How flexible is Ringling?

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

<p>TL; DR: How much can I experiment with story, cinematography, acting, and character design without getting pressured to make it more “Pixar-ish” in the Computer Animation program at Ringling College of Art and Design?</p>

<p>I’ve recently been accepted to Ringling’s Computer Animation program. I haven’t received a decision from my top choice school, Character Animation at Calarts, yet, but my guts sort of tell me I’ll be rejected, so for now that’s the circumstance I’m assuming to help make my decisions for the future. I want to decide whether to attend Ringling or to wait another year taking art classes and a job and reapply to Calarts for 2015.</p>

<p>I don’t mind sacrificing my social life and my healthy diet, my sole decision factor is the education and level of experimentation in the schools - I’m not learning animation so I can create feel-good family films that copy the Pixar/Dreamworks/Disney style, I want to be challenged and be able to experiment with different ways of storytelling, acting, and cinematography. It might sound like I should look into experimental animation for this instead, but I want to master the traditional realism aspect of animation as well so I learn what feels emotionally natural and convincing for viewers and put that in less conventional aspects, basically. It looks like Calarts is the kind of school that would encourage its students to do just this, play and experiment and stuff, whereas Ringling is more concerned with meeting the current blockbuster standards that fit classical storytelling and Disney-esque character design and the like. I could be wrong. But all the student films I’ve seen come out of Ringling reinforce this possibility and I heard from a review that students will have a hard time convincing professors to accept projects that stray from these standards.</p>

<p>I don’t want to suggest I think Ringling students are less creative, I’m sure they’re very creative, as are their professors. I also don’t think the mainstream standard is bad, I just wouldn’t devote my energy to it. But if everyone I’m surrounded by is pressured to simulate that style and have little to say about the less “beautiful” things I’d like to make, I won’t be inspired or grow to meet my full potentials as a filmmaker. The good side of it is that I know I’ll learn a ton and can apply my knowledge into my own projects once I graduate, but then I’d have to hold down a job and experiment on the side from scratch, without the direct artistic feedback and mentoring that could improve me a ton. Don’t get me wrong - I realize that developing intellectually as an artist is mostly my responsibility wherever I go, but I’m sure most of you know what I mean when I say that responsibility gets harder to maintain in some places than others. In addition to that, there’s the +40000 bucks I’ll have to rip from my parent’s funds - it’d feel like a waste if all it did was force me to take a job in a major studio slaving away on the type of films I care little about.</p>

<p>Now I suspect I’m being naive, and I’d like to be proven that’s the case - is Ringling really the Disney machine that others make it seem, or is there an innovative side to it? Will professors encourage me to push my boundaries and create something truly original or will they expect pristine, 3D-rendered, audience-pleasing masterpieces all the time? I’d like to know from current students at Ringling Computer Animation, not from those who have merely read stuff. I also realize I might be wrong about Calarts too, that its learning experience really isn’t as innovative as I think it is, but I’ll deal with that issue on some other thread or discussion.</p>

<p>Ultimately, I’d like to stress that I don’t deny that Ringling’s program is fantastic and extremely rigorous and I imagine it takes a really tough person to get through it, so don’t think I’m criticizing its prestige, I’m just trying to decide if it’s for me or not.</p>

2

<p>First, congrats on your acceptance! Get ready to work! But don’t give up your healthy diet (you’ll need it) or your social life (although you’re social life might be limited to other CA students in the labs…sleeping underneath the desk…)</p>

<p>My D was a CA major at Ringling (now at major studio). You’re right–it’s a tough program that prepares you for a real-life career. My D says everybody loves to hire Ringling grads because not only are they great at their work but they don’t complain about hard work and long hours–it’s a vacation after Ringling. She LOVES her work by the way.</p>

<p>I was always amazed at the creativity and different looks of the films that were created by the students. Definitely not all Pixar in the least (but realize Pixar/Disney are industry standards of excellence). And you will be encouraged to pursue your ideas IF you are on a good track. That’s probably true at Cal Arts too. Experimentation is a luxury that time and money don’t allow for in most cases. Sometimes a student has great ideas that are beyond their capabilities to pull off in the time limits or at their learning level–you will be discouraged to continue that particular project with very good reasons. Your goal by senior (actually junior) year will be a final reel which showcases your talents–it will be your resume. If it’s not good–no job. They want it/you to be the best.</p>

<p>Ringling is focused on 3D animation and Cal-Arts on 2 D (although that may be changing). You may want to check that out.</p>

<p>My best advice (no matter what you decide)–Don’t get trapped by your ego–the “I only want to do what I want to do” attitude. You can’t grow and learn following that motto. You need to do what is asked of you by your professors–not because “they’re hampering your creativity” but because they know what works and what doesn’t and want you to ultimately succeed in a very competitive industry. . You’re paying for their expertise–use it. Be very open to criticism and learn from it. Suck up the criticism and grow. It took my D a bit (early thankfully) to realize the criticism (not easy to hear–art is always your “baby”) was about how to improve–not her personally. Her work grew leaps and bounds when she took it to heart. The more open she was, the easier it was to get honest (and hard) feedback on her work. People teach those who want to learn. That advice follows into the workplace–you’ll be learning far beyond the Ringling years (if you choose to go).</p>

<p>You can’t experiment with nearly anything (cooking, music,photography, CA) with anything resembling good results until after the basics are learned. And a higher level of mastery makes for better experimentation. Otherwise you just repeat others mistakes instead of creating something new or innovative. Nobody will be interested.</p>

<p>CA has a ton of different facets–lighting, animation, rendering, story, character, special effects, everything in between. Don’t get stuck on one thing. Open yourself to all the possibilities if you want an industry job.
I feel like Dr. Seuss–the more you know, the farther you’ll go!</p>

<p>Good Luck!!!</p>