"Love, Mum" Wins Best Student Film-Maker Award

Love, Mum wins Best Student Film-Maker at EEFF

Congratulations to the makers of "Love, Mum", the short film created by our second-year students at Escape Studios, which has won the "Best Student Film-Maker" award at the Eastern Europe Film Festival.

"Love, Mum"  tells the story of a young woman who tries to find the secret ingredient in her beloved mother's favourite recipe.  

"Love, Mum" was written, directed and edited by Amelia Watson, and produced by Llewelyn Whitney.  

Chrissy Metge: "Producing for Animators" 9 Jan 2023

Chrissy Metge

We're delighted to welcome back animation & VFX producer Chrissy Metge to teach a class on "Producing for Animators" to our second year undergraduate animators at Escape Studios on Monday 9th January 2023.

Chrissy is an experienced producer, and also creative director at Fuzzy Duckling Media and Duckling Publishing.  She has worked in the animation film and TV industry for 18 years, and has film credits on many movies, including VFX blockbusters The Hobbit, Ironman 3 and Hunger Games 2.

You can see Chrissy's full list of credits at her IMDB page here. 

Chosen Wins "Best Micro Short" at Golden Eagle

"Chosen" Best Micro Short at Golden Eagle Film Fest

Congratulations to Escape Studios animation student Pietro Mingione whose short animated film "Chosen" has won Best Micro Short at the Golden Eagle Film Festival. 

Chosen was animated and directed by Escape Studios animation student Pietro Mingione.  "Chosen" is a short animated film about the power of faith.  

Pietro took our MA in 3D Animation at Escape Studios, taught by veteran animator Lee Caller.  

Simon Browne to Teach Houdini at Escape Studios

Simon Browne

Escape Studios welcomes veteran VFX artist Simon Browne to Teach Houdini to our second year undergraduate VFX students, as part of their Specialism Module CR5001. 

Simon Browne has worked in TV, advertising and corporate media. He specialises in simulation-based animation,  but he is also an experienced 3D animator with over 20 years of experience.

Simon has experience with Matchmove, Coding, and is skilled in Maya, Houdini, 3DSMax, Redshift, After Effects and Unity. 

"Mechamorphosis" Wins Hon Mention in Tokyo

Mechamorphosis: Best VFX (Hon Mention) in Tokyo

Congratulations to the makers of "Mechamorphosis", which has won an Honourable Mention in the category of Best Visual Effects at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Mechamorphosis was written and produced by Alberto Scotti and directed by Ilaria Colavito, both of who are now working as Studio Assistants at Escape Studios.  Animation was completed by Steven Lall, and Hélios Lyons did the sound design and composed the original music.  The project was overseen by Head of Animation Michael Davies. 

"Draw" Wins Best VFX at 1st Fest

Congratulations to the makers of the short film "Draw", which has won Best VFX at the 1st Monthly Film Festival.

This is the latest award for Draw, a short animated film directed by Martin Kamminga and produced by Conway Dobbs, in which two kings must do battle for mastery of the chessboard. 

"Draw" has already won many festival awards.  Jake Newton was the 3D VFX Lead, and Christopher Fernandes was the 2D VFX Lead.  Maciej Osuch was Head of Animation.

Acting for Animators Returns on 1 Dec 2022

Jack Laskey

"Acting for Animators" is back: on Thursday 1 December we welcome Star Wars actor and RADA graduate Jack Laskey for an "Acting for Animators" class with our undergraduate animation students. 

Jack's class is a practical, physical workshop in acting skills, aimed specifically at helping animators to  create more believable, authentic acting choices in their work.

Animators are actors - with a pencil or a mouse - and we need to learn how to make a strong acting performance and then translate that into our on-screen animation.

"Street Ratz" Wins Best Trailer at Golden Eagle Fest

Many congratulations to the makers of "Street Ratz", which has won "Best Trailer" at the Golden Eagle Film Festival. 

This is the latest award for "Street Ratz", which tells the story of Tal, a young girl locked in a dystopian universe who must avoid the clutches of a gangland mafia boss to escape the city underworld. 

Street Ratz is a teaser/trailer written and directed by Austin Hill,  and produced by Jack Wright.  The lead animator was Piotr Noworyta.  Street Ratz has won many festival awards. 

Threaded Together Wins "Best Production" at HEI Fest

Congratulations to the makers of "Threaded Together", which has won an award for "Best Production" at the Heart of Europe Film Awards. 

Threaded Together was directed by Shauna Ludgate and produced by Manos Zervoudakis. The original score was composed by Maria Cortes-Monroy.

Threaded Together tells the story of a needle who longs to be reunited with his friends.   This is the fourth festival award for Threaded Together. 

"Chosen" Wins "Best Animation" at EEFF

Congratulations to Escape Studios animation student Pietro Mingione whose short animated film "Chosen" has won Best Animation at the Eastern Europe Film Festival. 

