2021 - Student Exchange Report - EMCA - Julie Eccoffey
Exchange Report of EMCA, Angoulême
Introduction
My semester of Spring 2021 was done in Angoulême at EMCA, an animation school in the mid-west of France. I was initially interested in this school because I followed a lot of its students on Instagram and thought that if I liked what the students do then the school must be a great place to learn animation. What I thought was appealing from those accounts was the fact that they all had a very personal and quite experimental style and finding a more personal style is something I was, and still am, interested in. Another thing that I wanted from this semester was to make new connections especially in the French animation industry since it is so prominent. I also wanted to see what other ways of teaching animation there are in different school and different countries. With this in mind I asked EMCA for an exchange and to my surprise they said yes! I didn't really expect it because of a few reasons: the still very present COVID-19 situation, because I was the first HSLU student to ever go there and also…because their answer came in quite late. I ended up having to find a place a week before my departure, organise train tickets and solve other pandemic shenanigans in a hurry. This was of course a bit stressful but also exciting because suddenly all my plans were changed and I knew that I would soon be in an unknow territory with an infinity of new things to discover.
The school
After my first PCR test, a few hours of train ride, a little panic attack in the Parisian metro and two nights in my newly found home, I arrived at the school and had a first talk with the principal M. Boulard. He told me about a few formal things, a personal project that we have to do, he asked what were my expectations and then he took me to my new classmates to have my first lesson. This was the start of my five months journey with them. The students from my class were super sweet and I managed to make really good friends. Some of them will even come and visit me in Switzerland this summer.
As for the other people of the school who were at administration and organisation, they were also super nice and made it clear that I was always welcome there even after the end of my exchange. Whenever I went directly to them for something specific they were very friendly and helpful but I have to say: they weren’t the best at giving basic information. Most of the time I was told the things I needed to know by the students instead of them.
It took a while for them to give me a clear planning of the semester and even longer to receive an email address which can be problematic for online classes and receiving important info. There were also multiple instances where the communication between the administration and the teachers was very poor. For example students would show up for a class at nine and then would be told that the class was actually going to start two hours later that day even if the teacher informed the school a long time ago.
I think that was the most negative thing about my whole semester, but I would still recommend the school for an exchange since I learned a lot because of them and I also met all sorts of interesting people. As tips for any future HSLU students going there I would say: don’t be afraid to reach out for help, on social media or in real life, from students to ask them for information even if you don’t know them and when you’re there it is way faster to go talk to people than it is to send mails. Basically don't be shy and talk to people.
The classes
The teachers all felt very competent especially since they are all active in the animation industry in their own individual fields. This is very interesting for students because you can have a direct contact with the professional world through them. It was interesting to ask them questions about a famous show that they worked on or other stuff we should know about specific studios or directors. The school was very keen on having classes in real life and not online which I have appreciated a lot since most of the classes I had for the previous five months were online. During the whole exchange I only had around a week and a half worth of online classes. Everything else was at school.
Most of the courses that I had were quite technical. I learned how to use different programs. I got to know more about the production workflow for a film and a series. I also had traditional drawing sessions with models and some urban sketching lessons. I did have a few theory classes on storyboard, storytelling and layout but the emphasis was clearly on more practical apprenticeships. It was interesting to know more about programs that I heard a lot about and knew that they are used a lot in the industry but that I never had the chance to try before. All of this practical knowledge was a good balance with the more theory based teachings that we have at the HSLU. I personally think that our school would benefit from a more concrete approach like that since all those more technical classes that I had there made me feel way more ready for my bachelor film.
At EMCA the students are asked to make a least one short film every year. This lets them try out every step in the pipeline production of an animation project and lets them figure out what they like doing best so they can dig into what really interests them later. Plus their portfolio gets naturally more fruitful throughout their studies. This also prepares them for their graduation film.
My favourite week
Speaking of graduation film: my favourite part of the semester was the week dedicated to helping the fourth years on their graduation project. It was a perfect win-win situation because we could easily relate to them since we would be in their situation in a near future, we could also learn from them more casually than with teachers and they could obviously work faster with the help that we provided to them. It was also extra special for me because the students, mentioned earlier, that I followed on Instagram and who are the initial reason for me wanting to go there were those very fourth years. So I suddenly found myself in a room full of people that I never met before but that I have been inspired by for a long time. I enjoyed working with them so much that when we later had two weeks of vacation I went back to give some extra help to the girl I worked with. Plus I know the world is small but I still managed to help the only person in their class that had some kind of swiss heritage.
We could choose the project we would help with. I chose hers because it was a poetic and soft story that talked about a quite sad subject which is the opposite of what I usually do since until then I mostly made silly stories about haircuts and funny dreams. Her story is about choosing the time of your death when you are old or in a coma. Yeah, I know. Quite joyous but she still managed to not just make it a grim story but something wholesome which I think is amazing. For the animation she used a lot of rotoscoping. Before that I was honestly quite resilient about this technic, because I thought I couldn't get a good result with it but now after having worked on this project I have changed my mind completely about it and it opened up new horizons for my own animations.
