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compositing for visual effects 

Compositing for Visual Effects short course

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Course details

Location

London campus or live online

Start date

24th February 2025

Duration

14 or 21 weeks

Contact time

2.5 days per week

Entry Requirements

  • Be over 18

  • Have a good understanding of written and spoken English

  • Feel comfortable using a computer

Fees

14 weeks - London campus: £7,845

14 weeks - Live online: £6,100

21 weeks - London campus: £11,080

21 weeks - Live online: £8,590

Apply Now

February 2025:

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Course overview

Our short courses give you the opportunity to study the first 14 or 21 weeks of our MA Visual Effects Production (Compositing) degree. This option is suited to students who want intensive training without academic qualifications. You’ll complete the first 2-3 modules of this programme and gain an introduction to all things 2D. We’ll teach you how to composite layers together seamlessly, to create a showstopping final shot. You’ll cover all the essentials including rotoscoping, prep work, keying, camera tracking and colour correction. 

Why choose this course

  • Designed with experts - our advisory board of experts from the likes of DNEG and MPC help develop and keep this degree relevant.

  • Learn from expert Tutor, Klaudija Cermak, who has over 30 years of industry experience on high-end commericals, broadcast programmes and feature films.

  • Get to grips with the software used in industry, including Nuke and Silhouette.

  • Receive feedback from industry professionals - an opportunity to level-up your work and build connections, ready to embark on your creative career. Previous studio partners for our compositing course have included Union VFX (September 2024 intake), Industrial Light & Magic, The Mill, Outpost VFX and Framestore.

  • Work on industry-standard briefs and experience real-life scenarios, just like in a professional studio.

  • Aftercare package - we'll help you polish your showreel and find the right job, with access to our studios and showreel clinics for 12 months.

Meet your Tutor, Klaudija Cermak

Klaudija has over 30 years’ experience on high-end commercials, broadcast programmes and feature films and has worked at all the major post-production houses in Soho including MPC, Mill, Millfilm, Framestore, DNEG and Glassworks. 

  • Feature film credits include Gladiator that won an Oscar for the Best VFX, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

  • Recent credits: Black Mirror, Britannia, Captain America, and Jason Bourne. 

  • Broadcast credits include: Killer Dinosaur and Virtual History that won the VFX Society Award for Outstanding Visual Effects and numerous commercials for major brands including Walkers, Sony, Sainsbury’s and Panasonic. 

She has also art directed television promotions, title sequences and content graphics for the BBC, Sky, Channel4 and ITV, for which she won a number of awards, two of which were Golden Promaxes.

Klaudija is the Board Manager of the Visual Effects Society (VES) and the author of the Kindle bestseller ‘How to Get Into and Survive Film, Advertising and TV Post-production – The Alternative Guide’.

Please note tutors are subject to change.

Course modules

These modules are common with the first 14-21 weeks of our MA Visual Effects Production (Compositing).

  • The interface: premultiplied images

    • Production pipeline and light

    • Digital images, formats and resolution

    • Film properties and behaviour: log vs. linear

    • Premultiplication maths

    • Introduction to Nuke

  • Transformations and rotoscoping

    • Transformations and introduction to tracking

    • Multiple-point tracking

    • Planar tracking and refining track data

    • Introduction to rotoscoping

    • Rotoscoping human movement

  • Rig removal composites

    • Rotoscoping in Silhouette (SFX)

