An internship is generally considered a short placement in a studio to learn about how the studios work, what it’s like to work in a team on a real project, in a real pipeline whilst working alongside experts. It gives you a taste of a real job, without the expectations or qualifications a professional role might require.
EARN AS YOU LEARN IN THE WORKPLACE.
An Apprenticeship can offer the best of both worlds, giving you invaluable experience working alongside and knowledge to kick-start your career. Apprenticeships are available for Junior 2D Compositing Artist and Assistant Technical Director roles. For more details on apprenticeships visit the NextGen Skills Academy website.
A degree doesn't need to be 'academic' these days. The majority of new entrants into the VFX industry still come through the university route, particularly (but not exclusively) from Film, TV, VFX and Animation degrees. The University experience offers potential to create your own unique showreel or portfolio, to mix and collaborate with interesting people and experiment to find out who you want to be
Short Courses can be a single introductory day, weeks long or even a couple of months. They tend to be useful for topping up your existing skills rather than gaining entry into the industry as a quicker route than Apprenticeships or Degrees! You can think of them mostly as conversion courses. For instance if you studied Animation but want to get into Rigging, or in Computer Programming but wanted a grasp of Python or Shader Writing. Short courses help talented people move sideways and change career paths.
If you can't travel to a University, College or Apprenticeship you might want to consider Online options. However due to the iterative way of learning creative subjects like VFX, it's much easier to learn technical know-how, like Nuke techniques, than learn how to work in a team or interact with a client-driven brief, so it's often a good idea to see online courses as complementary to other learning activities if you are looking to get into VFX for the first time.
Being a Runner can seem an odd entry route to some- with visions of making tea and running around on the whim of clients, but don’t believe those myths. It’s often a really effective way to learn how VFX works as an industry, and to meet amazing people and work out how everything fits together. The industry is full of people who started of learning as runners and because of this made huge leaps. It’s in the VFX company’s best interests to see you succeed!
