So last night, there I was, enjoying having the flat to myself, only half watching a re-run of Grand Designs when the ad break came on and something made me sit up and take notice of the tv screen…
Escapee work on IKEA 'Ad of the day'
In this new Ad from IKEA, we see a gang of garden gnomes waging war against an influx of new modern furniture, appearing on their turf. Watch as the battle ensues and mass gnomes are killed in action, and after you’ve seen it, take a second to ponder how it was created!
NEW Webinar: Painting a Picture of Compositing
To get a real good grasp of compositing and the discipline that surrounds it, there’s no better way than seeing the process in action for yourself. And if this is something that sounds right up your street, the only other thing to add is that your guide for this comp session is none other than NUKE devout, Simon Richardson.
London's VFX Artists become Superheroes!
VFX fans and readers of WIRED magazine will have noticed a special feature in this month’s edition, as Soho’s VFX teams are made into super heroes by, well, themselves.
November’s Free Tutorial: Confessions of a Junior Compositor
How does someone go about getting a Junior Compositor role at an international VFX studio like The Mill? Well in this month’s tutorial Simon Richardson reveals how it all started for him. From experimenting with Adobe’s After Effects at University, Simon was introduced to basic keying techniques in a layer based system. And this was when the seed was planted that would flourish into him conquering NUKE, and working at one of the top VFX studios in the world.
“City of Possibilities” A stunning commercial from The Mill
The Mill recently completed a commercial for US client Norfolk Southern, showcasing the transformative power of freight shipping. Being a rather stunning piece of work, you may be interested to know that this project was rendered primarily using Mental Ray, taking advantage of the newish unified sampling feature.
VFX for Production Course… 8 Weeks In!
As a design graduate with 7 years’ experience working within design departments in architecture and retail I spent what time I could learning how to model and animate to create short sequences influenced mainly by films I like. Although fun, learning that way means progress is very slow as is the rate of improvement - at least in my case anyway. I wanted to get better quicker and that's why I signed up for the VFX Production course.
Glowfrog At The VFX Festival
As you probably know Escape Studios organised and hosted the UK’s first VFX Festival last week with events, seminars and master classes taking place across London. The VFX Festival went down an absolute storm and was a fantastic platform to demonstrate the success of the UK’s ever-expanding visual effects industry.
We'll have a Heineken; shaken, not stirred
Riding on the excitement of the new Bond film, Skyfall, Heineken has a James Bond themed ad, featuring Daniel Craig. The VFX for the ad were done by none other than our good friends at The Mill, and the global TV and digital campaign will be activated across 32 markets and involves the participation of the film's stars, Daniel Craig and the latest Bond girl, Bérénice Marlohe.
Escape Studios launch the VFX festival with star studded panel of industry experts.
Last Thursday, Escape Studios launched the UK’s first VFX Festival with an exclusive panel debate made up of the industry’s top flag bearers!
Simon Richardson: Junior NUKE Artist at The Mill
Anyone who knows Escape Studios will know how valued our Studio Assistants are. Representing the heart of Escape, they keep this VFX academy a well-oiled machine. From supporting current students with their projects, making sure deliveries go out on time, to editing showreel videos, no job is too big or too small. And in return they are in the best place to ready their showreels for that next step in to the CG industry.
The VFX Festival 2012 - Get your tickets now!
Step into the mind-blowing world of VFX with The VFX Festival! Escape Studios has created the first ever four-day festival exploring the breathtaking world of visual effects, held in London on 10th-13th October.
Celebrating a decade of UK visual effects, the festival will be packed with the most respected VFX talent, visionaries and companies who have helped shape the industry. Offering inspirational insight behind the clever trickery in this booming VFX industry, with an exciting four-day programme packed with insider knowledge and information, showreel demos, hands-on workshops and exclusive premieres, it's perfect for those with a creative talent or thirst to develop their VFX Career.
