Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/45523
EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT The Studio Talent Group at Lucasfilm offers employees the opportunity to share knowledge and collaborate across all its divisions, including Industrial Light & Magic (ILM class- room shown above), LucasArts, and Lucasfilm Animation. ment courses, ranging from interviewing skills to leadership and management training, and from feedback best practices to how to better communi- cate with global partners. Additionally, there are li- brary collections with thousands of movies, tutorials, reference materials, and textbooks readily available. And, enrichment classes are open to all employ- ees on sculpture, drawing, photography, painting, screenwriting, communication, and improvisation. Lucasfilm employees are encouraged to take ad- vantage of a variety of enrichment classes and coach- ing, from leadership development to career mentor- ing. Coaching helps provide guidance, grooming, and growth from a talent pool that includes a global community extending halfway around the world to Lucasfilm's Singapore studio. Studio/School Relationships Tiny Island Productions, a studio that focuses on commercial long-form CG animation production, 10 • Education Supplement • October/November 2011 and CG Protege Animation School, a training pro- vider, are located side by side in the same facility and work closely together. Students first go through ba- sic training with CG Protege and, upon graduation, are either hired by Tiny Island Productions or other companies with which they have worked closely to gain production experience. "CG Protege Animation School provides the in- structional classroom-based training component," Chen explains. "Their lecturers are industry profes- sionals, and their practical-oriented curriculum is subject to frequent validation and feedback from companies in the industry that hire their trainees." "This working relationship forms a successful eco- system that trains the students and helps them gain production experience," comments David Kwok, CEO of Tiny Island Productions. "It makes it easier to help them take the first step into the industry." For commercial software applications, Digital Do- main makes use of external training providers, such as Digital Tutors, fxphd, cmivfx, and Lynda.com, which supply useful instruction on an array of com- monly used software, explains Siegel. For a more in- tensive exploration of Side Effects Software's Houdini and The Foundry's Nuke, this past summer the com-