Escape Blog

Regular readers of the blog will know that last week we had the awards ceremony of the CG Whiz competition. We managed to grab the three winners and some of the judges, including Steve Venning from The Mill, to film their views on the competition. We think everyone had a great time, and over the next few months we’re hoping to have blog posts from Adam Droy, the overall winner, and runners up Ronan McMeel and Marco Barrato, to see how the competition prizes have helped them break into the CG industry.

Well done to all who entered – we were astounded by the standard of the entries. For all those of you inspired by the entries keep an eye out for next year’s competition, and the chance to win another potentially career transforming prize.

Congratulations to all the finalists of our CG Whiz competition. We had a great time at the Reveal Event last night, meeting the future stars of the CG industry. As we’ve said before, we were overwhelmed by the sheer number and quality of the entries we’ve received.

It’s clear that there’s a lot of talent out there, but there could only be one winner – Adam Droy (spikeycactus)!

Adam excelled across the board. His showreel highlighted his creative flair whilst demonstrating a sound understanding of the techniques involved. We’re very much looking forward to Adam studying with us at Escape next year, and wish him the best of luck during his work placement at The Mill.

The two runners up should also be commended, having fought off stiff competition from over 130 entrants.

Ronan McMeel’s (MrMeel) showreel earned him the runners up position, impressing the judges with his creativity and incorporating a storyline throughout his work.

Marco Baratto (smileandwave1987) also wowed the judges with a technically sound showreel – inspired by the “HP Hand” commercial.

Ronan and Marco – we hope you enjoy Escape Studios’ online courses and exclusive tour of The Mill.

For those of you that missed out this year, or didn’t get around to entering, don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for information on next year’s competition. You’ll hear about it here first.

It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for…

Escape Studios and The Mill are delighted to announce the shortlist of our CG Whiz competition. We’re astounded by both the level of interest and the standard of entries: we’ve had 136 entries, whilst the videos have received over 8,300 views!

The shortlist (in no particular order) is:

• RaynorTom http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obL0kdlOZoQ
• mrmeel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFijdoW826c
• smileandwave1987 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKChEPCsR10
• spikeycactus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhi5NHO3WSA
• dhavalmistryVFS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBTc2zLEG94
• renegade060482  http://www.youtube.com/user/renegade060482
• googboog http://www.youtube.com/user/googboog
• holofermspu http://www.youtube.com/user/holofermespu
• addictiongraphics http://www.youtube.com/user/addictiongraphics
• Tristan Lilien http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05VZq7LyHnc
• Ceetwo245 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcGY6q1DY6o
• daboble http://www.youtube.com/user/daboble
• pubudu086 http://www.youtube.com/user/pubudu086

The shortlisted entries beat stiff competition and will now go forward for a chance to win the top prize of a course at Escape Studios followed by work placement with The Mill. Two runners-up will win online courses, and ten other runners-up will receive subscriptions to leading industry magazines Shots and 3D Artist.

The winners and runners-up will be announced on the 8^th December at a prize giving event at Escape Studios.

Stephen Venning, 3D Executive Producer at The Mill, said: “We were very impressed by the sheer creativity and diversity of the entries we received from applicants around the world. It’s been extremely hard to pick the top entries so those we’ve shortlisted should be very proud of what they’ve achieved.”

The following have been specially commended by the judges:

• daboble http://www.youtube.com/user/daboble
• pubudu086 http://www.youtube.com/user/pubudu086
• Lightinggod http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8sMDb9CBZY
• Sushiexpressthemovie  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duF7WnIIp4c
• CarlBeauchemin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG9SqCbKyxk
• Redlumtn1 http://www.youtube.com/user/redlumtn1

All those listed in the ” Specially Commended” list are invited to contact Escape Studios in the coming days. Your entries have attracted our attention and we would like to hear more about you.

We’re almost at the end! The CG Whiz competition ends at midnight tonight, so if you’re going to enter act now. We’ve had a tremendous response so far, with over 125 entries posted here.

To enter, all you need to do is post your portfolio as a response to our video. As a reminder, the winner of CG Whiz will get a place on one of Escape’s world class 3D training courses, plus a much-coveted work placement at Oscar-winning visual effects company The Mill. There are also two 12 month online Maya courses and a behind-the-scenes tour of The Mill on offer for the runners up, plus subscriptions to leading industry magazines 3D Artist and Shots.

What are you waiting for? Get your entries in now! We won’t count any entries posted after 00:00 31^st October, so don’t waste any more time.

