BDes (Hons) Special Effects Modelmaking for Film and Television

Program Overview

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Course Details

From alien spaceships to samurai swords, and body parts to ancient statues, special and visual effects uses physical artefacts to inject reality into computer generated action, as well as provide a sense of place, time and atmosphere for actors and audiences. Our Special Effects Modelmaking for Film and Television degree is designed to train the talented artists and craftspeople this highly creative industry needs. We focus on preparing you for a career as a skilled artisan, creating visually stunning pieces that help bring on-screen productions to life.

We offer an intensely practical education in special effects modelmaking. We’ll encourage you to experiment with materials and tools, and practice contemporary and long-established modelmaking techniques. We’ll support you as you learn the principles of scale representation and how to create bigatures. We’ll lead you in an exploration of how models and props can combine with 3D computer graphics to create spectacular on-screen environments.

This highly creative industry demands transferable skills too – communication, project and time management, team-working and entrepreneurship are all needed for success in this often freelance profession. We aim to support you to develop these attributes, alongside the imagination, flair and curiosity that will enable you to help make the unbelievable, believable.

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Highlights

You don’t have to worry about the cost of the tools and materials needed to complete your studies – we provide these for you. This means you can concentrate on learning how to use expensive industry-standard materials, like silicones and resins, rather than worrying about how you are going to pay for them!

Neill Gorton, multi-award winning artist/designer and founder of the world-renowned Millennium FX Company, is our Visiting Professor of Special Effects. His astonishing range of professional experience, knowledge of cutting-edge techniques and industry contacts brings enormous benefits.

You’ll have your own personal bench space and locker in our dedicated special effects studio, providing a secure base for your studies. You’ll also have access to our fantastic range of facilities, including our casting and moulding room, boutique film studio, 3D workshop, heavy engineering and woodworking facilities, and composites laboratories.

We’re committed to helping develop your employability and career network. You’ll be encouraged to attend guest lectures that enhance your learning and help you make contacts in the industry. For instance, the modelmaking masters Artem have recently shared their expertise with students on our SVFX courses.

Alongside your special effects modelmaking skills and knowledge, we’ll support you to develop a broader understanding of production design, including concepting, cinematography and composition. This will help you appreciate the roles, skills and expectations of other professionals working in the industry.

We’ll encourage you to research, analyse, design and develop modelmaking techniques so that you can take an idea from a brief or script scene and find the most time-efficient, cost-effective and visually impressive way to turn that vision into reality.

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Key Features

The course is designed in collaboration with professional special effects modelmaking designers and artists. This ensures that the content is industry-relevant and includes the latest techniques, materials and innovations.

We’ll help and support you to develop a portfolio of work/show reel that demonstrates your skills in readiness to impress potential employers.

Course assignments and projects mimic industry pipelines and standards so your experience is a realistic preparation for a career in special effects modelmaking.

Our dedicated staff team have a wide range of professional experience, industry knowledge, technical expertise and academic credentials, offering you a variety of perspectives and broadening your horizons.

We offer a warm and friendly environment for your studies, with relatively small class sizes, purpose-built teaching facilities, and excellent student support and library services.

We prefer to keep lecture and practical classes relatively small, so that you have plenty of opportunities to us ask questions and get individual help, as well as benefit from the ideas and support offered by your classmates.

By choosing to study with us, you'll have the chance to enjoy Bolton's many shops, bars, restaurants and leisure facilities. Manchester, one of the UK's most multicultural and lively cities, is less than 20 minutes away by train. Not forgetting, the North West of England is renowned for its beautiful countryside, coastline and heritage. This makes Bolton an ideal base from which to explore some of the best cultural and outdoor activities the UK offers.

Program Outline

A graduate of this course will be able to demonstrate and combine creative skills with high levels of technical ability and will design, create and produce 3D scale models and miniatures for use on film and television productions.

You will develop a range of practical hand skills and transferable skills such as utilising a range of different materials, sculpting and modelling techniques, using a range of tools and computer-assisted equipment, working with accuracy and attention to detail, developing ideas and concepts with others, team work, working to deadlines and project management. You will also develop an eye for detail, the ability to understand scale, patience and the ability to focus for long periods of time.

What can I do with this qualification?

Most modelmakers are self-employed and work on a project-by-project basis. Freelance modelmakers can progress by building up their businesses or by becoming agents for other modelmakers.

Modelmakers create models that bring to life the ideas of production designers, props masters or the visual special effects team. Talented modelmakers are still very much in demand, even with the rise of CGI in film and TV special effects.

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Alternative career options

As well as film and television, other clients who employ modelmakers include engineers, designers, architects, advertising companies and museums. Other career opportunities exist within:

Film production

Aviation

Motor industry

Civil engineering

Manufacturing

Advertising and marketing

Animation

Games design and production

Teaching

Product design

Arts management