Minguk Lee
Minguk Lee
VFT Program-2015
Minguk Lee
What education did you have before you took the Visual Effects for Film and Television course?
I studied visual communication media and worked as a graphic designer for two years in my home country South Korea. In order to achieve greater knowledge, I pursued my Master’s degree in Digital Arts at Pratt Institute in New York. After successful completion of my degree at Pratt, I started working as a graphic designer and video artist in the web industry. Being a movie buff, I quickly became involved in the film industry while living in New York, and began to pursue learning the art of visual effects.
Tell us a bit about your experience at the college.
During my vacation in Canada, I noticed that Canada’s film industry is not only booming, but is becoming world-renowned as a training ground for the next generation of industry artists. While in Toronto, I had the chance to learn about a visual effects course being offered at Seneca College. This course is an intensive, 8-month program which is widely regarded as the best in its class for its curriculum.
The opportunity to study at Seneca VFX was the perfect next step to achieving my dream as a visual effects artist. This program is very intense, and offers high level of visual effects training, in only 8- months, therefore this program was the perfect place for me to complete my dream of becoming a highly-skilled visual effects artist.
All instructors work in the industry which makes this programme even better,All of them are very helpful and resourceful. As they work in the industry they'll teach you the newest and best techniques used in the industry. They also provide information about the the work ethics and studio environment.
How do you use the education you got at Seneca in your job today?
I was offered a position at Pixomondo as a matte painter, even before finishing the program. The studio is one of the best visual effects studios in the city and just only in few months, I have worked on several renown tv shows/Movies and many more in works. As a matte painter, painting skill using Photoshop is absolutely important. However, Nuke and Maya projection skills that I learned from Seneca is the key that makes me able to do more advanced matte painting shots.
This was Minguk's demo reel when she completed the program.
What advice would you give potential students who are thinking of taking the course?
The course is very intense and having some prior knowledge would help a lot. As for me i didn’t have much knowledge about visual effects, so had to struggle a lot . Professors give you many assignment, which prepare you for the the hectic work environment in the industry. Without previous visual effects education, it’s hard to master all the software that you are going to learn at Seneca. As i wanted to be a matte painter or a compositor, so I concentrated mainly on Nuke and Maya, but I learned the of basic other software's as well which come in handy and makes you stand out . It is good to know all the software and pipeline in VFX, but i would advise you to spend more time on the particular subjects you are interested in instead all of them. Your main focus should be on creating a good demo-reel which will play the most important role in getting you a job.
Best of luck.
(Written in 2016)