NYC isn’t as famous for its media companies as it is for many of its other large industries, but there is no shortage of jobs for skilled animation and digital post-production experts in the city. Learning how to work with programs like After Effects can open the door to high-paying, in-demand careers that pay particularly well for creatives who want to work in the media industry. In addition, even if you don’t want to work in a traditional media company, there are numerous non-traditional opportunities available in NYC, and the larger businesses that make up the city’s bustling economy will also employ After Effects experts to help them develop their own animated content.
The primary job for professionals who utilize After Effects are Special Effects Artists and Animators, which covers an incredibly wide range of different job responsibilities (ranging from the artists who create title cards and production house pre-roll content to animators who work on the individual motion of completely CGI monsters and beasts in programs like HBO’s House of the Dragon). The median salary for these positions in the US is around $98,000 annually and it is anticipated that positions will grow by 8% over the next decade, which is double the national average. While the bulk of these professionals are employed in Los Angeles, NYC is one of the other major media hubs and it pulls its weight in regards to how many special effects artists are employed in the city.
Industries in NYC that use After Effects
The largest employers of visual effects artists and animators in NYC are the major media companies that have central offices or other studios in the city. This includes major players like Viacom, NBC Universal and HBO. While these offices won’t all staff huge teams of animators, they will have on-site professionals who can work on everything from basic title cards and post-production to major animation projects for tentpole features. While animation is often associated primarily with the Disney and Nickelodeons (a subsidiary of Viacom) of the world, it is an essential part of modern film and television since any digital effect, replacement, or removal process constitutes the work of a motion graphics professional.
NYC is also home to a number of more traditional news media corporations. This includes local papers of record like The New York Times and the New York Post, as well as international news studios like CNN and MSNBC, all of which have locations in the area owing to their centrality to global and national news events. These studios will hire animation experts who can create the titles, graphics, and transitions for engaging informational content both online and on broadcast television. If you see a fancy graphic designed to present information to you, it is likely that a program like After Effects was involved in the production of that graphic. NYC, in particular, is home to a specialized subset of traditional media outlets working in the financial sector. Organizations like Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, and the dedicated financial desks of every major news outlet are located in the city and are likely to employ a team of animators who can create up-to-the-minute informational animations for their market reporting desks.
Beyond this, animators also find work in commerce and retail, particularly on the advertising side of the equation. NYC is one of the shopping capitals of the world, and it is a major tourist hub, meaning that there is a lot of foot traffic coming in and out of the city every day. This means that every business, from major retailers like Macy’s and Saks all the way down to small, independently owned boutiques and restaurants, will be in the market for advertising professionals who can create content that puts their best foot forward. Whether this is something as simple as adding title cards to a commercial or creating fully animated online advertising content, these businesses are likely to be on the lookout for top-tier talent.
Likewise, NYC is home to Madison Avenue and the storied advertising firms that made it the center of the industry (though many of the major players have since moved off of Madison Ave. to elsewhere in the city). These agencies, which include major players like StrawberryFrog, TBWA Worldwide, Organic, Inc., and DDB Worldwide, will have in-house animators and graphic designers who will work on specialized projects for clients from all over the country and in a diverse range of industries.
Additionally, animation is a form of mass visual communication, meaning that it is a part of basically every rhetorically-driven media campaign imaginable. This is especially key in a city like NYC, where politics are rivaled only by DC in terms of size and importance. Every political campaign, non-profit advocacy group, tenant union, or activist organization is likely to utilize animation and digital communication to one degree or another as part of their outreach and persuasion campaigns, so if you are interested in working on the creative side of an advocacy, political or public sector position, learning how to use After Effects could be the key to a new, rewarding career.
What to learn alongside After Effects
If you are looking to become an After Effects professional, it is likely that you’ll need additional training in order to find a job in a city as competitive as NYC. In addition, you are likely to need industry-specific training to complement your animation skills since every industry is going to utilize the tools in different ways. This means that you’ll want to have a baseline understanding of the kind of training you’ll need before pursuing a professional training program.
The most common type of After Effects work involves traditional, digital animation work, so most professional animators will need some background in the theories and practices of animation. This doesn’t require a massive college-degree level of training, but it does mean that you’ll want to understand why it is that certain decisions are made in animation and why it is that some styles and methods are used in different contexts. Again, this will primarily be practical training, but it is important to consider it as part of your greater skill set.
Beyond this, professionals working in a more niche industry or on specific kinds of projects are far more likely to need to supplement their training with equally niche skills. For example, animators working at ad agencies will need to understand digital marketing. If you are an animator working at the financial desk of a news studio, you are likely to need training in journalism and finance. Nonprofit activists and political operatives need to understand the issues that are most important to their campaigns and rhetorical persuasion strategies. NYC is a competitive city, and you’ll need all the advantages you can muster to succeed.
How to learn After Effects in NYC
If you are interested in learning After Effects, there are a lot of options available to you in NYC. These range from on-demand classes that you can sign up for and engage with on your own schedule all the way up to animation classes at one of the several prestigious art schools in and around the city. These each come with their own strengths and weaknesses that you’ll need to consider when deciding the best path forward. For example, while on-demand classes are cheaper and offer greater flexibility for students, they are also the least developed training method and will likely not be focused or guided enough for someone looking to start a career in animation. By contrast, a college degree program will give you the most networking opportunities, the most detailed training, and the best chance at finding a job, but it will also be the most time-consuming option and, by far, the most expensive.
One solid middle ground is to get training from a professional development school that specializes in After Effects bootcamps and certificate programs, such as Noble Desktop or General Assembly. These training programs provide students with hands-on, career-focused lessons in After Effects that are all tailored for students looking to start a new career upon completing the program. This gives them a blend of depth and focus while also keeping them affordable and manageable for students who don’t have the time or inclination to enroll in a dedicated college program (even at their most expensive, these programs are cheaper and shorter than even a single semester of film school). In addition, since these are career-focused programs, most service providers will offer some degree of career support services, ranging from job placement assistance to networking working opportunities with alumni to one-on-one professional mentorship sessions. It is important to take a look at what benefits are being offered when choosing from the many different programs on offer in NYC.
