BBC Television Centre
Our first meeting of the trip was with Nick Davey who works in the Graphics Department of the BBC Newsroom as a Graphic Designer. Nick gave us a quick tour of the building and took us up to the roof where we had a fantastic view of the surrounding area. He then gave us a presentation of some of the work that his department does. It creates the graphics for news programmes, for example charts and moving images. Nick then took us to his actual department and we met one of his colleagues who was working on a graphics piece for the news. She was working with After Effects and gave me some tips on her workflow. We were then taken into one of the studios and to my surprise it was the studio where the 6o'clock news is filmed and we met George Alagiah who had just finished his broadcast! George was very friendly and gave us some interesting information and even posed for a few photos.
We then had a look around the newsroom which is the biggest in Europe. Finally Nick took us outside the building again where there was a Tardis and some more photo opportunities.
I really enjoyed my visit it was a great opportunity to visit these studios as they are due to close shortly before moving to a new building.
Double Negative
Double Negative was set up in 1998 with a team of 30 staff. Since then the company has grown to 1,000 people, making it Europe's largest provider of visual effects (VFX) for Film. In 2009, Double Negative opened the doors to its Singapore office. Currently housing a team of 200, the Singapore office works closely with the Double Negative team in London, on selected productions.We were shown a film about the VFX work Double Negative (DN) did on the movie Captain America. During the build phase the physical scale of the project was a challenge. It's important that everything they work on is based on reference for example they rented a tank for the day to see exactly how it worked before building a model and rendering it.
They also spoke about some of the software they use, for example with explosions they use a program called Houdini and utilise a particle system with different layers that included temperatures, density and real world dynamics to make them look relaistic. Most of the compositing work carried out by DN is done using Nuke. Attention to detail is vital to ensure that objects look realistic although Film Directors are more interested in story telling that making things work with real life physics!
We were shown a couple of example showreels and given a list of tips about what one should include:
- Don't worry about sound or music (Reviewers will often turn it off whilst watching)
- Focus on the visuals
- Put your best work at the beginning
- Include a shot breakdown
- Show diversity in your work
- Include a hard copy of your cv with a covering letter
- A showreel should be under 2 minutes in length.
DN offers training and development to its employees, many of their staff have opportunities to become generalists who are highly valued. It has a culture of recruiting on a long term basis, has a mix of happy talented people who work hard and love film.
Below is a list of some of the current projects that DN is working on:
- John Carter of Mars
- Dark Knight Rises
- Total Recall
- Man of Steel (Its biggest project of 2012)
- SkyFall (New Bond film)
- Bourne Legacy
- Snow White and the Huntsman
- Rush
It was great to visit a company that works on so many feature films. I picked up some useful information about how the company recruits, the type of training they offer and the culture within the business. Double Negative would be a great place to work!
Envy Post Production
Envy is one of the leading Post Production Houses in the UK. It works on programmes including Factual, Drama, Comedy, Documentaries and Light Entertainment and it collaborates on design, branding and commercials.We met Josh Moore and Mat Appleton who is Head of Client Services. Josh showed us around one of Envy's editing suites (see below) and explained how the suites are rented out to clients.
We then had an informal chat with Mat about Envy and the VFX industry. He was kindly open to any questions we threw at him and gave us some great advice about the industry. For example he recommended that we use professional rushes and add effects to them, use Vimeo.com to showcase your work and create your own website. Mat said that showreel must be short, around 90 seconds and a CV should be tailored to suit the company that you're applying to, ensuring it's printed on quality paper. He also said it's important that you try to get some work experience if possible. I asked Mat if Envy had any work experience opportunities and he said I should speak to Josh. Josh told me to send him an email with dates I would be available, which I have done. I haven't heard anything yet but I will certainly follow this up and hope to get the opportunity to work with Envy over the summer as it would be a fantastic opportunity. I felt this was a real worthwhile visit and got some great advice.
Framestore
Framestore is the largest visual effects and computer animation studio in Europe, with over 20 years experience in digital film and video technology.Ben White is a Computer Graphics (CG) Supervisor at Framestore. He started his career in post-production at The Mill working on commercials before moving to MillFilm, where he realised his goal of working on film visual effects with the films Enemy of the State and Gladiator. Over the past 10 years at Framestore he has worked in a range of CG disciplines before becoming a CG Supervisor, and has since worked on projects such as The Dark Knight, Sherlock Holmes - A Game of Shadows and Avatar.
Ben showed us a presentation about the work Framestore did on the film Sherlock Holmes, A Game of Shadows. Framestore has created around 550 shots for the latest in the series, Ben gave an in-depth analysis of some of the processes involved in generating some of the work on this film. He covered a number of different sequences and the types of shots that were used. This included digital matte painting and hand created fully lit CG.
He talked about the work that is done on set such as gathering measurements with the use of Lidar (radar and laser) for accuracy. Reference shots are taken, floorsheets are used along with lens grids and grain samples as lens distortion is factor that has to be taken into account.
Ben showed us how the train ambush scene from the film was created using a combination of CG and scale models. It was fascinating to see how a combination of digital doubles, texture mapping and real backgrounds were used to bring the scene to life. In the film this particular scene takes place in the middle of the night, however, it was actually shot in daylight and coloured graded to give the illusion that it was night time. This was due to logistical issues such as safety around flying helicopters at night. We were also shown another scene where some soliders were firing guns that backfired and caused a small explosion. Ben explained how this shot was put together using a particle system.
The final shot that Ben showed us was from the end of the film. It is when Holmes and Moriarty fall off a waterfall clutching each other. The shot was filmed in slow motion at around 432 frames per second. They used an ingenious method of robot arms (normally used in car manufacturing) to hold the actors in place yet make them appear to be falling through the air. The robot arms were then rotoscoped out of shot. He explained that water is incredibly difficult to render and up to 50 terrabytes of data is used for each waterfall shot.
Some of the software used by Framestore is Zbrush, Maya and Nuke.
To finish off the visit we had a short question and answer session with Anna Swift who is a recruiter at Framestore. I asked Anna if Framestore has any work experience opportunities. She said that Framestore doesn't have a work experience scheme but it does offer 8 week internships over the summer period. She said that all of the details are on the Framestore website.
I really enjoyed this visit and I picked up some excellent advice about how VFX is used in the industry. Unfortunately we only had one hour at Framestore, it would have been nice to spend more time there.
Molinaire
Our final visit of this trip was to Molinare. The company is a Film and Broadcast Post Production Facility in the heart of Soho, London and is one of the most respected names in the industry with nearly 40 years of experience. It provides state of the art Digital Intermediate, Visual Effects, Sound, Restoration, 2D-3D Conversion, Animation, Library & Data Management services, International Servicing and Post Production Project Management.Tom Rogers the Service and Hospitality Manager gave us a tour of the building, this included a trip to the foley room where Molinaire creates sound effects for its clients (See below).
We were also shown an editing suite and a cinema like viewing room (see below) where clients can review and provided feedback on the productions Molinaire has worked on.
I asked Tom about any work experience opportunities and he said Molinaire doesn't offer work experience as they don't believe in students working for free. He also said that they are more interested in a persons CV rather than a showreel so it's important that you get this right. He recommended that we follow him on Twitter to keep up to date with any opportunities that may arise.
This was another worthwhile visit and it was great to get to be shown around Molinaire and see first hand the different facilities on offer. It was a brilliant way to finish off the trip.
Overall the London trip was perfect for me as once I've graduated I'm hoping to work in the Post-Production industry. I learnt so much from the companies I visited and I would highly recommend it to all students who wish to work in TV, Film, VFX or Animation.
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