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Animation Talent Needed in Beijing

A booming market for animation and computer game development has created a shortage of skilled technicians and game developers in Beijing.

A recent study conducted by the China Center for Information Industry Development and the CCID Consulting Company Limited has revealed that in 2007 the operating income of Beijing’s animation industry exceeded 1 billion yuan (US$142.8 million) and that the annual revenues of some Internet companies and on-line game companies had increased to 100 million yuan (US$14.28 million).

 According to the data revealed by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television of China in January 2008, Beijing ranked No. 8 on the list of top cartoon-makers in China in 2007, with the production of 10 cartoon series of 3,142 minutes in total. The No. 1 cartoon-makers, Hunan Province, produced 38 cartoon series of 27,993 minutes, suggesting that Beijing still has a long way to go to catch up.

To continue the development of its animation industry, Beijing must have more skilled employees in this field. The six animation industry development zones in Beijing, including Beijing Cyber Recreation District (CRD) and Dashanzi Art District, are badly in need for people more staff with animation expertise.

Three types of animation talents are needed in Beijing: at the top is the need for people with original ideas. According to a large number of company managers, only 22 percent of their staffers are really creative; the vast majority of them just copy or imitate others’ ideas. A lack of original ideas naturally leads to poor competitive strength on the part of the company.

Animation companies are also in dire need of management talent. The animation industry is a creative, high-value-added and risky business, and the organization forms of animation companies are diverse. Creative staff members tend to do their best work by working independently, at their own pace, and the creative processes involved are hard to supervise. All these characteristics of the industry make the management of animation companies a great challenge.

The industry must also have a larger and better sales force. Often, creative people lack marketing talent and sales abilities. People who can convert creative ideas into marketable products are badly needed.

The cultivation of creative talents is a long and comprehensive process; it involves a certificate of education, in-service training and a continuous accumulation of practical experience. There are more than 200 animation and games-training organizations in Beijing, including academic institutes and independant training institutions.

Many first class universities in Beijing, including the Beijing Film Academy, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Renmin University of China, Beijing Normal University and The Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Science offer courses in animation and games. Tsinghua University trains senior system architects, script writers and infrastructural analysts. Beijing Normal University and The Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Science have courses on the psychology of game behaviour and relevant legislation.

Independant training institutions are many. Most of them are not as competitive as those academic institutes in terms of scale; however, they have more students. The Beijing GAMFE Animation Academy, the Mars Era Animation Academy and the Crystal Institute of Digital Education, among other social training institutions, have their own focuses on the animation and games talents training and provide different types of courses, from writing, editing, photography to distribution and post production.

The School of Animation of Beijing Film Academy, one of the earliest animation schools in China, was founded in 2000. Since then, many animation schools have emerged, some in such a hurry that they did not even have teachers who had actually worked in the animation industry. Some of the animation schools provide only courses on the use of some animation-making software, such as MAYA and 3D-MAX, but teach nothing about animation itself. Their graduates are not competent for animation companies, because they lack original ideas.

The cultivation of creative abilities requires creative teaching methods. Examination-oriented educations offer little help in solving the animation-talent shortage. Considering the gap between the requirements of animation companies and the abilities of animation graduates, there are still chances for new educational agencies to come to the fore in the animation industry.

北京动漫游戏人才呈现结构性短缺

文/杜秀平

市场缺乏将创意“产业化”和“市场化”的经营人才

尽管北京在动漫游戏人才培训方面百花齐放，错位经营，但是北京市动漫游戏人才结构型短缺问题依然严重。

调查报告分析指出，北京的动漫行业缺少三类人才：一是缺少高端原创人才。大部分动漫企业管理者认为在企业内部只有22%的创意人员才算得上是创新型人才，而多数人才（78%）属于复制型或模仿型。这种人才结构导致原创产品很少，企业核心竞争力不足。二是缺少管理人才。与传统企业相比，动漫游戏企业具有创新性、高增值性和高风险性等特点，其组织形式既有分散的个别劳动，又有简单协作的集体劳动和集中的社会劳动，创意人才具有较强的工作独立性，创意工作过程难以监督。这些工作特点给传统的管理理念与管理方式带来挑战。三是缺少经营人才。实践证明，创意人才往往在市场经营才能上有所欠缺。市场对将创意“产业化”及“市场化”的经营人才非常欠缺。

专家同时指出，由于创意人才需要全方位的培养，需要长时间的“深耕”，需要实践经验的不断积累，仅仅依靠学历教育和在职培训尚难以满足市场对创意能力的需求。

社会化培训机构还有机会

目前，北京市共有动漫游戏培训机构200余家，主要分为专业院校与社会培训机构两大类。截至目前，北京有8所软件学院，开设了软件编程、数据库和网络管理等中级人才课程。据介绍，开设动漫游戏的专业院校主要有北京电影学院、清华大学、北京大学、中国人民大学、北京师范大学、中国社会科学院研究生院。其中，清华大学主要培养高级系统构架师、高级编程人员和程序测试分析师课程。从2003年开始，北京大学、中国人民大学分别开设了高级策划师、剧本撰写等课程。北京师范大学、中国社会科学院研究生院分别开设了游戏行为心理学、相关法律研究等课程。

与正规的院校相比，社会培训机构的数量远比正规院校要多，但是已经形成一定规模的却不多，主要有北京汇众益智（游戏学院）、北京动漫学院、火星时代动画学院、水晶石数字教育学院、东方世鼎影视动画学院等几家。在培养学生数量方面，社会培训机构的学生数量要多一些，他们在动漫游戏人才培训方面采取了错位经营的方针和差异化作业，有培养专业策划、编导的，也有培养拍摄、制作和发行等方面的专业人才的，还有培养动画制作技术、节目包装、后期制作等人才的。

自北京电影学院从2000年开始在全国率先成立动画学院以来，多数院校是在不具备师资及技术条件的情况下匆忙上马动画专业的，有的学校甚至没有一名真正从事过动画行业、对动画有深刻了解的教师，所开设的课程不过是讲授MAYA、3DMAX等软件，与真正意义上的动画相去甚远，学生凭此难以学到真才实学。因此，培养出来的学生普遍被企业抱怨为“没有创意”。创意能力的培养需要有创意的教育模式，如果以应试教育为目标的教育模式不改变，纵有各种创意专业和院校，也无力解决创意人才的短缺。大部分毕业生实用性、适用性差的事实还是给新的机构进入留出了空间与机会。

办学必须具备的几个条件

申请成立民办教育机构，首先要经过北京市教育主管部门的批准，然后进行工商、税务等部门的登记，完成手续。

民办教育机构申请者需要具备的基本条件依次为：举办者（法人）及管理人员要具有政治权利和完全民事行为能力，无违法犯罪记录，具备良好的思想品德和较高的职业道德，有较高的政策水平；学校负责人和业务主管具有多年教育工作经历，具有中级以上职称或大学专科以上文化程度，具有与办学内容相对应的专业优势；具有北京市户口；教师资格认证书；办学场所；资金。