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BU鈥檚 National Centre for Computer Animation wins big at VES industry awards

, held in Beverly Hills, California, celebrates the best visual effects work from artists working on some of Hollywood鈥檚 most successful blockbuster films and commercials.

This year鈥檚 awards saw a Lifetime Achievement Award presented to writer-director Jon Favreau, the creative mind behind live-action remake The Jungle Book and sci-fi adaptation, Iron Man, and the 'Oustanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode'聽award presented by Star Wars' Mark Hamill.聽

Five BU graduates, Chris McLaughlin, Andrew Lockley, Amir Bazazi, Gary Boyle听补苍诲 Robert Stipp, were awarded for their work on Blade Runner 2049, Dunkirk, Samsung鈥檚 Ostrich, War for the Planet of the Apes and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, respectively.

聽in 2017, double Oscar-winner and VES winner of 鈥極utstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature鈥� for Dunkirk, Andrew Lockley, said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard to say what my career highlight would be; there are so many amazing things that have happened, particularly since winning the BAFTA and Oscar for Inception.聽Standing at the bar at the Vanity fair party with Tim Burton standing on my right and Quentin Tarantino on my left and them congratulating me is definitely up there in my top five!鈥�

BA (Hons) Computer Visualisation and Animation/MA Digital Effects graduate, Amir Bazazi, was awarded 'Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial鈥� for his work on Samsung鈥檚 ostrich.聽The award-winning ad was created by MPC for Samsung鈥檚 鈥楧o What You Can鈥檛 Campaign鈥� which promotes VR technology and hopes to change consumers鈥� ideas on what is humanly possible.聽Opening with a curious ostrich stumbling into a VR headset you see the character begin to dream of achieving the impossible and flying.

聽Although Amir now works for MPC one the biggest听补苍诲 most successful聽VFX companies in Europe (and worldwide), he suggests聽that sometimes smaller production houses can have a bigger impact at the beginning of a career in VFX: "Working for a small company was really good, I鈥檇 recommend it for people starting out as you learn lots and don鈥檛 get pigeon-holed.

鈥淵ou get to explore lots and learn about the art of delivering a job which is something that if you come into a big company and you鈥檙e doing one tiny thing you wouldn鈥檛 get the opportunity to do. For me it was a good way of learning the overall structure of how to deliver jobs in the animation industry.聽My show reel that I produced in my final year helped me find a job as it enabled me to present the work that I鈥檇 done and the skills I鈥檇 learned while at university. Employers were able to look at my show reel and they saw I鈥檇 been at the NCCA and could clearly do good work.鈥�

The award-winning ad was created by MPC for Samsung鈥檚 鈥楧o What You Can鈥檛 Campaign鈥� which promotes VR technology and hopes to change consumers鈥� ideas on what is humanly possible.

DNEG Digital Effects Supervisor, and MA Digital Effects聽graduate Chris McLaughlin won聽鈥極utstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature鈥櫬爁or Blade Runner 2049, while Framestore Lighting Technical Director and聽BA (Hons) Computer Visualisation and Animation alumni, Robert Stipp, picked up the award for 'Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project' for his work on Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 2.

BU graduate Gary Boyle, who studied聽for an MA in Digital Effects in 2009, won 'Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature' for his work on War for the Planet of the Apes,聽to add to the list of NCCA alumni who won prizes at the VES this year.

BU's VES winners will join the聽, alongside fellow graduates and BFX Festival guest speakers Mike Mullholland, who was 听补苍诲 .聽Pioneering work was also undertaken by NCCA alumnus and Visual Effects Supervisor, Richard Clegg, who led MPC鈥檚 award-winning team to success in 's Blade Runner for Blade Runner 2049.

Chris Williams, Head of the Computer Animation Department at BU, said: 鈥淎wards season is always an exciting time for staff at the National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA), particularly when we hear about BU graduates who have been recognised by the industry on a global platform.聽

鈥淚t鈥檚 incredibly gratifying to know that graduates from the NCCA contribute to award-winning shows and projects year-on-year. This is a clear demonstration that what we at the NCCA are teaching our students sets them up for incredibly successful careers in the visual effects, animation and computer games industries.鈥�

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