A world of opportunity for AIE’s games and films grads

The specialist courses at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) enable graduates to pursue careers in diverse range of related industries, from blockbuster video games and Hollywood movies to guiding a new generation of students through their training at our Australian campuses.

Animation graduate Eddie Prickett says, ‘For me, the AIE was really getting my feet wet with animation’. Those wet feet scored him a job as a character animator on Happy Feet 2 in Sydney before he crossed entire oceans to work on the Academy Award-winningGravity in London and The Amazing Spiderman 2 in Vancouver. Eddie has since returned to Sydney where he now works at animation and visual effects studio iloura.

‘Your demo reel is a passport,’ says Eddie. ‘It’s a passport into your first job… it’s a passport into your next job.’ Written in consultation with industry, all AIE courses enable students to complete impressive projects that showcase their skills and create a professional show reel to impress potential employers.

Andrew Farrell’s art portfolio landed him an interview with veteran development studio Bioware, best known for the Mass Effect and Dragon Age games. ‘I got a call saying “We like your stuff, we’ll fly you over for an interview… to Edmonton”,’ says Andrew. ‘I was like, okay, Canada sounds cool.’

Recalling that first day, Andrew says, ‘Peering behind the curtain for the first time and seeing how massive it is, how many people and different moving parts [there were], was awesome.’ Now a senior artist, and the lead artist on Dragon Age: Origins — Awakenings, Andrew believes it’s a great time for young artists to get involved in game development. ‘There are a lot of great opportunities out there,’ he says.

Programming graduate Daniel Archard highlights a different kind of opportunity offered by studying at the AIE. ‘A lot of it was establishing contacts, that’s the reason I went to AIE,’ says Daniel. ‘And it worked. Getting all these contacts with the industry got me my first job.’ Now a software engineer at Qualcomm in San Diego, Daniel has also worked at numerous game studios, including Melbourne’s IR Gurus, Crystal Dynamics and Rockstar San Diego.

Megan Ralph is an AIE graduate whose career has come full circle, having moved from the industry where she worked on Team Bondi’s L.A. Noire, as well as various projects at KMM Interactive Entertainment and the ABC, to the education sector and then back to the games industry. Having come through animation as a student, Megan returned to AIE’s Sydney campus in 2014 to teach the newly established game design course. ‘The space is great,’ says Megan. ‘It’s private, it’s open, it’s just a good environment, and the students have been really excited about what we’ve been teaching them.’

The Academy of Interactive Entertainment is Australia’s most awarded 3D animation, game development and visual effects educator. Established in 1996 as a non-profit organisation to grow the creative digital sector, AIE pioneered specialist education in these fields from its founding campus in Canberra. Since then, AIE has grown to include campuses in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Seattle and Lafayette, as well as a campus dedicated to online courses. AIE graduates can be found in studios around the world, including Weta Digital, BioWare, Dreamworks and Rockstar Games.

AIE website: www.aie.edu.au

Sponsored article by Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE)