Sunday, June 7, 1998 - North Shore News - 9

· College to open lilm training centre
Animation
program also
expanded

Michael Becker
News Editor
michael@nsnews.com

CAPILANO College is
making movie magic.
The new Capilano College
Film Industry Craft Training
Centre opens in September.
Located on the north cam­
pus, the centre wiU provide a
new full-time program in pro­
fessional film studies.
The facility will include
more than 19,000 sq. ft. of
dedicated space to train stu­
dents in film construction,
painting, hair and make-up, set
decoration, grip, cinematogra­
phy and other related crafts.
Fifty students will be given
an introductory overview to

the industry. A full-time techni­
cal training program, for stu­
dents who wish to learn specif­
ic film crafts, is being developed
for January 1999.
Program coordinator Bob
Morris said the college has con­
sulted with film unions, pro­
duction companies and indus­
try professionals to ensure the
courses meet professional stan­
dards.
The college has offered a
continuing education film pro­
gram since 1992.
That program has grown to
include more than 40 part-time
courses and apprenticeships in
most areas of motion picture
production.
Capilano College is increas­
ingly focusing on vocational
occupations in the film indus­
try. Said Morris, "We'll be leav­
ing the training of future
Steven Spielbergs to other peo­
ple."
Morris said the f ilm centre
will be entirely student-funded.

"We're running it cost-recover­
able, there's no extra govern­
ment funding for this," he said.
The film centre comple­
ments other media-related pro­
grams already offered at the
college such as media resources
and commercial animation.
The college will be adding a
$2.5 million RlOOOO Silicon
Graphics computer animation
lab to its animation program in

September as well.
The technology represents
the highest-end platform for
movie and computer anima­
tion.
Said Carol McCandless,
dean of Science and Media
Technology, "These initiatives
move us one step closer to the
completion of the Capilano
College Centre for Arts and
Entertainment, which we hope

to open within five years."
Silicon
California-based
Graphics Inc. brings in its
Magic Bus to the North
Vancouver campus on Monday.
The bus will be open to the
public between 10:30 a.m. and
4 p.m. in front of the Birch
Building.
The display showcases
much of the computing tech­
nology that will be part of the

animation lab. McCandless said
the lab will be upgraded to an
Rl2000 platform within 18
months.
Sixteen computer animation
program students will have 24hour access to the lab for the
full 16 weeks of the program.
Silicon Graphics' tools are
widely used by the entertain­
ment, energy, sciences and edu­
cation industries.