John Lasseter explains what students need to learn to get a job at Pixar

In this excellent video interview,  Disney Studio Supremo and Pixar founder John Lasseter talks about the importance of mastering the basics language of film, art and design. Here at Bucks we could not agree more. Our course covers all the areas that John talks about here, including drawing, design, the language of film, in short - the basics.

Technology is important but so are the traditional elements of art and design. Life drawing? Of course. basic design principles? Definitely. We want our students to have a well-rounded training so that they can flourish as digital artists with a solid grounding in all the elements of film-making.

---Alex

What Does a Great Portfolio Look Like? Sony Pictures Animation Explains....

What goes into a good portfolio? Like a great animation demo reel, an artist's portfolio is never done. It should contain only your very best work. Your best piece goes first, your second best goes last. Nowadays, a paper portfolio is pretty much a thing of the past - your work should be on your blog or website, and regularly updated. A permanent online showcase of your talent.

How Do Animators Plan a Shot?

Working with Maya: How to Begin? - The Curse of the Blank Screen

One of the hardest skills for an animator to learn is how to build and block an animated scene from scratch. After all, everyone animator starts their work with a blank piece of paper, or a blank computer screen. With animation, you get nothing for free. So how do you get from nothing, to something? Or, rather, how do you get from a blank screen to a piece of well-crafted beautiful animation that combines technical ability with story-telling, personality and craftsmanship? The secret is, it's all in the planning.

Clearing! It's still not too late to find a place at Bucks....

Exam results are now in and the process known as "clearing" has begun. Clearing is the great re-shuffle, when students who didn't necessarily get the results they anticipated start to scramble for a place at University.

According to Wikipedia:
"The Clearing process helps applicants without places to find institutions with courses that still have places available. However once UCAS's clearing operation is complete, institutions with available places do advertise publicly, and some students find places by direct application at that stage. "

The key point is, it isn't too late to find a place to study in September.

What is Previz and why should we teach it?

What is Previz? Wikipedia defines it thus:

"Previsualization (also known as pre-rendering, preview or wireframe windows) is a function to visualise complex scenes in a movie before filming. It is also a concept in still photography. Previsualization is applied to techniques such as storyboarding, either in the form of charcoal drawn sketches or in digital technology in the planning and conceptualization of movie scenery make up."

Careers Advice at Bucks - today!

Bucks New University is offering online Careers service today from 1pm to 4pm. Heather Boyd, Career Development Advisor, will be online to answer your questions. Heather's online session is aimed in particular for any students who have struggled to find work; and she will be offering advice on how to go about job searching, and how to promote yourself effectively to employers.

Calling all Bucks Graduates - Animate & Create Studios is looking for fresh talent

Calling all Bucks graduates! Animate & Create Studios is on the look out for fresh talent.  Animate & Create describe themselves as a "young, up-and-coming animation studio, presently looking for recent graduates or placement year students to volunteer to join our team for a 3 month placement in our studio in Whitstable in Kent".

What's the point of an animation degree?

What price a piece of paper?

What should universities teach on their animation courses? Academic theory, art skills, or tech skills? Or a combination of all three? The answer isn't as obvious as you might think. Yesterday, in a piece titled "Degrees of Talent", Steve Moore, co-author of the animation blog FLIP (and an Oscar-nominated director), kicked off a lively debate by criticising the many animation schools which fail to prepare their graduates adequately for the job market.

Recording voice talent - a dummy's guide

Frank Gladstone directs actors in the sound booth

Every animator will eventually, at some point, find him or herself directing voice talent for a film project. Whether it’s a short film, a personal project, or a piece of animation for a client, you will eventually need your characters to speak. And for this, unless someone else does it for you, you will need actors.

So how does an animator or director go about recording voices? And how do you get a decent performance from an actor? Especially if you’ve never ever done it before? Follow the steps below - and you won’t go wrong.

Anifest Animation Festival - now looking for student films

Canterbury Anifest is welcoming student short films. Deadline: 30 August 2013

The Canterbury Anifest 2013 competition is now open to entries from student film-makers.  Canterbury Anifest is looking to uncover new talent, and to "give students a platform from which to launch themselves into the industry". Their competition category, “Best Up and Coming Talent” aims to "celebrate the high quality creativity emerging from Britain’s Universities".

