Keeping up to date with the latest equipment has never been more critical for schools.

With the pace of technological change increasing every year, one of the strongest skills new grads can bring to the workforce is facility with the latest tech.

As such, we reached out to schools across the country to find out what equipment they have invested in to ensure their students graduate with the most up-to-date skills possible.

Vancouver Film School

In August 2013, the Vancouver Film School opened a new Animation and Visual Effects campus, investing $4.5 million to transform an old museum in Vancouver’s Gas Town neighbourhood. The updated facility features an array of new equipment, facilities and software, including Qube!, a render farm management system for digital media, EMC Isilon network-attached storage, and a 280-degree green screen studio. In spring 2014, the school’s film production course moved to the new 120,000 square-foot campus with 10 studios and four theatres.

Sheridan
In September 2013 Sheridan opened a new 3D stereoscopic production studio, featuring two Sony F5 cameras, a Sony PMWTD 300 3D camcorder, a Hurricane 3D mirror rig and online editing suites with AVID Media composer software. In addition to introducing 3D stereoscopic production into the college’s film and TV program, Sheridan will also offer workshops for people in the industry who want to upgrade their skills by the fall of 2014.

NAIT
Edmonton’s Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) recently acquired the Mistika postproduction program. The new tech will give NAIT students access to the same 3D, 2K, 4K finishing and editing system that was used on big-budget Hollywood films like The Hobbit, Spider-Man and Prometheus. “This is what the industry is using: all the big Hollywood shops are starting to use Mistika,” says Steve Chattargoon, chair of NAIT’s Digital Media and IT program.

SAIT
Within the past year, the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) has added an ARRI Alexa camera to its film and video production course. A significant purchase for the college, Steve Olson, academic chair of the school’s film and video production program, says such updates are critical. “If you take a look at all the nominees for best picture this year, they were shot on either…film or they were shot on an ARRI Alexa,” he explains.

York University 
York University’s Department of Film has a new lab dedicated to digital stereoscopic 3D filmmaking. Opened last fall, it allowed the school to offer a biennial graduate course in stereoscopic 3D cinema. The 2,000-square-foot facility is designed to shoot live action, and features a Stereo-Tech mid-size rig with Sony F5s, mortised Arri Alura zoom lenses, a Genus Hurricane rig with Canon Xf 105s, Fujipix 3D still cameras and Sony 3D camcorders. The lab also has edit workstations with professional 3D monitors.

Related: click here to read up on the new program offerings at Canadian schools.

This article originally appeared in Playback‘s Summer 2014 print issue.

Photo credit: SAIT Polytechnic