There’s just two days until the end of the CG Whiz competition, so if you’re going to enter you’d better post your videos soon! We’ve had 96 entries so far, will yours be joining them? Check out a couple of the things we’ve been getting:

Remember, the deadline is Friday 30^th October, and to enter you need to post your entry to this video. Don’t leave it until the last minute, get posting now!

There’s just a week to go until the end of the CG Whiz competition. We’ve had 74 entries so far – is yours one of them?

Here’s a couple to give you an idea of what other people are doing:

Inspired to enter? Enter via YouTube, by posting a video response to this clip. The competition closes on 30th October 2009 and the winner will be announced in mid November. Good luck!

We’re halfway through the competition and we’ve already had 49 entries – a great response, but we’re still keen to see what everyone else is working on.

For those of you still umming and aahing, perhaps a reminder of the prize will help sway you: a place on one of Escape’s world class 3D training courses, plus a much-coveted work placement at Oscar-winning visual effects company The Mill. There are also two 12 month online Maya courses and a behind-the-scenes tour of The Mill on offer for the runners up, plus subscriptions to leading industry magazines 3D Artist and Shots.  How could anyone resist? You can take a look at all of the entries by clicking here.

To enter, simply submit your portfolio as a video response here.

Need some tips or pointers before you submit your work? Check out our free resources centre.

Our CG Whiz competition has got off to a fantastic start – we’ve already had an impressive 27 entries but there’s still time to submit your best work.

Remember, for the chance to win a place on one of our fantastic Visual Effects training courses, plus a work placement with The Mill, all you need to do is post your animation or graphic illustration portfolio as a video response to our YouTube video below by the 30th October 2009. That’s it!

Check out the entries we’ve received so far: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN3cr8TGReI

There’s some awesome CG talent out there, and some of these entries look like the work of professional CG artists – but please keep in mind that we can’t accept entries from the pros, we want to give others a leg-up into the world of films and visual effects.

What’s your favourite entry so far? As always we’d love to hear your feedback – either share it here on our blog or on our YouTube channel.

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

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.

Escape for the Summer

Want to know what it’s like to work in a thriving, dynamic industry?  Escape Studios is offering school leavers and graduates a taster into the world of computer graphics with its new three-day summer courses that highlight the exciting career opportunities on offer to students and provide valuable insight into the industry.

Fewer businesses in the traditional industries are offering graduate placements due to the economic downturn, so students are looking at other options to get on the career ladder. The visual effects industry is growing fast and the UK Film Council has predicted a boom in the film production industry in the second half of 2009*, following a turnaround in the pound and dollar exchange rate. Last year, Escape Studios, Europe’s leading school of computer graphics, successfully placed the vast majority of its graduates in jobs within the visual effects and games industries. Escape Studios offer students a mix of personalised, live and interactive training and help them find potential job opportunities.

Escape Studios is offering school leavers and graduates four new taster courses: Introduction to 3D using Maya (the leading 3D imaging software), Introduction to Computer Animation, Introduction to Visual Effects and Introduction to Games, which all contain abbreviated content from Escape Studio’s full-time courses. Over three days, students will learn the basics of 3D effects creation and gain a better understanding of what’s involved in visual effects and character animation with guidance from world-class tutors. The courses are aimed at giving young people a chance to get a feel for what a computer graphics job is like and understand what discipline they might want to pursue in the industry.

Adam Dewhirst, a former Escape Studios student, says, “I’d thoroughly recommend trying one of the courses for anyone who wants an exciting and challenging career. My job’s fast paced and really rewarding, especially when I get to work on movies like ‘The Golden Compass’ and ‘The Dark Knight’. Having proper professional training early on has been invaluable in getting ahead and giving me the knowledge to succeed in the industry”.

“We’re offering anyone interested in getting into computer graphics a sneak preview with our summer taster courses. Our accelerated classroom learning courses are recognised by the industry and provide students and graduates with high quality training by professionals,” says Dominic Davenport, Escape Studios. “The current economic climate is causing people to assess their employment prospects and consider new, expanding industries such as computer graphics. Our summer and full courses provide an opening into the industry and teach students tomorrow’s techniques.”

Robin Shenfield, CEO at The Mill, comments: “The UK film industry is witnessing a boom and is offering individuals with a passion for computer graphics a rewarding career path. We’re always looking for fresh talent and it’s great to see more people want to enter this industry and gain the best training available.”

All four summer courses cost £349, which is refunded should the student decide to sign up to an Escape Studio classroom course. Full courses are typically 12 weeks long and have been designed to cover all the basics and provide someone new to the industry with the required skills to begin their career. Escape Studios offer a range of courses on offer include visual effects, animation, games, character design and more. For more information please visit www.escapestudios.com

* UK Film Production report Q1 2009 report