Personal project
A big part of the semester was dedicated to a personal project. First we slowly developed it during some of the classes with teachers and at the end the whole schedule was dedicated the production of it. I wasn't obliged to do it, and they didn't put any pressure on finishing it so I took it as an opportunity to try new things. I used a program I didn't know much about and opted for a very simplistic approach for the animation. Even if it took me a long time to come up with something, I particularly liked working on the story and discussing it with the teacher that was in charge of storytelling. The most challenging part was the time that we had to actually animate. We were giving around one and a half month to finish it which I think is a bit too short. I didn’t complete the project in time by the end of the semester, but I will try to finish it during my free time in the future because I think it does have potential.
The building
The school is located in a very nice area next to the river. There’s a lot of nature very close which is very enjoyable for cosy lunch breaks on the grass with birds singing in the background or a little walk in the forest. Next door is the comic museum with its big bookstore. Let’s just say I had to send myself a package home because of that. In front of the museum is a large square where we would roller-skate and skateboard, play football or simply sit around.
The school is made of two buildings and are quite good looking. There are different types of rooms with each their own purposes: computer rooms, paper animation rooms, stop-motion animation rooms, «banc-titre» animation rooms and traditional art rooms. There were a lot of computers but only around three of them had access to the internet which was...interesting. Every computer had a tablet and every student had received their own tablet pencil. Only the fourth years could use the big tablets but if there was available space we could just ask to use it for our own project.
Angoulême
It is an old and very pretty city with a lot of historical monuments. It has two cathedrals if that says anything. Culture and art is very present in the whole city especially comics since it is where one of the biggest comic festivals in the world takes place. There are a lot of murals with very famous comic characters, and the buses also have familiar faces on them.
Sadly museums, cinemas and restaurants were open only around three months after my arrival because of covid restrictions and there was also a curfew but thankfully it got pushed later and later throughout my stay. It was quite weird to see that the city would usually be full of life, and it felt like it has been holding its breath for months. Naturally it was very satisfying when things started to open again and to see more people in the streets.
Living
I lived in two different places when I was there because the landlord of the first one messed up her finances and kindly asked us to live. This gave me a little extra dose of stress in the middle of my stay but I managed to find another place. Both of them were shared spaces with students or people doing internships. On the bright side of things I met even more people through this event. Plus the two places were radically different so it really was two different experiences: one looked like a palace with high ceilings, white walls and mirrors which made me feel like some kind of Lord from the eighteenth century. The other place was an old house with vintage wallpapers and curious furniture everywhere which made me feel more like a housewife from the French countryside in the twenties. I enjoyed them both in their own special way.
Near the school there is a cafeteria where students can get a menu for one euro. It was quite mind-blowing for my swiss brain to have a little salad, a little dessert and a meal for this price. I could even choose between vegetarian and none vegetarian options. This gave me the unexpected opportunity to save a little bit of money. If I didn’t feel like having this food, because of course it wasn't gastronomy even if it wasn't bad, I could always get a crepe or a burger from the food trucks that are always in the square next to the school. The owner of the crepe truck was super nice and chatty, I was going there for my coffee every morning and always had a few words about the weather and life in general.
Angoulême is a very French city which means you can easily find a whole bunch of cute coffee places and good bakeries. I had an unhealthy amount of almond croissants without any regrets. On Sundays I usually went to buy fresh food at the market which was probably a bit more expensive than the nearby Lidl but the taste of the products made it all worth it.
France is a bit cheaper than Switzerland so I managed to treat myself quite nicely for a student. The best part was probably the cinema tickets that cost only from four to maximum six euros. For not that much money, I even managed to go to Bordeaux for a day trip with some friends. It is only one hour away by train and it has a whole bunch of cool museums and amazing food…and wine. In general I didn't have any culture shock except maybe a few funny words that I didn't know only Swiss people use and the fact that I only heard French and no other language. For students that are interested in the school: I think it is better to be a native speaker or to have a good level of French to go there since all of the classes were in French and the people are usually a bit shy when they are asked to speak English.
Conclusion
As a Swiss person from the French speaking part, going to France to study animation is in my opinion a very good idea since the language barrier is almost non-existent and this way you can get the best of both countries: different skills from the schools, different perspectives, different cultures and (slightly) different food. Even if the school had a few problems with its administration and organisation, all the people that I got to meet and the technical knowledge that I received there made it all worth it. My goal of making new connections was achieved with all the students, teachers, flatmates etc.
As for the pursuit of my style, it is an endless quest but I definitely had the opportunity to explore it during my semester there through the different classes and the amazing people that I could work with. Overall I am very happy to have had the opportunity to spend one semester at EMCA in France and I would recommend it to future HSLU students if they have to chance to do so as well.
