FX awards

As a graduate of the FX Awards at Staffordshire University, you may be employed within advertising where CGI is growing massively, film or other new media areas.

Expert in the operation and use of industry standard equipment and software, FX graduates have the skills to commence work with an employer and pay their way from day one.

Graduate TJ Singh has recently been employed as a matchmove artist for Cinesite, London. The Cinesite visual effects department has recently completed projects including Clash of the Titans and Pirates of the Caribbean.  Other graduate examples are: Lars van der Bijl, Technical Director also Cinesite, Robin Brown, Roto Artist Aardman Animations, James Knopp, 3D Artist Envy Post, Jonny Isaacs and Libby Hill who both joined Framestore and Chris Francis who is now a runner at the Mill.

The Double Negative Roadshow and the makers of Inception from which they have won a Bafta and an Oscar are running a roadshow at the university's Beaconside Stafford site  on March 31st in the Tom Ruxton Lecture Theatre from 1-3 to explain to students the type talent they are looking for.    The talk will discuss 2D, 3D, animation and compositing in relation to their recent work on the feature films Inception and Paul.

Double Negative are one of the world’s largest visual effects houses with offices in London, LA and Singapore.  Employing over 890 staff making them the largest post house in Europe. Over the past 12 months, Double Negative has completed work on projects including; Attack the Block, Paul, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Inception, Iron Man 2, Kick-Ass, and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. We are currently in production on John Carter Of Mars, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Captain America: The First Avenger and Total Recall.

A graduate from the Stoke campus back in 1998 Peter Bebb collected the Oscar in LA recently for Inception.

A group of FX students attended an Autodesk Masterclass at Envy Post on Feb 16th. The students visited the Broadcast Video Expo at Earls Court in the day and then went to  Envy Post in the evening where Autodesk demonstrated their Smoke, Flame and Maya visual effects tools.

Envy Post employ a number of our graduates. 

BSc(Hons) CGI and Digital Effects is an exciting award aimed at students who have a passion for the digital effects and the amalgamation of the film and TV production skill set, merging into the world of visual effects (VFX).   This CGI & Digital Effects award aims to produce graduates with a unique set of skills, both creative and technical, as required by the CGI industry. That will allow them to stand out when they graduate, Leading to jobs including compositors, rotoscoping artists, 3D animators, 3D riggers, visual effects producers, and visual effects supervisors.

You will study the technology of post production and visual effects: Editing, 3D Modelling, match moving and compositing. The BSc(Hons) Digital Film and 3D Animation Technology course is a part of an existing set of Film Production Technology awards. The film industry is a large and exciting industry with opportunities for technical specialists. It is a part of the Entertainment Programme that contains other awards such as Film Production Technology, Music Technology and Computer Games Design.

“I studied Digital Film and 3D Animation Technology and have graduated to a job as a 3D artist at Envy Post in Soho, London where I work on commercials, music videos and documentaries for film and television.  I couldn’t have done this without the encouragement and industry connections of the staff at the university who gave me the skills and confidence to reach my potential.”

James Knopp
BSc(Hons) Digital Film and 3D Animation Technology

This degree scheme is not recruiting to the first year of the course for the 2011-12 period. As alternatives we suggest BSc (Hons) Computer Games Design, BSc (Hons) Digital Film and 3D Animation Technology, BSc (Hons) CGI and Digital Effects and BA (Hons) VFX: Visual Effects and Concept Design. 

The Games Concepts Design degree has been designed and developed with the help of noted games concept artists from industry, in order to build a course capable of producing the next generation of multi-skilled game concept artists, with the breadth of knowledge and depth of understanding required by this competitive industry.  Students gain 'traditional' drawing skills through field trips to places including RAF Cosford and then use these materials in another format for example for a 3D concept piece.

Digital Film and Advanced Post-Production Technology  This course combines the study of digital video production and post production management, in a number of different fields, including television, cinema, video, computer animation, design and digital imaging.

We create multi-skilled graduates that are tailor-made for the modern entertainment industry.

“Staffs Uni is great. The lecturers are very passionate about their subjects.  They also understand what the industry wants, in terms of technique, quality and accuracy and are always pushing us to work using industry practices.”

“Although visual effects is hard work the results are amazing when you have learnt the basics and began to finesse your work.  The experience has been brilliant, last year I was invited to work in Australia to help make a feature film in 72 hours called 'The Ballad of Des and Mo' and work on a pilot science fiction production with Bafta winning BBC Exec Producer Tony McHale.

Danny Lennon
currently studying BSc(Hons) Digital Film and Post Production