Top Drawer

At Warner Bros., Dave Master, who was then director of artistic development, responded to the dilemma by developing a pilot program, ACME, that brought professional animators into the classroom for real-life, hands-on instruction. (ACME is named for the ACME products that Wile E. Coyote used to get through mail order while trying to catch the Road Runner). “It was based on industry/professional expectations,” he says. “For the students, at least they know what they can work on while they’re still in school.

“I visited 94 schools and picked three CSUs —
Fullerton was one that met the criteria. Enthusiasm of the students. Enthusiasm of the teachers: they had to be able to open themselves up to outsiders, which is hard to do. Having the interest of the students is No. 1. The third was an administration that understood that this program has special needs.”

ACME serves as an adjunct to Fullerton’s entertainment art/animation curricula, and, as Master is quick to point out, “We don’t teach the classes. We bring them
in contact with people who work in the real world.

The teachers are actually preparing these kids ahead of time to teach and develop the skills and technology that are already in the industry.”

Because of the breadth of the industry and its potential opportunities, students in the program are exposed to a wide range of classes, from the basics of drawing to current animation software programs, like Maya, and motion capture hardware and software — the technology used to animate Tom Hanks’ characters in “The Polar Express.”