Webinar Reminder: Behind the Scenes in Snow White & The Huntsman
When the award winning VFX team at The Mill approach a new project, they certainly don’t cut any corners. Setting out to create nothing but their absolute best, while pushing the boundaries of technology, these guys are serious about what they do. And you don’t win as many VFX awards as these guys without putting in the hard graft to make heads turn.
The Mill get musical with Terry Crews
The Old Spice ads have been tickling viewers over the last year or two, and this one for me, just takes the biscuit. With some magic from our friends at the Mill LA, this musically themed two minutes is brought to life by some intrinsically timed VFX.
If that isn’t enough, the ad is interactive! Viewers can tap their keyboard, to make Expendable and general macho man Terry Crew’s muscles move, in turn making sounds from an strange array of precariously placed instruments.
According to their site, Creative Director at the Mill LA, Phil Crowe explained… "I
The Old Spice ads have been tickling viewers over the last year or two, and this one for me, just takes the biscuit. With some magic from our friends at the Mill LA, this musically themed minute or so is brought to life by some intrinsically timed VFX.
Webinar Exclusive: Snow White & The Huntsman with Amy Cuthbertson
Our visual effects and compositing students have gone on to work on some pretty awesome projects over the years. These include the many studio blockbusters that light up cinema screens around the world. Seeing escapee names in the rolling credits at the end of such films never fails to give us that warm fuzzy feeling of pride – proud to see they have achieved the goal they had when we first met them on our courses. And this was very much the case when some of the Escape team went to an exclusive screening of Snow White and The Huntsman at Framestore a few months ago.
This Too Shall Pass
Musical originality and relentless visual ingenuity are two of the many reasons that make American indie rock outfit ‘Ok Go’, one of the most forward thinking, and simultaneously underrated, bands of the 21st century.
Having dazzled us with their treadmill synchronised choreography in the video for their single ‘Here it goes again’ back in 2006, (Which is, to the infuriation of many loyal fans, their most well-known hit to date, thanks to the video) they have continued to raise the bar.
2010’s ‘This Too Shall Pass’ is a single from their most recent studio album ‘Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky’, and shows their very own Rube Goldberg machine in action.
I was pleasantly surprised this week to discover that ‘the Mill NY’ had done some retouching on the final project.
A video which defies belief in the first place, It is understandable that the band had to call in the help of some fellow creatives.to ensure finesse in the final cut.
Fans of originality in all forms should set aside half an hour to peruse this group’s back catalogue. I can guarantee satisfaction.
Musical originality and relentless visual ingenuity are two of the many reasons that make American indie rock outfit ‘Ok Go’, one of the most forward thinking, and simultaneously underrated, bands of the 21st century.
Ever Wanted To See Your Name In Lights?
Or wanted to be able to say, ‘I did that’, when watching a film and seeing a huge, breath taking explosion? Then maybe you should start to think about pursuing a career in Visual Effects. At Escape Studios, we want to make those first steps into the industry as easy as possible whilst providing you with the tools to succeed. Our Visual Effects Production course will not only give you the skills to progress in the exciting world of Film Visual Effects, but will also show you how to make an impressive show reel (which results in many of our students securing jobs once they have finished.)
Escapee Reunion at Saddington Baynes
Last Wednesday we sauntered down to our friends at Saddington Baynes, devoured some gourmet Pizza, washed it down with some ice cold beer and cleansed our pallets with some invigorating VFX related conversation, all in the name of our second graduate reunion…who says you can’t mix business with pleasure? And with a high calibre of industry employed attendees from the likes of Double Negative, Framestore, The Mill and MPC London, conversation was rife.
Putting The "New" in PFTrack and PFMatchit
We are pleased to share you that The Pixel Farm products PFTrack and PFMatchit are now available on the Escape Studios Technology Store.
Now Announced... Speakers For HUG London!
Less than one week to go before the UK's first HIERO user group, HUG London and we have kept you waiting long enough as to who will be speaking.