Comments on: VFS – Pricey But Worth It

By: tom thompson

tom thompson — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:33:54 +0000

All school boast high placement. Most lie. There is a good school in North Van you may not have heard of “Think Tank Training Centre” really does have very high placement and is well thought of by all of it’s students and alumni.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:24:22 +0000

Thanks again. BTW, I found other posts about Capilano Univ. animation program and, those posts are so different (very positive) than those of VFS. Have you heard of this school?

By: Temris

Temris — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:29:05 +0000

Well, if you can only be happy doing hand-drawn animation and you want a job in the States or Canada, then you probably want to say no. But if you want a job in animation in any way, VFS is a good place to go. VFS alumni do often get jobs — but classical animators usually either get jobs in Flash or they go to 3D animation afterwards. And education in 2D is, as I’ve heard repeatedly, a very good way to get good at 3D.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:19:45 +0000

Thank you for your answer, Temris.

The only reason I go to VFS is for the job as they always advertise that most of students get their job after studying in VFS. If it-hard to find a job in classical animation – is true, I have to think about it again. Because of my age, I don’t want to spend my time and money for unsure things – I know everything is not sure in the world, but I mean, if it’s not as good as their ad.

By: Temris

Temris — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:39:32 +0000

Chris– well, I dont know about job opportunities in 3D and VFX (I assume that’s what you meant by VFS) but jobs in classical are very slim in Canada or the states. But animation skills gained in classical training are very much useful in other animation jobs. But the only 2D jobs out there are pretty much using Flash or something similar.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:50:29 +0000

I’m planing to study classical animation at VFS soon. However, I’m worrying that the job availability is much lower than 3D and VFS. Do you know any condition of the classical animation job ?

By: Temris

Temris — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:18:39 +0000

Yup, that is also true, Corey. Good points.

On a side note, I feel a dire need to defend Tobin in his review, though I don’t want to spark more argument. Tobin and I obviously disagree greatly on our experiences – but that’s exactly why this site exists. Not everyone is going to have the same experience in a program. It pains me to see him feeling rather vindictive about it all, but he was bringing it up for the benefit of others. I can’t argue with what he saw, even if I saw something different. That’s the nature of having different points of view. I didn’t feel nearly the extreme favoritism that he did. But he was there in class every day and worked just as hard as the rest of us. And it was very difficult to dig out help from teachers sometimes, especially for the first few months. Which, of course, is quite contrary to what’s needed since a good start is the most important.

It’s also true that a negative attitude hurts an animator’s career in major ways. But if you have reason to feel negative, it’s important to bring it up. I’m glad he did. Even if I don’t agree with him 100%.

By: Corey

Corey — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:59:27 +0000

I agree! If I may add:

What you will get after graduation is a piece of paper that says “Animation Diploma” which is useless. Studios will hire you for what’s on your reel and what kind of attitude you have.

In my class there was a person who did not do any work all year, & didn’t do any films. This person had the nerve to show up at graduation. VFS awarded them the same degree as everyone else. It left those of us who worked really hard feeling really cheated.

Make of that what you will.

Your best bet if you go to VFS is to work as hard as you can. Bother the teachers to no end. Get your money’s worth. Stay away from class drama. I was amazed at the amount of student there that were more interested in dating each other than doing any work.

You will get out of the program what you put into it. Plain and simple.