Creativity for Hire at Animation Industry Day

Representatives from Canada’s top film, media and entertainment companies will gather at Sheridan on April 24 and 25 to hire Canada’s future stars in animation and digital visual effects.  Over 200 students from the Bachelor of Animation and post-graduate Computer Animation programs are busy putting the finishing touches to their senior year films for viewing by prospective employers.  Among the attendees will be Nelvana, Pipeline Studios, Mercury Filmworks (Ottawa), Rockstar Games, Guru and DHX Media (Halifax and Vancouver), to name just a few.  HP Canada and NVIDIA are the presenting sponsors of this year’s event.

On April 24, screenings take place that showcase each student’s culminating work – a one minute film they create from script to screen.  (A sneak peek at this year’s films can be found at http://bit.ly/QD0IT3).  Students tackle everything from the concept art and storyboarding, to the design, art direction, layout and animation.  Following the screenings, students display their portfolios on computer terminals so that industry reps can see more of their work.  Formal interviews will take place the next day.

Tony Tarantini, a professor in the Bachelor of Animation program and coordinator of Industry Day, is excited by this year’s event and the prospects for Sheridan animation students.  “The industry is thriving and looking to hire a lot of our students,” he says.  “Sheridan has been teaching animation for over 40 years, and so we’ve seeded the industry.  Many of the industry reps who are coming this year are either our graduates, or work at production houses run by our alumni.”  The full schedule for the day can be found on the Animation Industry Day website.

About Sheridan:

Sheridan’s Faculty of Animation, Arts and Design is the largest arts school in Canada. The wide range of programming – from animation to gaming, illustration to music theatre, and photography to crafts and design – results in a dynamic and stimulating learning environment.  Sheridan is also vested in making creativity a tangible and defining notion of the College.  The aim is to build a new kind of postsecondary institution in Ontario – one that remains focused on undergraduate, applied learning that is strongly connected to fields of practice, but that also meets university accreditation requirements so that graduates have more pathways to continued learning – today’s pre-requisite for personal, career, and industry success.

Media are welcome.  To RSVP or obtain additional information, please contact:

Susan Atkinson

Manager, Communications and Media Relations

905-815-4073

Susan.atkinson@sheridancollege.ca