On rare occasions, I get to Full Sail early because I’m coming from an event I sketched and it makes no sense to go home only to immediately turn around to drive to the university. This student lounge is right outside the 2D Animation studio where I work. Though I have a laptop computer, I’m not tempted to crack it open. I would rather crack open a sketchbook to observe all the students staring at computer screens. There is some interaction as several students show each other a modeling project or a computer animation they are working on, but some students are just zoning out by watching U-Tube videos or checking their Facebook status. Perhaps this is the future, everyone interconnected but staring at screens.
The wall in the background is covered in framed DVD cases. These are apparently films that graduates had worked on. I was talking to a doctor the other day, whose son had attended Full Sail. He asked if the school motto was still that every student who graduates in the two year accelerated program is guaranteed a job in the industry. I had never heard this before, but it seems impossible with huge visual effects houses like Rhythm and Hues going bankrupt and every movie studio wanting more for less.