How difficult is it to apply for CalArts, the number one animation in the United States? For students majoring in animation, no one does not know CalArts, the top 1 animation school in the United States, which is known as the "seed factory behind Disney". Alumni almost cover half of the country of American animation movies. Every year, nearly thousands of people apply, with a success rate of less than 3%. It is believed that many animation students have listed it in the dream school list, while a student of natural light, She boasted that she was "usually invisible, 80% of cave animals". She got the CalArts experimental animation professional offer across majors, but her mood was very calm. This student was also awarded many award-winning offers from Pratt, SVA, SAIC, SCAD, RIT top art schools!

　　 How difficult is it to apply for CalArts, the number one animation in the United States?

Fan, student of natural light animation design

Fan got the offer with his strength. You may have begun to feel "sour" when you see it, but in fact, Fan's application process is as painful and happy as many "art study abroad reserves". It is also in such a high pressure of pain and happiness that he realized his nirvana and growth.

After receiving the offer, Fan said that because his favorite artistic style is experimental, his goal has always been the experimental animation of the California Academy of Arts, so he felt more that everything was easy.

Can make CalArts This immortal school with low admission rate likes it. What's the secret in the collection of works? Now let's take a look at the interview Q&A of Fan, hoping to bring inspiration and inspiration to CalArts as you in the dream school!

　　 How long has the portfolio course lasted?

I started my work collection from my sophomore year and started my study from the basic animation course. Because I studied in Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts as an undergraduate, my classes were basically focused on holidays. I started to produce my first animation project "Colorless World Sky" from my junior year, and it was also my graduation work. Since gap has been a year since graduation, two animation projects have been produced. The two projects are not many, but because I draw them by hand frame by frame, the production cycle is relatively long.

　　 Let's talk about these two projects in detail ？

The illustration works are quite miscellaneous, so it is unnecessary to repeat the course assignments that are mostly thematic. One of the animation works is "Colorless Heaven", and the other is "the metamorphosis". They are both frame by frame hand drawn animation, and use AE to assist post synthesis.

The duration of "Colorless Heaven" is two-and-a-half minutes, which tells my understanding of life and death. The story is similar to Nirvana. The name comes from a term in Buddhism, which means a free and comfortable state after death. The plot tells the story of the hero who runs towards the sea after entering a dream to get reborn, gets strength after kissing the sun through the desert, and gives his five senses to nature. I want to get rid of the depression and sadness of death theme in most works. I hope to express that death is a ceremony full of power and romance. This video is accompanied by four small gifs.

"The Metamorphosis" was originally a hand drawn animation of more than one minute, but because the production cycle was too long, the final coloring was completed, and the complete video presented was only about 20 seconds, which was an excerpt, a very short video. When drawing, we mainly used gouache, color lead and color powder, and experimented with many coloring techniques. The story probably tells that after a shadow chasing light swallowed a light, there were many wonderful reactions in the body, which gave birth to new life, and finally transformed into a colorful moth. Want to convey a joy and freedom in the pursuit of light.

　　 What's the difference between natural light and school?

In fact, I think the feeling of taking classes in natural light is quite like my own experience of learning a subject in the Academy of Fine Arts. The teacher has just begun to teach basic subject skills, and then respects the students to create their own themes and use their subject knowledge to create their own personal creations. Maybe my personal idea is strong. My teacher seldom imposes some opinions on me, but provides help and suggestions based on my creativity and ideas. I like this teaching method very much, so that I can show my best side. I also participated in many interesting activities and met many lovely friends here.

　　 Are there any interdisciplinary works in your project?

my Animation major study abroad The works are basically interdisciplinary works, combining illustration and animation, because they want to retain their own personal style and characteristics of hand painting. Combining the two has always been my goal, which has been supported and helped by many teachers Wang. At the beginning of the basic class, Mr. Wang not only introduced me to the basic animation fundamentals, but also focused on taking me to practice various animation principles, as well as exercise assignments. At the end, he made a video of the principle exercise assignments and put it on the works.

