London VFX & Animation Studio Visit Report 17 th May 2013 1
Introduction On Friday the 17 th of May 2013 myself and 21 students travelled down from Middleborough to London to get a unique insight into the workings of number of London based animation & vfx studio s. During the course of the day there were opportunities to get a better understanding of what it was like to live and work in London. There were also opportunities with which to ask the tour guides questions specifically on the topic of what it was that the students needed to do/consider in order to secure work in this field. As a consequence of the Mill only being able to show a maximum of 12 students around the studio the group was split into two halves one group visiting the Mill and one group visiting Glassworks during the 10am appointment. The student group comprised of : 1 x BA Creative Digital media student 8 x BA (Hons) Character Animation students 10 x BA (Hons) Computer Animation students 2 x MA Digital Effects for Film and Television The itinerary for the day ( 17 th May ) was as follows : 04.30 am - Bus leaves Middlesbrough - 14 Southfield Road TS1 09.30 am - Bus arrives London 10.00 am - Studio 1 visit (Glsssworks/The Mill) 12.00 noon - Studio 2 visit (Cinesite ) 13.30 pm - Lunch 14.00 pm - Studio 3 visit ( Framestore ) 16.00 pm - Studio 4 visit ( Double Negative ) 18.00 pm Dinner at Pizza Express 20.00 pm - Bus leaves London 00.00 midnight - Bus arrives in Middlesbrough The studio s visited all resided within a square mile of each other and in the W1 postal code making it very easy to walk between venues. The studio s that were visited included The Mill, Glassworks, Cinesite, Framestore & Double Negative. 2
London W1 Street Map and Studio location 3
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Question - What did you dislike about London animation & vfx studio tour? Responses (10) The group was too big and I think that maybe with a smaller group, we could have had more personalized chat. - The bus was too small and pretty uncomfortable (compared to the bus I used before to go from Middleborough to London. a trip like this would have been even more useful at the start of third year giving students more of an idea of what is expected in a vfx show reel. Nothing, met the very high expectations Having to get up in the middle of the night which led to being half-asleep during studio visits. Transport. I didn't mind traveling the way we did, but it was not very comfortable Size of the bus, leg space. The tiny leg space resulted in a troublesome and uncomfortable bus trip and also resulted in little sleep on the way down, which made the cinematic lighting at the studios a very sleepy spot. the bus ride was the most tiring part of the trip. Getting up in the middle of night to sit at a small, crowded minibus with bad air wasn't the best start of the day. Many had problems sleeping, and because of that we ended up nodding off at talks in London. Not getting the max input we could've had we been more alert. I know many I talked to would have been willing to put some extra money in to head down the evening before instead, getting a good night's rest and get up at a more reasonable hour. Some studios didn't show us around their studios We were not be able to show our showreel to someone in the related field and get some feedbacks 5
Question - What did you like about London animation & vfx studio tour? Responses (11) It was quite informative. It should be mandatory at the end of the 2nd year for students to plan to stay and work in the UK. there was plenty of information, very motivating getting to see the work that the companies do, i managed to have a clearer idea of what is expected for a show reel both content and quality. it was an enjoyable day out. Everything. They were all so welcoming to us and seemed to want us there and to help us, the pizza and beer was fun. It was in general a great great day out and so informative. Overall exiting day, well organized. Loved the pizza we got. Getting a better understanding of what portfolio is needed. It was a beautiful day, we got very informative talks from the studios representatives that gave a great idea how the different studios work. We also did not run into any inconveniences during the day. The studios gave us a warm welcome and that we could see how they work. Seeing the studio's offices was the best part of the tour, that's the main reason I went. I've learned a lot about what work is done at the offices and what I need to do to work there already, but I've never actually gotten to see them. The Mill's tour was without a doubt the best, we were shown around plenty of departments and told what each of them do and what it took to work there, all rounding of with a nice Q&A and a showreel in a meeting room. I liked that Double Negative got some Teesside students to show us their showreels and talk to us about their path towards the dream job. It was very helpful. Got information on what we need to do to get a job 6
