An 'Animated' Experience
MANILA, Philippines - Going beyond the usual class curriculum, iACADEMY continues to be ahead of the pack when it comes to offering innovative courses like BS Animation.
As the launchpad of young IT and business aspirants seeking international careers, iACADEMY couples its innovative courses with intensive training that ensures its students are always globally competitive.
Strategically located at the heart of the Makati Business District, the school offers students a better learning environment by exposing them to how things work in the real world courtesy of the school’s various partner companies. From offering various business and IT bachelor degree programs that have led to an impressive 98 percent hiring rate for the school’s graduates, iACADEMY has also started offering the first and only bachelor degree program for BS Animation in the Philippines.
According to Vanessa Tanco-Cualoping, COO of iACADEMY, aspiring animators need not settle for a course program that just gives them bits and pieces of information about animation. The school’s BS Animation program provides a thorough and advanced understanding of both classical and digital arts that covers everything every would-be animator should know.
After taking the course, graduates are expected to become experts in both 2D and 3D animation approaches while also being capable to take on other related careers as well.
By weeding out unrelated subjects from their course curriculum and hiring seasoned animators and other industry experts to become part of the faculty, the institute was able to come up with a ladderized curriculum that guarantees to deliver results:
• By the end of the two years stay in iACADEMY, students already have the skills to become an assistant animator or junior animator.
• After the third year, students can already work as a assistant layout and background artist, graphic artist, digital painters, 2D digital animator or clean UP/IB, junior 3D modeller, 3D texturer, 3D rigger and 3D animator and also web designers.
• Students will also be capable to do some pre-production tasks like character and background design, scriptwriting, storyboarding, acting for animation and basic effects animation.
• Upon completion of the program, students can already seek employment as an animator or assistant technical director for animation.
As iACADEMY’s BS Animation program focuses more on practical application rather than just lectures, students get to learn everything that they need while keeping the learning atmosphere more fun. They can learn different software applications like Flipbook, Toon Boom Digital and Storyboard Pro, Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, Adobe Premiere and Maya Software. Students can acquire all the basic studies, knowledge and skills in film for animation adapting strictly the industry standard and practice.
Tanco-Cualoping shares that the school is also the authorized training partner of Wacom — the world’s leading manufacturer of pen tablets, interactive pen displays and intuitive interface solutions, which are all being used in animation studios all over the world. So aside from having a traditional lab, iACADEMY also has a Cintiq Lab which uses Wacom as well as the latest software such as Maya 10 and the Adobe CS4 Master Collection.
Through these, the students can easily create their own animated movies and collaborate on various animation projects, which they get to share by holding film viewings. Tanco-Cualoping says, “Our Wacom tie-up is our way to help the animation industry in the Philippines grow. It’s more of an advocacy project that aims to equip our students with the right skills when they apply for jobs when they graduate. This way, the animation studios get skilled talents right away when they hire iACADEMY graduates.”
She adds, “We also aim to show that animation is a great career option for young students here as we do have a lot of fresh talents here in the Philippines.”
The school holds free animation workshops every Saturday for those who want to get a taste of the fascinating world of animation.
The school also has unique internship program where students get to spend six to eight months working for multinational companies and other top companies in the Philippines.
iACADEMY requires a drawing test for students who want to enroll in the animation program.
(iACADEMY is located at 3/F, PhilFirst Bldg., 6764 Ayala Ave. Makati City. For more information, visit www.iacademy.edu.ph or call (+632) 891-3865 or (+632) 891-3727.)
