It's always great to hear when escapees land jobs - especially if it's one that they've always dreamt of getting. Tom Harle, who studied our Games Art Production course has just secured a job at top games studio Rebellion. He's worked really hard on his portfolio and it's clear that it's really paid off.

I'm really pleased to bring you some news of an update to our current Compositing classroom courses. As most of you will know, what sets us apart from other training institutions is the fact that our courses are entirely industry focused. To ensure we continue to deliver on our promise, our development team regularly meet with industry professionals to refine our courses and align them with the very latest industry requirements. The changes we are making to our Compositing curriculum today will be applied to our 12-week Compositing for Production course as well as our 18-week Compositing Professional course.

Silent Studios are by no means a big company. As a team of four, they are a tight knit unit comprising a Creative Director, a Music Director, an Art Director/Designer and a Composer. However, they have certainly made some noise (quite literally) in the world of digital media. The Creative Director, Nathan Prince, came to Escape Studios to talk to our classroom students about digital media and how CG is playing a massive role in what they do every day. Liam described Silent Studios as a design and music partnership that blends moving image, creative direction, graphic design, installation and musical composition. A little bit of everything then.

We’re always pleased when our students start work in the industry working for their dream company or in their dream job. That dream recently became reality for Ben Cantor. 

I'm really pleased to announce a new addition to our full-time classroom courses - Compositing Professional.  This course builds on the amazing success of our 12 week compositing for production course and adds an additional 6 weeks of advanced training.  This extra time will give students the opportunity to develop skills to really set them apart from other juniors looking to enter the industry - covering subjects such as compositing for stereoscopic and the advanced techniques needed to work with high end 3D visual effects.  Part of the course includes a dedicated project week where you'll be able to work on your showreel and make sure that it really stands out from the crowd.

Please getting in touch with training team or come along to one of our open days to find out more.

According to the UKIE, “UK development leads the charge on Motion Controlled Gaming and in the All Format chart”. Figures released earlier in the week show that games made by UK developers account for 42% of all units sold for Microsoft’s Kinect since its launch. Those are pretty impressive results and something that we should be celebrating. Pity the government doesn’t value the industry enough to maintain the tax breaks for the games industry – you can read more about this in a recent post by Lee Danskin.

Our next ZBrush short course is starting on December 13th and we only have a few places left - so you need to hurry if you want to have a chance to take part. 

We’ve had some fantastic entries for CG Whiz 2010, but the deadline is fast approaching. Any entries submitted after midnight tonight (Pacific Time – 8 am GMT or 7 pm in Sydney, Australia) will not be counted, so you’ve only got a few more hours to get your reel in.  You can do this via Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube or Facebook, but remember to email CGWhiz@escapestudios.com with your contact details too.

Last week, we launched our first academic qualification, an MA in Visual Effects Production, which we’re running with the University of Bradford. You’ll probably be wondering what we’re up to, what with everything that’s been in the news about how much university tuition is going to cost in the UK. Having collaborated on this project with some leading industry pros, however, I reckon we’re on to a winner. Here’s why: 

We've just launched some new short courses which are going to be taking place here at Escape before Christmas. Each of these consists of five days intensive full-time classroom training from one of our industry professional tutors.

We have four courses on offer, and they are...