Silicon Graphics opens local training center.

All courses geared to computer-literate people

Getting a job in the entertainment industry really isn't that hard: You just have to know how to do three-dimensional dynamic particle effects or digital compositing on a Silicon Graphics Inc. workstation.

It's also helpful to have the sensibilities and talent of an artist and the technical savvy of an engineer.

Unfortunately for Hollywood, there aren't very many people out there who possess this crucial combination. Digital technology, with all the spectacular special effects it has brought to the screen, has advanced so rapidly that the human element has been unable to keep up; while the equipment exists to do wonderful things, there is a tremendous shortage of people who know how to use it.

That's the reason Mountain View, Calif.-based Silicon Graphics, the primary supplier of special effects and graphics hardware for the entertainment and advertising industries, opened a unique training center this spring in Santa Monica. The center, called Silicon Studio/LA, is located on Second Street, a block from the Third Street Promenade. It is packed with state-of-the-art hardware and software intended to turn artists and industry executives into digital dream-makers.

Silicon Studio/LA consists of three classrooms outfitted with enough workstations to provide every student a fully-loaded computer. Class offerings include computer animation techniques, imaging, compositing, systems maintenance and network administration. All the classes are geared for computer-literate people, and many of the center's clients already work in the entertainment business.

Steep prices

"They're not taking, at the prices they charge, a kid out of high school or a recent college graduate. This program is geared to people already in the industry," said Nick DeMartino, director of strategic planning for the American Film Institute, which also runs a program that trains people to use high-tech equipment for the entertainment industry.

Prices for Silicon Studio/LA vary depending on the class, from a prerequisite studio overview class that takes two full days on consecutive weeks and costs $395, to a number of intensive animation and imaging courses taking up five full-day sessions at a cost of $1,850 per course.

Sandy Cold, product marketing manager for Silicon Studio/LA, acknowledged that most of the program's customers so far have been either freelancers who do contract work with advertising companies and film studios, or they have been entertainment industry employees. In fact, some companies have rented out the center's classrooms for specially tailored training sessions for their employees, Cold said.

So while the training doesn't come cheap, Cold says it's worth the price.

"It's a pretty rare situation where you have over $3 million worth of hardware and software that's permanently located, networked, and has a staff of trained personnel on hand to show you how to operate it," Cold said. "There's nothing else like this in the world."

There soon will be, however.

Expansion plans

Silicon Graphics plans to open another training center in London this fall, and a third in New York City next year.

For Silicon Graphics, the training studio has two purposes: to contribute profits to the company's bottom line, and to help ensure that Silicon Graphics equipment remains the standard platform for creating high-resolution visual effects. After all, the more people who know how to use Silicon Graphics equipment, the more companies will adopt it to do business, DeMartino said.

To further enhance its profile in the entertainment industry, Silicon Graphics is holding free seminars led by important industry executives at the Santa Monica center, and it has set up an online service called StudioLive - geared specifically to advertising and entertainment workers.

"We want this to be the community gathering place for entertainment professionals to learn about technology," Cold said.

Cold could not provide exact enrollment figures for the program, but said the number of people who have taken classes there since its May opening is in the hundreds.

According to DeMartino, there are hundreds of job openings in Hollywood for trained animators and digital effects experts. But even the training offered by Silicon Graphics probably won't be enough to land a job unless that technical know-how can be backed up with artistic ability, he added.

"(Visual effects) is not a technical job," DeMartino said. "There is an artistic, filmmaking aspect to it, and it's very hard to find those left brain/right brain people."