New films encourage young people to work in VFX

Two new short films aimed at encouraging young people to follow a career in the visual effects industry were released today – Tuesday, March 6 –  in collaboration with Skillset and UK Screen.

The UK's visual effects (VFX) industry is booming at the moment, yet there is an acute skills shortage that Skillset hopes to plug with the release of these two new films, which feature VFX artists from some of the UK's leading companies. 

In the films, which have been funded by Skillset in partnership with UK Screen and some of Britain's biggest VFX post-production houses, VFX artists talk about how they broke into the industry, and outline the skills needed to work on films such as Captain America, Iron Man and Harry Potter.

One film is aimed at a 10-plus audience, and the other at a 15-plus audience, with parents, teaches and careers advisers urged to view them too, in order to better understand the demands of the industry, the subjects students should study, and the opportunities that exist. 

Skillset’s Executive Director (Deputy CEO), Kate O’Connor, said: “VFX is the fastest growing component of the UK’s burgeoning film industry. However, the UK is not producing enough VFX talent to fuel this growth, leaving us reliant on skilled migration. This is not sustainable, which is why Skillset has launched a slate of programmes to ensure that the UK produces the talent resource our VFX industry needs to remain a world leader.”

Sarah Mackey, Acting Chief Executive of UK Screen, said: “The short films are the perfect way to educate children, parents and teachers about careers in the VFX industry. The UK is a global centre for VFX, and by encouraging young people to study the core subjects of math, science and art we are investing in essential homegrown UK talent.”

The films were created in response to the recommendations of the Next Gen Report, which sets out how the UK can be transformed into the world’s leading talent hub for video games and visual effects.

Encouraging young people to study maths, science and art at school, the films are the first step towards bringing the idea of a VFX career into the classroom and providing an online VFX careers-related resource hub for teachers, careers advisers and young people.

The films are now available to view and download on the Skillset website: http://www.skillset.org/skillset/VFX/careers.