The 青青草视频 has one of the top 20 animation programs in the South and one of the top 100 in the nation.
That鈥檚 according to Animation Career Review, an online service created in 2011 to review animation and video game design schools, businesses and technology.
ACR weighed information collected through surveys sent to about 400 universities. The Best in the South category is composed of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky and the territory of Puerto Rico.
Rating criteria include 鈥渁cademic reputation, admission selectivity, depth and breadth of a program, faculty expertise, value as it relates to tuition, and geographic location,鈥 according to ACR鈥檚 website.
Yeon Choi, an associate professor of visual arts in the College of the Arts, teaches UL Lafayette鈥檚 animation courses. In an interview with La Louisiane, she explained that her students must master hand-drawn animation before moving on to computer animation.
鈥淭hey have to learn timing and spacing before they deal with complex technology. So, I help them learn one step at a time,鈥 she said.
As part of their bachelor鈥檚 in fine arts curriculum, animation students are required to take courses in drawing, painting and sculpture. They also can study other media, such as ceramics, metalworking, printmaking and photography.
Graduates of UL Lafayette鈥檚 program have worked at film and television animation studios, such as Pixel Magic and Blue Sky Studios, and oilfield simulation companies such as Malo Digital LLC.
Jordan Alphonso, Pixel Magic鈥檚 lead artist and a UL Lafayette animation graduate, said about 75 percent of the company鈥檚 animators are fellow alums.
Located in University Research Park, Pixel Magic provides digital effects for films and television and converts 2-D movies into 3-D. It has contributed to movies such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Secretariat.