How to Get a Job at Pixar

Here is a link to a short film explaining how to get job at Pixar. It’s a barely-disguised publicity piece for Monsters U but that’s a small price to pay for what is a genuinely helpful interview with Dan Scanlon, and Kori Rae, respectively the Director and Producer of Monsters U.

Storyboarding in Toonboom, or: What Do Academics Do All Summer?

The Academic Life?

How do academics spend their summers? Lounging by the pool in Tuscany drinking chianti? Well, maybe some do. Sadly, not in my case. For the month of July, I am polishing my storyboarding skills courtesy of Creative Skillset, who have generously paid for fifteen aspiring board artists to learn Toon Boom Storyboard Pro, mentored as it turns out by my old friend and kumrad Frank Gladstone who has flown all the way from Los Angeles to get us Brits on track.

Kick-starting graduate careers

Here at Bucks we like to practice what we preach, and this means helping our graduates find work in industry in the most active ways possible. We're encouraging companies to bring us their web projects, the kind of interesting, fun, but often low budget work that can sometimes slip through the cracks of commercial studios.

We don't want our talented graduates working for nothing - after all, everyone has to put bread on the table - but by charging very competitive rates we hope to attract interesting projects and help our students build a portfolio of professional work.

Should graduates work for free?

The bad guys always wear top hats and smoke cigars

This is a tough question. Lots of seasoned professionals in the entertainment industry feel strongly that graduates should never work for free - why provide cheap labour for greedy capitalists who just want to exploit young talent? The counter-argument is very simple: because it's worth it.

Money, tuition fees, and student loans - how the new system works

Start saving your pennies

As pretty much everyone now knows, higher education is getting much, more expensive. For good or ill, the present Government is gradually retreating from direct funding of university education, and the UK is moving towards a more market-based system.

Maybe things will change in a few years under the next government, maybe they won't. In the meantime, government funding for courses at Bucks and other universities does still exist, albeit in the form of loans rather than direct grants.

Here is how the new system works:

A few spots still available on our new course in September

High Wycombe wants you

We're still welcoming new applicants for the last few available spots on our new Animation and Visual Effects course at Bucks New University starting this September. We're looking for students with a real passion to do animation and visual effects work, a drive to become a digital artist and take advantage of the myriad opportunities for animation, games and online work in the new economy. Animation is now big business, and we want to give all our graduates the best possible head start.

Bucks Animation Showcase 2013

We're proud to showcase the best work from our students at Bucks over the past year. Included in this compilation video is work by Dave Berry, Monika Dzikowicz, Kristof Michalski, Allan de Leal, Mike Swan, Paula Gillin, Andre Spencer, and others.

Our talented graduates are now taking a well-earned summer break before starting their careers in the animation, games, visual effects and design visualisation industries. Anyone looking to hire one of our talented students should contact us at alex.williams@bucks.ac.uk or david.creighton@bucks.ac.uk

----Alex

Open Day at Bucks! Wednesday 12 June

Gateway to your new career

Wednesday 12th June is Open Day at Bucks. Open Days are a great way to meet the tutors (for Animation & VFX - that's me and Dave Creighton) here at Bucks, find out about our courses, and also explore our campus. We guarantee you'll be impressed by the state-of-the-art technical equipment we have in the brand new Gateway Building; the result of a £40m investment program completed just a couple of years ago.

How to find a job? The secret maps to success...

Where are the jobs?

Finding work isn't easy, especially getting that vital, elusive first job. Sometimes it seems like every vacancy is advertised for professionals with 2-3 years of experience, which means that finding your first gig can feel like a catch-22. You can't find a job without experience, you can get experience until you find a job. So what is the secret?

Tonight! The Bucks Animation Big Show!

Tonight is Bucks animation's big night - starting at 6pm you can take a look at the best work done by our very talented soon-to-be-graduates, showcasing their projects completed over the past year. You'll see great animation, character design, concept work, visual development, 3D modelling, texturing, lighting - a diverse and impressive array of digital and creative skills. Come and see the what the new generation of digital artists can accomplish.

BAFTA Scholarships - deadline 17th June

BAFTA is offering a number of scholarships for talented graduates who wish to continue their studies. You find out more about them here.

According to BAFTA:

"Our 2013 Scholarship Programme will award a minimum of six scholarships to UK students in need of financial assistance to take a post-graduate course related to a career in film, television or games. See the full list of eligible courses. Each scholarship will provide up to £10,000 to cover one year’s course fees, an industry mentor and free access to BAFTA events around the UK for a year."

You have until June 17th to apply.

---Alex