I don't know how we can maintain the current trend of tuition outpacing inflation, and the days of working a minimum wage job during the summer and having enough for tuition are long gone.

[robcat2075]

I was once taking an electronic music class and we were just sitting talking one day and the professor happened to say "you know... given the choice between taking a class to learn how to use something and just buying the thing and learning how to use it myself... I've always been better off learning it myself."

 

That was an "a-ha" moment for me I decided that would be my last semester in music composition department.

 

 

There certainly is a great potential in teacher-led classes but I'm doubtful it's consistently realized. For children it's the only way to make sure things get done, but at the adult level it may have lost its way.

 

But we've certainly gotten off your topic. I guess you were originally talking about animation seminars.

[Rodney]

But we've certainly gotten off your topic. I guess you were originally talking about animation seminars.

 

The main reason it concerns animation seminars is twofold; 1. this forum has a focus on animation and 2. I see animation as being at the crossroads that leads to just about everything.

 

For me animation is an inroad into things that I otherwise would have very little interest in. Take baseball for instance. I can enjoy the game and if I still down and start watching I'll probably sit through the whole game but I really have no particular interest in it beyond a cursory fascination. When you add animation into the mix though I suddenly think baseball is well worth watching (and not just from the perspective of animation). The hook of animation allows me to cast a net widely over areas that I would otherwise not be the least bit interested in.

 

Gags? Theater?!? Now why on earth would I ever need to know anything about that stuff?

(It didn't take me long to figure that out)

How about Scoring for film? Should we know anything about that?

(Most definitely!)

 

In its role as a universal language animation is something we all have in common.

And when considering the state of things in education over all it's pretty clear we could use a lot more animation.

But right now people tend to look to it mostly for entertainment.

I believe that is changing.

 

I remember reading somewhere that Harvard could basically offer free tuition given they have a multi-billion dollar endowment.

 

I don't want to be too harsh on our institutions of higher learning. I don't think I'd care to know where we would be without them.

But the onus is really on the student to want to learn in the first place. What are the odds that all of the grants available in the US are cashed in every year? This is the effect we get when we are ignorant of and become demotivated by the wide assortment of processes/obstacles in the way.

 

One of the reasons I like to curriculum watch (and not just in areas of animation) is to periodically survey areas of importance to all of us across all specialties and industries. My focus of course remains on animation.

 

I was once taking an electronic music class and we were just sitting talking one day and the professor happened to say "you know... given the choice between taking a class to learn how to use something and just buying the thing and learning how to use it myself... I've always been better off learning it myself."

 

That was an "a-ha" moment for me I decided that would be my last semester in music composition department.

 

Knowing your interest in music I have to ask... Have you ever regretted that decision?

 

I occasionally get asked about my military career and deal with a lot of troops that are making a tough decision about whether to get out or stay in. I usually surprise them and don't try to convince them either way. My standard reply is, "There is no right or wrong decision (in whether you stay in or get out), but you have to live with the decision(s) that you make." Here lately when looking back from the perspective of 24 years, I must admit I am a bit more apt to suggest the troops tough it out and stay in.

 

Now we really are off topic.

 

So... anyway... speaking of PIXAR!

Did you know the celebrated guru/dean of PIXAR University (Randy Nelson) is now at Dreamworks?

[Roger]

But we've certainly gotten off your topic. I guess you were originally talking about animation seminars.

 

I remember reading somewhere that Harvard could basically offer free tuition given they have a multi-billion dollar endowment.

 

I don't want to be too harsh on our institutions of higher learning. I don't think I'd care to know where we would be without them.

But the onus is really on the student to want to learn in the first place. What are the odds that all of the grants available in the US are cashed in every year? This is the effect we get when we are ignorant of and become demotivated by the wide assortment of processes/obstacles in the way.

 

One of the reasons I like to curriculum watch (and not just in areas of animation) is to periodically survey areas of importance to all of us across all specialties and industries. My focus of course remains on animation.

 

 

I suppose I should have said that they could offer a free ride to anyone that could pass the entrance exams and was motivated to apply.

Harvard's endowment as of 2011 is $32 billion. 10 percent on 32 billion is 3.2 billion, 5% 1.6, 2.5% 800,000,000. 2.5% earnings yearly on a 32 billion dollar endowment, even in this economy is probably not unrealistic. If you divide $800M by the cost of annual tuition + room and board ( about $50k), you get 16,000. Their current class size is around 6000. My point is not that they should do this, but that they could.

[Rodney]

I don't want to totally hi-jack this thread, but I don't think college as it currently exists is a great value proposition when you end up as an indentured servant to get a job you could have gotten 40 years ago with a highschool diploma.

