Last Friday, some of the Escape staff & students were given the opportunity to visit the El Segundo studios of Rhythm & Hues, one of the premier studios in the VFX industry. Rhythm & Hues has led the way in CG animation with their work on such features as The Chronicles of Narnia, The Golden Compass and Hop. Currently they are working on Ang Lee's next film Life of PI and awaiting release of the much anticipated Snow White and the Huntsman.
The End is Just the Beginning
The inaugural VFX and Compositing courses at Escape Studios ended on Friday, February 17. On the last day of the courses, the students presented their work to the group in our screening room. Each went through their projects and explained the process they went through to get to that point.
Looking for a Way to Finance Your Dreams?
Finding the cash required to make your dream of working in VFX a reality can sometimes be difficult. That’s why we’ve come up with a way for you to finance your courses at Escape Studios in a way that’s easier on your wallet. After all, it would be a shame to miss out on your life long dreams just because you don’t have immediate access to cash.
New Term Dates & Brand New Maya Core & Compositing Evening Classes
We're over half way through with our first set of course offerings in VFX and Compositing and it has been an exciting ride. We'll be offering both of our 12 week daily courses again in 2012. We've set up our spring, summer and fall start dates for our Visual Effects Production and Compositing for Production courses so you can start your planning right away.
Our First US Escapee Mug Shots
Our first set of students just hit the mid-way mark of their courses so we decided it was high time we subjected them to a long-standing Escape Studios tradition, that consists of capturing their photos before they start pulling their hair out coming to grips with the more complicated side of the VFX pipeline.
Classes Off to a Booming Start in LA
In Rick’s compositing course, our students have already made great strides. They are currently working on Keying and Rotoscoping - finishing up the section of the course which deals with the core skills for a junior. Next, the students will start to work in ‘real world’ scenarios, which will help them to become problem solvers. They’ve completed work on the NUKE interface and are now focusing on the art of compositing, and the techniques to approaching problems. After the break they will be working on color correction, 3D in NUKE and CG compositing. They're all very excited to start shooting their own footage and putting together multi-pass composites.
2011 CG Whiz Winners Revealed!
After our best year yet, the 2011 CG Whiz competition has officially come to a close with the announcement of our talented winners from all over the world! Escape Studios and its judging panel were totally wowed by the quality of this year’s entries and the incredible level of talent across all categories.
Susan's Weekly News Mashup: Friday 2 Dec 2011
Another week has gone by – I sat out last week due to the holiday, but here, for your reading pleasure is a mashup of the good, the bad and the absurd. I hope you find some interesting reading within!
Escape Studios LA Completes First Week of Classes
November 7 was our first day of classes here at Escape Studios LA. We’ve enrolled 14 students in our courses and they’ve already begun to learn the basics of Maya and NUKE. It’s clear that the students are learning a ton and enjoying the intensity of the courses. We can’t wait to see what our new students will be able to produce once they complete the next eleven weeks. I’m sure their demo reels will give us a taste of their talents.
News Round-Up: Monday 7 Nov, 2011
Here is my usual Weekly Round-Up of News, with stories that I have picked up over the past week. If you have suggestions for stories I missed, just drop me a line or post a comment.
CG Whiz Entries Heating Up: Spotlight on Young Pros
Since kicking off CG Whiz last week we’ve been amazed by the high calibre of entries so far and wanted to share some of the highlights so far with you.
CG Whiz 2011 Call for Entries
We’re excited to announce our talent discovery competition, CG Whiz, kicks off today for its third year in a row! CG Whiz helps ignite the careers of computer graphics and visual effects fanatics from across the world.
Santa Monica Academy Unveils Stunning Interior Design
Escape's brand new studios in Santa Monica, California, are finally ready to be unveiled. After months of hard work I caught up with Dom Davenport - our CEO - to ask him a few questions about the space and the creative photographs he recently took.
Escapee Carlos Conceicao Lands Internship at The Foundry
Our UK team recently released a story about one of our compositing escapees - Carlos Conceicao - landing an internship at The Foundry. This got me thinking about the actual spectrum of jobs that are available to people who study with us. There is an expectation that the majority will go on to work for companies in the VFX, Animation or TV industry. And yet Carlos has just demonstrated that you can actually go on to work in the software industry, for companies who develop the tools that are used in the media and entertainment sector. They are many such companies. Most of you will have heard of the largest ones like Autodesk, but there is a plethora of other companies and a constant flow of new comers too. This
Classes in VFX & Compositing Starting November 7, 2011 in Santa Monica
It’s official! Intensive classroom courses in Visual Effects Production and Compositing for Production begin on November 7, 2011 at our Santa Monica Academy. These courses are intensive - they run 12 weeks, Monday through Friday from 10 am to 5 pm. You can expect the following from each course:
Apprenticeship Spotlight: Derrick Sesson
We’ve highlighted the exploits of our summer apprentices and have yet another story to tell.
Escape Studios Hosts First LA Open House
After weeks of waiting we have finally moved into our new Santa Monica campus, and we’re enjoying every minute. The school is almost complete, but we just couldn’t wait to show people around. That’s why we were so thrilled when earlier this month we held our first LA open house event and got to show prospective students our brand new space. Everyone enjoyed it so much that we’ve decided to host an open house event every two weeks for the rest of year.
Apprenticeship Spotlight: James Brady
We have been catching up with another of our Summer Apprentices. Here is what James Brady, Junior 3D Artist at The Mill, had to say.
Apprenticeship Spotlight: Stu Schwartz and Ivy Flores
As Tad pointed out in his last post, we’re midway through the Apprenticeship Program. I wanted to take time each week for the remainder of the program to introduce the amazing talent we have with us this summer.
Summer Apprenticeship Update
Our Summer Production Apprenticeship is nearing the half-way point, and we wanted to start sharing the work that the apprentices have been producing.
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