Does a TAFE animation course make you job ready?
Sure, you'll walk away with some fundamental skills to kick-start your career. You'll probably make a bunch of new friends and cultivate a nice HELP debt to-boot.
But if you're anything like the bulk of creative students finishing higher education with a newly-minted diploma, you're probably still looking for ways to get your foot in the door of this, your highly-competitive, chosen career.
Key industry players are actually looking to help you get there.
It's true. In fact, it's in their interest as well as yours.
Jumbla Managing Director, Andrew Dehnert
As Australia's largest short-form animation studio, we at Jumbla are constantly on the lookout for new and exciting young talent to join the team and help us continue doing what we do best.
The problem? A lot of graduates are lacking some of the fundamental skills we - and other creative studios - are seeking in new employees.
That's why we created Jumbla Academy.
Jumbla Academy is our studio-based educational centre where we teach budding animators the techniques, processes and workflows to create beautifully-polished animation.
"We created Jumbla Academy because we had to," Jumbla Managing Director Andrew Dehnert said.
"Our creative directors had interviewed lots of TAFE graduates over the years for positions as animators, but nearly all of them would have struggled in the real-world environment of a commercial animation studio like ours.
Jumbla Academy has become a talent resource for both Jumbla Studios and others in the industry. Our graduates are in high demand.
Our teachers are senior animators with a passion for their craft. They practice what they preach and from them, you’ll learn the processes studios use to produce industry-standard animation.
Jumbla Academy teachers are current, working professionals. They’re up to speed with what’s going on in Australia and around the world. They know the latest After Effects plug-ins (and other major software), they know the current styles and they know how to teach them.
The structure of Jumbla Academy courses pushes you to deliver that same level of quality (to deadline) as would be expected in a professional creative environment.
And the best part? You get to learn the workflows our studio team uses to deliver commercial animated video - from concept to delivery.
The guest lecture series features Jumbla’s Executive Creative Director, Head of Production, and our Sound Designer, to give you the inside tips for your career in animation. It’s also the perfect opportunity for you to pick their brains on the industry.
“We've always had the philosophy that the best way to learn is to do, and all of our courses are based on this,” said Jumbla Executive Creative Director Callan Woolcock, himself a guest lecturer at the Academy.
Across the 20-week course, the Jumbla Academy team will make sure that every student uses their two days each week to create an awesome showreel. A job-ready showreel, which, along with their newly-acquired in-studio experience, can be confidently presented to potential employers.
“A fantastic showreel is the single most important asset an aspiring animator can have when applying for a job,” Jumbla Academy teacher Lahiru Karunaratne said. “Nobody wants to hire someone without a showreel.”
The proof of the pudding. Just before graduation, each academy graduate shows their brand new showreel to the whole studio. There’s lots of applause and congratulations. And rightly so.
We’ve put together a “showreel of showreels” from the past couple of years so you can see the standard our graduates are able to attain after just 20 weeks.
See for yourself here…
Interested, but still not sure? Don’t take our word for it. Read what some of our graduates have had to say about their experience at Jumbla Academy (and getting a job afterwards).
"The most valuable thing I learned was the attention to detail required and the reality of how animation would work in an active studio. I felt as though I had a more useful experience here than I would have in just a regular classroom working on personal projects."
Jumbla Academy graduate, Sam Boland
"I became super busy after I made my showreel at Jumbla Academy. It's actually non-stop, and I'm working on interesting projects. I've been using 200% of the skills that I learnt at Jumbla Academy, so thank you!"
Jumbla Academy graduate, Aya Hatano
"University is amazing but it is quite an insular environment, whereas with Jumbla you're in studio. You're in the same environment as people who are doing the job every single day."
Jumbla Academy graduate, Alexandra Nel
Interested to see what it's like as a Jumbla Academy Student?
Enter your email address below for more information on Jumbla Academy Open Day.
See a class in action, have your questions answered and learn what makes it such an awesome learning environment.
You'll be given a detailed run down on Jumbla Academy by head professor Lahiru Karunaratne, and an overview of our Masterclasses, delivered by some of Jumbla's star animators. Two of our Jumbla Academy graduates have gone on to work here in the studio, and they'll be giving insight into their experience and what it's like to work at Jumbla as a Jumbla Academy graduate.
Open Day kicks off 1pm Tuesday 26 February 2019.