Why Framestore backed our new Animation & VFX course at Bucks

Right behind us

Last year Head of Animation at Framestore Kevin Spruce signed off on our new Animation & Visual Effects course at Bucks, acting as what is known as "an external examiner". Being an external examiner involves vetting a course to make sure it is fit for purpose. In our case, that means preparing our students to be able to animate animals and creatures to a professional level, and making sure that our graduates are capable of finding work in the expanding animation and visual effects industry. Framestore are one of London's leading VFX houses, a world leader in visual effects, and the people who brought you the astonishing digital work on Gravity.

We hear a lot about skills shortages in industry, but there is no substitute for speaking to leading figures at our best companies to find out what skills they need, and where the shortages are. For many years animation schools have focused largely on character animation - that's the Pixar-style stuff, teaching students to give a character performance.

Framestore did the bears

Creature work is a bit different. Companies like Framestore have to be able to re-create lifelike and photo-real animal and creature performance and then - and this is the really tricky bit - layer in a character performance on top. Think of the armoured bears in Golden Compass, animated by Framestore, and you start to get the idea of how difficult a task this can be.

We're aiming to give our students a solid grounding in this kind of animal and creature work, so that our graduates can take aim at the best visual effects houses in Soho, find employment, and build themselves a satisfying career.

---Alex

For more about the experience of studying at Bucks New University, come and visit us at one of our Open Days,  take a virtual tour of one of our animation studios, check out what our students think of our course, and see why we're ranked in the top 12 creative universities in the UK. Find out why we're giving free laptops to all our students, and why we give all our students free access to videos at Lynda.com. Also, see what financial assistance might be available to you. Learn which is better for animation, a PC or a Mac? Get hold of a copy of a map so you can find your way around campus, and learn about motion capture at Bucks. And find out about how our online video tutorials work.

Tonight Escape Studios is hosting a free webinar on careers in visual effects.

Free webinar with MPC

Today Wednesday 2 July Escape Studios is hosting a webinar on the subject of careers in visual effects. Join them (it's completely free) as they broadcast live from MPC London, with the heads of recruitment at both MPC and Framestore. They'll be giving you a behind the scenes snapshot of their work as recruiters in VFX, the variety of work their company does, and the kind of Artists they hire. In addition, you will have the chance to send them your questions about careers within the VFX industry.

To register, follow this link. Registration is absolutely free!

---Alex

For more practical advice on careers in digital media, read about what our graduates had to say at the recent Graduate Panel. Check out this post on how to set up an small business. Also learn about your first client project, read out our post on Portfolio Careers, and read this piece on Survival as a Freelancer. Study the nuts and bolts of freelance life by reading our guide to invoicing clients, and our guide to freelancers and taxes.  For more on careers in general, check out our guide to animation careers here, and also take a look at this map of digital studios - a great place to start your search for work in the business. Finally see our article on the jobs page at awn.com

Animals and Creatures Reel from Animation Apprentice

Here at Bucks we are committed to training animators not just in character animation but also in creature work, doing the kind of animation that is in high demand at Soho visual effects houses like Framestore, MPC, Double Negative and Cinesite. Our second year animators will devote at least a quarter of their time just to the business of animating animals and creatures, preparing them for a successful career in visual effects.

I teach animation not just at Bucks but also at my online school at www.animationapprentice.org, founded in September 2012. Animation Apprentice is still a very young animation school, but we have just put together the first compilation of animal and creature work, showcasing some of the best work done by the students.

Starting in September, our second year animators will start to tackle similar exercises, making animation that feels realistic and believable, but also has character and personality. Bringing creatures to life in a photorealistic environment is a hard trick to pull off, but with the right training and the right amount of practice, we should soon be seeing work at Bucks of the same - or even higher - standard.

Last year when we put the creature animation module together we had input from Kevin Spruce, head of animation at Framestore, and one of the best creature animators in the world.  He kindly agreed to be our external validator, casting an experienced eye over the course content, and helping to make sure that the work being done is of the right standard.

