Meet Shanae who is currently one of Escape Studios students, on a BA (Hon) Arts of Visual Effects Degree, specialising in 3D.

I was given a Summer Internship job as a Runner in DNEG whilst just finishing my first year at Escape Studios and from the day that I started my Runner role I met such an array of people- some who had been Runners for a few months, and post-graduates who had just started weeks before me.

On an average day I would have to complete multiple tasks in groups or independently, some that take a few hours and others where I have to complete 3-5 things within an hour. I may even have to get a train to deliver personal information or hard-drives, or walk 15 minutes to the dry cleaners. Other tasks include preparing refreshments for meetings, keeping the building tidy, restocking the kitchens and removing unwanted furniture from studios such as desk chairs or coat stands.

It was important to keep a positive attitude, use initiative and have strong communication between my colleagues. Also I wanted to achieve a handful of things during my short time there such as networking with artists, supervisors and HR to find out as much information to prepare myself for when I graduate and apply for industry roles.

The “usual” runner would apply once they graduated and hope to move up into a 3D, 2D or production role after completing training in their free time such as roto prep on Wonder Woman using Nuke or Tracking on Ant Man using 3D Equalizer. Then they would submit it to their assigned mentor, and wait for that call to finally be moved up to their desired artist role on a show. Because I would be returning to University, I was spending a few weeks at a time working on a variation of projects between 2D, 3D and FX since I was still unsure what department I was interested in. I was also able to get advice back from in-house trainers and mentors.

Because of my enthusiasm to network and get an idea of what really interests me, I was able to have some personal time every now and then with artists who offered to show me what they were currently working on. Realising how an artist operates on shows and briefs gave me a greater understanding of industry standards and what they would be looking for in portfolios, personal skills/characteristics and overall just how exhilarating yet challenging it actually is.