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Question - Ideally, what year do you think this event should have been aimed at? Responses (6) Second years would find it to be the most beneficial, it would give them a clear idea of the quality expected in industry, and they can find out a lot more about some of the internships aimed at second year students If we could have done this in 2nd year I would have chosen a far different final year project. I got the impression that if I went on this trip a year ago I could have re thought my projects for this year to suit what it seemed that the studios wanted from their appliers. But since most of us Norwegians are direct entry students doing the London trip the second year would not apply for us. Maybe if the trip was around the beginning of the third year instead? I think every student should have the right to go to see the studios. It should've been made more clear that this was more of a widely spread expo (ala Animex), from what I and others gathered it seemed it would be more office tours and talking to people specifically about job opportunities and our futures. It was good for what it was, a walk around London listening to what the studios have been doing and their general hiring policy, but a lot of that we've been told before by the same people and we didn't have to get up at three in the morning to do so. This trip would be best help when people are trying to figure out what to do for their final year projects. A lot of the information would have been very helpful earlier on. It was still a great trip and a good opportunity to show our faces to potential employers 10
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Question - Given that the University were only prepared to fund the hire of a bus to London, would you have paid extra ( approx 80 ) to have travelled down by train? Responses (3) The only reason I picked yes was because of the uncomfortable seating space at the bus. But if the bus was more comfortable I would rather take the bus since they are a bit more reliable than the train. Anything to get both down there and back up here again faster and more comfortably would've been much appreciated. As I said earlier, I would've even paid for some sort of room so that we could go down the evening before and spend the night before a long day walking about London. A slightly bigger or more comfortable bus would have been nice. None of us were really average height and the seats were made for tiny people. 12
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Question - As a result of the London animation & vfx studio trip do you know feel that you are in a much better position with which to secure work in your respective field of interest? Responses (4) Our showreel are already done. If someone is actually interested in working in the companies we visited, he will need some months to prepare a new showreel. It is really important to get this event before the third year. Even though we got a lot of information that the studios are looking for skilled VFX artists, it seems that it would be hard becoming a jr. Animator and living in London as a runner on the wage some of the studios mentioned seem a little problematic. It depends on if the students are interested or if they become intimidated by the standards. As we didn't get any personal face-time with anyone really, I don't think we got any advantages over others. Maybe if some of the recruiters recognize us at a future interview they might get a bit impressed by how forward and interested we've been, but given the huge amount of people they see at a weekly basis I doubt that. 14
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Question - Of the studio's that you visited which of them were you most impressed by? Responses (6) Cinesite are obviously not going as well as Framestore but it was by far the most interesting one because we were received by a supervisor and an animation director not just a recruiter playing the company showreel (Framestore and the 3rd floor just gave nothing more than their website). Double Negative made the effort of gathering 3 Teesside graduates which made the talk interesting as well. Having not know too much about the advertising aspects of the industry it was very interesting to find out more about this company. It's a tough call. They all seemed very welcoming, I was only most impressed by DNEG because of they had the biggest blockbusters. Glassworks - I really liked the speakers personalities and their attitude, felt like someone I would rather enjoy working under. The Mill's tour was by far the best of the ones I attended (didn't get to go to Glassworks). Their tour was in-depth and very informative, they seemed genuinely interested in who we were and what we wanted to do. A nice touch they did was at the end were they asked us all who we were and what we wanted to do, what specific field we were the most interested in. It overall seemed a lot more like what I expected the entire trip to be. I think I would prefer working in a small studio like Glassworks 16
Question - Is there anything else you d like to add in the event that we do this again next year? Responses (6) I would say that Framestore should not be part of a future trip as they work similarly to Dneg but did not try to "personalize" the visit. It could be good to introduce a more animation centered studio like Blue Zoo. If it is as good as this years then it is perfect. Get plenty of rest before the trip down and stock up on caffeine and energy drinks. Spend more time in the studio if possible. See the equipment. Talk to more people. If people are willing they should head down the evening before, sleep is crucial for that long day. There wasn't a person who weren't knackered by the time we got back and it took me personally a long time to recover completely. Get studios to give tours For further information contact Justin Greetham - Animation & VFX Employability Coordinator, School of Computing, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, UK, TS1 3BA. Email : j.s.greetham@tees.ac.uk 17