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Online Classes Will Help You Become An Animation Director!

August 29th, 2010

Every army has a general. When it comes to producing something animated, particularly a feature length film, TV series or a hit video game, one needs a small army of specialists to get the project done, both on time and on budget. As for the field general who runs said legion? That’s the animation director.

Sometimes called supervising directors, animation directors are responsible for hiring all the personnel that works under them, from the coffee runners to such key positions as designers, story men and even the voice cast. As the title implies they are more supervisor than hands-on, advising their personnel to get the maximum out of each and every one of them. This way they can insure keeping their project consistently on style, on time and on budget. If you are interested in this field, you should definitely check out more about online classes.

That isn’t all though. The director also is the main conduit between communications from those that control the purse strings on to the various departments under him, whether it’s his fellow animators, sound and voice cast, special effects or cameramen (to name just a few). He also must keep in mind that he has to deliver a certain amount of film just about every week as animation is an exceedingly expensive proposition.

Directors are people who rose up the ranks. They are usually experienced animators, but could also have worked in story editing, layout or storyboarding. Many times the big films have two directors, who divide their responsibilities among the various departments. As such, these people are excellent organizers and communicators to boot. Do not wait around any longer, get started by reading about online master.

While all don’t necessarily have gotten their college degree in Animation, they did get a comparable art degree, in a comparable field such as Fine Arts from an established on campus or online college before progressing through various animation roles. As a result of this kind of apprenticeship, animation directors are likely to have first-hand experience of most of the jobs within the department; even their first job was just running for coffee and snacks or working in a mail room.

The latest development in the position is they must also become used to working with overseas studios. Many top TV projects are initially developed domestically and the grunt work, such as coloring and inbetween work, is then shipped out to countries like South Korea for budgetary reasons. This means an animation director must also be a diplomat and comprehend the work habits of completely different cultures.

As for salary, a lot of it depends on location. The closer one is to California, the better the pay. According to most sources, a rookie director averages about $58,000 a year. If the director starts producing hits, like anything else in Hollywood, the sky’s the limit. The main thing is like anything else in the entertainment world, when the job is over, so is the pay, unless one is big enough to have residuals put into their contract. Search the internet for information about science bachelor degree.

Still, as the old saying goes, it’s good to be king. While an animation director may have to report to those who govern a studio’s purse strings, that’s about it. At the same time, you’ll be hard pressed to find an animation director who ever really retires. They love it too much.