Clemson Graduates Helping Make Movies Like Kung Fu Panda

Kids love animated movies and video games. Some love them so much they are growing up and turning it into a career – and making great money in Hollywood!

By: Connie LeGrand | News Channel 7
Published: June 05, 2008

Kids love animated movies and video games. Some love them so much they are growing up and turning it into a career – and making great money in Hollywood!
The Paramount Pictures/DreamWorks Animation film Kung Fu Panda opened nationwide June 5, 2008. Jack Black and Angelina Jolie provide the voices for two of the characters. While those are names you know, what you probably don't know is that Clemson University graduates are helping make movie magic like that in Kung Fu Panda and many other movies you know and love!
Clemson offers a masters program that teaches special effects for movies, TV and video games. One of the first programs of its kind, the digital production arts program is one of the top three programs like it in the country.
The University even has its own motion capture studio. In it, sensors are attached to
actors and their motions are recorded. Those motions are loaded into 3-D software which helps create animated characters. Sounds easy, but it actually took several students almost a year to animate a 2 ½ minute segment of two skeletons shagging in a clip called Shag Bone.
Graduates of the program have gone on to work on movies like pirates of the Caribbean, Shrek 3, Robots and Hulk. Those are dream jobs for students like Easley High School graduate Kiel Pease. "Ever since seeing Terminator II when I was little, I just wanted to do it. I was just like...I had to do some kind of special effects or something with film."
Many of the graduates go on to work with Pixar or DreamWorks. Some have jobs before they graduate with starting salaries of about $60,000.
The curriculum is not for just anyone. Students must be strong in art and computer science.

Clemson University Digital Production Arts: http://www.fx.clemson.edu/

Motion Capture Info (Wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_capture