I’ve been wittering on about writing for a while so I thought it was time for a change of media. Animation and visual effects to be precise. Why? Because that is what I studied at Bournemouth University and achieved a 2.1 BA (Hons) in just over five years ago. And because recently I found this video and I thought I should write a blog about it all.

Back in 1996 when I was almost fourteen I went to see Toy Story at the cinema. I sat there and had a wondrous thought. “Someone does this for a living. Their job is to make animated movies. That’s what I want to do!” Coincidentally a couple of months later my mum heard something on the radio about animation and the National Centre of Computer Animation at Bournemouth University.

That was that. Before I’d started my GCSEs I knew what I was going to study at university and where I was going to study it. By the time I was choosing my A-Levels I’d been in touch with Phill Allen, course leader at the time, for advice on which subjects to go for. I applied to Bournemouth, had my interview, got my offer. Then I got my place and down to the south coast I went.

It scares me now that by the age of 14 I had decided that five years I would be in a lecture theatre at Bournemouth University studying Computer Visualisation & Animation. No wonder people who’ve known me that long think I know where I’m going in life.

For those of you that would like to see it, below is ‘Animus’ (or here if the video below has mysteriously disappeared) my major project from the final year of my degree. If you would to like browse other work from students visit the NCCA archive. My favourite two projects from the class of 2004 are Damian Hook East End Zombies and David Basalla The Capital

After more than four years of being so determined to do this degree, and then another three of studying and producing work, why am I not in a post-production company somewhere alongside my friends getting credits on The Dark Knight, Quantum of Solace or Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince?

Quite simply because I didn’t want to spend my days stuck in front of a computer. I love people. I’m not a detail person. I would have been the worst SFX artist in the world (that is an exaggeration but you know what I mean). I did want to be a producer. I think I have all the qualities that would have made me an amazing producer. But to do that straight out of uni I would have had to climb the ladder. Starting as a runner, earning minimum wage in central London and living in a cardboard box on Wardour Street in the few hours I had off. Not a sacrifice I was willing to make.

One company came very close to offering me exactly what I wanted back at the end of 2007. Starting off in HR and moving over to production. But unfortunately there are some bastards out there. After a number of promising emails and meetings over a couple of months, one day the offer simply vanished into thin air. The last I heard was that I would be receiving a contract within the fortnight to sign and return. But they got cold feet, my phone calls and emails went unanswered. To be honest I think I probably had a lucky escape.

I haven’t ruled out a return to film production or post-production in the future. It’s an exciting and interesting world. It’s also hard work and ruthless at times. Even after five years I can spot dodgy effects a mile off. An error of lighting or texture or simply bad animation annoys me. But I also get great joy when something is absolutely amazing. Visual effects and animation are in my blood, they always will be.

I will always love CGI and all that goes with it. One of my dreams is still to visit the Pixar studios. I’d love to spend a week there just watching people work and taking it all in.

Someone once told me that places at the NCCA were so sought after that I had wasted mine by not wanting to be a special effects artist when I finished. I disagree completely. I learned so much, I made amazing friends and to this day I still love visual effects. I don’t think it’s a waste at all.