$$ Vancouver Film School $$

[tmh]

im a VFS student in 3D VFX...

your success is directly proportional to the amount of work you put in..
there are 6 terms, each 8 weeks, and each completely varied with class times..

for 3D, you spend the first 3 terms learnin 2d/3d principles/concepts and the programs themselves, and term 3 you start developing your own production, doin concept development, character design, set, etc etc....
i remem we had about 13-14 3 hour classes a week in term 3, as opposed to 3-5 classes a week in term 4 and 5, since you're in production...

this is a school where you must work hard, and attend basically EVERY class on time....after about 10 absences (not days, but classes) they call you in to warn you, and after im not sure after how many they kick you out...i think its dependent on how far you are falling behind or wutnot..
on a similar note if ur more than 15 minutes late for class ur marked absent...

instruction is by no means very professional (although the most instructors know their field very well, and are cool ppl) until you reach term 4/5 where industry professionals basically act as assistants or mentors... we currently have people from pixar and ILM helping us with our projects

administration licks balls, and is completely unprofessional, which isnt surprising seeing as the program manager is the ex-admissions advisor....she obviously got the position cuz shes quite attractive...

if ur local and the tuition is 26k, i only suggest you choose VFS if the money isnt that important to you...if ur an international student and you must pay the newly raised tuition of somethin like 45k, i REALLY dont think its worth the quality of instruction...

as for resources, this school is quite up to date..
they sport an impressive amount of software licences, with over 120 (could be more now) XSI advanced licences, and a similar amount of Maya licences (these are the more costly packages of the many they have)....

the computers are up to date as well, as they have dual 2.8ghz processors with hyperthreading, the newest quadro4 video cards, 2 gigs of ram, etc etc...

the new campus we just moved to on burrard/pacific is fairly nice, although they havent nearly finished settin up everything, like the nice theaters they used to have at the old campus...


as a final comment, since this has become too long a post...
if you are capable of working long hours on a daily basis, ESPECIALLY when you do not have class that forces you to sit down and work (like term 4/5 slack schedule) then this school might be appealing to you...

if you just like to complete only wuts neccessary to move on without gettin kicked out, i really dont suggest this school, as you are, whether you like it or not, in competition with every other 3d student on this continent when applying for jobs...

[Royal_Phunk]

I go to the Ai in Burnaby taking the recording program, i looked @ the ciriculum for VFS and they do have some different course topics, It also looks like @ VFS goes through the dense courses like physics of sound and musictheory a litte quick imo. This can be seen positivley as not wasting time but also theres so much in a topic like that youd be missing lots of stuff. I beleive that certain courses like music theory and the physics of sound deserve more than to be blown through if you planning for a major career in sound. However im not the biggest fan of Ai, the admin sux they have no idea what theyre doing. The schools less about creativity as they say and more about technical aspects. Once youve been for a year, you get to use the nice studios like the Fairburn room, (digidesign pro controller + Full size post editing room decked out with foley room adjacent) The main rooms are pretty nice for audio anyways, dual 2.0 g5 s PT 6.4 with HD systems in one room mboxes in the other)

Tho is doesnt sound as strict as VFS its definately not an easy ride through. I work my ass off for that stupid school. Most of the teachers are great. Im in the studio on saturday nights sometimes when i should be clubbing only to find theres a bunch of other kidz there too so in the end i think its about how much you yourself can get out of the school in addition to what their teaching you. Our teachers have told us that people in the audio industry musically anyway arent interested in what degree you have from what school (although it helps) its about who have you worked with not about a piece of paper from a school that says you paid them enough money that a bunch of other kids have too. Theres no shortage of kids in these expensive schools so a one year program @ VFSsounds good in that respect.