@ ex Capilano
@€em College

informer

UF

Ps

1968~1993

Vol. XVI
No. 5
May 19/94

Celebrating 25 Years of Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Peter Kellington, Media Resources
coordinator, is excited about Capilano
College’s new animation program. “If I
was 20 years younger, I’d be looking at
a whole different career.”

The Commercial Film Animation
program will train students in classical
animation techniques. “There is a
considerable need for this right now,”
says Peter. “The B.C. film industry is
hot and animation is becoming increas-
ingly popular.” Rumour has it that
Disney is talking about moving to
Vancouver.

Funding for the program comes by
way of the provincial government’s new
Skills Now initiative, but the idea for it
came out of meetings four years ago
with the B.C. Motion Picture Industry
Training Council.

Greg Lee, Vice-President Career/
Vocational Programs, and Jim Bizzochi,
Media Resources instructor, selected
animation from the council’s long list of
requirements for a viable B.C. film
industry. “It struck us as a fit, because
we have a strong design and illustration
program, Infotec and music,” says Greg.

With funding approved, the College
plans to begin a one-year certificate
program this November, then have the
fully-developed two-year program up
and running by September 1995.

“This is a very exciting time for the
College because now we have all the
parts to become the premier media
centre in Western Canada,” says Peter.
“Infotec, commercial music, graphic

New Commercial Animation
Program to begin Fall ’94

design, theatre, communications ... the
animation program anchors all that. It
gives us something special that no one
else has.”

Peter says industry involvement will
remain a key component, and that he
expects instructors and students will be
closely associated with the industry. “It
is set up to produce commercial anima-
tors, so I would assume there will be a
practicum aspect.”

The two-year diploma program is
designed for students who already have a
foundation education in art, and will
build upon other programs in the college
system. Peter says students will develop
their skills over a wide range of courses,
including life drawing, layout and

design, character
drawing, script writing,
) and of course, basic
e animation. “The pro-
gram is for artists,” he
stresses. “We will teach
them about making
images move, but they
will have to be able
to draw.”
While films such as
Who Framed Roger
Rabbit and the TV series
The Simpsons have
made cartoon animation
wildly popular, this is
not the only form of the
art. Computer animation
has created some
revolutionary images
such as the recent Olympic Coke ad
with the polar bear and the unrelenting
Arnold Schwarzenegger films, which
illustrate the new marriage of technology
and art. As animation technology
advances, Peter says the program will
likely move into a more technological
approach, but for the moment this will be
the ‘classical’ animation program.

re)
Illustrations: Glen Lovett bx

Inside ...

Skills Now!
Joan Acosta to receive
Order of B.C.