---Alex 

(Editor's note: for more on the experience of studying at Bucks New University, come and visit us at one of our Open Days,  take a virtual tour of one of our animation studios, check out what our students think of our course, and see why we're ranked in the top 12 creative universities in the UK.)
  

Summer internships at Framestore - time to polish your demo reel....

Framestore is looking for talented and creative undergraduate students to join their 2014 summer intern scheme. According to Framestore, "the Internship will give the successful applicants a unique opportunity to become important members of the creative team and gain valuable experience working for one of the largest and most respected special effects and computer animation studios in Europe".

Framestore say that they are looking for "individuals who share their passion for high-end visual effects and can demonstrate a genuine commitment to their chosen career path".


Summer internships are being offered in the following areas of visual effects work:

- 3D – Animation, Modelling, Technical Direction, Rigging, Texture/Digital Matte Painting, Art Department, Tracking

- 2D – Roto-scoping, Compositing

- Production

Who can apply?
If you are entering the final year of your degree then you will have the opportunity to join the internship scheme.

What kind of work will interns do?
Interns "will be exposed to a wide range of work and will be given a real-life view of what a career with Framestore would be like. Your learning will be through a combination of hands-on experience, scheduled presentations and informal get-togethers. You will have the opportunity to learn first-hand what a career in post-production would be like."

What kind of work did interns do last year?
In 2013, Framestore interns had the opportunity to work on many projects, including Jupiter Ascending, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Robocop as well as many other shows.

When does it start?
The 2014 intern scheme will run from 7th July 2014 till 29th August 2014

Is it a paid position?
Yes

When should you apply?
Now. You must apply online by Sunday 4th May.
https://ch.tbe.taleo.net/CH10/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=FRAMESTORE&cws=39&rid=418

----Alex

(Editor's Note: For our guide to finding your first job in the animation industry, click on this link. For our guide to finding internships, read this post. For more on what studios look for in a great demo reel, try this link, hear what London's Blue Zoo has to say about finding work, and take a look at this video by Sony Pictures Animation. You can also watch Alex's ten minute video on creating a great reel, and read this post on the perfect demo reel. Also, check out our guide to animation careers here, and also take a look at this map of digital studios - a great place to start your search for work in the business. Learn the nuts and bolts of freelance life by reading our guide to invoicing clients, and our guide to putting together a great CV.)

Framestore's Diarmid Harrison-Murray on Skyfall, Daniel Craig and Adele

Diarmid Harrison Murray was the keynote speaker at last week's BlueGFX Expo at London's South Bank. He was there talking about the title sequence for Skyfall, which he directed, tackling the project with a small team at Framestore, one of London's leading visual effects houses.

Below is a rough (and hopefully accurate) transcript of his talk, in which he explained how he managed to pull off the animated titles for the latest installment in the world's most successful film franchise.

Diarmid explained that the client brief for the title sequence was "an homage to the past but with a modern twist". In other words, they needed to produce something in keeping with traditional Bond titles, but also modern and sophisticated. They settled on a look that was "dark and sinister, a single camera POV experience", reflecting the very personal nature of the Skyfall story. The client wanted it to feel "as if Bond's life was flashing before his eyes".

The budget for the title sequence was, as seems to be so often the case nowadays, not really enough to do the job properly. They had a small team, who had to do a ton of work between them. The core team was just six artists, and they only had three months - not much time to produce something that needed to be seriously impressive.

On top of that, it was effectively one long shot, hard to break down into sections. As every animator knows, long shots are the toughest, and the render times become incredibly unwieldy.

Adele - top secret. Photo: Wikipedia

In addition, the client's master edit kept changing. The song, sung by Adele, was a big secret, and the team were not even permitted to hear the music for first 2 months – it was completely shrouded in secrecy. So it was only in the final month that they could actually time the animation to fit to Adele's song.

So how did they get started?  They began with mood boards, sketches and visual ideas to "get the creative juices flowing". Once the client had signed off on the look, they did a story board animatic. Then they shot the live action scenes with Daniel Craig. These were all filmed at Pinewood Studios over three days. They filmed in the famous underwater tank and also filmed green screen footage.

Pinewood Studios

The CG animation was all based around the idea of a beating heart, pumping (through digital simulations) blood around the body.

