Turn your passion into practice with MetFilm School

If you’ve avoided the cliché New Year’s resolution of becoming a gym bunny and have instead been thinking about turning your passion into practice and entering the film industry, you may assume only university-based courses are on offer, but you’d be wrong. 

MetFilm School, a world-leading film, television, and online media school, is offering twenty-week certificates in London, in addition to its undergraduate and postgraduate offering. These are suited to both those already working in the screen industries looking to hone their skills, and adults with no prior experience in the field. 

With campuses in London, Leeds, and Berlin, all of which are based within working film studios, MetFilm School has close ties to the film industry. MetFilm School London is located at Ealing Studios, which has recently supported the creation of high-profile productions such as Last Night in Soho, Black Mirror, The Imitation Game, and Downton Abbey. 

Last year, MetFilm School announced a new partnership with Garden Studios, an innovative and sustainably focused film studio which is the new home of their certificates and part-time twenty-week courses. Garden Studios has been specifically designed to support the latest production technologies, as well as decades of future innovation, making it the perfect place to nurture the talent of students – and it is only four miles from the MetFilm School London campus!

A cutting-edge learning experience

Places are still available for MetFilm School London’s twenty-week courses starting April 2022, including their Certificate in Digital Animation and VFX. Working closely with leading industry professionals, the course offers a career-focused, cutting-edge, practical learning experience.

The Certificate in Digital Animation and VFX will cover digital animation and VFX workflows, processes and disciplines, design and creation of 3D models and creation of manual and procedural textures. Students will learn to perform match-move on live action footage to recreate the original camera movement in a 3D space. 

Other key learning areas include adding dynamic finishing FX, lighting and rendering a 3D shot for compositing and composing CG renders seamlessly into live action footage. 

Crucially, the course will also enable students to gain an understanding of the animation and VFX career opportunities available in today’s creative industries, and the course itself will leave you equipped to step into the industry as a VFX compositor, artist, producer, or a related role of your choice.

Former students of the Certificate in Digital Animation and VFX speak volumes about where the course can lead. Chris McKenna, head of animation and technical animation at Moving Picture Company says: “I didn’t have a huge amount of experience before starting the course. However, I’d been working on some freelance projects within the VFX industry, so I had some insight into the process and workflows." 

McKenna goes on to say: "I took this course at MetFilm School, among other reasons, to expand my employability and to gain an insight into the workflows of a production studio.”

“One massive benefit [of MetFilm School] is that you’re in a position to be steered in the right direction! It’s so easy to get lost in the vast capabilities of modern software and techniques. You really need the tried and tested experience from your tutors, and support from your peers at the film school,” continues McKenna.

Another former student, Yusuf Hasan, has worked on films including 1917 and Last Night in Soho since attending the Digital Animation & VFX course at MetFilm school. He says: “I think you get so much more out of your time having someone who has worked in the industry for years in the room with you. It saves you spending hours Googling how to turn off a button you pressed by accident!”

If a new career in the film industry appeals to you, you can find out more about the  certificates and part-time twenty-week courses at MetFilm School's website, including full course details and how to apply.