Jinng Hwee Tan Animator at Framestore

Congratulations to Animation Apprentice student Jinng Hwee Tan who has joined Framestore as an animator. 

Jinng Hwee Tan studied animation with us, taking our Online MA in 3D Animation, being awarded a Master's Degree from Buckinghamshire New University. 

Framestore is a leading global animation and VFX house, responsible for multiple hit movies and series.

You can see Jinng Hwee Tan's demo reel here.

Framestore: Live-Action Reference & Animation

Ross Burgess and Oz Gani acting out some dinosaur action

Framestore are a London based animation and VFX company that keeps raising the bar for animal and creature animation.

Paddington 2, was animated at Framestore, and they out-did their own work on Paddington 1 in terms of the quality and believability of the animated performance.

Last week two senior Framestore animators (and the head of talent development) visited my classroom at Escape Studios, to check out our students' work and give us some insights into the Framestore animation workflow.

The Making of Paddington Two

One of the best animation talks at the recent VFX festival in London  was the presentation by Framestore on the making of Paddington 2.

Lead animator Liam Russell presented breakdowns of several key sequences in the film, including the excellent prison sequence, and the hyper-kinetic train sequence at the end of the movie.

He also gave some great tips on what kind of animation demo reels Framestore looks for - scroll down to the bottom to find his personal take on this always-important subject.

Alien Covenant Secrets Revealed

I saw the original "Alien" movie by Ridley Scott when I was just 12 years old - far too young really (I was terrified) - but since then I've always been fascinated by this most stylish of horror film franchises.

Framestore VFX Supervisor Stuart Penn (Avatar, The Dark Knight, Iron Man 3, Guardians of the Galaxy.) is about the same age as I am, and clearly could not resist the chance to work on Scott's latest instalment - Alien Covenant.

Penn gave an excellent talk about his work on the film at Escape Studios last thursday - a fascinating insight into how the movie got put together.
 
So, what were the secrets behind this most coveted of VFX roles - working for one of the greatest living film directors on the latest Alien movie?

Find Your Future in London on 9 August

Want a career in creative media, but not sure what route to travel? Get yourself to the "Find Your Future 2017" event in London on 9 August.

If you're interested in working in the creative industries, but not yet ready to commit to any particular area then Find Your Future could be the careers event for you.

Representatives from some of London's top animation and VFX houses will be there (notably Double Negative and Framestore) and - best of all - the event is completely free.

Stuart Penn Talks Aliens in London on 3 August

Stuart Penn

Framestore VFX Supervisor Stuart Penn will be talking about his work at a free event in London in two weeks, on Thursday 3rd August at 6.30pm.

Events like this are a great way for animators to get a better understanding of the overall VFX pipeline, and how animation fits in to the big picture.

Stuart will be talking about his recent work as VFX supervisor on Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant. We encourage all our students to attend - and ask questions. This is a chance to meet a successful industry professional and ask him - how does a student artist break into this field?

Frame Store's Fantastic Beasts - And How They Made Them

At the VFX Festival last week, Framestore's Christian Manz talked about "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", explaining how Framestore brought these amazing digital creatures to life.

The address followed on from a packed recruitment talk also given by Framestore - both events were standing-room only.  Framestore is one of London's leading VFX houses, one of the reasons why London is a global hub for high-end visual effects work.

So, what were the secrets behind this remarkable film, and how did Framestore bring photo-realistic goblins and other fantastical creatures to life?

Meet Billy Butler at Framestore on 2 February

Escape Studios in West London is hosting another free event for students - an "Evening With..." coming up on Thursday 2 February at their Shepherd's Bush studio, with Billy Butler,  Lead Modeler at Framestore.

Billy has a serious amount of VFX experience, having worked on hit movies such as Gravity, Animalia and Sucker Punch.

Billy will be showing students his demo reel and talking about his experience in the VFX industry. This is a superb event for any of our students in the London area who would like to find out more about 3D and VFX - and 3D modeling in particular. 

Free Careers Webinar with Framestore Tonight from 6.30pm - 7.30pm

London's Escape Studios is hosting a Careers Webinar with Framestore Tonight from 6.30pm - 7.30pm. Framestore are a multi-awarding studio, one of London's leading centres for visual effects excellence. The webinar is all about careers in the industry, specifically focusing on demo reels and how to break into this competitive but highly rewarding industry.

How Framestore Brought "Pan" To Life

At the recent BlueGFX Expo on London’s South Bank, students of animation and visual effects were treated to a wide variety of lectures and workshops - all of of which were completely free.

One of the most interesting talks was by Stuart Penn from Framestore, where he explained how the visual effects house pulled off the exceptional challenges of creating the animation and VFX work for Warner Bros’ latest blockbuster fantasy adventure: Pan.

Events like BlueGFX are a great way for students to get a deeper understanding of how the industry works, and to stay on top of the latest trends and technology.

Marion Strunck Reveals FrameStore Animation Secrets

On Friday 29 May I brought Framestore's Marion Strunck to teach some of my animation students at Buckinghamshire New University in High Wycombe.  Marion is a graduate of the excellent Animation Workshop in Denmark and an expert in character and creature animation. Every animator has their own workflow, and it was fascinating to gain some insights into how a top London VFX house approaches the art character and creature animation.

FrameStore are hiring!

Time for our animation graduates to polish their demo reels - London's Framestore is actively recruiting talent for a big roster of upcoming feature films.  Framestore have gone from strength to strength in recent years, working on ground-breaking hit films like Gravity.  Most recently they did the vfx work on Paddington, now the second-largest grossing non-Hollywood family film of all time.  So what does it take to land a job with one of the world's leading VFX houses?

Framestore, James Bond, and the Skyfall Title Sequence

Diarmid Harrison Murray was the keynote speaker at last year's BlueGFX Expo in London. He was there to talk about the title sequence for Skyfall, which he directed, tackling the project with a small team at Framestore, one of London's leading visual effects houses.  Diarmid explained in some detail how he and his team managed to pull off the animated titles for the most recent installment in the world's most successful film franchise.

Does Education Kill Creativity?

Sir Ken Robinson

Sir Ken Robinson is an educator who believes passionately in the importance of teaching creativity in our schools. In an interview on Radio 4 this morning, he talked about why he thinks our system of education is broken and needs fixing. Robinson argues that creative thinking and creativity are a vitally important - and widely neglected - part of our education system. Dance, he says, should be as important as Maths, of equal value and time in the curriculum. If you missed him on the radio, you can watch his fascinating (and very entertaining) 2007 TED talk below.

Escape Studios and MPC to host free webinar tomorrow on careers in VFX. Register now!

Free webinar with MPC

Tomorrow Wednesday 2 July Escape Studios is hosting a webinar on the subject of careers in visual effects. Join them (it's completely free) as they broadcast live from MPC London, with the heads of recruitment at both MPC and Framestore. They'll be giving you a behind the scenes snapshot of their work as recruiters in VFX, the variety of work their company does, and the kind of Artists they hire. In addition, you will have the chance to send them your questions about careers within the VFX industry.