Contributed by: Jennifer VanderMye, Digital Media Academy Assistant at Argyle Secondary School

The NVSD’s Digital Media Academy at Argyle Secondary School is hosting a workshop series over the course of the school year. Our winter session began with a session in partnership with the Vancouver Film School.

This two day after-school workshop focused on Design and Animation and was attended by students across the District.
The workshop was taught by Nida Fatima, an award-winning Motion Graphics Artist and storyteller, who was born in Pakistan and received her BFA at the school of Art in Chicago. Nida now lives and works in Vancouver, BC.

The workshop title; “Designing and Animating a Title Sequence: You had me at the Opening Credits!” proved to be exceptionally popular and the workshop series was at full capacity.

Creative title sequences date back to the beginning of filmmaking and continue to be a crucial part of the art form. Students in this creative workshop investigated the history of title sequences and took an in-depth look at the different genres and styles that have influenced today’s movie title sequences.

Students dove into a practical demonstration using After-Effects, applying stylistic approaches to create compelling and professional-level transitions and custom FX to make a title sequence for themselves. This was a huge success and, from the feedback from parents and students, was overwhelmingly positive.

Students were particularly pleased with the project detail, the creative ways they could contribute and the outcomes. Many were amazed at how their ideas from paper could be brought to fruition so quickly and professionally.

Stay tuned for additional workshops in the Digital Media Academy series for 2018.