News
TFT’s Animation Program Ranked Number 2 in the US
Animation Career Review cites selectivity, “depth and breadth” of faculty as key factors
Posted on March 8 2012 in Accolades
The Animation Career Review website, in an article published February 28, 2013, ranked the UCLA School of Theater, Film Television’s animation program Number Two on its list of the Top 100 Schools of Animation and Game Design in America, topping such celebrated institutions as USC, The Rhode Island School of Design and the Savannah College of Art and Design.
“Although the school is home to 41,341 students,” the article notes, “the school’s world famous Animation Workshop accepts just 12 new students each year.”
Selectivity was a key factor in the rankings, the ACR says, along with “academic reputation, depth and breadth of the program and faculty, value as it relates to tuition and geographic location.”
Founded in 1947 and run for almost fifty years by Dan McLaughlin, and with Celia Mercer as its current head, energizing Workshop professors such as TFT alumnus and Emmy-™-winning “Simpsons” director Chuck Sheetz ’83, have always inspired exceptional efforts from students.
Oscar™-nominated Workshop alumni Shane Acker MA ’98, MFA ’04 (“9”), David Silverman ’79, MFA ’83 (“The Simpsons Movie”) and Gil Kenan MFA ’02 (“Monster House”) are mentioned prominently in the Animation Career Review write-up.
The home of the world-class Walter Lantz Digital Animation Studio, a central tenant of the Animation Workshop’s philosophy has been an enthusiastic embrace of new technology, coupled with a firm emphasis on storytelling and individual expression. McLaughlin forged the Workshop’s defining creative philosophy of “one person, one film,” the result of which is that every animation student at TFT learns to write, direct, edit and animate — and above all to tell compelling stories.
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