Build a career in 3D and VFX: Vancouver Film School delivers a lasting education in a studio environment.(SPONSORED EDITORIAL)

The film industry is booming in Vancouver, increasingly referred to as Hollywood North. It is the third largest film-production center in North America, employs roughly 50,000 people, and contributes more than $1 billion a year to British Columbia's economy.

Walking into Vancouver Film School's 3D Animation & Visual Effects program, you would swear you were in one of the city's many successful studios. And, in a way, you are. The halls, meeting rooms, and labs are buzzing with creativity and productivity, as students and faculty--comprising future, former, and current industry professionals--push the envelope and further the art of 3D animation and visual effects.

At Vancouver Film School (VFS), the 3D Animation &Visual Effects program intentionally emulates a production workflow. "We think of this place as a studio," explains Casey Kwan, professor of Concept Development/Creative Development. "The more we can behave that way and the more it simulates that environment, the more value it holds," not just for the students, but for their future employers and peers.

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VFS instructors endeavor to mold "creative-thinking artists" who know how to function in production environments, work in a team, fall into virtually any workflow, and anticipate and solve problems in a production. To do so, they expose students to the reality of the workplace, the industry, and the workflow.

VFS's 3D Animation & Visual Effects program teaches students about, and involves them in, every process from pre-production to postproduction. Larry Bafia, head of Animation & Visual Effects at VFS and a former commercial animation director and sequence lead animator at PDI/DreamWorks, considers it important to have an appreciation of both the project and its production pipeline in their entirety.

In the intensive one-year 3D Animation & Visual Effects program at VFS, students produce a solo project in which they wear all the hats. "At the end, we explain, 'Every single thing you did for that project is an individual career. Which appeals to you? Which did you enjoy the most?' By starting out as a ...