I was fortunate enough to have been offered the chance to go down to London and visit a renown VFX studio and learn a little bit more about the software and hardware skills required or expected within industry. DNEG or Double Negative is a large Visual Effect Studio with locations across the world and has worked on a variety of films, shows and animations with a talented team of artists, animators, technical operators and cinematographers.

If you do not know of DNEG then you have 100% seen there work on the big or small screen as they have been involved in some of the biggest feature films over the past decade so it was an honour to be able to pick their brains and find out more about a working VFX Studio.

The day started as all good days start with an early morning rush to the train station and a breakfast to go. I do not venture to London that often so when I do get to go down there it is 90% of the time work or meeting related. The meeting was between myself, Rachel, Robert and Jeremy and the DNEG team in there offices. I am obviously not going to go into details regarding the meeting itself or anything discussed in any detail however it was great to hear what technologies, tools and key skills are in active deployment and demand in order to better support our students in these career pathways.

Unreal Engine is a tool that I myself have heavily leaned into and a tool that is being used more and more within film and tv workflows and the fact it can be combined with Houdini and Maya workflows almost seamlessly is great to hear as it aligns to conversations and workflows I have been pushing for and towards within education since introducing it in 2016 and shouting about how game engines will become pivotal in these fields and seeing it become a reality.

I would love to visit DNEG again with some students and help deliver the skills of tomorrow today and maybe one day see more of my graduates work on the big screen.

Key software skills to explore: Houdini, Maya, Unreal Engine, Nuke

Key Tech skills: Motion Capture, XR (AR,VR), Virtual Cameras, 3D Scanning and capture, Virtual Production

Visit to DNEG