February is Black History Month and The DAVE School will be spotlighting individuals within the Visual Effects, Virtual Production, and Game Production industries who are making an impact. Help us celebrate Black History Month with the introduction of Jelisa Samuel and Shamar Milton.
Meet Jelisa Samuel – DAVE School Graduate
Jelisa Samuel is a 2021 Visual Effects Diploma Graduate and Junior Compositor at SPIN VFX.
Q: What are you currently up to in your career?
A: My career has been quite the journey up to this point. After 2020 I decided to continue learning more about VFX and what it entails. So, at the start of January, I began taking the 12-month diploma courses at the DAVE school. I completed my VFX training in December of 2021 and got hired at Spin VFX (ATL) after the holidays.
Q: What projects are you currently working on?
A: Haha! Unfortunately, because I’m under an NDA, I cannot say what I’m currently working on, but if you visit the website of SPINVFX you can check out the films and TV shows they have done.
Q: What is your favorite memory from your time as a student at The DAVE School?
A: My favorite memory would be when we pinpointed our home locations on the world map on the second floor. It was impressive to see where many students have come from and how many people have passed through DAVE.
Q: What is something you learned while at The DAVE School that you’ve taken with you into your career?
A: Professionalism. I mean, of course, if you love the craft, what you do, and the people you work with, the experience is going to be fun and enjoyable, but what so many people forget is that maintaining a level of professionalism despite whatever you decide to do in this industry or others is what will open doors and opportunities.
Q: What made you want to work in this industry?
A: Watching Looney Tunes in my childhood. Which I eventually learned were created by Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng to name a few, and animated feature films by Don Bluth and Disney. 2D Animation got me fascinated with VFX, but at the time, going through school, I wasn’t aware that it was only a tiny part of such a large creative process in a production pipeline. As I went through grad school, I learned more about 3D animation through Maya courses. And then, when I lived in Canada and learned about Nuke Foundry working with Spin, my world opened about VFX, so my journey continues…
Q: Is there anything you’d like to add?
A: Sometimes, the career you chose in life is never a straight line; sometimes, it becomes a jumbled mess of possibilities that leads you to a unique conclusion.
Meet Shamar Milton – DAVE School Graduate
Shamar Milton is a 2013 Visual Effects Graduate who is a 3D Modeler at Lamar Advertising.
Q: What year did you graduate and what program did you take?
A: I was in the 2012-2013 VFX Program.
Q: What are you currently up to in your career?
A: I am a 3D Modeler for Lamar Advertising. I’m working on creating a giant 12 ft by 50 ft stethoscope prop.
Q: What is your favorite memory from your time as a student at The DAVE School?
A: My favorite memories are my classmates and walking through the park after class riding roller coasters. I also enjoyed being taught by William Vaughn and Dan Smith.
Q: What is something you learned while at The DAVE School that you’ve taken with you into your career?
A: Always treat your classmates with respect and be helpful because you never know when someone will help you in the future in terms of projects and jobs.
Q: What was your first job after completing your program?
A: My first job after completing my program was working on a tv pilot with classmates Kiara, Po, and Trent with the great Ron Thornton as our VFX Supervisor in LA called Tribe of the Wild.
Q: What made you want to work in this industry?
A: I’ve always wanted to work in film and television from the time I was a little kid watching old Godzilla and sci-fi movies with my family.
Q: Is there anything you’d like to add?
A: The DAVE School was the best time I’ve had learning and creating compared to my 4 years at my previous university. Being surrounded by other talented individuals that think and create like you is amazing. If it weren’t for my parents pushing me to pursue my film and visual effects passion, I would’ve missed all the opportunities in film and The DAVE School.
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Visual Effects Diploma Program
Visual Effects (VFX) is the essence of a movie or TV show once the filming is complete, the explosions, the falling helicopters, fabulous visual effects, or the transformation from 21st century New York into 1920’s New York. Scenes that are too hard or dangerous to film, such as smoke, water, and oceans, or worlds and environments come to life through Visual Effects.
The DAVE School Visual Effects Diploma program spans 12-months and offers scheduled starts each Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Its uniquely flexible, hybrid format combines nine months of live, online classes with three months of in-person learning here at our Orlando, Florida campus. Students get to refine their visual effects skills in an immersive combination of project-based workflows and applied studio skills, preparing them for their advancement into the Visual Effects workplace.
Game Production Diploma Program
Game production is predominantly about imagining and building entire worlds and their inhabitants from scratch and devising immersive experiences that can run and adapt to the demands of user play in real-time. Our GAME PRODUCTION students share much of the initial introduction to their craft with our VFX crew, as the fundamental skills required in 3D modeling, lighting, texturing, and composition have a lot of overlap.
The DAVE School Game Production Diploma (GPD) teaches specifically for success in this thriving industry. Like its sister VFX Diploma, the GPD Program spans 12 months and offers scheduled starts each Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall. Its uniquely flexible, hybrid format combines nine months of live, online classes with three months of on-campus lessons in Orlando, Florida. During this three-month studio residency, students work together under the direct guidance of their instructors on pre-production techniques of a real game of their making.
Virtual Production Diploma Program
Virtual Production involves creating a real time virtual rendered scene using a game engine surround physical props and actors using an LED wall. The virtual environment on the LED wall is created using gaming technologies to navigate this virtual landscape.
The DAVE School flagship Virtual Production (VP) diploma teaches everything from both the VFX and GAME programs and real-time technologies. Students will learn: how to use LED wall virtual sets, lighting and production techniques for photo-real, real-time production, emerging production technologies, and many leading-edge approaches to the ever-evolving world of contemporary media creation.
About The DAVE School
The DAVE School was founded on June 8, 2000, by two Industry executives looking to create #CareerReady artists with a practical animation school. Today, The DAVE School offers specialized training in Visual Effects and Game Production with extensive practice under industry level supervision.
Located on the backlot of Universal Studios Florida®, The DAVE School has an 18,000 square foot facility that includes learning and interactive labs, a dedicated Virtual and Real-Time production stage, a Vicon motion capture system, 3D printing, and VR/AR labs and secure student access 7 days a week.
NUC University (NUC) is an accredited institution and a member of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) www.msche.org. NUC’s NUC University – IBC Technical Division (NUC-IBC), NUC University – Florida Technical College (NUC-FTC), and The Digital Animation & Visual Effects School (The DAVE School) is included in this accreditation. NUC’s accreditation status is Accreditation Reaffirmed. The Commission’s most recent action on the institution’s accreditation status on 2019 was to reaffirm accreditation. MSCHE is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)