Escape Blog

You might have read that we recently surveyed people working in the industry for their thoughts about their jobs and the world they work in. We’ve now taken this one step further by asking graduates about their expectations of a career in this field.

One of the great things we found was that CG graduates are pretty realistic – the working hours don’t seem to put them off and the salary is not a deciding factor for those hoping to enter the industry (doing something they love is far more important).

This is good to see as CG students currently have strong employment opportunities within the industry. You may have heard that the FDA has said UK box offices are set to take in £1billion this year and with 3D cinemas showing big-ticket blockbuster movies, including today’s release of Avatar, the CG industry needs to produce top-notch talent more then ever before.

It’s so encouraging to hear that new CG graduates bear realistic expectations of what it’s like to work in the industry and still want to pursue training and employment opportunities. Graduates are pretty clued up and place great importance around career fulfillment – which is good news. CG is one area where the UK really does lead the world and a constant flow of new talent will ensure this continues to be the case.

Our very own Escapee, Chris Bradwell, has won a BAFTA for his fantastic work on the game Flock! just five years after graduating.

For those of you who haven’t seen it, Flock! is an extremely creative puzzle game made entirely from soft, stuffed objects. It’s set on islands in the middle of the ocean and you have to use your UFO to herd sheep, pigs, cows and hens through physics puzzles into your mothership. It might sound a little bizarre, but its great fun and the graphics are awesome. It’s definitely worth checking it out.

We’ve heard that Chris is still busy in the studio finishing off a second game release ‘Final Fight: Double Impact’, and is planning to start work on another unique game: watch this space!

We caught up with Chris to hear what he had to say about his fantastic achievement:

“The BAFTA Scotland Best Game 2009 Award is a wonderful surprise – not only is this our first game, but it’s the first year they’ve had a gaming honour. I’m really proud of the work we did and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Proper Games team, my lovely wife and the guys at Escape for all their support. The games industry can be hard to break into these days, but Escape helped me onto the path of success!”

We love it when our students go on to achieve such a great success. Well done Chris – the game is great fun to play and I can’t wait to see what other creative ideas your team comes up with.

You might have read a couple of weeks ago about the winners of a prize draw we held for those who completed our survey. We wanted to see what people in and around the CG industry thought about their jobs and the world in which they work. We had a fantastic response, with over 2,800 professionals, hobbyists and students answering questions for us, and the results make for interesting reading.

One of the great things we found was that, if you’re a professional working in the CG industry in some form, you love your job. 80 per cent of you are happy working in the industry, and 59 per cent would recommend the career to others. How many other careers have that sort of approval rating?

However, despite the obvious enthusiasm people have for their work, there are some anxieties out there. 42 per cent of respondents said they are worried about job security, while a massive 62 per cent agreed they have had to do more training to refine their skills. Just a quarter of professionals agreed with the statement ‘I get enough training in my job’, with over half disagreeing with it.

For those of you that didn’t get a chance to answer the survey, what are your thoughts on the industry? Do you love it, but don’t get enough training? Or do you dislike the work, but could render a 3D feature with your eyes closed?

Enter our YouTube Competition and Win a Course at Escape and a Placement at The Mill

Here at Escape Studios, we’ve been working with The Mill, Beam TV, 3D Artist Magazine and Shots magazine on something rather special to help make your autumn a lot more exciting…

If you’re a recent graduate or self-starter in the world of CG and 3D animation looking for a leg-up into the world of films and visual effects, our new online competition will be music to your ears (and effects to your eyes): we’re giving away a place on one of our fantastic Visual Effects training courses, plus a work placement with those amazing folks over at The Mill.

If that wasn’t enough, for the runners up we’ve got two 12 month online Maya courses, a behind-the-scenes tour of The Mill, plus 10 one year subscriptions to industry magazines 3D Artist and Shots.

To get involved and enter, all you need to do is post your animation or graphic illustration portfolio as a video response to this YouTube video by the 30th October 2009. That’s it!

If you aren’t doing so already, make sure you follow @Escape_Studios on Twitter for all the latest news and views, and use the #CGWhiz hashtag to tweet about the competition.

For full details, see the competition homepage at: www.escapestudios.com/CGWhiz

We can’t wait to see your entries. Good luck.

I’ve been reading a lot about tax breaks in the past couple of months. First there was the anticipation and ultimate disappointment of Digital Britain, when we hoped that the games industry might get the tax breaks it needed. A missed opportunity, many said.

More recently there has been the report from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), calling for tax breaks for the games industry and spelling out the consequences if they aren’t forthcoming. There was also a report on the BBC talking about a similar situation for animators.

I feel that the consequences are simple: without tax breaks, the industry, whether games or animation, will crumble. This isn’t because the industries are struggling; far from it. The UK games and animation industries are among the most talented, innovative and influential in the world. However, in order to remain competitive, we need to see tax breaks. This is because other countries already have tax breaks, allowing their industries to compete on a global level by offering huge salaries and benefits, the likes of which UK companies can not hope to match. When a developer or animator, who has worked hard for a decade plus on his or her skills, is suddenly offered not only a salary bump, but also bonuses, relocation costs and a host of other benefits, it becomes very hard to turn down by even the staunchest patriot.

The creative industries need the breaks. Without it, the very thing that make them among the best in the world, the talent, will no longer be British – it’ll be Canadian, American, French, Russian, Korean, and the companies (and ultimately the economies) to benefit will be from those countries as well.

An article appeared in last weekend’s Sunday Times discussing the fact that two of Britain’s former polytechnics have outperformed Oxford and Cambridge by getting more of their graduates into work than any other university. For years vocational courses, typically taught at newer institutes, have been stigmatised for their lack of academic prowess. However, employers in some industries, such as the computer graphics industry, prefer to hire candidates with vocational qualifications, so could this mean opinions are about to change? Universities are starting to understand that certain courses, which can be tailored to specific careers, will produce graduates with more relevant skills than those covering a broad range of theoretical topics, leaving students in a better position to find work after they graduate.

We’ve long appreciated the importance of aligning a course’s curriculum with the needs of the industry and it’s encouraging to see others recognising the value of vocational courses. By providing students with the necessary tools and expertise to succeed in their chosen field throughout the course, they will be more employable and will have a head start on the career ladder. Whilst some universities are embracing the advantages of vocational training, more funding is needed to provide tutors with the resources to give their students a more industry focused education.