TeamTO announced June 13 at Annecy its plans to start a consolidated and free animation school in Bourg-lès-Valence, (Drôme), l’Écas for students with no prior experience or training.
The school’s remit will be to offer 25 students a year (aiming at classes of 50 in the future) with a 6-month course in 3D animation which will provide them with the skills necessary to start a professional career within the TV and film animation industry.
“Ten years ago I set up a similar training program in Vietnam where there was no significant production,” says Guillaume Hellouin, president of TeamTO. “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, and on the campus of, world-renowned animation school La Poudrière in Bourg-lès-Valence, next to one of TeamTO’s own state-of-the-art studios. The plan has been developed in collaboration with the School of Second Chances in an effort to expand the pool of domestic creative talent for the booming French animation industry by recruiting from unconventional sources.
In a unique approach, the training program will be open to candidates with no previous qualifications or experience, selected entirely on the basis of their natural ability and talent. Anyone over 18 can apply for initial consideration through a simple on-line test accessible with a 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: Designing characters in 3D, mastering animation software, preparing backgrounds, and working in a creative team. The school is scheduled to launch in 2018.
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