Chosen was animated and directed by Escape Studios animation student Pietro Mingione.  "Chosen" is a short animated film about growing up, acceptance, and the power of faith.  Pietro took our MA in 3D Animation at Escape Studios, taught by veteran animator Lee Caller.  

Jordan Coles to Teach Rigging at Escape Studios

Jordan Coles

Escape Studios is delighted to welcome back Escapee Jordan Coles to teach rigging at Escape Studios in January.

Jordan will be teaching our second year animation students the art of rigging on Tuesday January 10 and Thursday January 12th, giving our students an introduction to rigging, as part of Specialism Module CR5001.  

Jordan Coles has been working as a rigger at MPC in London.  MPC is one of the UK's leading animation and VFX houses, responsible for hits such as the 2019 remake of The Lion King and The Jungle Book.

"Box Bots" Wins "Best VFX" at HEI Fest

Many congratulations to the makers of "BoxBots", which has won Best VFX at the Heart of Europe Film Festival.

Directed by Jordan Coles and Ross Green, and produced by Priya Shah, "BoxBots" is about a contest between two toys who compete for the "World Plasticweight Championship". 

BoxBots has won many festival awards. 

Explore Sci-Fi at the Science Museum with Dan Shutt

 

Escape Studios' VFX tutor and immersive animation expert Dan Shutt has helped to create a new exhibition at the museum titled  Science Fiction at the Science Museum.  In this "immersive genre-defying exhibition" guests embark on a "once in a lifetime adventure through the cosmos to explore visions of the future through the science of today".  The cosmos in question were created and animated by Dan Shutt - our in-house expert in the field of live animation and immersive motion graphics. The project was led by agency Creative Giants, working alongside VFX house Framestore. 

"A Long Way Home" Wins Best Trailer at FOFA

Congratulations to the makers of A Long Way Home, which has won an award for at the Best Trailer at the Future of Film Awards.

A Long Way Home is a teaser/trailer directed by Harrison Bell and produced by Josiah Martin-Lofters, about an orphan girl searching for her biological mother.  

The film was edited by Cameron Haley, the CG Supervisor was Nicole Widmer.  A Long Way Home has won many festival awards. 

Animating Transitions: Walk to Run Tutorial

Learn how to animate Locomotion Transitions with Escape Studios' tutor Marc Stevenson - How to Blend from a Walk to a Run.  This tutorial is especially useful for any of our students studying locomotion and mechanics. It is also useful for a demo reel to show that you can successfully blend from one gait to another. 

Motion Graphics is Back on 6 Feb 2023

Motion Graphics Evening Class starts 6th February 2023. 

Our next Motion Graphics 12 Week Evening Class returns on 6th February 2023. 

This online course is taught by experienced industry professionals and aims to prepare students for careers in the motion graphic and motion design industries.

The market for skilled motion designers has never been bigger, and London is host to the world’s largest motion design community.  To find out more, visit the official course page here.

Interruption of Studies at Escape Studios

On occasion our undergraduate students at Escape find that for whatever reason, personal or professional, they need to apply for an Interruption of Studies (also known as a suspension of studies).

Interruption of studies means exactly that - our undergraduate students can interrupt their studies, typically for a year, then pick up the course in a year's time. 

 In other words, you press the Pause Button.

Chosen Wins "Best Director" at Vesuvius Film Festival

Congratulations to Escape Studios animation student Pietro Mingione whose short animated film "Chosen" has won its second festival award - Best Director at the Vesuvius Film Festival. 

Chosen was animated and directed by Escape Studios animation student Pietro Mingione.  "Chosen" is a short animated film about growing up, acceptance, and the power of faith.  Pietro took our MA in 3D Animation at Escape Studios, taught by veteran animator Lee Caller.  

Concept Art Is Back Wed 4th January 2023

Student artwork: Pictish Village

Concept Art is coming back to Escape Studios. Our online evening class in Concept Art returns on Wednesday 4th January 2023. 

 
Concept Art is a part-time evening class, taught one night a week, running for ten weeks. Concept Art runs for 10 weeks, from 7 until 10pm.  Classes take place one night per week.

Concept Art introduces students to the techniques and skills that go up to make a well-rounded concept artist, including 3D & 2D software.

"An Evening With..." Chrissy Metge Wed 23 Nov

Chrissy Metge at Escape on 23 Nov 2022

Escape Studios is delighted to welcome back animation & VFX producer Chrissy Metge to Escape Studios for "An Evening With..." event on Wednesday 23rd November at 5pm.

Chrissy is an Executive Producer at DNEG Animation; she started her career as an animator, before moving into production. Her talk is titled "From Animator to Producer", and Chrissy will talk about her career and the many possible roles available in the Creative Industries.

Chrissy is an experienced producer, and also creative director at Fuzzy Duckling Media and Duckling Publishing.   Chrissy has worked in the animation film and TV industry for 18 years, and has film credits on many movies, including VFX blockbusters The Hobbit, Ironman 3 and Hunger Games 2.   You can see Chrissy's full list of credits at her IMDB page here. 

This event is open to all currently enrolled students.