 

Please feel free to hi-jack away. The cost of education is a major reason I look at the various courses out there.

I want to see more clearly why the cost of education is so high when so many resources are readily available and to get a better sense of why degrees are considered to be worth less than they once were and considered worthless by many of those who dedicated themselves to getting them. I want to understand why our education system allows someone to pay upward to $75K to *not* get a job in their desired careerfield.

 

My sister understands this college stuff. She obviously gets it.

I (obviously) never quite got it. I always just figured it was because I was the only cartoonist wannabe in my family.

 

Harvard's endowment as of 2011 is $32 billion.

 

That quite a bit of pocket change.

I'm going to guess that these endowments come with some serious strings attached?

[robcat2075]

I was once taking an electronic music class and we were just sitting talking one day and the professor happened to say "you know... given the choice between taking a class to learn how to use something and just buying the thing and learning how to use it myself... I've always been better off learning it myself."

 

That was an "a-ha" moment for me I decided that would be my last semester in music composition department.

 

Knowing your interest in music I have to ask... Have you ever regretted that decision?

 

Not that one! It was a composition department taught by composers who couldn't compose and couldn't teach it either. If you want you can read more about that here.

 

I got myself some cheap keyboards and software to run them and learned a lot more on my own than I ever would have waiting to use the school "computer music lab" for two hours a week.

 

My regret is having ended up at schools where the things I was interested in were not taken seriously or well-taught.

[Rodney]

Remind me to pick your brain on that (composition) one of these days.

 

I'll never have musical talent but I know enough to be able to appreciate it.

I do plan to use some of my own... I don't want to call it music... musical beats(?) to play in the background of some animation one of these days. I think I'm up to that challenge, or hopefully will be up to it eventually.

 

After the move, I've been contemplating just hanging out near a college and asking people as they leave campus what they learned that day.

After awhile I figure they'll start getting use to me and rather than be bothered on the way out the door every day just send their daily updates to me via email.

Hey! You think I'm kidding!?!?! I figure I just have to make sure I stay clear of the campus police.

 

More seriously, I think the most important thing (social education-wise) is get involved in a community that cares deeply about what they are doing, which is what you just alluded to as well. In that sense the A:M Forums is where I plan to spend the majority of my time for the foreseeable future.

[robcat2075]

After the move, I've been contemplating just hanging out near a college and asking people as they leave campus what they learned that day.

 

I'll warn you that when I was in college the people we were always rolling our eyes about were the ex or current-military students. They all had this very bad habit of engaging the teacher with on-topic questions while the rest us knew the proper way to attend a class was to sit lifelessly in our chairs.

[Rodney]

I'll warn you that when I was in college the people we were always rolling our eyes about were the ex or current-military students. They all had this very bad habit of engaging the teacher with on-topic questions while the rest us knew the proper way to attend a class was to sit lifelessly in our chairs.

 

Now that is why I pay you top dollar for your insight!

 

Just going back into the classroom with the young folks is going to be an adventure.

I'm tempted to attend a class just to pass around a little note to the other students saying, "Whatever you do, do not stare at the instructors hands/eyes/fill-in-the-blank. P.S. Pass this on."

 

Wait a second.... what am I talking about. Isn't all college these days conducted online???

[robcat2075]

btw... you might enjoy Tom Hank's movie "Larry Crowne", about an adult going to college.

[Rodney]

btw... you might enjoy Tom Hank's movie "Larry Crowne", about an adult going to college.

 

Thanks for the recommendation. I will track that down.

It's been quite awhile since I've seen a Tom Hanks movie.

 

 

 

Here's some more random words for the Course Curriculum Watchers Club:

 

It is impossible to know everything

 

Our limited capacity for knowledge tends to creates the categories of Specialists and Generalists of which I highly suspect I am somewhere lost in transition between neither and none.

 

What we can gain by going through these curricular lists is a view to a language and terminology with an insight into current usage and application. In short, We don't have to know everything but it'll help if we know enough.

 

As we progress in animation or any endeavor, it helps if we aren't constantly distracted by the introduction of new words and concepts. We gain advantage if we are at least somewhat familiar with the practical, the useful, the everyday terminology. We tend to resist new ideas that don't fit into context, especially where we cannot relate them to something maintained in our storehouse of experience and knowledge.

 

When reading through these lists (or reading through anything for that matter) make note of the unfamiliar.

These are worth watching.

[robcat2075]

So... anyway... speaking of PIXAR!

Did you know the celebrated guru/dean of PIXAR University (Randy Nelson) is now at Dreamworks?

