Notable alumni of Vancouver Film School
Some of the better- known graduates of Vancouver Film School include:
• District 9 and Elysium writer/ director Neill Blomkamp.
• Screenwriter Terri Tatchell ( Neill Blomkamp’s wife and District 9 co- writer).
• Actor Sara Canning ( The Vampire Diaries).
• Clerks actor/ writer/ director Kevin Smith, who dropped out of VFS in 1992 to focus his eff orts on making Clerks two years later.
• Producer Scott Mosier ( Clerks, Dogma).
• Cinematographer Dave Klein, who collaborated with Kevin Smith on Clerks and other fi lm projects.
• In addition, 76 VFS grads worked on Elysium while being employed by companies such as Image Engine, MPC and Method Studios.
Hasselbach said the school accepts about one- third of the potential students who apply to participate in one of the 13 one- year programs offered each year — including animation, acting, design, business management, film production and writing.
Tuition ranges from about $ 7,500 a year for acting essentials to more than $ 50,000 a year for more intense, production-oriented programs such as 3D animation and visual effects.
Those aren’t exactly bargainbasement fees, but Hasselbach said VSF’s “intensive one- year model” makes sense for students who don’t want to go through longer programs at other schools.
“Students come here to work really, really hard for a short amount of time,” he said. “For people who want to make a transition into the industry, there’s a value proposition in doing that in one year. In this day and age, time is money.”
Gavin Matts, an aspiring 19- year- old comedy writer from New Westminster, said he’s taking the writing for film and television program at VFS because it’s a demanding course that keeps him busy.
At the end of the program, students must have written two speculative scripts for TV shows, an original feature film script and come up with their own idea for a TV pilot.
“The workload can get kind of heavy if you’re not on top of everything and, at times, it’s kind of stressful,” Matts said. “But I love the intensity of the program. It’s like real- world experience.”
Parichoy Chondhury, a 24- year- old animation student from Calgary, had to take out a $ 20,000 student loan to help pay for the $ 30,000 tuition his program charges.
“They’re definitely in the top tier of film schools around Vancouver. MICHELLE GRADY HEAD OF FILM, MPC
“It’s an expensive tuition to pay, but it’s not too bad when you consider all the equipment you work with and all the latest software at your disposal and the fact it’s a great facility,” he said. “I had to take out a loan but that’s student life these days. You get a loan no matter where you go.”
Brightlight Pictures chairman Shawn Williamson said he personally enjoys a stronger relationship with the film program at Capilano University, which he feels does a great job of teaching the business of film.
“Most of my assistants and development staff came from Cap,” he said. “Honestly, I don’t know VFS that well, but it does have an outstanding reputation for visual effects.”
Michelle Grady, head of film at MPC in Vancouver, said her special effects studio regularly makes presentations to VFS students and arranges for students to tour their facility.
“I think it’s really important for students to get a real vision of the actual workplace,” she said. “We move so fast in this business that we need people to integrate quickly and VFS does give students a good grounding in special effects. They’re definitely in the top tier of film schools around Vancouver.”
Image Engine partner Shawn Walsh, who graduated from the VFS 3D animation and visual effects program in 1996, feels the school packs a lot of learning into one year and said students often work on campus for double- digit hours daily.
“Working on your own project at VFS is as close as I’ve seen to working at an actual animation or visual effects studio,” he said.
Walsh said the level of competitiveness among Vancouverarea film schools has increased significantly in recent years, creating many good options for prospective film students.
“If someone wants to learn about film or animation or visual effects, there’s a very deep pool of resources in the Lower Mainland and that’s fantastic,” he said, noting smaller “boutique” schools such as Lost Boys Studios also do a very good job of teaching visual effects.
There are more than a dozen schools that offer film- related courses throughout Metro Vancouver, with the annual number of students ranging from about 80 ( at Simon Fraser University and Lost Boys Studios) to the 1,200 at VFS. Capilano University has about 500 film students while BCIT has attracted approximately 700 students to its film- related programs this year.
Hasselbach, who recently returned from a business trip to Shanghai, said VFS wants to expand its overseas presence and will consider some form of partnership in China and other countries — perhaps even establishing overseas satellite campuses.
“We could have a future campus anywhere,” he said. “Our ultimate goal would be creating a network of schools throughout the world in which students are working and creating together. The world is becoming smaller and it’s a lot easier now to work with technology from a distance.”