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I'm proud to present our Winter 2008 student reel from Lost Boys Learning. You'll see samples of projects from our first class, second class and our current crew, who are just now entering Term 2. I'm also proud to let you know that our recent grads are receiving positive industry attention landing jobs at acclaimed studios such as; Anthem Visual Effects, Image Engine, Satellite Studios, Inlight Entertainment, Vanguard Animation and Pendulum Studios.
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This past Fall saw us moving into our new studio, and gearing up our practical and on-set toolbox including acquiring the new HD camera and all new student workstations. Starting in September 2008, our program will simply be called Visual Effects Diploma, reflecting our commitment to a visual effects intensive focus, including 3D, compositing, pre-production planning, and filming both on location and practical elements.
(Download Higher Resolution Quicktime - Right Click to "Save As")
Credits: James Carver, Jessica Johnston, Abiola Onikoyi, Patrick Switzer (Class of 2006); Chris Bennett, TJ Fraser, Alex Lama, Manuel Llamas, Dalen Martin, Poshin Wang (Class of 2007); Jennifer Bates, Andy Chen, Drew Current, Hsuan-Yi Fang, George Kiparissous, Nicholas Knudson, Perry Sohn (Class of 2008).
I'd love to hear any comments on the reel and answer any questions you may have about the program.
Cheers,
M
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Lost Boys Learning offers a one year intensive diploma program, providing Visual Effects Training for Film and Television in a studio environment. We are currently taking applications for the 2008-2009 program. Full details are available on our website at www.lostboys-learning.com.
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If anyone would like to see more information on the projects in the LBL demo reel you can find it here:
http://www.lostboys-learning.com/docs/LBL_Brochure_2008.pdf
http://www.lostboys-learning.com/docs/LBL_Projects_2008.pdf
Gillian
At the Filmakademie BW, we have two years of harsh, short-term projects (the shortest is 4 weeks) and then the diploma one-year projects. Many students just fall apart in that year because the time frame is beyond their ability to schedule. Other students flourish. I've been trying to anticipate it by focusing on break-down sessions (landmark-planning, setting targets,etc.) in the quicker turn-over projects, but... not quite as successful in getting it across as I'd like to be.
Again, great job.
Congratulations!
Great stuff - particularly the visualization work. Those skills look totally there.
The vfx stuff lacked the last 5%, I'd say... few shots had that final polish. But that's being "work-experience" critical.
Thanks for the kudos Dobermunk!
Yes, the students have really been put through the paces and have come out with some very respectable work.
Now in regards to that pesky last 5%...
I have to say, that in production, we are always relieved to get to the 95% mark.
Schedules are so tight that we have to prioritize the the most important details and let the viewers imagination fill in the rest. From an artist stand point, even Lost Boys Studios' award winning Bacardi campaign could have used an extra week for finessing...
I place a tight schedule on the students' projects to better emulate production experience. The projects in Term one (Title, spoon, ghost, product shot and saucer.) have time lines that range from 2 to 4 weeks. This gives the students a maturity and discipline so they can better gauge when enough is enough.
Cheers,
M
Hey Dobermunk,
Thanks for sharing that info.
I'm always interested to hear how other schools are structuring their programs.
Yes, I can imagine how some of the students must completely loose their marbles on a one year project. I'm not even sure if I would have the attention span to stay focussed that long...
I was the VFX Mentor at the Vancouver Film School (VFS) before I started my own program. The students there had 2 months of preproduction (without any formal input from the senior mentors!) followed by approximately 6 months of production. That created a lot of unnecessary pressure to create something "EPIC!" In the process a lot of them lost sight of industry relevance and became entangled in a project that was very high risk due to its overwhelming complexity.
Before teaching I ran a VFX Studio in Vancouver so many of my staff came from VFS. After a while I noticed that every student that made it to an interview with us had broken out of the "short film" mold and instead created a variety of shorter more bite sized projects. Under this model they were able to better balance their portfolio and simply cut out any shots that didn't turn out up to their standards.
Do your students work on a single shot for the year period or are they working out a sequence that could have a variety shots at different complexity levels? If they focus on a sequence then at least they wouldn't have all their eggs in one basket. Anything that wasn't working out could be cut.
Thanks again for sharing!
M
Its very open... the students decide.
If someone's more interested in vfx, they might sign on to a larger Filmakademie project, acting as pre-viz artist, vfx supervisor, team manager, comp or fx artist. Or all of these. These students work in a team with other school departments - direction, editing, camera, set design & script. This is a fantastic resource that few other cg schools offer. Next year we'll even have an acting school in the mix, and we're developing some course content in cooperation with them targeting blue-screen acting, mo-cap and such.
Many students (more than I feel is healthy) direct their own films, and with this (of course) all the asset creation and animation that goes with that task, in a student level project.
Some students decide not to do any project of their own, but to contribute to films from the others - specializing as animator, modeler, designer, etc. or a mix
We're fortunate to have a very wonderful, collaborative environment and nearly all the students help each other with less major tasks along the way. Even those who've taken on a film project. One of the greatest things about the school is that there is no 'house' style. This makes getting across a basis understanding of project management crucial and each student is free to explore where the intend to hit the market. The variance in styles and stories is very rewarding, though. We have many artistic statements, but also splatter flicks, sci-fi and Pixar-oriented animation stuff.
In the past we've had many epic projects and students stayed on (sometimes years!) to finish them - now we limit films to ~ 4 minutes length and the students have to present a production plan in a series of sign-off steps.
Thanks for the info Dobermunk, I'd like to see samples of your students work when you get the chance. Maybe you can cut together a montage and post it up in your own thread.
I have an little update that includes some of the students recent insect projects.
(Click to visit our Project Still Gallery.)
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LBL - Student Montage - Winter 2008 (V1.1)[/B]
(Download Higher Resolution Quicktime - Right Click to "Save As")
Stay tuned for further updates as I collect up our Still Life renders and prepare a little write up about our recent industry tour.
Enjoy!
M
Lost Boys Learning offers a one year intensive diploma program, providing Visual Effects Training for Film and Television in a studio environment. We are currently taking applications for the 2008-2009 program. Full details are available on our website at www.lostboys-learning.com.