 

btw... DreamWorks is the only entertainment company to make Forbes "100 best companies to work for" list

 

They were #14 . Last year they were # 10. No other animation studio on the list at all.

 

DreamWorks pays better than Pixar or Bluesky. The article I read said they had 28,000 applications for 90 job openings last year.

[Rodney]

The article I read said they had 28,000 applications for 90 job openings last year.

 

Good grief man! 90 seats? That's enough room for all of us.

 

Now, here is what I find most interesting about those numbers... 28,000 people.

That is a serious collection of aspirants.

I know many already work somewhere else in the industry (or perhaps use to) but for a moment consider the energy and talent represented in that number.

While much can be said of the 90... I find myself strangely attracted to the 28,000.

They don't need Dreamworks, they've got enough of a workforce to start their own company.

 

God bless the 28,000.

The 90 wouldn't be as special without them.

[Roger]

I can't imagine being the poor soul that would have to go through all the demo tapes. How would you possibly cull that pile down to something reasonable?

[robcat2075]

I can't imagine being the poor soul that would have to go through all the demo tapes. How would you possibly cull that pile down to something reasonable?

 

I wonder that too.

 

Most (all currently) of their openings are for non-animator positions like programmers or lighters so they can probably choose to not look at most portfolios/reels simply because they don't address a need they have to fill.

[Roger]

I don't want to totally hi-jack this thread, but I don't think college as it currently exists is a great value proposition when you end up as an indentured servant to get a job you could have gotten 40 years ago with a highschool diploma.

 

Please feel free to hi-jack away. The cost of education is a major reason I look at the various courses out there.

I want to see more clearly why the cost of education is so high when so many resources are readily available and to get a better sense of why degrees are considered to be worth less than they once were and considered worthless by many of those who dedicated themselves to getting them. I want to understand why our education system allows someone to pay upward to $75K to *not* get a job in their desired careerfield.

 

My sister understands this college stuff. She obviously gets it.

I (obviously) never quite got it. I always just figured it was because I was the only cartoonist wannabe in my family.

 

Harvard's endowment as of 2011 is $32 billion.

 

That quite a bit of pocket change.

I'm going to guess that these endowments come with some serious strings attached?

 

Let me make it clear that I do not think my education was a waste. A lot of the engineering courses I took, even though they have no direct application to animation, helped me develop my troubleshooting skills which are valuable in my current job. I do wish that I had been able to do an internship or take better advantage of certain opportunities, but the way I look at it I'm where I'm at now for a reason, its up to me to pull all my disparate experiences together and carve out a niche for myself. Having said that, if I had to do it all over again, there are things I'd do differently, for sure. And if I were independently wealthy, I think I would finish my engineering degree and go wild with MIT's open courseware.

 

I do empathize with younger people out there who have borrowed a ton of money for a degree, and are looking at large monthly loan payments during a bad recession. The only thing I would advise people out there that have not already gone through the whole process, is seriously look into what your local community college has to offer, and supplement that with the things that are available online. You can always transfer later on, and you'll probably save a ton of money. I do think anyone considering higher education in this day and age needs to carefully consider how they will be able to pay back student loans, as you cannot discharge them in bankruptcy (which makes sense, I suppose, or it would be impossible to get an unsecured loan in the first place).

[robcat2075]

I do empathize with younger people out there who have borrowed a ton of money for a degree...

 

over at 11 second club there are a number of posts that sort of go, "just graduated from artschool/college... owe $150,000 in loans... now thinking about animation..."

[Roger]

I do empathize with younger people out there who have borrowed a ton of money for a degree...

 

over at 11 second club there are a number of posts that sort of go, "just graduated from artschool/college... owe $150,000 in loans... now thinking about animation..."

 

Young stupid me figured even if I couldn't make it into feature film effects and animation, that there was always video games. But these jobs are almost as hard to come by. I think if I want to do animation for a living, I'm going to have to make my own job, and its going to be a part-time job for quite a while.

 

Monthly loan payments on a $150,000 loan would be about $1500. Even the best paid jobs in the art field would be hard pressed to cover that, and still leave

anything left to live on.

 

The only way I would take on that kind of debt is if I was going to medical school, and could reasonably expect to pay it off at some point.

The only option for someone in this kind of mess is the new income-based repayment plan, where they take 15% of your discretionary income (150% above the poverty line) and forgives the loan after 25 years of payments. If you work for the feds or a non-profit, its the same deal but for ten years. I believe this is only for federal loans, if you borrowed from Sallie Mae or some other private entity you are screwed.

[robcat2075]

...that there was always video games.

 

The video game stuff is probably the worst paying and longest hours and least secure of the whole biz. Whatever job you have now, you've got a better job than those. At least be glad about that.