Industrial Light and Magic is Opening a Brand New UK studio

Coming to London

Industrial Light and Magic is opening a brand new UK studio to work on a new Star Wars trilogy. Disney’s special effects firm was founded by George Lucas back in the early days of VFX, and now ILM is coming to London even as Pinewood Studios' filming of Star Wars VII nears completion.

The London studio, known as Magic Studios and based in fashionable Covent Garden, will be home to 200 newly hired staff, headed up by Ben Morris as creative director, who won an Oscar for his work on the visual effects for The Golden Compass in 2008.

To read more about the opening of ILM, see this article in The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/15/industrial-light-magic-uk-studio-star-wars-film

When new studios start up, they need talent. Now is the time for all our animation students to be polishing their CV and demo reel, and getting ready to apply. ILM offers huge new opportunities for animators and VFX artists in London, and is great news for our capital city.

---Alex

Animating a Quadruped with AnimSquad

I had the pleasure of working with Matt Shumway while at Rhythm & Hues and he was my animation supervisor on HOP. Have a look at this preview from a workshop about quadruped animation. Some great insight to creature stuff.

Trailer Matt Shumway "Animating A Quadruped" Masterclass from Animsquad on Vimeo.

Enjoy!
JP

ILM hiring 200 staff in Soho - time to polish your demo reel

Hiring soon in London!

Great news for Bucks animators and visual effects artists  - Industrial Light and Magic, the visual effects division of Star Wars producer Lucasfilm, is coming to Soho. According to the Hollywood Reporter, it will hire 200 staff to work on Lucasfilm products and also other films produced in the UK. Star Wars: Episode VII will start shooting at Pinewood Studios in May.

This is great news for our recent graduates. One of the best places to find a job is at a facility which is just opening up. Why? Because they will need to fill positions at every level, from experienced staff to entry-level posts. 200 staff is a lot of people to hire in one go. We recommend that all our recent graduates polish their reel and send it in. If you need advice or assistance on how to polish your reel most effectively - let us know; we'll be glad to help out.

Every time you apply for a job you get better at applying, even if you don't get the position, and the experience you gain from applying is all part of the journey to your first visual effects job. ILM will be looking for character and creature animators (as well as all the other positions that make up the VFX pipeline), so make sure you put your best foot forward by making sure that your reel looks as awesome as possible. And remember that the golden rule of an animation reel is - no mistakes.

---Alex

(Editor's Note: For more on creating a successful demo reel, check out our post on what studios are looking for here, and also the Sony Pictures guide to demo reels here. You should also watch our ten minute video on what goes into a great student demo reel. Don't forget our guide to putting together a great CV, and check out this post where our recent graduates talk about what it takes to find work in the creative industries. In this post, John Lasseter explains what Pixar look for in fresh talent, and the director of Monsters U adds his advice as well. )

The future of filmmaking

Lucasfilm shows off the future of filmmaking? 

Scenes get rendered out in real time, removing the need for post-production

Getting a Visual Effects job - by Scott Squires

Having worked in the VFX Industry for almost 3yrs I have experienced many of the things in this article. As everyone's journey is different and some things here could apply and could not, it is a great article to get a little bearing on many things that you might encounter in the VFX side of our industry.

So have a read and take what you can from it.

Getting a Visual Effects Job

Enjoy!
JP

found via SPUNGELLA

some other related links

Cutting it in the VFX Industry
Breaking into the VFX industry

Animation Mentor: Tips and Tricks with Peter Kelly

Hey Everyone

Just watched a quick video from Animation Mentor and Lead Animator at ILM, Peter Kelly about Exaggeration in Animation.

                                 Animation Mentor Newsletter

Some great stuff on how you can put exaggeration in realistic creature stuff as well.
Enjoy!
JP

Website Highlight: Jason Martinsen

Hey Everybody

Haven't done a highlight in a bit so wanted to point you to Jason Martinsen's site. He's worked at quite a few studios and has done some great work on films @ BlueSky, ILM, Double Negative and even Naughty Dog the great game studio that brought you Uncharted. Under his animation tab he has generously put together a Reference Comparison showing his refVid and the shots he used them on...Great Breakdown!!

 

jmartinsen.com

All of his work you can frame through too they are in QuickTime...enjoy.

JP

Animation Mentor Weinar on "Living the Dream!"

Just wanted to let everybody know that there is another FREE Animation Mentor Webinar coming up. It's a webinar of two animators in the industry working at Dreamworks and ILM about getting a great job after graduating hosted by Mentor Kenny Roy Founder of Arconyx Animation Studios. Should be a good one.



Register now.
Enjoy