One of the team's persistent problems was that the director was reluctant to commit to final approvals, leaving the overall look of the project in some doubt until near the deadline. The team did many early tests to get him "buy off" on the style - but approvals were slow in coming.

When the final deadline loomed, work became so frantic that some people on the team "did not go home for 3 days, they just slept in the offices". Or they simply got no sleep at all. Diarmid himself did an all-nighter at the very end, which he described as "Day – night – day – pub."

At the end of Diarmid's talk he was asked what was the biggest lesson he had learned on the project? He answered: "Working with clients, they routinely mess up your beautiful work. Being able to do this and not scream into a pillow is vital. And that goes for all client work".

Amen to that.

(Editor's Note: You can read more about our trip to Blue GFX at the South Bank here. Among the highlights, we heard an excellent talk by Blue Zoo, the Uk's leading TV animation production co.  You can also find out more about how Framestore helped us to develop our new animation and visual effects course here at Bucks.)

Framestore signs off on our new course

Head of Animation at Framestore Kevin Spruce has signed off on our new course at Bucks. We're thrilled that Framstore have OK'ed our course outline, and especially the module which focuses on creature animation, preparing students to be able to animate animals and creatures to a professional level, and preparing our graduates for work in the expanding animation and visual effects industry.

We hear a lot about skills shortages in industry, but there is no substitute for speaking to leading figures at our best companies to find out what skills they need, and where the shortages are. For many years animation schools have focused largely on character animation - that's the Pixar-style stuff, teaching students to give a character performance.

Creature work is a bit different. Companies like Framestore have to be able to re-create lifelike and photo-real animal and creature performance and then - and this is the really tricky bit - layer in a character performance on top. Think of the armoured bears in Golden Compass, animated by Framestore, and you start to get the idea of how difficult a task this can be.

We're aiming to give our students a solid grounding in this kind of animal and creature work, so that our graduates can take aim at the best visual effects houses in Soho, find employment, and build themselves a satisfying career.

---Alex

Who is hiring in Soho?

One of the key aspects of finding a job is knowing who is hiring. If the jobs aren't there, or your skills don't match the vacancy, then it doesn't matter how talented you are - you won't be likely to find work. So, a big part of finding a job is knowing what is out there, who is hiring, and when.

Here are some jobs boards which show what sorts of skills the big Soho VFX companies are looking for. Add these to your bookmarks - and check them often.

• Moving Picture Company (MPC) jobs board 
• Double Negative (DNeg) jobs board
• Frame Store jobs board
• Cinesite jobs board
• The Mill jobs board

Of course, these are just the big companies. There are literally hundreds of medium and small-sized digital FX companies in London that are in constant need of fresh talent.

There is no substitute to keeping your ear to the ground and finding out what is available. It might take weeks, or months, or even (hopefully not) years,  but sooner or later someone will be looking for a graduate with your skills. So don't lose heart - perseverance and persistence pay off.

---Alex

Partnering with the animation industry

Here at Bucks we're proud of our contacts with industry, forging links with companies so that students get real-world experience of the job market and, hopefully, internships and actual jobs. For example, we're building a partnership with Centroid, the Motion Capture company at Pinewood studios which helped some of our students gather MoCap data for their film projects last year.


Part of the process of validating our new Animation and VFX course involves external review, and we're proud to have Kevin Spruce, the head of animation at FrameStore, as one of our external reviewers. Kevin is one of the most skilled animators in the country, and leads a team of digital artists on some of the most exciting and challenging film projects being done in the UK.

One of the problems that Framestore has experienced over the years is where to find animation graduates who can tackle the complex, highly technical creature animation which is needed to bring animals and creatures to life, in films such as the Harry Potter or Narnia series. Framestore pioneered animal and creature work when they did the ground-breaking Walking With Dinosaurs back in the late 90's, and they have been a world leader ever since.

One of the modules on our animation course is specifically focused on creature animation, making sure that our students can tackle animal and creature locomotion, accurately reproduce animal behaviours and, finally, create a compelling and believable creature performance that entertains and engages the audience.

---Alex