We're really pleased to show you the trailer of a new short film project by Billy Lumby titled 'God view'. Billy approached Escape Studios to help him out with some of the visual effects work on the project. I'm not going to give away any of secrets of the project but you'll see it's a great concept and some really interesting techniques were used to create the film's final look.
Rushes Lead TD Mark Pascoe talks to Escape Students
This week Escape is very pleased to welcome Mark Pascoe from Rushes to speak to our current classroom students. Mark joined Rushes 5 years ago off the back of the Visual Effects Production Grade course at Escape, doing the Maya comprehensive course before that. He is currently in the Film and TV department at Rushes, taking up a technical role on projects. He has also been nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Series.
Coming Up: Live Twitter Q&A with The Mill’s Steve Venning
Want to get an insider’s view on all things VFX? If the answer’s yes, then our next Twitter advice session is right up your street.
Changing Workflows Within the Post Pipelines...
I noticed this over at JupiterJazz: AtomKraft Beta2. It's a massive plugin to Nuke enabling a whole host of 3D rendering type workflows. Believe it or not, it puts control of final renders and outputs in the hands of the compers!
Find Out About New Job Opportunities via Twitter
As most of you know, the UK Visual Effects' industry appears to be in a very healthy position at the moment. Many of the large post houses in Soho are in the middle of long term projects and most studios are commenting on the lack of available freelancers. As a result, the Recruitment team here at Escape has never been busier!
Escape Studios in a Live Q& A at the Guardian
The chances are, if you’re reading this blog, you’ve got more than a passing interest in the film industry. Alright, specifically the VFX part, but still, you’re keen to know as much as you can about the industry, and possibly how you can break into it (hopefully with our help…).
Top Ten Uses of Special Effects for Great Storytelling
I came across an interesting little article yesterday on PodcastFilmReview.com about the top ten uses of special effects for story telling. It was refreshing to see someone looking at this from the angle of the story telling rather than just for the special effects themselves.
Double Negative, The Mill and Framestore Mentor Escape Studios Students
Just want to say a Big Thank You to Double Negative, Framestore and The Mill for the fantastic help you've given our students on the first stage of our industry mentored classroom courses here at Escape Studios.
Nvidia Cleans up at the Oscars
There may have been only one winner for the Best Visual Effects award at the Oscars, but it was the top line-up of nominees that gave NVidia a real cause to celebrate.
BBC to Broadcast New Dinosaurs Documentaries
The BBC have announced that they are to broadcast a new series of famous dinosaurs documentaries. This will be a much shorter series than the original Walking with Dinasaurs - only 3 programs - but will feature all the 3D and visual effects wizardry you would expect from this program. According to Broadcasting News, it will feature photo-realistic fight scenes to give a "whole new perspective on dinosaurs".
Brit Success at the Oscars
The winners of the 2011 Oscars were finally revealed yesterday amidst the usual pomp and ceremony that we are accustomed to, and I have to say, it was a pretty good night for Britain.
Visual Effects Benefit from New Rules at the Oscars
No doubt you’ll all be looking forward to the Oscars this weekend. It's particularly significant if you’re a VFX fan, with five nominees in the Visual Effects category this year rather than three.
Livingstone-Hope Report Launch
On Tuesday I attended the launch of the Livingtone-Hope report which was undertaken to address the skills issues facing the UK's games and visual effects. Escape Studios staff have taken part in a number of the surveys which went into building the data for this report as well as speaking directly to Hasan Bakhshi and Juan Mateos-Garcia from NESTA, who did a large amount of the work of pulling the data for the draft report together. In essence the report lays out 20 recommendations across the talent pipeline from schools through FE and HE to the industry. All these parties as well as the government and other skills and training bodies such as Skillset are called on to do their bit. All of this whilst being realistic about the funding and resources available, the recommendations had to be about the focus of existing funds not calls for large sums of new money.
The title sequence from Scott Pilgrim
I just wanted to point you towards this article which discusses the amazing title sequence for Scott Pilgram. When I was a student wanting to get into the industry I found out about Shynola (a collective group of visual artists who have collaborated on a variety of projects) when a brilliant but very strange music video was produced by Unkle called "eye for an eye". When I came across this article of how Shynola worked with the Edgar Wright the director of Scott Pilgram, I decided to have a look.
StereoScopic 3D Doesn't Work!
So when an academy awarded influential film editor like Walter Murch makes very detrimental comments about 3D stereo some people should take a long hard look at it. What does 3D really add to the whole film experience except expense and a headache? You can find his comments here - all of which are very observant and true.
New Year's Resolution
It's that time of year when everybody makes a multitude of New Year's resolutions. I am of the opinion that they are not worth doing unless you are going to stick to them. Having said that, we have actually decided to start the year with a resolution. It’s a fairly simple one: we are resolute in our wish to give you more of the free tutorials that you want. There you are, I told you it would be an easy one.
Amazing Showreel from Displace Studios
Here's a link to a fantastic reel from our friends at Displace Studios, they worked with us earlier this year to create some eye popping 3D brand furniture for our new website and other collateral. They did an amazing job for us and I wish them every luck with this new venture.
Last few places available for January 2011 Courses
As the end of 2010 approaches we're filling up fast for our next round of courses in January 2011. The last spot on our Compositing course has just gone, so the next seats available for that are now in April. We have also just filled our Character Animation course with Alex Williams so we now only have a few seats left on the two Visual Effects Production courses, taught by Mark Spevick and Dan Shutt.
Conrad Olson's take on Escape's Compositing Course
One of our escapee - Conrad Olson - recently posted a story on our LinkedIn group which I thought would be of use to all of you who are currently considering taking our Compositing Course.