Siddharthan UK-2019

What education did you have before you took the Visual Effects for Film and Television course?

Before I joined Visual Effects in Seneca, I had completed my Bachelor’s degree in Visual Communication, in India. I wanted to learn Visual Effects, but there wasn’t any hope for that in the course. So, I started learning 3D modeling and some basic compositing on my own while doing the course. And after the course, I just put together a reel with everything I’ve learned so far and applied to some of the studios in the city. I attended some interviews and although I did well, it was all just basing rotoscoping with the lowest wage you could imagine. That’s the worst thing about getting into the Visual Effects industry in India.

So I decided to join a software company as a Graphic Designer. It was not really the job I wanted to get into but I really didn’t want to waste my time doing nothing at home. While working there, I started looking up on Colleges and Universities that had a Visual Effects course and Seneca was reviewed as one of the top institutions to learn arts and science. Quickly put together a reel with whatever I knew at that time and applied to the course right away. And I still remember how amazing it felt when I got the acceptance letter.

Tell us a bit about your experience at the college.

I had so much fun learning and exploring the process of creating astounding Visual Effects for film and television. All the teachers on this course are professional Visual effects artists working in the industry right now which is so AWESOME and the softwares we get to use in college are up to date, so you don’t really have to worry about learning something old and struggling in your first job. The program coordinator, Joe Raasch, has great experience in both working in this industry and introducing people to this industry. I was really lucky to have him and Cameron Kerr guide me through the ways of compositing. Along the way we had some cool tasks and tests to do in class, individually and also as a team with other students that gave me the idea of working collaboratively and effectively at the same time. The experience at Seneca made me realize that Visual Effects is much more than just the softwares you use.

How do you use the education you got at Seneca in your job today?

I didn’t think I was going to get a job right away after the course, but I was so relieved I did, and all credits to the teaching at Seneca of course. After I started working, I was worried if there’ll be things at work that I might not be able to do, or things that might take me longer to complete than the others but everything was just fine. Later I even found out that I had more knowledge on some aspects of compositing than some of the senior most people I work with, which I really didn’t expect. I was able to learn and adapt to the workflows faster than I thought. The most important things I learnt would be on how to use my skills to approach a shot and troubleshoot problems.

What advice would you give potential students who are thinking of taking the course?

The best advice I could give is, if you’re really into Visual Effects and want to experience the most coolest learning experience, just apply for VFT at Seneca immediately. Choosing this course was absolutely one of the best decisions I’ve ever taken and the more I get to know how much it’s helping me shape my career, the more I appreciate that decision. Although it is an eight month course, you’ll never feel like you’ve learned less. The way I see it, this course is like the bridge to your dreams of getting the coolest career ever. Working on movies.

(Written in 2020)