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Who doesn’t love a monster, created or robot in the movies? Now you can go to The Stan Winston School of Character Arts to learn how to create these yourself with their webinars and online courses. I’ve always loved big, blockbuster movies like Jurassic Park, The Terminator movies and more! And, I’ve known about Stan Winston through the countless DVD special features I’ve watched over the years. So when I was able to have Matt Winston on the podcast to talk about how a Hollywood practical effects master teaches online courses I was elated.
Matt talks about creativity and how his team plans the course content. While they have the names of famous movies to help market and promote their courses, they still do a lot with social media marketing. I was impressed with how personable Matt is and devoted he is to the online training community. It’s not just a way for him to make money, but a way to teach the next generation how to make physical effects for movies and television. And more important than that, it’s a way for him to extend the legacy of his father, the late (and great) Stan Winston.
Click Here to Watch “7 Tips to Create Better Online Course Videos”
Matt Winston’s bio
About Stan Winston and The School of Character Arts
For over 40 years, the name Stan Winston has been synonymous with iconic fantasy characters, including the killer cyborgs of The TERMINATOR series, the extraterrestrial monstrosities of ALIENS, the alien hunter from the PREDATOR series, the prehistoric giants from the JURASSIC PARK films, and the iconic suits from IRON MAN. By relentlessly pushing the limits of art, technology & imagination, Stan Winston Studio continually set new standards of excellence and innovation for character creators worldwide. After Stan’s untimely passing in 2008, the Winston family founded Stan Winston School of Character Arts to preserve Stan’s legacy by inspiring and fostering creativity in a new generation of character creators. Through connecting the world’s finest artists and technicians with students worldwide, our mission is to empower aspiring artists and technical wizards to push the boundaries of character creation for years to come.
- Nominated for 10 Academy awards and won 4
- Known for Terminator series, Aliens, the first 2 Predator films, Jurassic Park 1-3, Iron Man
- The Stan Winston School of Character Arts
- Instructors have 24 Academy nominations with 12 Academy awards
- Stan and his company have worked with James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and more!
Questions for Matt Winston:
- With a background as fantastic as your father’s, how was it growing up to get a front row seat as Stan developed characters for the Terminator series, Aliens, Jurassic Park and many more?
- Since Jurassic Park is one of my favorite movies and I know you were able to work on set with the all the live action dinosaurs, do you have a favorite memory about that movie and how it was created? \
- You’ve been in some very popular films and television shows like Fight Club, Little Miss Sunshine, Scrubs and Star Trek Enterprise. Why did you decide to start the Stan Winston School of Character Arts?
- Take us behind the scenes of these courses, how many people does it take to produce a single course, like how many camera operators, writers, etc or is it a simple operation?
- Do you have a template you follow to create each course for the online school?
- Since many of the courses deal with creating a monster or effect while learning from the instructor, how did you remove the barriers to entry so users can not only follow along online but also use the same materials as the instructors use?
- What lessons have you learned with creating your courses?
- What types of marketing do you do?
- What would you tell someone who wants to start an online school that’s as ambitious as The Stan Winston School of Character Arts?
Click Here to Watch “7 Tips to Create Better Online Course Videos”