Industry Feedback with Max Howard Thurs 2 March

Max Howard

Veteran Animation producer and former Disney executive Max Howard will join us on Thursday 2 March and Tuesday 7 March at Escape Studios, giving feedback to our second year animation students on their short film projects.

Max has years of experience of animation production, having run animation divisions at Disney, DreamWorks and Warner Bros Feature Animation.

Industry feedback is at the heart of what we do at Escape Studios; one of the Five Pillars of the Escape Method.  Our second year animation students are currently working in groups on their short film projects, part of Module PR5001. 

"Papercut" Wins "Best Creative" at Halicarnassus Fest

"Papercut" wins "Best Creative" at Halicarnassus Fest.

Many congratulations to makers of the VFX short film "Papercut", which has won "Best Creative" at the Halicarnassus Film Festival.
  

Directed by Giorgos Konstantinou and produced by Victoria Arraez, Papercut was a collaboration between 3rd year undergraduate animation and vfx students, working together to create an original short.   

This is the latest festival award for Papercut.

New Sound Design Resources in UG Shares

Sound waves

We've added a huge number of new sound effects to our existing Sound Design Resources in the UG Shares drive. UG Shares contains resources for all our undergraduate students, such as rigs, sets and props, and also filmmaking resources such as sound effects.

Good sound design is a vital part of the film-making process.  50% of the experience of enjoying a film is audio, and yet when teaching film-making we tend to focus most of our attention on what we see with our eyes, sometimes neglecting the importance of sound.  Animators might not always realise it - but we definitely need good sound design.

Storyboarding is Back on 23 March 2024

"Brodiaga" by Anastasia Gurova

Our evening class in Storyboarding returns on 23 March 2024. This evening class in storyboarding is an online class, taught from 7-10pm, and runs for ten weeks.

Storyboarding is a growing area of the animation industry; one which has recorded significant skills shortages in recent years.

Our storyboard students have gone on to successful careers at studios such as Walt Disney, Brown Bag Films and Blue Zoo Animation.

"iCare" Wins "Silver Award" at Milan Gold Awards

"iCare", wins Silver Award in Milan

Congratulations to the makers of the short VFX film "iCare", which has won a Silver Award for Best Student Film at the Milan Gold Awards.

Directed by Bruno Urzi and produced by Alex Sellen,  iCare was a collaboration between undergraduate animation and vfx students, working together to create an original story.

This is the latest of many festival awards for iCare.

"Street Ratz" Wins "Best Trailer" at HEI Film Festival

"Street Ratz" wins "Best Trailer" at the HEI Film Festival

Many congratulations to the makers of "Street Ratz", which has won "Best Trailer" at the Heart of Europe 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. 

Toonboom Harmony is Back on 10 Oct 2023

Animation by Daniella Cirinello

Our 2D Animation part-time online evening class in Toonboom Harmony returns to Escape Studios on 10 October 2023.

Learn the fundamentals of 2D animation over 10 weeks, one evening a week using Toonboom Harmony, one of the leading software packages for the creation of 2D animation.

VFX Festival - Final Day Today

Ian Palmer introduces the VFX Festival

Today is the final day of the VFX Festival at Escape Studios. Today's presentations, classes and panel talks focus on how emerging talent can break into the VFX, animation and games industries.

Today's industry guests include ILM, Union FX, Creative Assembly, The Mill, Untold, Time Based Arts, Electric Theatre Collective, Epic Games, Blue Zoo, The Third Floor and DNEG.  

"Tatty" Wins "Best Micro Short" at Vesuvius Fest

"Tatty" wins "Best Micro Short" at Vesuvius Film Fest

Congratulations to the makers of the VFX short film "Tatty", which has won an award for "Best Micro Short" at the Vesuvius Film Festival.  

Directed by Amelia Watson and produced by Wiktoria Swierk, "Tatty" was a collaboration between undergraduate animation and vfx students at Escape Studios, working together to create an original story.

VFX Festival "Emerging Talent" Continues Today

The VFX Festival continues today

The VFX Festival continues today, with today's theme being "Emerging Talent". Today's talks, classes and panel discussions focus on how emerging talent can break into the VFX, animation and games industries.

Like last year, the 2023 VFX Festival is a hybrid event, both online and also in person.   The VFX Festival runs for two more days from at our midTown Campus at 190 High Holborn WC1. 

