Last week we were joined by Junior Lighting TD and Escape graduate Alastair Cross for a webinar that shows another side to VFX. The Hollywood side of VFX is probably why most of us want to work in the CG industry, but CG artists are putting their skills and knowledge to good use in lots of different areas. If you missed this webinar, the great news is we recorded it and the recording is now available to watch on our YouTube channel.
Equity investment for Prime Focus World values company at $250 million
On March 20th 2013, Prime Focus World N.V. gained equity investment from AID Partners (a private equity firm focused on expansion capital and buyout opportunities specifically in the media and entertainment sector). Investing USD 10 million, this venture has contributed significant value to Prime Focus Limited as a whole, valuing the company at a total of USD 250 million.
FREE Kindle No1 bestseller (beating ‘Star Wars’) download for 32 hours
How to get into and survive Film, Advertising and TV post-production is topping the charts on free Kindle downloads, out-doing Star Wars. Pretty epic! If this tells us anything, it’s that there are still a healthy number of talented people looking to break into the post side of production. The author of this very popular book is none other than Klaudija Cermak, a compositing tutor who previously taught here at Escape Studios, and she certainly knows her stuff!
Alessio Bertotti @ Pixomondo Hamburg
Escapee Alessio Bertotti answers some questions on VFX and tells us about his time at Pixomondo Hamburg.
A Career in VFX… a world of possibility!
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a career in Visual Effects is far from boring. As far as careers go, this is an industry that keeps us on our toes, offering us a never ending number of new creative project ideas to be realised, fun new problems to be solved and new technologies to be developed. This is an industry that constantly pushes us to learn and discover more.
Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore…
Escape whips up a whirlwind of activity this week.
MPC comes to Escape
Okay folks, our Academy Tour is almost upon us; on Wednesday 15th May Escape Studios will once again open its doors to all you VFX lovers out there wishing to get ahead of the game in the industry.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Paul Chung that’s who!
Escape Studios had a special treat today as animator Paul Chung kindly agreed to come along and give a talk to our Academy Tour attendees, oh and half the current student population too…
The Visual Effects Academy
So, the time is nearly upon us to open our doors to all you budding VFX artist wannabes to show you what we’re made of!
Escape Academy Tours, an Open Day for Open Minds…
So it’s that time again… time to tempt, entice and hopefully ensnare a fresh batch of enthusiasts to come tame the beast that is VFX, here at Escape Studios. Hosted by recruitment and training team Flora and Nick, today is all about giving our potential Escapees a feel for what life at Escape has to offer, from our accelerated Classroom courses to the oh-so important free tea/coffee and, of course, the after hours bar downstairs!
Framestore Recreate 1865 America for Lincoln
Lincoln is very much a hit with the award bodies this year. Having only just recently hit the cinemas, the film has already scooped up a Golden Globe and a BAFTA as well as being nominated for 12 Oscars. And although this is all very lovely, we’re more interested in the stunning results achieved by Framestore for this epic biopic. Providing the backdrop of 1865 America, a country ripped in two by civil war, Framestore worked alongside the filmmakers to make a historically accurate recreation that was both invisible and believable. And having already proved their expertise on Spielberg’s previous project War Horse, Framestore have obviously earned the trust and respect of Steven and his team.
C (299,792 km/s)
The phrase ‘put your money where your mouth is’, is rarely put into practice. However, over the last few years, website kickstarter.com has bucked the trend by allowing generous and creative types to come together and put their money into projects that they genuinely believe in.
WFTV: Women in Technology Networking
A big thank you to the ladies from WFTV (Women in Film and TV) for organising a networking event last night for women who work in technical roles across film and television. Three of us (Davi Stein, Anita Gribble and myself) from Escape went along to see what was going down! We had a great time meeting women from lots of different fields. Among them was a DOP, a few editors and to our delight two effects TD’s from MPC.
Christoph Keller - Escape Speaker Feature!
We’ve had Senior Compositor at Double Negative Christoph Keller, speaking at Escape HQ today to a room full of keen VFX fans! Ahead of his visit I asked a few questions that are entirely unrelated to his job, because variety is the spice of life, right?