How to Animate Cameras with Marc Stevenson

In this latest video, Escape Studios' animation tutor Marc Stevenson explains the use of cameras in animation film-making, exploring different kinds of cameras and how to use them.  Marc Stevenson has built up a comprehensive library of animation video tutorials, which can be found at his personal YouTube Channel here.  Marc’s animation tutorials are all completely free, and can be used at any time by any of our students to catch up on classroom exercises or develop their animation skills.

Georgia Baird Production Runner at Acamar Films

Escapee Georgia Baird

Many Congratulations to Escapee Georgia Baird who is a graduate of our MA in 3D Animation.  

Georgia Baird is starting a new job at Acamar Films as a Production Runner. 

While at Escape Studios, Georgia worked on the award-wnning short film "Giles and Rupert's Prehistoric Predicament", which has won many festival awards. 

Escapee Zoe Walker Intern at ILM "Jedi Academy"

Zoe Walker

Congratulations to Escapee Zoe Walker who will start in September as an intern at ILM's Jedi Academy. While at Escape Studios, Zoe studied the Art of Computer Animation. 

Zoe Walker also contributed to a number of short films, including the award-winning short film Liminal, which she wrote and directed. 

Zoe also worked on the short films End of The Line, The Wanderer, and Lux Mediae Noctis. 

Meet Your VFX Tutors - Carlos Poon

Carlos Poon

Meet your tutors - VFX expert Carlos Poon teaches our second year undergraduate vfx artists the art of 3D VFX.  Carlos teaches VX5001, a second year VFX module in which our VFX students master the art of modeling, texturing, match move and lighting. 

Carlos Poon has worked across all major 3D industries for 14 years, starting in industrial design, then working as Assistant Technical Supervisor on the BAFTA winning TV series 'Tiny Planets'.  

PR6001 Studio Project Starts 18 Sept 2023

Our third year animation & vfx students will arrive at our new Greenwich Campus on 18th September 2023.  

One of the first modules they will tackle is PR6001; a Studio Project module worth 60 Credits and which runs for the whole academic year.  In PR6001 our animation and vfx students work together in teams to create short films - winning many festival awards.

Students collaborate to work together to a defined brief, designed as closely as possible to simulate working on a live client project. 

The Studio Project Module is broken up into two projects; the first is an Unreal Engine Project, the second is the VFX Project.  To see some examples of award-winning project work, check out Kiwi's Dream, BoxBots, Little Gestures,  Home Sweet Home and Jerich0.

Animation Demo Reel - Giorgos Konstantinou

We're enjoying this latest demo reel from Escapee Giorgos Konstantinou.  Giorgos studied the Art of Computer Animation at Escape Studios, graduating this summer.  While at Escape Studios, Giorgos directed the short film "Papercut", which has won many festival awards, and which is a finalist in The 2023 Rookies in the category of "VFX Film of The Year".

Escapee Alp Yamanel Animator at Compost Creative

Alp Yamanel

Congratulations to Escapee Alp Yamanel who is working as an animator at Compost Creative.  Alp took our MA in Animation at Escape Studios, taught by Escape Studios' tutor Lee Caller.

Compost Creative is an Emmy award-winning studio based in the UK, founded by former BBC creatives Colin Thornton and Neil Wilson in 2005.

Alp joins Escapee Tim Jones who joined Compost Creative in April 2023.

CR4002 – Creative Foundations - Craft Module

CR4002 Artwork by Ronnie Kaye

CR4002 – Creative Foundations Craft - is a 30 Credit Module taken by all of our First Year Undergraduate Students at Escape Studios.  

Creative Foundations is a Foundation Module in creativity and creative thinking.  Some software, such as Photoshop, is taught in this module, but the main focus is to explore fresh and original ideas.

CR4002 is broken down into a number of "mini modules", including Movement & Narrative, Photography & Composition, Cinematography & Lighting, Art Foundation and TRAP - (Teamwork, academic writing, and presentation skills). 

"Luciferin" Wins Best Super Short at Int'l Gold Awards

Luciferin wins "Best Super Short" at Int'l Gold Awards

Congratulations to the makers of Luciferin, the VFX short created at Escape Studios by our graduating class of VFX artists, which has won "Best Super Short" at the International Gold Awards.

Directed by Jake Roberts and produced by Bruno Urzi,  Luciferin was a collaboration between 2D and 3D VFX Students, working together to create a short film.  

Luciferin tells the story of a marine biologist working in a deep sea biosphere.  This is its third festival award.  

Hardship Fund for Students at Escape Studios

Escape Studios Hardship Fund

All students at Escape Studios should be aware of the Escape Studios Hardship Fund, which is available for students that are facing financial difficulties. 

The Hardship Fund is aimed at students who have experienced unexpected and unforeseeable financial problems, and is part of a general system of support available to all our students at Escape Studios. 

