Key Takeaways
- VFS students gain hands-on, industry-level experience from day one, creating professional-quality production portfolios that showcase their creative and technical abilities.
- Each program’s portfolio is discipline-specific and aligned with current industry standards, ensuring graduates present work that meets the expectations of studios.
- Ongoing mentorship from active industry professionals helps students refine their portfolios to stand out in competitive creative fields.
In the first of our blog series on portfolio-building, we shared insights into why creative portfolios are essential for breaking into the industry.
Today, we’re diving into the specifics of the powerful production portfolios that students create through VFS’s programs. If you’re not sure which VFS program is right for you, this is the perfect introduction to these programs, offering insight into the specific types of work you’ll create during your one year at VFS.
Keep scrolling to read up on the program(s) that interest you most!
FILM PRODUCTION
Of the whopping five specializations available to students through VFS’s Film Production program, students choose two from Directing, Producing, Cinematography, Post-Production, and Production Design. Over one intensive year, you’ll collaborate on dozens of short films in a variety of roles, adding each film to your growing portfolio.
By showcasing these professional-quality films, you’ll be able to highlight your skills across multiple projects – be it from an editing, producing, directing, camera, or set design perspective. Your final film will be your most ambitious project, with final films from past students going on to be officially selected at international film festivals.
"Through the Film Production program, our students graduate with the most incredible portfolio of short films" says Kat Montagu, Co-Head of VFS's Film Production program. "They participate in hands-on film production immediately – starting Term 1 – and take key roles from Term 2 onwards, making 50+ films per cohort.”
3D ANIMATION & VISUAL EFFECTS PROGRAM
Based on your chosen specialization – 3D animation, modeling, or visual effects – 3D Animation & Visual Effects program students work collaboratively to create a wide array of content:
- character animation
- character, environment, prop, & vehicle modelling
- texturing
- rigging
- lighting
- VFX compositing
- VFX simulation
- Hair/cloth simulation
- Motion capture
Students serve as directors, designers, modelers, riggers, animators, lighting/composition artists, & FX simulations artists, workshopping their projects with industry mentors to refine and perfect their work. Near the end of the program, students assemble their best work into a reel that best showcases their hirable skills and creative talent.
“It’s our goal to provide a production studio setting that allows each artist to flourish as they work towards completing a polished portfolio” comments Colin Giles, Head of VFS’s School of Animation. “These animation portfolios not only showcase these students’ artistic, technical, and hirable skills but also how they perform in collaborative environments.”
GAME DESIGN PROGRAM
Students of VFS’s Game Design program specialize in their choice of coding, game art, or level design. Through a collaborative, team-based approach, students create a fully playable, retail-ready game (like this Unity Award-winning game! ) inside the Unreal or Unity game engines.
These games are debuted to the industry through an exclusive Pitch + Play event, where students have 1-on-1 meetings with game studio executives. Throughout the program, Game Design students collaborate with a variety of other VFS programs, including Programming for Games, Web & Mobile.
Above: Two pieces of stunning portfolio work from VFS Makeup Design for Film & Television students. ACTING FOR FILM & TELEVISION PROGRAM
Students of VFS's Acting for Film & Television program are guided by some of the most dedicated and experienced educators & artists in Canada.
Through core training in voice, movement, & acting for film, television, animation, games, and performance capture, you’ll craft a sleek, professional demo reel that showcases your broad range of acting talent across genres and mediums. This ensures you’ll hit the ground running as you prepare to enter the industry and start meeting with agents.
“Graduates finish our program armed with up-to-date skills and a diverse portfolio that showcases the vast array of abilities required to keep actors booked and busy” comments Omari Netwon, Head of VFS’s Acting program. "Our acting students have the unique opportunity to receive an intensive education directly from professional artists that are active within the entertainment industry.”
WRITING FOR FILM, TELEVISION & GAMES PROGRAM
Writing for Film, Television & Games students have three specializations to choose from – Film, Television, and Games – and this impacts what portfolio content you’ll create, primarily within industry-standard software Final Draft.
