[v.e.r.b.a.l]

Hi,

I'm considering going back to college at the end of the year and was thinking about taking this course: http://www.dit.ie/media/documents/st...%20Leaflet.pdf

I've done a degree in IT and English and a higher diploma in Systems Analysis (more IT!) and then somehow ended up working in HR for 5 years!! Basically, I don't like HR and always wanted to do something more creative. I was thinking of getting into creative digital media as a means of combining my creative side with my IT skills.

Has anyone done this course? I've talked to the course co-ordinator a few times, but don't want to be badgering him too much. I'm actually on the GoBus at the moment on the way up to the open day, so I'm sure I'll have more info after that, but I'd like to hear advice from people who have done it (or something similar).

Basically, I don't know what kind of career opportunities open with this qualification? I love film-making and spend most of my free time making small projects with my friends. I already use Premiere Pro and After Effects fairly well, but would love to improve on this and obviously get into the professional field. Does it mean a lot of freelance work? Or are there a lot of opportunities in advertising, tv and ultimately film?

Thanks for any advice!

[nyarlothothep]

Don't take anything I say at face value as everyones experience is different, but basically to get into the VFX industry as a compositor/motion graphics artist, which I'm presuming you want to do or something along those lines? seeing as you mentioned AE and Premiere Pro, you need to be really really good. There are companies in Ireland that might hire you, best bet though would seem to be London, where you have a plethora of companies from Double Negative and Framestore to Rushes, MCP and the like.

You may not start out as a compositor, most will hire you as a runner or roto arist, you can move up from there. Afaik if you work for a company your work can be dependent on the length of time they have to spend on a film project, and if it doesn't fall through you may not have the job you thought you had, this happened to two of my friends. So that could mean up to six months work or none at all depending on how the deal with the film producers falls through. Once you get to a high level the pay can be ridiculously high though this is balanced out by the instability of the industry. For example a recognized animator or technical director could get 65,000 for six months work on a project. Once you've got a few films under your belt its a lot easier to get a job, you're in the network so to speak aswell and word spreads. However getting a start is hard so you need to show them that you can do some very impressive stuff.

The showreel is key, it is your tron disc, it doesn't need to be long, people can get hired on 10 seconds of mindblowing VFX but thats the important bit, it has to be incredible. But on the positive side it doesn't have to be long. In fact showreels should generally be around the 1 min mark max if you're starting out.

[billyduk]

If it is a career in VFX your looking at then I would not be looking at a masters in Ireland. Your best and most affordable option would be an MA in Digital Effects at the National Centre for Computer Animation at the University of Bournemouth. Not only is it the best school for knowledge (they teach industry standard software like Houdini and Nuke) but they provide you with an opportunity to showcase your work to the big boys in the industry like Framestore and Sony Imageworks who are in regular attendance at their annual graduate show in London. Costs less then the Creative Digital Media MA which is just a glossary of Multimedia undergrad courses.

Also puzzles me how DIT are the only Uni in the country who are not availing of the EU subsidies for such courses...

[v.e.r.b.a.l]

Originally Posted by billyduk

If it is a career in VFX your looking at then I would not be looking at a masters in Ireland. Your best and most affordable option would be an MA in Digital Effects at the National Centre for Computer Animation at the University of Bournemouth. Not only is it the best school for knowledge (they teach industry standard software like Houdini and Nuke) but they provide you with an opportunity to showcase your work to the big boys in the industry like Framestore and Sony Imageworks who are in regular attendance at their annual graduate show in London. Costs less then the Creative Digital Media MA which is just a glossary of Multimedia undergrad courses.

Also puzzles me how DIT are the only Uni in the country who are not availing of the EU subsidies for such courses...

For the record, it looks like DIT do have the EU subsidies. You get €3,500 off the cost. Which makes that course in Bournemouth seem a lot more expensive.

I do know what you mean about the DIT course being a bit of a "cut-and-paste" from other courses kind of thing. Are there any other courses (preferably in Ireland) where I could do a one or two year Masters in Digital Effects, utilising my experience with After Effects?

I presume the industry has kind of merged now, so that animation is one with digital effects? I presume the job-front in Ireland is dire (as with nearly every other industry!), but everytime I watch TV, I see visual effects everywhere from music videos to TV spots, to fancy credits to adverts... Surely all this work must create a bit of demand for the industry?

Any thoughts from anyone who's in the industry or studying at the mo?

I'd appreciate any help anyone can give me, cos I feel a bit lost!!

[billyduk]

Originally Posted by v.e.r.b.a.l

For the record, it looks like DIT do have the EU subsidies. You get €3,500 off the cost. Which makes that course in Bournemouth seem a lot more expensive.

I do know what you mean about the DIT course being a bit of a "cut-and-paste" from other courses kind of thing. Are there any other courses (preferably in Ireland) where I could do a one or two year Masters in Digital Effects, utilising my experience with After Effects?

