Vancouver Film School 3-D animation and visual effects trains students for blockbusters, video games, and more

The creative director of the Vancouver Film School’s 3-D animation and visual-effects program, Casey Kwan, sometimes laughs when his industry colleagues ask if he ever misses working in film and television. That’s because the director and computer animator feels like he never left.

“In industry, you’re working on one project at a time,” Kwan told the Straight by phone. “At VFS at any given time, we’re working on upward of 80 to 95 projects in our studio.”

His favourite part of the job is meeting students from around the world, learning about their cultures, and helping them advance in their careers. “I have this opportunity to collaborate on all these interesting projects with the students,” Kwan said. “They’re learning how to communicate and function as a visual artist from a collaborative point of view.”

For almost 30 years, Vancouver Film School has been providing training for the local and international movie industry. Films, television, animation, design, and digital applications are all created on the premises.

There’s state-of-the-art equipment, a giant green screen, a cinema for watching movies, and several studios. The walls of the Gastown campus are lined with plaques showcasing hundreds of productions that have employed VFS grads, including some of the biggest movie blockbusters in history.

According to Kwan, the 3-D animation and visual-effects department prepares students to work on big superhero movies and live-action films. Other grads work for game companies using 3-D to enhance the value of existing assets or to develop new products.

“We have positioned ourselves so we have an expert in every area of the pipeline,” he explained. “We’ve got a lighting supervisor, we’ve got a modelling supervisor, and we’ve got a supervisor of visual effects.”

Kwan pointed out that 3-D animation is a big part of creating visual effects, and students are exposed to compositing, which involves combining elements from different sources into a single image. Those enrolled in the new animation concept art program learn about storyboarding as well as designing characters, environments, and props. Like the professionals working in the movie industry, VFS students also look at dailies of what’s been filmed.

“I’ve seen a lot of my students move on to senior positions in studios, be they locally here in town or be they in California,” Kwan said.

The head of the department, Vanessa Jacobsen, told the Straight by phone that there are more than 200 students in 3-D animation and visual effects at VFS. Part of her job is to ensure they get exposed to people in a position to offer them jobs. This occurs at events called Fresh Meet, which bring grads together to show samples of their work to recruiters, managers, and artists from up to 20 studios.

“It’s an exciting opportunity for our students,” Jacobsen said. “They get up one at a time and they give a little bit about who they are, [highlighting] their soft skills.”

Even though it’s a one-year program, Jacobsen said the pace is so intense that the number of contact hours with mentors and instructors is probably equal to two years at “regular programs”.

Kwan said that the hands-on approach immediately involves students in production rather than having them spend many hours listening to lectures about how something might happen on a set. He also mentioned that this immersive approach teaches students how to take direction from a director, iterate a shot, and meet deadlines on a regular basis. According to Kwan, moviemaking is a team sport, not an individual sport.

He added that VFS grads have played a major role in building Vancouver’s reputation as an important centre for visual effects and animation.

“I think the biggest thing that sets them apart is they’re ready for industry,” Kwan said. “From what I’ve heard from industry folks, our students are quite prepared.”