BYU course teaches animation students what life is like in the real world

PROVO — There is both art and science to this animation thing — this process of taking something flat and motionless and giving it dimension and mobility.

That's one reason, says R. Brent Adams, assistant professor of technology, why Brigham Young University's animation program is so successful. Theirs, he says, is an interdisciplinary program involving faculty from the departments of visual arts, theater and media arts, and the industrial design program. "We use both sides of the brain. Our students are artistic, and do beautiful imagery, but they are also very deep technologically. Studios tell us that's the thing they have the hardest time finding, the thing they look for the most — students that are adept at both."

So it is no surprise that BYU has a close to 100 percent job-placement rate for its graduates.

But there's another difference between the BYU program and those offered at other universities and art schools, says Kelly Loosli, assistant professor of theater and media arts, who helps direct the animation program.

"Every other school emphasizes students doing their own thing. We all work together on one senior project."

Some of their colleagues tell them they are doing the students a disservice, he admits. "But the industry loves it."

Adams was at a conference recently where animation mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg was speaking. "He came in and asked who else was doing group projects like BYU. No one was. But this is the way it works in the real world."

So, again, it is no surprise that since the program was launched, BYU students have won three student Emmys and a student Academy Award for their work. Or, that one of their shorts, "Faux Paw: Adventures on the Internet," has become a key part of a new national campaign to teach children the essentials of Internet safety.

In the meantime, alumni of the program have gone on to produce digital effects for the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the recent "Star Wars" films, "Titanic," "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Van Helsing," "I, Robot" and "Garfield."

"Our projects have been so successful," adds Adams, "that we have a hard time keeping students here. They get job offers before they graduate. Most art schools tell their students to not even try for major studio work their first years out. But about half our graduates go to the studios and the other half to video-game companies."