ALL ACCESS PASS

Experience All That the Foundation Program Offers

VFS’s preparatory program challenges creative minds to build the foundation of their careers. You’ll learn how Foundation students specialize in Film, Animation, or Design, and are challenged to build & apply their core creative skillsets so that they may begin crafting their career portfolios. You’ll also discover how our Foundation graduates go on to work for studios like Netflix, Meta, EA, & Nickelodeon and on the biggest films, TV series, & games including Deadpool & Wolverine, Dune: Part Two, Fargo, Candy Crush, and more. 

Experience a Professional Film Set

Join VFS Foundation Senior Instructor and Independent Filmmaker Chad Costen on-set for an exclusive hands-on film production demo. Watch as a director, lighting team, and camera operator work together to film a sequence using a camera on a dolly to follow a moving actor in front of a projected background. Explore firsthand how these combined efforts transform a simple studio setup into a realistic, convincing location, while getting professional film set experience. You may even be invited to participate in the shoot! 

Bring a Character to Life

Join Animator and Comic Book Artist Dylan Moore for a hands-on animation character design demo showcasing how characters can be brought to life when an artist is armed with the right skills and their imagination. No drawing experience required! 

Learn How Production Packages are Designed & Made

VFS Digital Design Instructor & Design Mentor Ingrid Frauenstein will walk you through the same production package design process Foundation students follow when they take an original character idea and turn it into printed packaging. Through mind-mapping, you will learn how to take your ideas, put them to paper, and start the process of bringing those ideas to life.   

Alumni Roundtable: Making a Career in Entertainment Production

Tom Fedechko will lead an industry roundtable on how to successfully launch & maintain an entertainment production career and will be joined by VFS alumni (stay tuned for this announcement!). You’ll also hear exclusive industry tips & insights on entertainment industry career pathways and learn about The Foundation Advantage: how VFS’s Foundation program is a creative industry career launchpad for aspiring creatives into an industry production program at VFS and ultimately their dream industry career.

View Foundation Portfolio Projects

Most students start without much knowledge of how to build a creative portfolio. After 1 year at VFS, they have completed ample work for their portfolio with two major cornerstone projects: The Art Exhibition and The Final Project. Through a mini VFS student work showcase, you’ll see select work on display and watch project reels representing final projects from the Foundation program’s three specializations: Animation, Design, and Film.  

Meet the Head of the Foundation Program

Meet Tom Fedechko, Head of Preparatory Studies, as he explains the 1-year journey of students in the Foundation Visual Art & Design program at VFS. An experienced Writer and Performer with over 20 years of leadership experience, Tom empowers artists exploring the multitude of opportunities in the creative economy to become fearlessly creative in their careers.  

You’ll learn how the best foundation program for artists helps aspiring creatives to develop cross-disciplinary skills in filmmaking, animation, & design, and to ultimately refine their unique visual media talents for future study at VFS. Finally, you’ll discover why VFS is continually ranked amongst the best schools in the world, including Leading Film School in N. America (Variety), the #1 Global Animation School (Animation Career Review) and the #1 Game Design School in Canada.