More advice from another "old man."
In the late 1970s through the early 1990s, any technician in the movie business with a good set of technical skills could make a really good living because everything we did was extremely technical and took a great deal of patience and practice. If you missed exposure on a shot in 1995 by 1/4 of a stop the shot may be ruined.
From about 1993 to about 1998, if you had any computer skills and a decent eye you could make a really good living with your computer as a technician. Then it all started to go downhill. There were rotoscope artists that made a really good middle-class income removing wires from greenscreen shots. I have a good friend that owned a pretty substantial effects production company that worked on digital effects for a major blockbuster movie in 1995-1996. The producers gave him and his team 3 months to work on about 20 seconds of the movie. That whole company closed a few years later because it became impractical to have an office and staff to just work with the software. Just being a technician in the visual effects business is a losing battle. I heard a talk at NAB just a few years ago where the head of a major studio actually said about subcontracting visual effects work "If I don't put a visual effects house out of business I am not doing my job." In the early days of Photoshop, you could charge a lot of money to simply remove the background from an image. Now you can send them out online and get the background removed for less than a dollar per image in under 4 hours. There's no money and no future in being a digital technician.
But there is hope. Really talented people, people that understand color, composition, music, literature, psychology, and have the kind of personality it takes to really think about, create, and deliver a really good product will always be able to find a way to make a really good living. Learning the software is by far the easiest part of that process. Unfortunately, you have to completely relearn the software every few years because it changes that often. The basics don't change, but the tools do, and they change all the time.
My advice is to concentrate on literature, history, art, and try and figure out what inspires people. What brings out emotions. What makes people want to be better human beings. You might need to throw in a few courses on animation or visual effects or photography, but that is the least important part of your education.
You should also consider a minor in Business. Maybe even major in business, so you understand how money works. I know a lot of really talented people that have done really great work for some of the biggest clients in the world that are completely broke all the time because they never learned how to run a business or manage their money. No matter what you do, save at least 5% of every dollar you earn at your craft and invest it in your future.
You can do all or some of that in college. You can do all or most of that on your own if you have that kind of personality. A degree, especially a degree in animation or photography or film, is not nearly as important as the last amazing thing you created on your own. A bachelor's degree in film or animation probably won't get you your first job, but an inspired demo reel will. Most of all, learn to manage your time so that you are always on time with your projects and hopefully under budget. That's the most important thing any creative person can be. On-time and under budget.
I hope this helps.
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