#Education: Screen Training Ireland and Animation Skillnet launch the VFX and Animation Graduate Traineeship 2016/17

Screen Training Ireland and Animation Skillnet launch the VFX and Animation Graduate Traineeship 2016/17.  To coincide with the launch of the VFX and Animation Graduate Traineeship Programme for the Irish Animation and VFX sectors there will be a day long symposium packed full of exciting talks on the latest technological advances in the area of VFX, animation, games and VR which will take place in Dublin on Saturday 22nd October at the Morrison Hotel.

Presentations from top Irish and international animation and VFX practitioners will include Sharon Calahan, Cinematographer, Pixar Animation Studios (A Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, Cars 2,The Good Dinosaur); Richard Baneham, VFX/Animation Supervisor, Weta (Avatar, Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers, The Return Of The King, The Iron Giant); Troy Saliba, Animation Supervisor, Sony Pictures Imageworks, (Alice Through The Looking Glass, Oz The Great And Powerful, The Smurfs 3D, G-Force 3D, Monster House 3D, The Haunted Mansion); Chris Landreth, award-winning Film Director and Animator (Ryan,The End, Bingo, The Spine, Subconscious Password); Simon Kay, Motion Capture Supervisor, Double Negative (Wonder Woman, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, Ant Man, Avengers: Age Of Ultron); Mary Pike, 3D Modeller and Modelmaker, The Workhouse (Alice: Through The Looking Glass, Avatar, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Hobbit Trilogy, Elysium, The Amazing Spiderman); and Wouter Tulp, Character Designer (Trippel Trouble, The Seventh Dwarf).

Following the event, The Visual Effects Society London Section will host a special Dublin screening of 20th Century Fox’s Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, followed by a Q&A with VFX Supervisor Frazer Churchill (The World’s End; Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World; Children Of Men).

The Graduate Traineeship Programme will run over a six month period and is targeted at developing skills and talent in the Irish VFX and animation sector.  The programme will involve a mix of on-the-job training/mentoring as well as additional specialist training/mentoring delivered through Animation Skillnet and Screen Training Ireland.  The participating trainees will receive tailored training as well as specialist skills development in their assigned host studios.  Participating studios for the 2015 traineeship included Cartoon Saloon, Brown Bag Films, Boulder Media, JAM Media, Screen Scene VFX and Windmill Lane VFX.

Sorcha Loughnane, Training Executive, Screen Training Ireland, said:

We are delighted to partner with industry to offer these graduate traineeships in a sector that is growing at such a rapid pace.  Irish animation studios are recognised as world leaders, and our award-winning VFX studios are steadily growing in international reputation.  The traineeship addresses critical skills needs, while the launch event gives the sector access to the absolute cutting edge of Irish and global talent.

If you are interested in attending the event, please register at Animation Skillnet here by Friday the 7th of October.  Tickets are €50 (waged)/€25 unwaged.  The VES screening and Q&A is free of charge, if you wish to attend details on how to register will be available on the website shortly. For further information contact Sorcha Loughnane at sorcha.loughnane@screentrainingireland.ie or Gareth Lee at garethlee@campus.ie

The VFX and Animation Symposium is supported by Screen Training Ireland, Animation Skillnet, the Irish Film Board, the Industrial Development Authority, Enterprise Ireland and the Visual Effects Society.