Confetti’s VFX degree students are invited to a series of fantastic guest lectures online this winter.
This term, Confetti have been busy putting on their guest speaker series for Visual Effects degree students online, with a great lineup of truly inspiring industry legends.
These events are a great example of our Do It For Real ethos across all of our courses, where our students benefit from guest speakers from their chosen industry alongside key work experience opportunities.
Here some of the speakers that delivered great talks for students on this course, and some feedback from students themselves…
Monday 5 October – Graham Bell
Graham Bell has worked on a variety of projects in the visual effects industry, including films Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Casino Royale, as well as a number of games including Catwoman: The Game, EA Sports F1 2001 and F1 Championship Season 2000. He now works as a Technical Marketing Manager.
Graham spoke to students about his work in the industry, the ‘big five’, how Covid-19 is impacting visual effects projects, and the legal and economical frameworks in the VFX industry.
“Grahams talk was very useful and I gained a lot of knowledge about things like the legal side of VFX.”
Saturday 10 October – Gennaro Esposito
Gennaro Esposito is a 3D Artist, specialising in environment and hard surface modelling. Having previously worked on projects including The Lion King, and Sonic, he is a well-known name in the industry.
He spoke about his current role as Lead 3D Asset Artist at PIXOMONDO, where his team won a BAFTA for Episode 2 of The Mandelorian, as well as giving students an in-depth discussion about the VFX pipeline.
“Really nice talk, useful for workflow as well as what PIXOMONDO looked at for progressing through a company and how to get started in modelling.”
Monday 12 October – Pat Imrie
Senior Asset Artist at Wild Child Animation, Pat Imrie, delivered a great session where he asked students to re-imagine elements from their choice of 1980s film.
Pat’s career has seen him work on films including Assassin’s Creed, Avengers: Infinity War, and Ready Player One to date.
“A really fun and down-to-earth guest. I really understood what was being asked for with the 1980s brief and felt comfortable enough to ask questions about it. Probably my favourite guest speaker so far!”
Monday 19 October – Marc Price
Marc Price is Writer and Director at Nowhere Fast Productions, where he’s created a number of brilliant video projects.
As part of his talk, Marc asked students to create and model some spaceships for his 2020 film Dune Drifter, which was a great challenge and a dream come true for the space-lovers in the group.
“Clearly delivered brief and very engaging presentation. I like that he showed us his work to give us a clear idea of what he is expecting us to do.”
Monday 2 November – Tori Aspinall
Former Confetti student Tori delivered an inspiring talk about her journey from Confetti to ILM, what it was like to work on Star Wars, and how Covid-19 has affected her workload.
Students were certainly inspired to see someone who was in their exact position just a few years ago!
“Amazing talk. Good to hear from someone as a junior and actual steps for networking, advice, tips and how she got to her position.”
Monday 9 November – Jan Jinda
Freelance Lead 3D Asset Artist Jan has worked on films like Captain Marvel, Venom and Dunkirk in his career.
Jan talked about the realities of being a freelancer in the VFX industry, and ran through the main differences between working at big and small studios. His advice for students when they leave university will come to be invaluable.
“Lots of helpful info! Especially because I was wondering how a freelancer’s life works compared to that of someone working in a studio. It helped me in defining my career plan.”
Monday 16 November – Jarrod Anderson
Jarrod currently works as Creature TD at ILM, and has worked on Peter Rabbit, Ted 2, Lego Batman and many more films through the years.
His talk covered where his career had taken him around the world, his favourite projects (working on Rocket for Avengers End Game!) and much more.
“Lovely talk! It was so ‘live’ and engaging! I was worried over the last few weeks about what’s going to happen after graduation and what if I won’t get into the industry straight after university. This talk was EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED! Thank you so much!”
A huge thank you to all of these guests for giving their time to deliver such great talks for our students. It’s safe to say they were left feeling very inspired!
Are you interested in studying a VFX degree at Confetti and attending guest lectures from industry giants? Have a browse through our courses and book onto a virtual open day to find out more.
