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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, May 2, 2013 | 16 Jobs come knocking for animation grads Sheridan's annual Industry Day draws interest from Canada and the U.S. dan each year where they see hundreds of completely student-made films that are two minutes or less. The films are done by the graduating students in the bachelor of animation, computer animation, digital character animation and visual effects programs. Each student is responsible for the entire production of their project. Tony Tarantini, a faculty member and coordinator of the event, said Industry Day is a good opportunity for the school to market its students and for the studios to find potential employees. Provide opportunities "The idea is to provide opportunities for the industry to fill their roster," he said. After watching the films, studio representatives have an opportunity to interview students. One of those industry representatives looking for talent is Kevin Micallef, who graduated from Sheridan's classical animation program in 1994. Now, Micallef works at Nelvana, an animation studio based in Toronto, where he is directing Detentionaire, a Teletoon animated series. The Sheridan grad knows the benefits of Industry Day as he's gone through the process himself. "It's such a fortunate situation, knowing that studios from North America are coming to meet you," he said. "Instead of banging on the door, before you graduate people are actually coming to you. It's a fabulous opportunity. As a student here aspiring to work for Disney or any of the upcoming feature studios and to know they'll come to meet you where you can show them what you've actually done, your foot is in the door already." Nelvana employs approximately 250 people and that number could be on the rise soon, Micallef said, as he is hoping for the green light on numerous projects. When it comes, the studio will need to hire. Industry Day provides him an opportunity to check out the new talent coming out of school. "We take notes and look at some of the talent because it's not just portfolio. It's personality. You want people who will jibe with you and who have team spirit and want a creative atmosphere," he said. Another employer, Charlie Bonifacio, of Toronto's Arc Productions, who graduated from the program in 1976, said the animaby Dominik Kurek Oakville Beaver Staff While most college and university graduates have to knock on doors to land a job after school, at Sheridan College jobs came knocking on the students' doors. The Oakville campus hosted its annual Industry Day April 25 for the graduates of its animation programs, screening studentmade short films for industry representatives from Canada and the U.S. For Andrew Patterson, who is graduating from the computer animation post-grad program, he said Industry Day is the first step for students looking for work in the field. "I'm not expecting much, but if I could, it would be nice to get some sort of job," Patterson said. For fellow computer animation student Pascale LeBlanc, the event is an opportunity to learn something new. "I'm hoping to get some good feedback," she said. "Everybody would love a job offer, of course, we're all starving students." She, on the other hand, is returning to the school for another year to take the digital character animation post-grad program. Industry professionals come to Sheri- tion industry and the need for animators has ebbs and flows. He said the industry took a hit in the recession, but things are beginning to pick up again. Arc Productions, which employs approximately 240 people, is experiencing a boom. The studio, which produced Gnomeo & Juliet and Nine among others, has recently signed a deal to produce four films over the next six years, so Bonifacio said the company will need to hire. "We're going to probably... double in numbers," he said. "We're going to grow to more than 400 over the next couple of years." Bonifacio, a former Sheridan instructor, said he regularly attends Industry Day to see and support the students. When he graduated from the school, the event didn't exist and there wasn't much call for it either. "There wasn't much of an industry back then... there might have been like three people," he said. "I think Sheridan grads helped to build the animation industry in Toronto. You go out there, there are a lot of Sheridan grads." 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