Hello, Friends today we are here to talk about VFX as a career. There are many career options available today for students in India but here today we will talk about VFX as a career and its future in India.
VFX being a new and a booming career lot of young creative minds are getting attracted to it wherein they can pursue an excellent career and, they can live their passion, however; students don’t have a clear picture of this career and industry. We will try and give you a complete picture of this industry and career today.
In VFX there are many options available for students like for example there are degrees (BA, BSC 3 to 4-year courses) there are diploma courses and there are professional advanced courses. Today we will evaluate all these options and see which one is the best option that one must opt for.
What is VFX?
VFX means Visual Effects wherein V stands for Visual and FX stands for Effects. So whatever effects we see on screen in Movies or Cartoons, Games, Serials, Ads is VFX.
Let us now first have a look at the VFX industry in India. It is expected that the VFX industry in India would reach up to $ 1.8 billion by 2021. So, let us understand how come this industry has such a huge cash flow!
India today is getting developed as a global VFX hub. A lot of Hollywood, Chinese, Korean, Japanese movies VFX jobs are outsourced in India just like the way it is in the IT software industry. Unlike Bollywood, these movies have huge VFX budgets which ultimately flows to Indian VFX studios who work on these projects. Indian Bollywood industry is also gearing up to the upcoming VFX trend after experiencing huge success for movies like Bahubali, Robot 2.0, Tumbad, etc. Going ahead Bollywood industry would also compete and reach up to VFX standards of that of the Hollywood which currently uses top quality VFX in the world. Rise of OTT platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hot Star, etc. has resulted in the growth of number of Movies, Web Series, Serials which in hand has resulted in increased demand for VFX services since every Movie, Serial, Series requires VFX jobs. VFX industry thus holds an excellent and a big future in times ahead in India and abroad.
Talking about VFX as a career; it’s a skill-based job or you can say a talent-based job. VFX is not a degree-based job like regular careers so you must not mix-up both things. Regular career options like Engineering, MBA requires degree i.e. one must have a relevant degree qualification to get a job or pursue a career in these fields but in VFX what matters is your skills. what is it that you can create? What are the technical skills you hold? What is it that you have which can help studios create effects or provide them a solution to their problems? There is a huge difference between these two jobs viz. skill-based job and degree-based job. For further clarity let us take an example of Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar; academically Sachin does not hold a great degree; he has not even completed his 10th grade, but in cricket, he is considered to be the God of Cricket; Cricket is his skill. Carpenter never comes to us with a degree; it’s his skill to make furniture which helps him earn his livelihood. Similarly, VFX is a skill-based job wherein the VFX artists or the Digital Artists create an effect and work for the post-production jobs in the media and art industry.
Now since the difference between skill career and regular career is clear then what should be the best time to jump into VFX? When can a person join or start the course?
If you have already decided to pursue a career in VFX then the best time to start it is after 12th grade. If someone has left the education before or after 10th grade can also join a course however we recommend to pursue further education to such people and this can be done by pursuing education through open universities like Yashvant Rao Chavhan Mukta Vidyapeeth (YCMOU), Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and there are many more in respective states in the country. It is better to start VFX learning at an early stage since again it’s a skill; one never plans to join cricket coaching after completing the degree, one never plans to join music classes after degree. If someone wants to become a guitarist then he/she starts learning it during schooling itself and does wait until graduation or postgraduation. VFX, however, involves the use of advanced software’s for which we recommend to start learning those softwares after 10th grade or 12th grade. During schooling i.e. before 10th grade one can join graphic designing courses to taste this field. In case you didn’t know about this career option before and have already completed or completing your graduation then too there is no problem as such. You may still opt for VFX courses during the last year of your graduation or even after completing your graduation and then kickstart your career in this field and the same logic applies to post-graduation students. There are people in this industry who after completing PG get into VFX and pursue a good career here. Education is no bar to get into the VFX industry.
Now let us see what the courses are available in India and which courses are the best to get into VFX. After 12th following courses are available in India.
BSC in Animation – Duration 3 Years
BA in Animation – Duration 3 Years
Diploma Courses – Duration 2 Years
Professional Advanced Courses – Duration depending upon specialization
From the above options, we highly recommend that one must opt for Private Professional Advanced Courses which usually have the duration up to 12 to 14 months i.e. around a year. Let us understand the gimmicks in this industry.
Degree courses i.e. courses with duration up to 3 to 4 years have this longer duration because of the government mandate/regulation that a degree can be provided only if a person successfully appears for3 to 4 years of a course. One cannot get the degree certificate in 1 year; hence these long-duration courses are intentionally stretched to fulfill government criteria. Students, however, lose extra money and most importantly time in such courses which are also generic and not specialized one due to which job probability is reduced and however even if one gets the job then further problems may get created since the person doesn’t have the required deep knowledge. To learn and specialize in VFX courses 1 year is more than enough having said that the courses are correctly designed and taught by professionals. It is very important for the student to check the syllabus being taught and who is teaching. Students sometimes take admission decisions telephonically or by looking at the website of an institution, but we recommend that students must go out and check physically everything they want rather than depending upon a call or some reference.
The benefits of professional advanced courses are that the person completes a course in a year and immediately starts working early which makes him ahead of a person who is doing a 3 or 4-year degree courses. For example, let us take an example of 2 people one is X and another is Y; X has joined a professional advanced course and Y has joined a 3 years degree course after passing out from 12th grade respectively. X has also taken admission for graduation from an open university wherein he won’t have to go and attend regular college so that he can focus on his VFX course.
X will complete his course in 1 year and will start his job in the industry. X will also continue his education through open university. Y is studying and will complete his degree in 3 years and will join a job in 4th year after completing his degree. When Y will join a job that time X would have already completed 2 years in the industry and will be a senior to Y also side by side X would have completed his graduation. So, in all the terms i.e. in experience, salary, seniority, etc. X will be ahead of Y. X would also move faster in his career since he has specialized in one area and know what and where he must go against Y who is not specialized and might be confused about his movement ahead in his career.
Different departments and specializations in VFX that we mentioned above are as below
Modelling
Texturing
Animation (2D & 3D)
Lighting
FX (effects)
VFX Compositing
We will discuss in detail about these departments/ specialization in our next blog.
If you don’t have any known VFX artist whom you can consult to then you can always opt for telephonic career counseling on VFX and ANIMATION provided by Open Slate Visual Effect School, Pune. OSVES provides free career guidance to students and helps them choose the correct/best path which suits them. All you need to do is to send SMS/WHATSAPP on mobile no 8530171212 with your name and city and you shall receive a call from OSVES wherein you can ask questions and get your all doubts clarified then and there telephonically itself.
VFX in today’s world is one of the best and a booming career option. Students who have their inclination towards arts, creativity can pursue an excellent career here which could be better than regular careers like Engineering or MBA. Science, Commerce and engineering students also do make a great career in this field. Let us know if you liked our blog and do subscribe.
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