anyone that has ever red one of my threads or answer, might have notice that I simply adore animation, in case any of you haven't here it is...
Animation IS one of the most important things in my life, I always wanted to be an animator ever since I was born, and I consider myself lucky and blessed to be able to work as animator!
but, animation is like a muscle that needs to be exercised, and if you keep on doing the same type of animation for too long no matter how good you are(especially if you work as a commercial animator), you end up only being able to do that style and loose all flexibility... as I said just like a muscle.
So, because of this I thought that the animation mentor scheme was a great idea! What? Pixar animators providing a course to teach their trick? Amasing! I thought that my prayers where answered!!!
until I saw this, this morning... http://www.deathfall.com/article.php?sid=4500
and my heart sank...
The reverse of the coin of having the pleasure of being an animator in a country like mine is simple... No matter how good you are, you always end up being badly paid! Yes, I am badly paid, even for a little country like this, so I can't afford to do this course even from the comfort of my home. It makes me angry that only a priviledged few will be able to do this course, and that people like me won't even be able to take a sniff of this lovely top animation course.
I know that the people teaching in this course are really good... but, does this really justify the price?
"check it out, you know it makes sense!" http://miaumau.blogspot.com/
WOW, $2000-2500 per class!? I figured it would be more like 2 grand for the entire course, especially since it's taught online and you don't earn a degree or anything. As a comparison, the classes for my bachelor's degree were $1200 a pop. I was also looking forward to signing up for this program, but now it's no longer a possibility. What a shame. :( I hope that they will reconsider the pricing structure before launch.
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IMO, yes; it does. If you break it down, it's about $167 US for each "class session", which is around the average for any post-secondary non-college class, like adult ed classes offered by the local community college. It's waaaay cheaper than adult ed at a university.
Add in that the courses are specific to our field of interest and work, and that it's taught by some of the top professionals working today, and it makes it well worth the cost. Heck, I paid over $500 for Richard Williiams' Master Class, and all I did in that was listen to him talk and scribble notes furiously for two days.
I understand the issue of not being able to afford it, but they have every right to charge what the market will bear. If no one signs up at $2k, they'll have to drop the price.
And I am in no way affiliated with this organization or their effort. Just offering MHO.
But at least those people are with you when they teach, that's what I mean... I thought that one of the reasons why they put the course on the internet was to make it available to everyone, inside and outside the US, with those prices... well, I'm definately out... such a shame...
"check it out, you know it makes sense!" http://miaumau.blogspot.com/
I wouldn't regard it with that much optimism, but I also wouldn't look to it with that much cynicism. I just registered for classes today before my transfer next fall, and I'm -at- a community college. 4 courses, $2755, all on the subject. All studios in fact.
I wondered about the cost, but on that page (which essentially is a copy of the newsletter), it details just how many mentors there -are-, which I didn't know before. It may be animation, may be fun, may be challening, but this is their free time and they are worth more than just anyone, especially just any teacher, for their experience and their connections. Plus consider that Beck quit Pixar, so essentially there's a mouth to feed unless he's doing other magic on the side because he'd previously said he was doing AM full-time now. The community aspect of the site, basically anything but the video transfers, unless they got bamboozled, is a solitary cost, and most virtual hosting today (not even buying a server, just conventional annual hosting like you and I would buy) offers unmetered bandwidth at no extra charge. For the security of the site they might've invested in hardcore technology. There are some things about it that have a right to cost a lot, but others where they could (and I'm sure have) cut corners.
When you consider cost to run + markup to pay people for their time/survival, I'm sort of surprised it's 2 grand. I =WISH= it were closer to 1250. But even right there. What was it, four main courses at 2000 min? 8000-15000 bucks. That's not even a year of -tuition only- at Ringling, and in a year you're revamped vs. four. That's nothing against conventional schools, I actually am on their side until AM can produce something really good from its hardest workers. Until then it's a novelty gaining its footing (albeit with cheers from beta testers.)
It may be best to sit out the first round and reap the benefits of lessons learned the second time around.
Hello.
The cost of the classes is the same as the classes here.
I would think they would be able to do better with the prices.
For the price here (and at most schools) the tech applications ...which our case you get a 65,000 square ft. facility full of the latest technology.
Do they provide a machine with software?
Seems really expensive!
If you take the right folks here and other places you can do better- I taught one person on the mentor list, others include folks who are feature animators, character leads, head of story, layout artists and animators (academy award winners and nominees)....and 30 years of experience.
I say keep looking!
Larry
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In case that wasn't rhetorical, AM says they teach animation by concept so that the medium, while important, is not the central focus. That said, they lean on 3D as a majority rule, and have worked a deal with Alias/Wavefront to get cheaper versions of Maya for students for use on their own machine.
Where do you teach Larry?