{"id":14319,"date":"2014-02-27T16:18:53","date_gmt":"2014-02-27T16:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/postgraduate\/?p=321"},"modified":"2014-02-27T16:18:53","modified_gmt":"2014-02-27T16:18:53","slug":"bu-graduates-out-of-this-world-success-on-vfx-for-gravity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/2014\/02\/27\/bu-graduates-out-of-this-world-success-on-vfx-for-gravity\/","title":{"rendered":"BU graduates\u2019 out of this world success on VFX for Gravity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Gravity-web-290x192\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Graduates and lecturers from BU\u2019s National Centre for Computer Animation<\/a> (NCCA) have reached for the stars with their work on the award-winning visual effects for the film Gravity.<\/p>\n

The blockbuster, which stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, won in a number of high-profile categories at the 2014 BAFTAs \u2013 including Outstanding British Film and Best Visual Effects.<\/p>\n

The majority of the film, which is set in space, was created digitally \u2013 with the only real-life aspects often just being the two main actors.<\/p>\n

London-based effects house Framestore worked on the special effects for the film \u2013 with the help of around 40 alumni from BU\u2019s animation and visual effects courses.<\/p>\n

BU graduate Sam Salek, who completed the MA in Digital Effects<\/a> at BU in 2010, worked as a compositor on the film.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we started working on it, we all felt that we were working on something very special, yet no-one really anticipated the phenomenon it became,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThe structure of the Digital Effects course is designed in such a way that by the end of it, you feel you have been through multiple projects and different scenarios, giving you valuable experience that you really appreciate once you start working in the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t just alumni working on Gravity, current BU staff also played their part. Adam Redford, Senior Practice Fellow in Computer Animation at BU, was a senior texture artist at Framestore.<\/p>\n

He worked for around six months on the film, helping to paint some of the interior and exterior sets and props seen floating around in the space modules, like books and personal items.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt always feels good to see the efforts of hundreds of visual effects artists recognised and praised, whether the films win awards or not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NCCA gives students a well rounded education in all areas of visual effects and animation, whilst allowing them to focus and specialise in areas they find particularly interesting and rewarding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also gives the students a good grounding in industry standard practices and software, and provides them with access to excellent feedback and mentoring from industry professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not the first time that NCCA alumni have had their work recognised with high-profile awards.<\/p>\n

More than 50 graduates and former BU academics worked on the Oscar-winning visual effects for Avatar, while MA Visual Effects graduate Andy Lockley won an Oscar in 2011 for his work on the special effects for Inception.<\/p>\n

The NCCA\u2019s contribution to world-leading excellence and pioneering development in computer animation was even recognised with a Queen\u2019s Anniversary Prize<\/a> in 2012.<\/p>\n

Sofronis Efstathiou, Framework Leader for postgraduate visual effects and animation courses at BU, said: \u201cIt\u2019s fantastic to see Gravity enjoying such success at the BAFTAs, and we\u2019re really proud of the part that Bournemouth has played in the film\u2019s creation.<\/p>\n

\u201cFramestore has an outpost studio across the road from BU and enjoys long-standing links to the NCCA.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of our graduates from both the undergraduate and postgraduate courses are employed at all levels of the company, from Junior Artists to Supervisors, and a great many of our alumni were involved in bringing Gravity\u2019s extraordinary visuals to the screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gravity has also been nominated for a number of prestigious awards \u2013 including Best Picture and Best Visual Effects \u2013 for this year\u2019s Oscars.<\/p>\n

Sofronis added: \u201cThe NCCA would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the entire Framestore team and wish them the very best of luck for the upcoming Oscars. Bournemouth will be watching!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Graduates and lecturers from BU\u2019s National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA) have reached for the stars with their work on the award-winning visual effects for the film Gravity. The blockbuster, which stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, won in a number of high-profile categories at the 2014 BAFTAs \u2013 including Outstanding British Film and Best… Read more » about BU graduates\u2019 out of this world success on VFX for Gravity<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":273,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1658,1663],"tags":[331,172,2279],"class_list":["post-14319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-archive","category-postgraduate","tag-ncca","tag-news","tag-student-success-story"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/273"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14319\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}