I spent the third year of my degree course on a placement with Automatik VFX, based in Kentish Town. It was an incredibly fun and interesting experience, and one that has definitely helped shape my ideas as I start work on my Final Year Project.
Automatik VFX is a fairly small company, with around 25 artists and production staff in the London studio. They also have studios in Berlin and Hamburg. Being such a small company certainly played to my advantage, because I was able to experience a huge range of different projects in the various departments.
The days were long – starting at 9:30am and finishing at 6:30pm, with an additional hour of commuting each way – but there was always something to do. It’s hard to find a specific role that I filled, other than the general “VFX Intern” – I had a bit of a go at everything, from assisting the 3D Supervisor with lighting various shots, to basic roto and slapcomps for the 2D Supervisor, coding various new tools for the Systems Administrator and much more.
As well as these tasks, there was the occasional bit of admin, running drives into Soho or covering reception and dealing with clients, however these were only as and when required and it was never any issue to help out – in fact, it’s a key part of the job and it was great to see another aspect of the industry.
The definite highlight for me was the day I helped out on set. It was quite a complex shoot, involving horses and carts, lots of extras and multiple cameras. We were responsible for ensuring that the VFX equipment, such as the green screens, were set up correctly and in the correct location, so they could be as useful as possible to the artists. We also assisted the director and crew in the setup of the shot and the artistic direction when required. As there was a night-time element of the shoot as well, it was an incredibly long day, but a really great experience.
As well as industry contacts, the placement there has certainly helped me focus my ideas and discover the job roles that I’m very keen to explore further. I loved the render wrangling, coding and systems work that a Pipeline TD might be expected to perform, and this is something I could definitely see myself doing in a few years.
To anyone wondering whether a placement is a worthwhile way of spending one of your years at university, the answer is yes. Working in a real-life environment for real clients is an entirely different experience to assignments in an educational setting. While it may only be a few extra credits towards the degree, the real benefit is the exposure to what working in the industry is like.
As films that I’ve worked on are released, I’ll add them here.
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