To fuel the country’s fastest growing creative industry, one of Australia’s most innovative business schools has forged a partnership with renowned Canadian visual effects educators CG Spectrum, to train film and game artists.
Developed in direct response to industry need, the new partnership between Melbourne- based Republica Education and CG Spectrum will have industry leaders and working professionals provide guidance and quality education in Australia through a new accredited online course.
Launching in May, the Diploma of Screen and Media will aim to fill what many Australian studios have described as a large skills gap in the country, which has led some to take the drastic and expensive step of importing visual effects professionals from markets overseas as opportunities continue to grow.
“Until now, many Australians looking to break into the visual effects industry have had to go to schools abroad or to Hollywood to have the chance to study with professionals who are currently working,” explained Republica Education co-founder David Trewern.
“Similarly, many of the visual effects studios here in Australia have had to bring in talent from the US, Canada and the UK to work on the many and growing number of projects now being undertaken in this country. Not only is this an expensive exercise, but has led to industry frustration that there is limited appropriate skills training available here to help further expand this rapidly growing creative industry.”
Trewern said generous tax breaks and government subsidies, teamed with an outstanding roster of Australian studio talent, has seen the sector in Australia rapidly expand in recent years to become one of the fastest growing creative industries. But industry feedback indicated local skills were lacking; so Republica searched for a global partner to bring the best-in-breed education approach to Australia, to ensure the creative opportunity could flourish.
Established in Canada in October 2011, digital art and animation school CG Spectrum has a current industry placement rate of 90%. Trewern said the CG Spectrum approach mirrored that of Republica; leveraging the best in the industry to provide cutting edge curriculum and learning experiences to help students graduate ‘Industry Ready’ and ‘Future Ready’.
“Canada has long been recognised as a country leading the globe in its industry-connected visual effects training, with CG Spectrum at the front of the pack. As such, when Republica EDU was looking for a recognised and accomplished partner to launch industry-led education specifically in the area of visual effects and digital art here in Australia, CG Spectrum was the obvious choice,” he explained.
Trewern said the resulting Diploma of Screen and Media curriculum offered by CG Spectrum through Republica, has been developed in conjunction with Australia’s visual effects industry to ensure that local talent is skill up, and Australia’s fastest growing creative industry could be fostered.
The school will continue to consult with the local industry to ensure it is producing the most highly-skilled and industry-ready graduates possible, with industry leaders such as Simon Rosenthal, head of VFX for Illoura to sit on a program advisory committee.
“There’s no doubt the visual effects industry has boomed and created hundreds of thousands of jobs across the globe for talented people seeking to change or start a new career,” explained CG Spectrum Director and former Nickelodeon animator Jeff Pepper. “CGI breakthrough movies like Avatar and AAA game like Call of Duty have employed thousands of digital artists alone.
“More recently the industry itself and jobs originally based in Hollywood have been spreading across the world. Studios have been popping up globally to employ tomorrow’s generation of animators and artists to create the next top films and games, and Australia is one of the countries capitalising on this boom. Local studios like Animal Logic, Illoura, Rising Sun Pictures and Fuel VFX are all producing outstanding work,” he continued.
“It’s not uncommon for half of film budgets to now go into CGI work, and video games are of course completely CG and require large number of skilled staff high levels of personnel to complete. People need to be educated in the latest computer software and artistic techniques to make these films and games possible, and it’s exciting to bring the opportunity to do just that here to Australia.”
The Diploma curriculum provides a broad foundation of skills, which then allows students to focus on an area of speciality in their final semester, that could include tracks such as 3D modeling, concept design, lighting and rendering, texturing, visual effects and animation/rigging. All tracks will be taught by industry professionals currently working in their respective fields. This then could lead to an Advanced Diploma in their chosen field of speciality.
“With the film and game industry expanding far beyond the boundaries of Hollywood it is about time Australia answers the call for its future creative professionals. We feel we can start by building it a new speciality school that focuses on career training for visual effects and animation. The hope is that we can then place these individuals in professional studios right here in Australia,” Pepper concluded.
“Timing is everything and we need to move fast to ensure we can keep this burgeoning Australian industry growing. Republica wants to play a part in this rise of the visual effects industry by further fuelling its creative economy. We want to ensure our students are equipped with the necessary tools to turn their creative passions into successful and exciting careers, and this new Diploma will help achieve this,” Trewern added.
For more information on the new Diploma of Screen and Media visit http://cgspectrum.edu.au/