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Keeping Britain's special effects dream alive

"The country's reputation as the go-to Hollywood alternative was underlined at this year's Academy Awards when London-based Double Negative picked up the visual effects Oscar for its work on Inception.

The company, which has also been involved in the Harry Potter and Batman series, employs around 950 people at its headquarters in Soho.

Across the UK, approximately 5,000 people work in SFX post-production, according to the UK Screen Association.

But while business is currently booming, there are dark, computer-generated, clouds on the horizon.

A report, commissioned by the government and published earlier this year, delivered a worrying prognosis.

It warned that, while special effects was enjoying a rapid growth, the sector was also 'having to source talent from overseas because of skills shortages at home'.

The study, entitled Next Gen, concluded: 'That is mainly a failing of our education system - from schools to universities and it needs to be tackled urgently if we are to remain globally competitive.'

Part of the problem is the lack of awareness of the profession among young people, according to Paul Franklin, a visual effects supervisor and part of Double Negative's Oscar-winning team.

'There is not a huge amount of information available to them,' he told BBC News.

'Typically you tend to find that students who are seeking out courses in visual effects and film-making are the self motivated types who have gone out and found the information themselves.'

'It is something we work very hard at, but schools and colleges could be more aware about how a creative art education can be applied in the world of high-end modern digital media,' he said."

(BBC News, 14 May 2011)

CONTRIBUTOR

Simon Perkins

Michaël Dudok De Wit's "Father and Daughter"

"A father says goodbye to his young daughter and leaves. As the wide Dutch landscapes live through their seasons so the girl lives through hers. She becomes a young woman, has a family and in time she becomes old, yet within her there is always a deep longing for her father."
(Animation World Network)

Fig.1 & 2 Directed by Michaël Dudok De Wit; Produced by Claire Jennings; Willem Thijssen; Written by Michaël Dudok De Wit; Music by Normand Roger; Denis L. Chartrand; Release date(s) 2000; Running time 8:30 minutes; Country United Kingdom; Belgium; Netherlands; Language no dialogue.