On the fifth anniversary of funding from California’s Employment Training Panel (ETP), Video Symphony, a Hollywood TV, film and DVD education center, has been awarded a new, two-year, $1.2 million contract to provide 100% subsidized upgrade training to professionals employed by California digital media production companies.
ETP funds are awarded to a select group of training centers, with the expressly defined intent of helping to keep California’s digital technology companies competitive and to diminish export of production work elsewhere.
Regarding the award, Mike Flanagan, president of Video Symphony, said, “In partnership with ETP since l998, Video Symphony has trained hundreds of California’s film/video editors, sound editors and engineers, DVD authors, 3-D animators and graphic artists. Now, with this new award, many more can afford to expand their expertise utilizing our expertise and facilities.”
ETP-qualified companies can send employees to Video Symphony for 24 to 64 hours of intensive, hands-on, job-related training without direct cost to employer or employee. “The ultimate beneficiaries of this extraordinary fund are the students we train and the companies they work for,” Flanagan added. “Students get ‘state-of-the-science’ know-how, and companies get ‘up-to-speed’ employees.”
Video Symphony’s ETP specialist, Dan Murphy, said, “To qualify, employees need to be on payroll full time. Although we train editors and artists for all of the major studios and television outfits, many small one- and two-person production companies also qualify. A sole proprietor could also send himself or herself for training here.”
Courses available at Video Symphony include: “Film and Video Editing” for Avid Media Composer, XpressDV and Apple Final Cut Pro; “Audio Editing and Mixing on Digidesign Pro Tools,” including Certification Series for music and post-production; “DVD Authoring” for Sonic DVD Creator and Scenarist and Apple DVD Studio Pro; “Graphics and Motion Graphics” for Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, After Effects and BorisFX: and “3D Animation and Special Effects” geared toward Lightwave 3D, Maya, Discreet Combustion and more.
Video Symphony is located at 731 N. Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA 91505; 818/557-7200. For more, visit www.videosymphony.com.