I presume the industry has kind of merged now, so that animation is one with digital effects? I presume the job-front in Ireland is dire (as with nearly every other industry!), but everytime I watch TV, I see visual effects everywhere from music videos to TV spots, to fancy credits to adverts... Surely all this work must create a bit of demand for the industry?

Any thoughts from anyone who's in the industry or studying at the mo?

I'd appreciate any help anyone can give me, cos I feel a bit lost!!

There's no one profession or qualification that covers digital effects as a whole. One piece of a ten second explosion composite would have many different people involved from modelers to simulation td's to compositors to particle effects td's. If you want to break into the industry and study in Ireland then forget it. Bournemouth is the best bang for your buck as the industry links and credibility are tops. If your interested in tv spots and film intro sequences and want to stay in Ireland then look to letterkenny it and their mograph MA.

[nhealymoore]

Hi v.e.r.b.a.l

I have just graduated from the MA in creative digital media with DIT. I also graduated from Letterkennt IT with a BDes in Digital media/multi media back in 2004.

I'm not sure what LYIT is like now, I know they've had a good few changes to their courses since I was there. However, I must let you know that both LYIT and DIT's courses were very general. They would not arm you with the skills or portfolio/showreel needed to get into post production and animation. Since graduating from both courses, I've been working in Graphic Design (print and web design)...now I mostly do banner ads...this is how Irish companies usually use Digital designers.

I do agree with the other posters on your comment....check out the UK first. Their uni's are very geared towards current production companies and industry standards..they also usually help to place graduates as interns in good advertising and production studios (Unlike Irish uni's).

Best of luck with whatever you decide!!

[bloo]

Hi,

Just interested to see what course you ended up taking and how you are finding it, i know the thread is a little old now.

Im interested in the MA motion graphics in Letterkenny, ive been working in print design for a while now but want to make a change over work my interests in that area.

Does anyone on here have any info on the course in Letterkenny? How they found it? how do the Unis here compare to those in the UK, Bournemouth would be great but im not in the position to move over to take a course.

cheers
bloo

[v.e.r.b.a.l]

Originally Posted by bloo

Hi,

Just interested to see what course you ended up taking

Hey Bloo,

Unfortunately I still haven't gone back to college. I've decided 95% on going to ESCAPE Studios in London. I'm self-teaching at the moment and hope to take one of their 3 month courses on Digital Compositing as soon as I can afford it (it costs £16,000!!! )

My close second choice is a one-year Masters in Digital Effects in Bournemouth. From a lot of research, these two courses seem to suit me best. I went with ESCAPE as my first choice because firstly, they are a more specific course aimed directly at becoming a compositor. Also, they have great industry links and a very high success rate. And, on top of that, it'd mean only 3-4 months in college before getting back into the marketplace, rather than a year. That makes for less living cost savings.

I reckon, from everything that I've read, if you want to get into VFX, you're probably best to head to London first. There's a lot more opportunities over there (Framestore, Double Negative, MPC, The Mill to name but a small few) and although it's quite competitive, there's a fairly big demand in the industry. I know a guy working in Double Negative and he reckons this is the right route to go.

This is my plan anyways. I see having worked in places like those listed above, having big quality work in your showreel, when you come back to Ireland - you'll have a competitive advantage over most others. There are VFX jobs in Ireland, but they're a tiny amount compared with the UK, so it'd be good to have that advantage!

[bloo]

Originally Posted by v.e.r.b.a.l

Hey Bloo,

Unfortunately I still haven't gone back to college. I've decided 95% on going to ESCAPE Studios in London. I'm self-teaching at the moment and hope to take one of their 3 month courses on Digital Compositing as soon as I can afford it (it costs £16,000!!! )

My close second choice is a one-year Masters in Digital Effects in Bournemouth. From a lot of research, these two courses seem to suit me best. I went with ESCAPE as my first choice because firstly, they are a more specific course aimed directly at becoming a compositor. Also, they have great industry links and a very high success rate. And, on top of that, it'd mean only 3-4 months in college before getting back into the marketplace, rather than a year. That makes for less living cost savings.

I reckon, from everything that I've read, if you want to get into VFX, you're probably best to head to London first. There's a lot more opportunities over there (Framestore, Double Negative, MPC, The Mill to name but a small few) and although it's quite competitive, there's a fairly big demand in the industry. I know a guy working in Double Negative and he reckons this is the right route to go.

This is my plan anyways. I see having worked in places like those listed above, having big quality work in your showreel, when you come back to Ireland - you'll have a competitive advantage over most others. There are VFX jobs in Ireland, but they're a tiny amount compared with the UK, so it'd be good to have that advantage!

Hey

Sorry to dig up this old thread. Just interested if you managed to get over to brounemouth for the vfx course? I ended up taking the motion graphics course in letterkenny part time.

Just wondering if there would be much interest in a motion graphic/vfx meet up in Galway. It would be interesting to see who is working/learning this stuff, and it might help to get some contacts and inspiration etc.

cheers
bloo