VFX Festival "Edu" at Escape Studios Today 21st Feb

2023 VFX Festival Edu begins today

The 2023 VFX Festival begins today, focusing on education, and on how school leavers and recent graduates can break into the animation, games and VFX festivals.

Like last year, the 2023 VFX Festival is a hybrid event, both online and also in person. The event runs for three days from 21-23 February at our midTown Campus at 190 High Holborn WC1. 

Shelley Page Animation Feedback Monday 27 Feb

Escape Studios is delighted to welcome back Locksmith Animation's Shelley Page on Monday 27 February to give our second year animation students industry feedback on their Group Projects, part of Studio Module PR5001.

Shelley's film credits include "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", "Shrek 1-4", "Shark Tale", "Madagascar", "Kung Fu Panda", and "How to Train Your Dragon".  Shelley is currently Key Talent and Artist Liaison at Locksmith Animation in London.  

New Books for The Animation Library

New books!

We've got a bunch of new books for the Escape Studios Animation library, where we keep traditional hard copies (ie actual physical books) on the Third Floor at 190 High Holborn, WC1. 

New books include "The Art of Spiderman - Into the Spiderverse", and "The Art of Frozen", and "Directing the Story" by Disney director Francis Glebas.

The Animation Library is located outside Toontown and Winterfell, and is free for all our currently enrolled students.

"Threaded Together" Wins Best Score in Hollywood

"Threaded Together": Best Original Score in Hollywood

Congratulations to the makers of "Threaded Together", which has won Best Original Score at the Hollywood Gold Awards.

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

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

"iCare" Wins "Best Director" Award at FOFA

"iCare" wins "Best First-Time Director" at FOFA

Congratulations to the makers of the short VFX film "iCare", which has won "Best First-Time Director" at the Future of Film Awards (FOFA).

Directed by Bruno Urzi and produced by Alex Sellen,  iCare was a collaboration between undergraduate animation and vfx students, working together to create an original story.

This is the latest of many festival awards for iCare.

Sebastien Foucan Visits Escape Studios

Sebastien Foucan in Casino Royale 

We're delighted to welcome back Parkour founder Sebastien Foucan to Escape Studios.

Sebastien Foucan was talking to our third year animation students this week about what makes a great action scene. How does an animator go about choosing the right action for the right circumstance?

Sebastien Foucan is the founder of the Foucan Academy and also one of the founders of the Parkour Movement, the athletic training discipline in which practitioners move in the most fluid way possible.

"Adam & Eve Mk II" Wins Best Cinematography Award

"Adam & Eve Mk II"  wins Best Cinematography at the IGA

Many congratulations to the makers of "Adam & Eve Mk II", which has won an award for Best Cinematography at the International Gold Awards (IGA).

Adam & Eve Mk II, is a sci-fi re-telling of the Genesis story, directed by Escapee Sebastian Kuder.   Adam & Eve Mk II has won many festival awards.  

  

MoCap at Escape Studios with Clem Gharini

Wiktor Brodowski MoCap

This week our third year animation students have been experimenting with motion capture, led by Escape Studios cinematographer and MoCap expert Clem Gharini, operating the XSens Motion Capture System. 

Wiktor Brodowski (left) was acting out scenes from his new short film,  a third year Studio Project in which our students work together to create studio-quality work.

Once the acting performance is captured, the XSens data is edited and retargeted onto the production rigs, animated and cleaned up in Autodesk Maya. 

Wiktor described the experience as "an amazing opportunity to participate in mocap recordings for my current uni project. I have never "animated" so much so fast in my life.  Lots of fun! Really awesome to try this technique. Probably will be lots to fix about it anyway, but I'm eager to see how it looks in Maya".

"Game Knight" Wins Best Animation at Milan Awards

Game Knight wins Best Animation at Milan Gold Awards

Congratulations to the makers of "Game Knight", which has won an award for Best Animation at the Milan Gold Awards.  

Directed by Wyndham Brunt and produced by Christopher Marsden-Carleton,  

Game Knight was a collaboration between undergraduate animation and vfx students. 

This is its second festival award. 

Blue Zoo's Will Lloyd-Cook Animation Feedback

Will Lloyd-Cook

Many thanks to Blue Zoo's William Lloyd-Cook for giving animation feedback to our third year animation students at Escape Studios.  Will is an experienced animator and series director at London's Blue Zoo, one of London's leading animation studios.  

Industry feedback is at the heart of what we do at Escape Studios, part of what we call The Escape Method, a combination of intensive classroom teaching, online tutorials, constructive feedback, industry engagement, and group project work.