If you are an existing Animation Mentor student, please review this video news which details each registration option specific to your current class standing. Also, watch for the news item follow up to our January 15 Q&A with Bobby Beck — it will be posted this weekend and have many more details relevant to current students.

In the meantime — and for all of our prospective students — we’ve assembled the answers to your most common questions below. If you don’t see your question, please contact an Admissions Advisor.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you in the studio school.

— The Animation Mentor Crew

What’s the difference between the Character Animation Program and Animation Fundamentals?
It’s not what — it’s where. You see, you might think of a typical classroom as operating inside four walls. We don’t. Now, instead of four walls, you fully immerse yourself in the filmmaking experience inside a studio. You work on your own shot — part of a selected film — and collaborate with your team to proceed through each stage of production, story, pre-visualization, and animation. The process creates a finished sequence that you and your classmates can showcase in your demo reel — just as the professionals do.

The Animation Fundamentals structure is based on direct studio needs. That is, studios need artists who understand how to work on a production and have experience under their belt. Once we heard, we got to work to create the AMP™ Studio Production Pipeline. The AMP tool is a real production and central to our new instructional design. Your education takes place on our Studio Learning Platform — a series of proprietary tools that works together to give you the experience of working on a production at a studio.

That’s why the classes within the Animation Fundamentals introduce you to the basics of production animation and empower you to collaborate on productions. In addition, our two new advanced disciplines — the Character Animation Production Track and Animal and Creature Animation Production Track — help provide invaluable professional-level production experience to prepare you to excel in the industry workforce.

Why did you take away some of the core curriculum from the Character Animation Program?
We didn’t. Granted, our Animation Fundamentals is shorter in length and features a lower tuition when compared to the Character Animation Program. However, we want to assure you that we still teach you a full understanding of all fundamental animation principles. We also include specific coursework on advanced body mechanics and acting — and we teach all this under the structure of a real production studio. We also offer everything you need to polish your portfolio through a brand new set of classes and resources.

Can you explain the new pricing and student financing?
It all starts with more financing options and lower tuition. For example, our Animation Fundamentals features four 12-week classes for a total tuition of $10,396. You can also enjoy the flexibility to purchase on a per-class basis — with a starting tuition of $1,999. For complete details, please review our tuition breakdown.

And remember, our student loan advisor can research customized financing options just for you — including loans and payment plans. To begin, simply contact Amiko Foster at [email protected].

Can you tell me more about Animation Mentor’s new characters?
We want you to contribute in a studio on day one — so this means teaching you to work with a breadth and depth of animation character you’ll find on day one. That’s how we developed a family of characters that starts you on bipeds and basic walks with our Animation Fundamentals. You may choose to advance your skills with quadrupeds and flight in our Animal and Creature Animation Production Track or choose to work with advanced bipedal characters in our Character Animation Production Track.

Our new Tribes characters were designed, developed, and built to work with both our Animation Fundamentals and VFX Fundamentals. Each character comes with a base high-end surfaced look development that you can use to create a whole new look and feel.

These characters are exclusive to Animation Mentor students. We’ve worked hard to develop an exciting new look for the characters — and to ensure that they are customizable, easy to work with, and up to studio standards. Watch the Student Site and the Animation Mentor blog for more details about Stan, Stella, and Scout — available in the Spring 2013 term — and the rest of our new Tribes characters coming later this year.

Important: All the Resources You Need
Be sure to reference this list of important resources:

Current Students: Registration Options
Animation Characters
Animation Courses
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