Virtual Production (Filmmaking with real time technologies)

Entry requirements

Applicants must be at least 18 years old and have at least two years of screen industry experience and some production or post-production experience. Applicants may come from varied technical and creative backgrounds including games, VFX, 3D animation, graphics design and technical film crew (i.e., camera department). Knowledge and/or awareness of the use of game engines and Unreal Engine, 2D and 3D modelling tools is beneficial. Applicants should have a good general education, but there are no other specific educational requirements.

Months of entry

January

Course content

Virtual Production (VP) is a rapidly growing area of content production, and the UK is facing unprecedented demand for individuals with skills in this area. By combining CGI, game-engines, and virtual reality technologies, VP enables completely new ways of making film and TV, from virtual scouting, to set design, to real-time, on-set visual effects. VP techniques impact many core disciplines within filmmaking and television production, from cinematography, to production design, VFX, animation, directing and beyond.

This course will introduce you to the core technical and filmmaking skills required to work on a VP project using an LED Stage driven by Unreal Engine. On completing the course you could go on to fill key artistic and technical disciplines, including Technical Artists, Lighting Specialists, Colour Specialists, Technical Designers/Directors, Camera Hardware/Software Pipeline Engineers, LED Hardware Engineers, or VP Technical Generalists.

The course offers theoretical and practical experience delivered via weekly online seminars as well as approximately 6 weekends of hands-on workshops using our VP LED wall and facilities at the NFTS Beaconsfield Film Studios.

Warner Bros. Discovery Access are supporting the course for the second year running to help ensure this form of training is as accessible as possible as part of its ongoing commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion across the industry. In addition, thanks to the support of Screen Scotland, this year a number of places are also ringfenced for creative professionals living and working in Scotland.

What You Will Study

This course has been put together in consultation with our partners Warner Bros. Discovery Access, Screen Scotland and StoryFutures Academy and is designed to give you a grounding in the core skills, knowledge and understanding required for VP technical setups, and key on-set roles and activities.

You will learn the fundamentals of Virtual Production and explore the key underlying technologies; including the core functionality and more advanced elements of Unreal and its role within the VP process, a walk-through of the LED Wall set up and merging digital and physical props and design workflows. You will learn about the key roles and their functions within virtual production, including the roles of Production Designer, Director of Photography, Technical Artist, and the Virtual Art Department. Case studies and group exercises will put these core elements into practice.

Fees and funding

To ensure that the course is accessible to as many people as possible, 12 places on the course are being 75% underwritten by Warner Bros. Discovery Access and Screen Scotland. Further scholarship support is available for students from diverse groups who may require additional financial assistance.

Please visit our website for fees information. All production costs are included in the course fees, including the use of School facilities and equipment.