Entering the World of VFX- a ROARing Success?

Procuring a placement can either be a straightforward or difficult task in itself, but what is certain is that it always comes with surprises! Nevertheless, partaking in a work placement is, in my opinion, a vital experience that can prepare an individual for a future in the career of their choice, with a placement in the film industry being no different. This blog will explore how I came to obtain my third-year placement, from drafting a CV to reaching out to companies, and the challenges I faced during my first few weeks during this experience. To reflect on this wonderful experience, I will use Graham Gibbs’ (1998) model of reflective thinking, as shown below, to evaluate my time on placement and explore my thoughts and feelings at the time and at present.

Preparing a CV

In order to have the best chance of obtaining a placement, I knew I had to ensure I had a good CV in place to sell myself to the various production companies I was applying for. At the time, I was incredibly anxious as I feared that I would not be able to obtain a placement, and thus I put a lot of effort into making a great CV. Thankfully, I have been trying to get as much experience as I can over the past number of years by partaking in trainee schemes and workshops in the film industry to avoid the dreaded “Catch 22” of not being able to get experience without having experience, which worked out well in my favour when it came to filling out my CV! In reflection, I think I was successful in creating a CV which helped to inform potential employers that I have previous insight and knowledge into the industry, which I think played a big part in procuring my placement. However, I believe that I shouldn’t have put too much faith into my previous experience, and perhaps in future I should go to my tutor on my work-based learning module to check if my CV is meeting the requirements of what employers are looking for, in order to have the best chance of being hired.

Reaching Out To Companies

The next step for me was to find companies that were willing to take on a student for placement- which is no easy task! After reading an excerpt from “Careers in Media and Film- The Essential Guide”, I knew that I must partake in a lot of research into each company I apply for in order to make me stand out as an applicant ( Gregory, Healy, and Mazierska, 2008, 77). While researching a lot of companies in the local area, I found that many were focused on documentary filmmaking and factual television, something that, in all honesty, does not interest me much. I felt that I was early enough in the year to “shop around”, and thus I decided to apply to a VFX and animation studio- Enter Yes. I researched the productions they were involved in and visited their social media pages, where I found a recent short film about climate change they animated, in collaboration with students from Queen’s University:

After finding this film and seeing that Enter Yes was different than the other companies I had researched, I emailed the company, taking the time to congratulate and sing my praises about this recent film and how it was helping to spread awareness about climate change. Within a few days, I was offered a placement with them! In reflection. I am so thankful that I took the time to research and find a company that I knew would interest me, and it is something I know to do again in the future when applying for jobs. As they say, do what you love, love what you do!

My First Week on the Job

As I nervously walked to Enter Yes’ Cathedral Quarter studio, I received a call from the company that I could not enter the office due to a COVID- positive case reported that morning, and instead, they were arranging a taxi to take me to the set of a CBBC show, “Silverpoint”, to help the owner of the company, Kris, there. This is where the trajectory and the expectations of my placement completely changed. When I reached set, I was informed that the entire VFX team, except Kris, have to self-isolate for ten days, and I would have to step in to help. The problem? The absence of the VFX team was to be kept quiet to not alarm the rest of the crew, so I had to pretend as if I worked in visual effects! For the next two weeks, I had to help to shoot a major sequence in the show where a T-Rex breaks into a summer camp… and had to play said T-Rex! Although this was a very enjoyable beginning to placement, it led to me being asked a lot of technical questions about visual effects by curious crew members in other departments, which I could only answer with my small amount of incredibly basic knowledge. At the end of the first week, I was even interviewed by the BBC about playing the T Rex in the show…little did they know I was simply a film student pretending to know what I was talking about.

Dinosaurs on Screen- Expectations Vs Reality

Upon further reflection, although I researched Enter Yes in terms of what they have worked on before in order to secure my placement, I know in hindsight that I should have researched the technical side to what the members of the company do on a daily basis, to prevent having the stressful responsibility of being in a role that I was not prepared for. Despite the unexpected sequence of events at the beginning of my placement, I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to be on a television set and get a practical insight into the industry, and to play a dinosaur on TV!

References

Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford: Oxford Further Education
Unit

Gregory, G., Healy, R., Mazierska, E. (2007) Careers in Media and Film: The Essential Guide. Los Angeles: Sage