Continuing education: how seasoned pros, not just young students, keep up with ever-changing post technology

Post, Sept, 2004 by Matthew Armstrong

Whether you're an industry vet looking to polish your chops or green as a grasshopper with dreams of jumping to Hollywood, there's an educational option for you. If you're reading this, we'll assume we can skip past high school. So let's start with the training centers where working professionals can receive quick intensive instruction in any shade of the spectrum of media crafts.

Training Centers

MEDIA TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATES (www.mtatraining.com)

LOCATION: Atlanta

CURRICULUM: Open for a little over two months, MTA offers authorized Avid, Apple and Adobe courses. Each course is one to five days long and they range from introductory to advanced levels.

STUDENTS: In the three weeks after opening, MTA had instructed over 100 students, mostly professionals and "that's generally who we are targeted toward," explains managing director Marc Weir, who has been a certified Avid teacher for the past 11 years.

TUITION: $450 per day, on average.

CHALLENGES/TRENDS: "When I started, it was all relatively simple hardware; you bought a Betacam that lasted 10 years," says Weir. "It's the same challenge as in the industry: putting money away and budgeting while knowing that the computer and software you buy today--costing anywhere from $5,000 to $250,000--are almost obsolete in a year. So every year you have to stay current and that's challenged everyone's budget."

FUTURE MEDIA CONCEPTS (www.fmctraining.com)

LOCATION: New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Orlando, Miami

CURRICULUM: With 11 years in the business, this training center offers an array of manufacturer-authorized courses in film and video editing, sound design, Web design and programming, 3D animation, compositing, DVD authoring and desktop publishing. Instruction includes products from Adobe, Apple, Avid, Boris, Digidesign, Discreet, Macromedia, NewTek, Quark, Softimage and Sony. A typical course is four days of intensive training, though master's classes can last 17 days. FMC is committed to keeping class size to just four to six people with everyone having their own workstation. In addition to the six East Coast locations, FMC trainers will travel to a post house anywhere in the country to teach its full curriculum nationwide.

TUITION: $450 per day, on average.

STUDENTS: FMC trains about 1,500 students per year. A vast majority are professionals in the media industry, though it does get a handful of those looking to break into the business.

CHALLENGES/TRENDS: FMC is challenged with staying on top of ever-changing software, both in Mac and PC versions, in order to teach pros over 60 different courses. But the biggest challenge is the one that has long faced teachers: how to teach effectively to students of different abilities. "Digital media has been democratized, so now we get prosumers, or professionals, looking to learn another craft, along with guys that have been doing it for 20 years," notes president Ben Kozuch.

OREGON 3D (www.oregon3D.com)

LOCATION: Portland

CURRICULUM: As its name suggests, Oregon 3D specializes in animation and 3D design. Most of its classes are tool oriented, focusing on Discreet and Alias software with instruction in 3DS Max, Maya, Flame and Inferno, along with some Adobe programs. Most classes are four days long, but they also have weekend courses, and in the past couple of years have begun two camps: a film camp and a character animation camp. Each lasts up to six weeks and are project-based instead of tool-based. Oregon 3D is also in the process of putting together a 10-week game development camp.

While most courses are tool-based, president Mark Noland explains, "That's not the primary focus. We try to be more workflow oriented to enhance your ability to use that tool."

STUDENTS: Mostly professionals but some hobbyists. "Some high school students come with their parents thinking they can come here instead of college, but we don't have time to teach them how to be artists," explains Noland.

CHALLENGES/TRENDS: While the school is firmly rooted in training people to use applications, Noland says he's always trying to see how to fill a need for the working professional. Curiously, coming from the head of a 3D training school, Noland notes that this void is really "analog" areas like storyboarding, directing and character design. Thus the camps and other courses are more focused on theory and techniques than technology.

UCLA EXTENSION (www.uclaextension.edu)

LOCATION: Los Angeles

CURRICULUM: The continuing education department of the UCLA film program offers certified course in products from Apple, Discreet, Adobe, Avid, Steinberg and Digidesign. Courses range from one day or weekend-intensive to 12 weeks.

STUDENTS: About 5,000 students per year, open enrollment. Located in LA, the school sees students from all experience levels and backgrounds. "Most are professionals in the industry, but that doesn't mean they're professionals on Avid or Final Cut," explains David Declerck, senior manager of the UCLA Extension film program. "We get a lot of filmmakers who come in to learn an editing program just so they can speak the same language with their editor."