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Susan's Field Trip - final post
So I am home from our LA trip, my apologies for not posting sooner. I must say the entire trip was exhausting, but no matter how tired I am, it does not discount the amount of information and cool things we got to see first hand.
For those of you interested in how I put this trip together, I would be happy to share the info on how I make it happen. One, we add a lab fee to the class to pay for the expenses. It is not an ordinary type of field trip – travel, food, transportation cost, all add up and would kill our department budget. However, the experience is so valuable my students are willing to pay the fee (this year the fee was $750). When I plan our trips I try to visit three places a day. Easier said then done, especially since I am not a LA native, nor do I know my way around that well. The other thing I use is Yahoo maps, (not that they are always right), but it gives me a really good idea of where things are located in relation to one another – very important. I also plan free time, to give students a little bit of time to explore the area on their own. This year’s student group may have gotten into a little mischief (trying to find a hookah bar), but they always showed up on time in the morning.
The other thing you might be interested in is how I get in to all of these companies. There is no easy answer, networking at conferences, is one way. My primary way is just cold calling and asking the receptionist who to talk to, labor intensive, but well worth the effort.
This year I worked really hard not to have duplications – it is true, once you see a hundred people working in cubes – everything looks pretty much the same. I think it is important to show students the different cultures. From a students vantage point they can visualize if they would want to work there. One of the questions I ask during our visits, do you have fun? Now, everyone says yes, but how they say yes and looking around at the faces of the employees is a true giveaway.
As for the last days of our trip, it was full of information. First off, Scot Boyd at R&H gave us the best tour ever. One Rhythm & Hues – John Hues was one of the first people to put computer graphics into film – The Black Hole was the first film with 10 seconds of CG. Second, R&H has a tremendous amount of history, we were shown everything from film editorial – including an antique moviola and flatbed editor, to their two 70 terabyte – one for storage and one for pipeline. R&H developed the first talking animals (Babe, Dogs & Cats and soon Charlotte’s Web). In talking to some of their artist, they suggested using Body Paint software because it allows you to paint in 3D. The visit was awesome as usual.
We also visited Infinity Ward at their new space. They are growing and I am looking forward to seeing their next game. At Infinity and many other places, they suggested that students have foundation art skills as software is easily outdated and methods will change. In our talks they suggested using forums like CG Talk to get feed back – as opposed to only relying on teachers and other students for critique. “There are always people that are better that you, put your egos away.” I think that is very sound advice. They suggested tailoring portfolios to fit the company they are applying to – even for internships.
Our last day was spent at The Post Group and USC’s Game Lab. I was really impressed with what Tracy and her team have done with their program. It is always hard to play show and tell to the competition, but in truth, it really isn’t. It is a good idea to show students what other students need to do for the degrees, raising the bar on what is needed to succeed.
I have tons of photos from the trip, if you are interested in seeing more, I’ll be happy to send you a few. I want to thank the following people for making the trip a huge success: Bary W Pollack – my co-chair, House of Moves, Activision, Naughty Dog, Imageworks, Blur, Lou Castle at EA, Scot Boyd at Rhythm & Hues, Infinity Ward, The Post Group and Tracy Fullerton at USC’s Game Lab – and of course my students.
Susan
Susan Gold
IGDA Education Chair
For those of you interested in how I put this trip together, I would be happy to share the info on how I make it happen. One, we add a lab fee to the class to pay for the expenses. It is not an ordinary type of field trip – travel, food, transportation cost, all add up and would kill our department budget. However, the experience is so valuable my students are willing to pay the fee (this year the fee was $750). When I plan our trips I try to visit three places a day. Easier said then done, especially since I am not a LA native, nor do I know my way around that well. The other thing I use is Yahoo maps, (not that they are always right), but it gives me a really good idea of where things are located in relation to one another – very important. I also plan free time, to give students a little bit of time to explore the area on their own. This year’s student group may have gotten into a little mischief (trying to find a hookah bar), but they always showed up on time in the morning.
The other thing you might be interested in is how I get in to all of these companies. There is no easy answer, networking at conferences, is one way. My primary way is just cold calling and asking the receptionist who to talk to, labor intensive, but well worth the effort.
This year I worked really hard not to have duplications – it is true, once you see a hundred people working in cubes – everything looks pretty much the same. I think it is important to show students the different cultures. From a students vantage point they can visualize if they would want to work there. One of the questions I ask during our visits, do you have fun? Now, everyone says yes, but how they say yes and looking around at the faces of the employees is a true giveaway.
As for the last days of our trip, it was full of information. First off, Scot Boyd at R&H gave us the best tour ever. One Rhythm & Hues – John Hues was one of the first people to put computer graphics into film – The Black Hole was the first film with 10 seconds of CG. Second, R&H has a tremendous amount of history, we were shown everything from film editorial – including an antique moviola and flatbed editor, to their two 70 terabyte – one for storage and one for pipeline. R&H developed the first talking animals (Babe, Dogs & Cats and soon Charlotte’s Web). In talking to some of their artist, they suggested using Body Paint software because it allows you to paint in 3D. The visit was awesome as usual.
We also visited Infinity Ward at their new space. They are growing and I am looking forward to seeing their next game. At Infinity and many other places, they suggested that students have foundation art skills as software is easily outdated and methods will change. In our talks they suggested using forums like CG Talk to get feed back – as opposed to only relying on teachers and other students for critique. “There are always people that are better that you, put your egos away.” I think that is very sound advice. They suggested tailoring portfolios to fit the company they are applying to – even for internships.
Our last day was spent at The Post Group and USC’s Game Lab. I was really impressed with what Tracy and her team have done with their program. It is always hard to play show and tell to the competition, but in truth, it really isn’t. It is a good idea to show students what other students need to do for the degrees, raising the bar on what is needed to succeed.
I have tons of photos from the trip, if you are interested in seeing more, I’ll be happy to send you a few. I want to thank the following people for making the trip a huge success: Bary W Pollack – my co-chair, House of Moves, Activision, Naughty Dog, Imageworks, Blur, Lou Castle at EA, Scot Boyd at Rhythm & Hues, Infinity Ward, The Post Group and Tracy Fullerton at USC’s Game Lab – and of course my students.
Susan
Susan Gold
IGDA Education Chair
posted by IGDA Education SIG at 11:50 AM
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