- Film: Two complete feature film scripts, a TV spec script, a short film script, and a game design document
- Television: One complete feature script, a TV spec script, an original TV pilot and second episode, and a game design document.
- Games: One complete feature script, a TV spec script, two original video game design docs, a MoCap scene that they’ve written/directed. These students also receive training in Twine and Unreal Engine.
"In VFS's intensive one-year Writing program, our students graduate with the most incredible portfolio of long-form samples" comments Kat Montagu, Head of VFS's Writing program. "They also have lots of opportunities to see their work produced, starting in their very first term, and to participate in hands-on film production themselves.”
DIGITAL DESIGN PROGRAM
Early on in VFS’s Digital Design program, students choose their specialization – Motion Design or UX/UI Interactive Design – and complete an array of content including video & graphics, applications, websites, broadcast materials, and more. Formal work like briefs, production plans, and case studies are also part of your portfolio, ensuring your work is industry relevant.
Additionally, through a client-based project, you’ll collaborate on a project from ideation to completion that shows how you can create impactful content for real companies like Lumiere Festival, Mundo Imayina, and Sanctuary Interactive Forest.
In your final project, you’ll pitch three unique concepts (narrowed down to one), which students then complete in preparation for VFS’s Digital Design Industry Showcase – an event where they’ll debut this work directly to the local design industry. Additionally, one-on-one mentorship with industry professionals ensures students receive informed guidance that ultimately empowers them to make the smartest choices as they curate a branded package that truly reflects their identity as designers.
Above: Motion Design portfolio work completed by Robert Saldana Aguilar – a VFS Digital Design graduate. MAKEUP DESIGN FOR FILM & TELEVISION PROGRAM
As portfolios are critical for a makeup artist’s career within the entertainment industry, portfolio building is therefore the spine of VFS’s Makeup Design for Film & Television program. A clear and established criteria has been developed for Makeup Design portfolios (based on IATSE requirements), ensuring that you’ll graduate with a portfolio that reflects what is current & relevant in production makeup. Here’s the highlights:
- Contemporary glamour makeup
- 20th century period glamour makeup
- Tattoo covers, black eyes, bruises, cuts, bullet holes, burns
- Aging with paint & latex stipple or plastic
- Bald caps and lace hair-piece applications
- Prosthetic applications, including human and fantasy
At the end of each class, you’ll photograph your work, ensuring that you build a professional catalogue of your work that displays the skills you’ve acquired at VFS. Photoshop classes round out your experience, providing you with the technical skills necessary to assemble your portfolio.
“It may surprise you to know that many professionals do not have a proper portfolio of their work” comments Stan Edmonds, Head of VFS’s Makeup Design program. “In our program, we developed a portfolio standard that started back in 2007. It has been noticed and praised by the professional community as one of the things that sets our alumni apart from those at other schools. The quality and diversity of their skill sets are featured clearly in their books. And that is a major advantage we offer our students.”
SOUND DESIGN FOR VISUAL MEDIA PROGRAM
In film, television, and games, great sound is woven so seamlessly into a project that its impact is often felt more than noticed. This is because effective sound design underscores what is happening on-screen – the visuals being the primary focus.
In VFS’s Sound Design for Visual Media program, students record, edit, mix, and design sound that elevates projects in film, animation, and games, from great to unforgettable. This includes everything from background sound effects editing to dialogue & ADR, Foley and beyond.
Sound Design graduates leave VFS with short films they’ve completed audio for, game audio project files, and their final project.
“As with every creative industry, artists need to have a strong portfolio. We’re currently enhancing how student portfolios are built within VFS’s Sound Design program” comments Program Head Brad Hillman. “It’s essential that our students graduate with portfolios that highlight the exact skills today’s studios are looking for.”
HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN PORTFOLIO AT VFS
Your portfolio is your ticket into the creative industry. At VFS, you’ll graduate with work that truly stands out. Choose your program, master your craft alongside industry professionals, and build a body of work that will open doors to your creative career.