Discover the Best Motion Graphics Classes in Los Angeles
Motion graphics are graphics that have movement. The field of motion graphics is a subset of animation. While most animation tells a story, motion graphics is typically focused on communicating a specific message. Most motion graphics designers use various computer software programs such as Adobe After Effects and DaVinci Resolve.
Researchers have found that motion graphics are a very effective way to capture and hold the attention of an audience. They are also a great way to communicate a lot of information in a short amount of time. As a result, motion graphics have become popular in a wide variety of different media. Places where you’ll see motion graphics include television, social media sites, video games, educational content, and advertising.
Best Motion Graphics Classes & Schools in Los Angeles
There are a few different places to learn motion graphics in the Los Angeles area. Training Connection offers motion graphics training classes, including an After Effects Bootcamp. The bootcamp is intended for graphic and video professionals. Students learn about video editing, motion editing, and compositing with After Effects. This class is suitable for people without any prior After Effects experience. Topics include setting up, animation, working with masks, color correction, rendering, and a number of more advanced topics. Students can learn on with Mac or PC. There are a total of five sessions in the bootcamp, and tuition is $1,845. Training Connection is a school that offers computer and business skills training. It is less than two miles from downtown Los Angeles.
Students can also find a Training Connection course called After Effects Fundamentals, which is intended for graphic and video professionals who want to master the After Effects program, and use it for motion editing, video editing, and compositing. Students learn about setting up a project, basic animation, animating text and shapes, working with masks, working with 3D, color correction, and rendering. Tuition is $1,395, and there are three classes.
The Moviola Education Center is in Burbank, which is about ten miles north of downtown Los Angeles. It is a motion picture and television post-production training center. Introduction to Adobe After Effects is a class designed for editors, motion graphics artists, or anyone else who plans to use After Effects. Students learn about animation, setting keyframes, creating complex animations, title tools, outputting, and mixing video, music, stills, texts, and effects. Photoshop experience is helpful, but not required. This class meets twice, and tuition is $695. There are an average of ten people per class.
ExitCertified also teaches motion graphics skills. An Introduction to Motion 5 is focused on Motion 5, which is a motion graphics tool that is used with Final Cut Pro X. Students who take this class learn about creating smart motion templates, creating parameter rigs, using keyframes, animating cameras, stabilizing and tracking media, and using generators, shapes, and paint strokes. The cost of this class is $1,495, and there are three sessions. ExitCertified offers IT training and certification.
Los Angeles Industries That Use Motion Graphics
Motion graphics are widely used within the film and television industry, and Los Angeles is home to some of the largest film and television companies in the world. The State of California’s Employment Development Department provides a list of the 25 largest employers in Los Angeles. The list includes Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Twentieth Century Fox, which are both motion picture studios. Another report–this one by the Los Angeles Business Journal–lists the top 50 private sector employers in Los Angeles, and includes numerous film and television companies, including NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Motion Graphics Jobs & Salaries in Los Angeles
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a federal agency that collects and analyzes labor market statistics. It reports that special effects artists and animators–a category that includes motion graphics designers–earn an average yearly wage of $137,000 in the Los Angeles area. This makes it the second-highest-paying metropolitan area in the country, after the San Jose metropolitan area. BLS also finds that Los Angeles has the highest concentration of jobs in this field of any U.S. city. It employs more people than the next nine cities on the list combined.
Los Angeles has a large economy, and also has many other motion graphics job opportunities including in advertising, education, social media, and website design. USA Today estimates that Los Angeles has the second-largest economy of any U.S. metro area, with an economic output of billions of dollars a year.
Glassdoor also provides salary information for a number of other jobs that involve working with motion graphics. It finds that in Los Angeles, a 2D animator earns about $75,000 per year, a senior video editor earns approximately $90,000, and the average yearly salary for a visual effects artist is about $85,000.
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