Keep in Touch - a Message to all Our Graduates

Gateway Building

Three years sounds like a long time, but your degree in Animation and VFX will fly past. One of the best things about studying at Bucks is the amazing resources for media production that we have in the Gateway Building - our modern media hub, completed just a few years ago.  The great benefit of easy access to all this university equipment - and also the access to fellow students who are also interested in creative media - may not be fully obvious to you until you graduate, and it's not there anymore.

Sound designer at Bucks

When you leave Bucks, its worth keeping in touch. After you all, you may have gone out into the world, but the course team are still here. We are easy to contact - just an email or phone call. We are a resource that remembers who you are and what you do, and we are almost always very happy to help with an encouraging word, critical eye, or supportive recommendation when you need it.

Industry Panel at Bucks

Here at Bucks, opportunities abound to make contacts. During induction week we host a regular industry panel. This year our guests were Barry Gross, Matt Harris, Tammy Riley-Smith, Simon Fox, John Osborne and Lorna Dean Gibbs. Straight away that's an opportunity to get to know people who are working in the film and television industry. The chance to pick the brains of professionals right from the first week is one you should really take advantage of - as you never know when an opportunity may come up.

Once you've made a contact, the key is to make yourself as easy a person to work with as possible. Knowing the equipment, being early (or at the least, on time), having ideas and just being generally pleasant and helpful are always qualities people value. So, be that person, demonstrate how you are the person they'll want around on a production.

As the Panel Chair Stephen Partridge put it: "Your networking should start now."

Library at Bucks: Books, trade journals and free WiFi

Much of being a Bucks Animation & VFX student is about making the most of your time and the opportunities you find here on campus. Now is the time - and now will always be the time. So get onto LinkedIn, sign up to the Facebook group, and get yourself on Twitter (as Matt Harris says). You never know what might be happening.

---Alex