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TeamTO Plans Professional Gateway with Free Animation School

The free, unconventional, six-month professional training program for students with no previous experience will consider natural ability, and is scheduled to launch in Bourg-lès-Valence, France in 2018.

ANNECY, FRANCE -- European CGI studio TeamTO announced yesterday the formation of a free animation school in Bourg-lès-Valence, France for students with no prior experience or training. The school will offer a 6-month course in 3D animation to 25 students a year, providing them with the necessary skills to work in the TV and film animation industry. TeamTO is optimistic about the program, aiming to increase yearly enrollment to 50 students in the near future.

TeamTO President Guillaume Hellouin commented, “Ten years ago I set up a similar training program in Vietnam where there was no significant production. The school was the seed that became what is Vietnam’s thriving 3D animation industry today, so I am very optimistic about the impact that training and education can have on increasing the talent pool for France’s extremely busy and demanding market.”

TeamTO plans to run the school in partnership with world-renowned animation school La Poudrière in Bourg-lès-Valence. The program will be held on La Poudrière’s campus, next to one of TeamTO’s state-of-the-art studios. The plan has also been developed in collaboration with the School of Second Chances to expand the pool of domestic creative talent for the booming French animation industry.

The training program will be open to candidates with no previous qualifications or experience, selected entirely based on their natural ability and talent. Anyone over 18 -- with or without a degree or training -- can apply for initial consideration through a simple online test accessible with a desktop browser, smart phone or tablet. The results will be used to select the top 100 contenders who display the best natural aptitude for animating. A second, more sophisticated and complex test, followed by a personal interview, will serve to identify the top and final 25 candidates.

The curriculum will cover 3D character design, animation software, background preparation and working on a creative team. The first three months will be spent on basic skills to be applied on group projects during the rest of the term. The curriculum will also include art history lectures, during which the students will acquire broad knowledge of the world of animation, and will be exposed to key animated works. The school is scheduled to launch in 2018.

TeamTO is renowned for producing sophisticated CGI animation, such as their Emmy-winning series Angelo Rules (Super RTL) and My Knight and Me (Cartoon Network).

Source: TeamTO