Bucks Students Take The Harry Potter Studio Tour

Harry Potter Tour

Bucks animation & VFX students took the Harry Potter Studio Tour at Leavesden on May 13th, visiting the 80-hectare studio complex which was used for filming the Harry Potter series of films. The trip was free for all our students, paid for by the Bucks Big Deal, and was as good an introduction to the art, craft and science of visual effects film-making as almost any amount of classroom instruction - and far more fun.

Reminder - Harry Potter Tour on May 13th! Be at Lily's Walk at 9.30am

Harry Potter Leavesden Entrance. Photo by Karen Roe

Bucks animation & VFX students will be taking the Harry Potter Studio Tour at Leavesden on May 13th. Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden is a 80-hectare studio complex in Hertfordshire and a major film and media complex, used for filming the Harry Potter series of films. So what can our students expect on the day?

Bucks Animation Students Invited To Free Harry Potter Studio Tour on May 13th

Harry Potter Leavesden Entrance. Photo by Karen Roe

We're excited to announce that Bucks animation & VFX students will be taking the Harry Potter Studio Tour at Leavesden on May 13th! Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden is a 80-hectare studio complex in Hertfordshire and a major film and media complex, used for filming the Harry Potter series of films. Obviously, this trip is purely about helping our students to learn about animation and visual effects, and has nothing to do with wanting to have fun at a movie theme park. We'll be working really hard, I promise.

Free Compositing Software!

Nuke is the Industry Standard Compositing software used in UK Film and VFX studios.  At Bucks we know how important it is to train students on the correct software.  For that reason, we help all our second year students by buying them a one year license of Nuke as part of the 'Big Deal'.

However, what if you are an aspiring VFX student and want to get started but don't have the funds.

Well, we might have the answer!

Free Laptops are Here!

Lenovo ThinkPad - coming soon

Free laptops have arrived at last for our first year Animation & VFX students.  Everyone gets a brand new Lenovo ThinkPad T540P, with a 2.5Ghz i7 processor,  4Gb of Memory, and a 500Gb hard drive. It also has a full HD screen and a dedicated games card - very useful for high poly applications like Mudbox and ZBrush. These laptops should be well able to cope with pretty much anything our students throw at them for the next three years. It means our animators will be able to work from home, on the train, in the library - anywhere they find themselves wanting to get on with their studies.

Free Laptops are Coming!

Lenovo ThinkPad - coming soon

Free laptops are coming at last to our first year students; slightly delayed due to some procedural glitches in the procurement process - but now fortunately on their way.  Our students will be getting a Lenovo ThinkPad T540P, with a 2.5Ghz i7 processor,  4Gb of Memory, and a 500Gb hard drive. It also has a full HD screen and a dedicated games card. These laptops should be well able to cope with pretty much anything our students throw at them for the next three years. It means our animators will be able to work from home, on the train, in the library - anywhere they find themselves wanting to get on with their studies.

Free External Hard Drives For Our First Year Students!

Free External Hard Drives! Yay! Image: Wikipedia

Many of our new freshmen students don't know that, as part of the Bucks Big Deal, they are entitled to a free 1TB USB 3.0 external hard drive. All our animation & VFX students get an automatic 5GB of storage on their local network here at the Uni, but this space tends to fill up fast, especially once you start rendering high resolution images and large movie files. With that in mind, a free external hard drive is a great way store everything you need for your three year journey at Bucks. And, with a whole terrabyte of storage, the chances are you will never run out.

Activities Week Comes to Bucks! - Monday November 17th

Activities Week at Bucks

Monday November 17th is the start of Activities Week at Bucks - a chance to explore the many and diverse aspects of life at the university, and tackle something new, exciting and different. It's all organised through the Bucks Student Union and forms part of the Bucks Big Deal - which aims to offer our students great value for money, making sure you're not confronted with unexpected costs or extra expenses. Best of all Activities Week is a chance to try your hand at stuff you've never done before.

All About The Bucks Big Deal

What is The Bucks Big Deal?  From September 2014, Bucks New University is investing further in enhancing our students' experience.  Most UK universities expect students to meet a wide variety of costs (in addition to student fees) for books and course equipment, events, membership of clubs and societies, sport activities and social trips, and many students don't realise how expensive these extra costs can be. Here at Bucks we recognize the importance of reducing these additional costs, and have a great range of provision to help make your university experience successful, enjoyable and affordable.