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HIGH-END On-site / Off-site Training recommendations
Our experienced FCP editors are looking for recommendations for On-Site or Off-Site Advanced Training. Anyone have personal experience with outside training?
Our company is looking for:
ADVANCED, HIGH-END training in AE techniques taught over 1-3 days. 3D, Motion Effects, TV/Cable Applications, Shortcuts, Designed Animation, etc.We are open to the instructor(s) flying into our Florida location or our editors flying to another location.
Multiple Day Seminars at Trade Shows are good, but which ones?
(Rockport Maine Seminars ?)We are NOT interested in training that follows rigid, read-it-in-a-book training. (Adobe Certification-esque like teaching, for example. It has its place, but is not what we are looking for at this time)
Thanks everyone.
Jeff Gilchriest
Producer/Director -
13 Replies
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Regent University and CBN; I believe have a program called Zero Gravity that has short courses like that
in Virginia Beach, don’t know if they will come to you or not though…this link isn’t an exact match but should get you going in the right direction.
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Hi there-
I offer on-site AE training. I regularly train at TV networks and animation facilities (ex. CNN, CableVision, TBS) and am always interested in new opportunities.
If you want to get an idea of the kind of training I provide, just click on my head at the top of this forum and you can see some of my video training work.
The one Caveat – my wife is due on Friday, so if you need it in the next few weeks,it probably won’t happen. If you are looking to do this anytime after – give me a shoutout: info – AT – allbetsareoff – DOT – com.
Best
Aharon
Aharon Rabinowitz
Email: arabinowitz (AT) yahoo (DOT) com
All Bets Are Off Productions, Inc.
Creative Cow After Effect Podcast
Internet Killed the Video Star: A Guide to Creating Video for the Web -
I say, forget traveling or bringing someone in.
Buy Aharon’s disks, buy total Training’s AE series. Move your systems to an offsite location, discourage your people from bringing cells and laptops, lock yourselves in for three days, and watch the disks.bogiesan
This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”
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Like Bogiesan, I recommend getting Aharon’s DVDs and locking yourselves away for a couple of days watching them and discussing the tutorials. At just $29 to $39 each, you’ll spend more on the pizza and beer than you will on the DVDs. But whereas the pizza and beer will just make you fat, the DVDs will make your brain fat — and as dear ole Dad used to say: “Fat brains are worth carrying around, far more than a fat a..” — er, um, posterior. Yeah, that’s what he said, “…posterior.”
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
Remember: Burt Bacharach lied. What the world really needs now is an undo button.
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I also recommend, in addition to Total Training and A. Rabniwitz training,the “Making It Look Great” series.
https://www.makingitlookgreat.com/
Though somewhat Pro Animator centric, these tutorials are some of my favorites based on the tolerability of the presenters(aka not too many good natured but time and attention span wasting jokes). These are some of the best tutorials I have ever come across training wise. One of the main reasons is that the stuff you creating is not only technically great, but also visually great. I find a lot of tutorials just show you how to do things but the results are mediocre, with the exception of Andrew Kramer, and often Eran Stern.
I would start with Aharon, go to Total Training, then do Andrew Kramer’s tutorials, Video Co-pilot, and then do Making it look great.
Good luck
I’m only half the thing I say I am, the other half are me.
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[Robyn Rhodes] “Though somewhat Pro Animator centric…”
Somewhat? They are inseparably built around Pro Animator, one of the least intuitive plug-ins in the After Effects cosmos. I love the effects that he creates, but it’s too bad they are not really After Effects lessons as much as they are Pro Animator lessons.
Yes, Andrew Kramer’s lessons are very good at showing you how to make lightsabres or how to mimic and look just like the latest iPod commercial. I always feel like I am at a high school party when I am at his site. But for principles you can use to be original in your own work, I recommend Mark Christensen’s After Effects book, the Total Training series and Aharon’s DVDs. Also, Jayse Hansen’s old AE series has arguably the highest level design chops of any series on After Effects.
Howard
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weather Pro Animator focused or not the MILG tutorials are anything but just Pro Animator tutorials. The lessons incorporate Zaxwerks elements into rich compositions using a host of other techniques and plug-ins etc, which are great lessons in overall AE use. I think your selling A. Kramer a bit short, in my opinion. Watch all the tutorials and most importantly and on topic think of the learning user:-)
r
I’m only half the thing I say I am, the other half are me.
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[Robyn Rhodes] “the MILG tutorials are anything but just Pro Animator tutorials.”
I never said they were just Pro Animator tutorials. What I did say was that they are “inseparably built around Pro Animator.” I would add that because of this, if a user is not really interested in or a user of Pro Animator, they are of less interest that they would be in your case.
I have gone through Andrew’s tutorials and think his starter series for After Effects is very good. What I am less excited about is his “Flavor of the Week” tutorials that so many untalented users mimic so that they can look just like everyone else who is learning and repeating the exact same techniques.
If you look through my past posts, I have recommended him on a number of occasions. Just not for this user as I suspect his interests are different due to his needs.
Howard
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Here’s an opinion from someone who has had the benefit of both on-site/off-site training as well as having a great library of DVDs to draw from.
First, I think comparing the in-person training to the information you get on a DVD or online tutorial is like comparing apples and oranges.
Don’t get me wrong: I love the training DVDs that I have and I use them regularly to reference a particular effect or process for doing things. However, note the key word in the sentence: “reference“. It’s great to have something to quickly go back to when you are hung up on an effect or project. We have many of the Creative COW Master Series DVDs, Video Copilot DVDs and regularly reference other sites such as Toolfarm, Studio Daily and Maltaannon for new tricks, as well.
With that said, our team just had one of the best on-site training times with Aharon Rabinowitz (who I see has already commented in this thread) on advanced After Effects CS3 training. We had a wide range of skill sets in AE, but Aharon did a great job of giving us tools to use no matter how comfortable we were in the program. Additionally, he did a great job of addressing our specific needs, including best ways to organize our files and streamline the work flow.
Granted, on-site training is more expensive than a $50 DVD, but I really think it’s worth it. However, right after Aharon finished his training with us, I ordered his AE CS3 DVD as a follow up. He didn’t just teach live things that were recorded on the DVD.
So… am I for DVDs or in-person training? YES! I think it’s a combination of both that can really help you fine-tune your skills. The DVDs are great, but they can’t answer your questions or even help you know HOW the effects work or how best to build things together for your specific needs or situations.
Stephen Rutherford
Graphics Producer: Gale Force Media, CanesVision & Wolfpack TV
stephenr@carolinahurricanes.comCAROLINA HURRICANES: 2006 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!
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Hey!
Check out Andrew Kramer again, and instead of going straight to His featured tutorials, look at his basic AE training. Very sound and will teach you pretty much all the fundamentals and basics fro FREE!
good stuff.
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