Horse Run Tutorial at Our Vimeo Channel

In this latest animation tutorial at our Vimeo Tutorial Channel we demonstrate how to animate a quadruped running. The tutorial is based on a horse, but all quadrupeds run the same way (allowing for anatomy).  Every animator should know how to animate quadrupeds in motion; these are the basic "scales" of animal and creature animation.  This tutorial can be applied to any four-legged creature, but the easiest way to follow the tutorial is to use the free horse rig - available for download from the Mothman TD website. 

VX5001 "VFX Pro" - 2nd Year VFX Module

VX5001 "3D VFX Pro" - student work

VX5001 "3D VFX Pro" is a second year visual effects module in which our undergraduate vfx students learn to master the art of 3D modelling, matchmoving, texturing and lighting.  It builds on the first year 3D VFX Module VX4002.

AN5001 starts on Monday 18th September 2023, and is taught by VFX veteran Carlos Poon.

"Bouya" Wins Best Original Score in Hollywood

"Bouya" wins "Best Original Score" in Hollywood

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

"Bouya" was directed by Chiyoko Coyte and produced by Alex Sellen, both studying the Art of Computer Animation at Escape Studios. Lorenzo Pelli composed the original score.

"Bouya" tells the hidden story of mysterious forest creatures working together to clean up the mess left by thoughtless humans.  This is Bouya's third festival award. 

VX4001 - 2D VFX - 1st Year Compositing Module

Student work - before (top) and after (bottom)

VX4001 - 2D VFX is a 1st Year Compositing Module, part of the First Year of Undergraduate Study at Escape Studios.

VX4001 one of the modules which must be completed by all our first year undergraduate students, whether they are studying The Art of Animation, Games or Visual Effects.

 
Compositing is the art of combining different images to create a single, cohesive and believable image. This can be done to create realistic or fantastical scenes, or to simply improve the look of an image.  VX4001 is taught by Lorenzo Mannicia.

Lamp Animation by Kamile Pranckunaite

Above is a very good example of First Year Character Animation created in the First Year Animation Module AN4001, in which Escape Studios' students learn to master the art and craft of character animation.  The "Pixo" Lamp Animation above was created by Kamile Pranckunaite, an animation student studying the Art of Computer Animation, who has just completed the first year at Escape Studios.  The shot was animated in Maya and rendered in Arnold.

Danish Adeem Post Production Artist at Flawless AI

Many congratulations to Escapee Danish Adeem who has started work as Post Production Artist at Flawless AI, creators of AI-powered tools for the creative industries.  

Danish joins our very own Allar Kaasik  who left Escape Studios last year to become Visual Effects Supervisor at Flawless AI.

Danish Adeem studied the Art of Computer Animation at Escape Studios.  While at Escape Studios, Danish contributed to a number of short films, including the award-winning films Liminal, Love Mum, Good Soup and Tech Troubles. 

Danish was Lead Animator on Liminal, and won an award for Best Horror Film at the Art Film Awards.

2023 Animation Demo Reel

We're proud to release the 2023 Escape Studios' Animation Demo Reel. This latest edit of the best animation created by students Escape Studios includes work by our most recent graduating class of animation artists, including clips from many of our award-winning short films.  This latest demo reel was cut by Escapee Miguel Teixeira.

VX4002 - First Year 3D VFX Module

VX4002 - create a photorealistic object 

VX4002 is a four week module taken by all of our First Year Undergraduate Students at Escape Studios. It is worth 15 credits. 

VX4002 introduces students to the basics of the 3D pipeline. Students learn 3D modelling, texturing and lighting in Autodesk Maya.

VX4002 is about mastering the 3D VFX pipeline, aiming at the kind of photorealistic style which dominates work in the visual effects industry.

"Labyrinth" Wins "Best Comedy" at FOF Awards

Labyrinth Reloaded wins "Best Comedy" at FoF Awards

Congratulations to the makers of Labyrinth Reloaded, the animated short created by our graduating class of animation students at Escape Studios, which has won "Best Comedy" at the Future of Film Awards.

Directed by Sholto "CJ" Rock and produced by Wiktoria Swierk, Labyrinth Reloaded was animated with Toonboom Harmony, and edited in Adobe Premiere Pro.

This is Labyrinth Reloaded's third festival award. 

"Luciferin" Wins "Best VFX" at EEFF

Luciferin "Best VFX" at Eastern Europe Film Fest.

Congratulations to the makers of Luciferin, the VFX short created at Escape Studios by our graduating class of VFX artists, which has won "Best VFX" at the Eastern Europe Film Festival.

Directed by Jake Roberts and produced by Bruno Urzi,  Luciferin was a collaboration between 2D and 3D VFX Students, working together to create a short film.  Wiktor Brodowski was the Lead Animator, Harry Dallimore was the 3D Lead, and Ishmael Kargbo was the 3D Lead.  

Luciferin tells the story of a marine biologist working in a deep sea biosphere.  This is its second festival award.