VFX Project at Escape Studios Starts 20 Sept

award-winning Jerich0

On Monday our third year animation students start work on The VFX Project, part of Studio Module PR6001, in which our animation students collaborate with VFX students to create short films.

Students write a script, produce a storyboard animatic, film live action plates, scan and track the plates, create and animate the characters, light and render their shots, and add sound design. 

The process is just like working on a live client project in a real studio, with a focus on collaboration and problem-solving. 

To see some recent examples of award-winning VFX Project work, check out Kiwi's Dream, BoxBots, Little Gestures,  Home Sweet Home and Jerich0.

Studio Project 1: VFX project. 

In this group project, which starts on 20 September, animation students work alongside VFX students, both 3D and 2D, to create professional-quality 3D animation, such as the short film Jerich0 below.  Jerich0 has won multiple awards: it was selected for the BFI London Film Festival, and was also short-listed for a student BAFTA. 


Jericho - VFX Short Film from Matthew Wight on Vimeo.
 

VFX Project - 12 Weeks

The VFX project runs for approximately 12 weeks, and the projects themselves are limited to 90 seconds in length.  The week by week schedule below gives a rough idea of how the projects are organised.

Week 1  

"Offcut" 

Pitches, script, storyboards and animatic

Week 2

2D: Shoot Data Rec.

3D: Shoot Asset Creation and Data Rec.

Animation: Shoot Previs and Data Rec.

Week 3

2D: Conform/Edit and Shot Allocation/ Roto and Clean-up

3D: Asset Creation and Matchmove

Animation: Rigging and Tests

Week 4

2D: Roto and Clean-up

3D: Layout Animation: Tests and Blocking

Week 5

2D: Roto and Clean-up/WIP Comp

3D: Layout, Texturing and Lighting (Look Dev)

Animation: Blocking/Refining

Week 6 

2D: Roto and Clean-up/WIP Comp

3D: Layout, Texturing and Final Lighting (Look Dev) Test Renders

Animation: Refining Animation

Week 7

"BoxBots"

Directed Study

Week 8

2D: Roto and Clean-up/WIP Comp

3D: Texturing and  Final Lighting (Look Dev) Test Renders

Animation: Finalising Animation

Week 9

2D: Roto and Clean-up/WIP Comp

3D: Rendering

Animation: Final Animation

Week 10

2D: Comp

3D: Rendering

Animation: Available to help/ Edit, otherwise work on Specialism

Week 11

2D: Comp

3D: Rendering extra AOV's if necessary

Animation: Available to help/ Edit, otherwise work on Specialism

Week 12

2D: Final Comp

3D: Rendering extra AOV's if necessary

Animation: Available to help/ Edit, otherwise work on Specialism

Week 13

Submission and Presentation

Tutor: Paul Harrison

Paul Harrison

The third year of animation at Escape Studios is overseen by our newest animation tutor Paul Harrison, a skilled 3D generalist with many years of experience of animation, teaching and training, and is also supported by specialist tutors to provide bespoke training where needed.

Vimeo Channel
In addition, students have access to our large and growing range of tutorials at our Vimeo Channel, allowing them to learn online and at their own convenience. 

How to Get Ready
To get ready for September, we recommend that our students think about their ideas and pitches over the summer. Once term starts, there isn't a lot of time to spitball ideas, write scripts, and storyboard your work.

So, we hope our students have used the time available over the summer to polish their pitches - so they can hit the ground running in this week.

More information
To see how undergraduate studies at Escape Studios are structured, follow the links below:

• First year at Escape Studios. 
• Second year at Escape Studios.
• Third Year at Escape Studios
• Fourth year at Escape Studios.

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To find out more about our new BA/MArt, now recruiting for September 2021, follow this link.   To apply, visit the official page here.