Mr. Wang also showed me a lot of hand drawn and experimental animations, introduced me to the vimeo platform to find materials, and gave me a lot of inspiration on how to integrate multiple disciplines to produce animation videos. He also taught me a lot of technical synthesis videos of ae software. On the whole, I have a set of methods and processes for making animation videos by myself, which should be my biggest gain!

　　 How do you understand this major?

Because my final choice is experimental animation, I want to mainly talk about the understanding of experimental animation, because there are some differences between commercial animation and experimental animation. I think animation is a means. Like easel painting, sculpture and installation, it is a way to complete one's own artistic concept and pursuit, not just an entertainment in modern society.

Experimental animation has always been exploring the boundaries of animation, so it has the characteristics of diversity and avant-garde, and may have more personal feelings of the creators. Its main purpose is not to output specific and coherent stories, but to bring some thinking or strong personal feelings to the audience. However, it does not mean that experimental animation and commercial animation are completely separated. Now, more and more experimental animation elements are integrated into the animation works facing the public to enrich the form and interest, and even help the works to expand their thinking. So I think experimental animation is a very dynamic research direction.

　　 What is the teacher's greatest help for your portfolio?

Because my goal has always been the experimental animation of the California Academy of Arts, and my undergraduate course is illustration, so it is considered to be interdisciplinary. However, because it is experimental animation, emphasizing artistry and personal style, it is different from other animation professional applications. The exhibition of the work set requires pure art works, and some dynamic works can be derived from their pure art works. Full video animation is not required. So part of the collection is my illustration works when I was a undergraduate, and the other part of the animation is basically completed under the guidance of natural light teacher Wang.

The courses of basic animation principles and AE software in the early stage play a decisive role in my animation works. Because it was a professional change, I didn't know anything about animation production methods before I went to the album, which was also the most disturbing thing in the early stage.

　　 Did the teacher give you any advice during school selection?

Of course, they gave me a lot of advice. At the beginning, the concept of American animation schools was very general. According to my personal style and preferences, I decided to target CalArts experimental animation with my portfolio tutor, Mr. Wang, very early on. So it can be said that there is no hesitation, and from the very beginning, it is very firm to work in a clear direction.

　　 Have you finally decided which school to go to?

CalArts, because it is the only school in the United States that offers experimental animation, and I have seen excellent student works over the years, which conforms to my personal style and creative philosophy. At the same time, CalArts itself is a top animation school.

　　 Can you share your interview experience?

Basically, the questions are very basic. You can prepare according to the basic interview questions provided by your copywriting teacher. You should be very familiar with your PS and work description. At the same time, you should also go to the official website to carefully understand the information you want to apply to the school, such as teaching philosophy and basic curriculum settings. Because the interviewer said to ensure fairness to each student, there would be no problem that deviated from the portfolio itself. It should be emphasized that the interview is not only an opportunity for the school to review students, but also an opportunity for students to review the school. More professional colleges and universities will be equipped with two teachers, one is a professional teacher and the other is a teacher of educational administration, who will ask and answer different types of questions respectively. Therefore, it is very necessary to prepare your questions for the school, and I think it is also a bonus item.

　　 How do you feel about receiving an offer?

In fact, I am very calm. Waiting for an offer is very nervous and restless. I also preset my excitement when I got the offer. But when I really got the offer, even the offer of CalArts, which I most like, I was very calm, even a little indifferent. I didn't feel great happiness, and I felt everything was going to be easy. But in my heart, I am very grateful to Mr. Wang, the tutor of my portfolio, and Mr. Zhu, the applicant teacher. I think they have helped me a lot!

How difficult is it to apply for CalArts, the number one animation in the United States? The above is the whole content of the interview. From the collection of works by Fan, we can see that CalArts' animation major generally focuses on art and theory, attaches great importance to students' personal style, and experimental animation pays more attention to using different media and materials to express their hearts or some abstract ideas. As the support behind the natural light tutor, for students who also want to enter CalArts for further study, he provides customized work collection coaching programs that vary from person to person. Therefore, every year in CalArts, there will be "fresh blood" of natural light. Last year, there was a language score that was not enough to counter attack with the work collection. He successfully applied to Shi, a student majoring in character animation, and even won an offer on the spot!

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