The VFX Festival EDU

For school and college students (under 18 years old) who are excited to learn about the world of visual effects, animation, games and motion graphics.

Recent events

Thank you for attending The VFX Festival EDU. Escape Studios hosted this part of the festival on 16th and 18th March 2021. A list of sessions and speakers can be found below:

Tuesday, 16th March 2021

13.00 - 14.00 | Unleashing the VFX of Project Power

Matt Twyford, VFX Supervisor at Framestore

About session:

Framestore delivered 400+ VFX shots for eye-popping sci-fi actioner Project Power (Netflix), in which a new designer drugs allows those taking it to unlock a latent power. The high octane concept required scintillating VFX work for its stunning action sequences, and Framestore's Matt Twyford is on hand to take you through some of the film's key VFX moments, from visdev work and ultra-realistic FX work to ambitious CG set builds and an innovative use of LED technology.

About Speaker:

Matt Twyford

Over the past 20 years, Matt Twyford has worked on some of the world’s biggest films and franchises. A graduate of the University of Westminster, his career in feature film started in 1997 with Film Factory as a Senior VFX Designer on the title sequence for the Golden Globe-nominated Seven Years in Tibet.

Matt was a freelancer at Framestore for over 15 years, lending his expertise to high-profile projects including the Oscar winners Gravity and The Golden Compass. Matt joined the team permanently in 2012 and oversaw all of Framestore's 2D technical workflow, collaborating closely with the company's compositing team to ensure a smooth, fast-working environment. Matt was Compositing Supervisor on blockbusters including James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 and Avengers: End Game. His most recent project was as VFX Supervisor on Project Power for Netflix, which included overseeing the terrifyingly realistic ‘Man on Fire’ sequence, which was powered by the innovative use of LED technology.

14.30 - 15.30 | Art vs Story - Kris Pearn in a virtual conversation with Saint John Walker, Deputy Dean / Director at Escape Studios (Pre-recorded session)

Kris Pearn will discuss the relationship between art and story. How the "what if" meets design, two parallel objectives hurtling towards the same goal: the AUDIENCE. In Animation, a pretty drawing cannot save a bad story, and a great story is invisible until drawings (some good and some bad) give it shape. Whether it's a sketch or a painting or a sculpture, art is the soil that warms life into the seed of story.

16.00 - 17.00 | Panel discussion - ‘Getting started in VFX and Animation’ by Access: VFX

Simon Devereux, Founder Access: VFX (Chair)
Tory Wire, Head of People at Union VFX
Claire Brindley, Senior HR Advisor at Aardman Animations
Celia Hunt, Department & Talent Manager CGI at Aardman Animations
Sashka Jankovska, Group Head of HR & Operations at Cinesite
Sarah Tanner, Operations Director at Jellyfish Pictures
Justin Summers, Visualisation Supervisor at The Third Floor

17.30 - 18.30 | Filmmaking Revolution

Clement Gharini, Filmmaker & Lecturer

About session:

A little more than a century after the birth of motion picture, the industry is currently undergoing a profound revolution. Once the privilege of an exclusive elite, visual storytelling will soon be as accessible as painting or writing. These unprecedented changes are to reveal stories and creative territories never explored before. Get ready for the new filmmaking era!

About speaker:

Clement Gharini

Double technical background in Cinematography & Visual Effects • Credits include Harry Potter, Mission Impossible, Ex Machina, Games of Thrones, Jupiter Ascending, Judge Dredd, Dr Who.

Thursday, 18th March 2021

14.30 - 15.30 | Roles in a Game Studio: the obvious, the intriguing and the totally unexpected

Daniel Efergan – Executive Creative Director, Interactive at Aardman Animations

Joshua Baldwin – Game Director at Aardman Animations

About session:

Aardman’s game team talk about a number of key roles found in many game studios; what they entail, what kind of people do them, and how you might get into those roles yourself. Whether actively looking for a job or positively disinterested in the games industry, we hope to convince everyone that there’s a role for people like them.

About speakers:

Daniel Efergan – Executive Creative Director, Interactive

Daniel Efergan is the Exec Creative Director of Interactive at Aardman Animations. What this actually means is he gets to spend lots of time doing fun things like making games, forming playful communities, and messing around in the murky bits between storytelling and interactivity.

He has been instrumental in the conception and delivery of BAFTA winning interactive projects such as the Tate Movie Project and World of Invention, and lead or supported many others, including the (twice) BAFTA nominated debut console game, 11-11 Memories Retold.

Joshua Baldwin – Game Director

Joshua Baldwin is an Aardman Game Director. He’s supposed to know what makes a game work, and spends his time helping weave all the marvelous threads of gameplay, narrative, art and code together into something that’s fun.

Previously he was the Game Director at Coldwood Interactive and Lead Designer on the DICE Award winning Unravel 2 in Northern Sweden (brr), while also consulting on projects like Lost in Random, Little Orpheus and Lost in Random. Before that he was a Writer and Designer at Creative Assembly on the Total War series, and before THAT, he was a baby.

16.00 - 17.00 | Panel discussion - ‘Getting started in games’.

Andrew Brassington, Head of Talent Development at Escape Studios (Chair)

Luke Johnson, Lead Recruiter at Creative Assembly

Chris Payne, Managing Director at Quantum Soup

Katherine Bidwell, Founder at State of Play Games

Des Gayle, Founder at Altered Gene

Peter Ridgway, Senior Technical Art Director at King

Nigel Ang, Technical Art Director at Rare

David Paget, Senior Concept Artist at Sumo Digital

18.00 - 19.00 | Up your game – all you need to know about Unreal Engine

Christian Avigni MA Games Art Tutor at Escape Studios

About session:

Join Christian Avigni for an insight into Unreal Engine, the world’s most open and advanced real-time 3D creation tool. In this 45mins session Christian will introduce you to Unreal Engine and share examples of projects.

About speaker:

Christian Avigni

Christian is one of our Games Tutors at Escape Studios. He has been teaching new creative talent for the past 6 years, working worldwide at places including Alpha Channel and the University of Hertfordshire. Christian has a wealth of experience, creating game assets for the next generation consoles such as the racing game ‘Formula Fusion’, and writing numerous published books about Unreal Engine including; UDK Basics, Level Design and Documentation and UDK Games scenarios integration.

The VFX Festival EDU

Recent events

Tuesday, 16th March 2021

13.00 - 14.00 | Unleashing the VFX of Project Power

About session:

About Speaker:

14.30 - 15.30 | Art vs Story - Kris Pearn in a virtual conversation with Saint John Walker, Deputy Dean / Director at Escape Studios (Pre-recorded session)

16.00 - 17.00 | Panel discussion - ‘Getting started in VFX and Animation’ by Access: VFX

17.30 - 18.30 | Filmmaking Revolution

About session:

About speaker:

Thursday, 18th March 2021

14.30 - 15.30 | Roles in a Game Studio: the obvious, the intriguing and the totally unexpected

About session:

About speakers:

16.00 - 17.00 | Panel discussion - ‘Getting started in games’.

18.00 - 19.00 | Up your game – all you need to know about Unreal Engine

About session:

About speaker:

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