    • Tracking in SFX

    • Painting in Nuke

    • Generating clean plates

  • Advanced paint and prep work

    • SFX prep techniques

    • Warping and morphing

    • Advanced prep work

    • Matching film grain

    • Marker removal

  • Keying

    • Introduction to keying methods

    • Keylight node and the despill process

    • Primatte and IBK keyers

    • Compositing outside the keyer

    • Pre and post processing: refining the key

  • Colour correction and grading

    • Exposure, gamma and curves

    • Density and colour matching

    • Colour management

    • Atmospherics

  • Filters, motion vectors and time-based effects

    • Convolutions filters

    • Foreground and background edge integration

    • Retiming

  • Projections

    • Introduction to the 3D interface

    • Projection types and 3D

    • Camera projections

  • Projection workflows and camera tracking

    • Lens distortion

    • Nuke camera tracking

    • Projection rig removal methods

    • Utilising camera data

  • Compositing CG

    • Multichannel workflow

    • Introduction to render passes

    • 2D and 3D motion blur

    • CG production pipelines: Framestore, MPC and The Mill

  • CG and 2D element integration

    • Edge pre and post treatment

    • Integrating CG and live action

    • Redefining your composites

    • Advanced keying and edge treatments

  • Project week

    • Finalising your shots

    • Developing your demo reel

    • End of course presentation

  • Advanced compositing craft 1

    • Advanced CG compositing with AOVs

    • ModelBuilder

    • UV unwrap techniques for 2D

    • Advanced projection techniques

  • Compositing TD (Technical Director)

    • Expression node and filtering: Matrix and Laplacian Pyramid

    • Position/normals, relighting, distortion

    • Expressions, Gizmo’s, OpenGroups and menu.py/init.py

    • Scripting: Python, TCL and Bash

  • Advanced compositing craft 2

    • Seamless cuts with projections

    • Projections for DMP (Digital Matte Painting)

    • Beauty retouching and basic face tracking

    • Nuke rayrender, 3D lighting and rendering techniques

  • Senior/Lead Compositor skills

    • Nuke Studio project management and pipeline

    • Shotgun project management and pipeline

    • Receiving and giving feedback in dailies

    • Estimating project requirements

    • Consistency and continuity

  • Emerging compositing techniques

    • Volumetric rendering with Eddy for Nuke

    • VR and 360 images with Cara VR

    • Particles

    • Deep compositing

    • Geo tracking and face tracking with KeenTools

  • Project week

    • Showreel advice

    • Job hunting tips

For more details about modules, see the programme and module specifications.

More information

Minimum requirements

We welcome and encourage applications from students with a variety of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives.

To study this short course, you must:

  • Be over 18

  • Have a good understanding of written and spoken English

  • Feel comfortable using a computer.

If you’d like to discuss your circumstances before applying, contact us!

Non-UK students

We accept international students for our short courses, with no difference in course fees or administration costs. 

The Standard Visitor visa allows students to come to the UK to study for a course of up to six months at an accredited institution. Depending on your nationality, you may need to apply for a standard visitor visa prior to departure from your home country. For more information visit:  

Contact us on admissions@escapestudios.ac.uk or +44 (0) 204 570 5091 for any questions.

We can provide remote access to our workstations during teaching time. Due to availability restrictions, we highly advise you to have your own set up at home to study in your own time.

More things you’ll need:

  • A strong internet connection

  • Cloud storage or external hard drive to back up your work, 1TB+ recommended

  • A three-button mouse or graphics tablet. Please note, the Wacom Intuos Pro range of tablets have the best support for our remote desktop software and provide the best experience.

  • A computer microphone (and optionally a webcam)

  • Note-taking materials.

If you have any questions about learning online or if you need help with what to buy, get in touch at hello@escapestudios.ac.uk.

To apply, complete the relevant online application form linked below:

February 2025:

Our Admissions Team will get in touch to take you through the next steps.

If you have any questions about your application, your portfolio or our entry requirements, get in touch!

As part of the application process, you will need to agree to our terms and conditions for your place on the course to be secured.

Fees 

14 weeks - London campus: £7,845

14 weeks - Live online: £6,100

21 weeks - London campus: £11,080

21 weeks - Live online: £8,590

Payment plans

We offer payment plan options for all courses. Following an initial deposit at registration stage, your chosen payment plan will break down your remaining fees into up to three instalments, to be paid before the end of the course.

Visit our admissions page for any questions about fees, funding and payment plans.

  • Nuke 

  • Silhouette

"In compositing we have the unique pleasure of coming at the end of the pipeline. That means everything we do directly appears in the finished product on screen. That combined with the perfect balance of creative contribution to the finished product and technical problem solving, means that the scope of work is broad and no two days are ever quite the same." Chris Fryer, Digital Compositor at Industrial Light & Magic

You’ll leave with an Escape Studios Certificate of Achievement, along with strong creative and technical skills and some great pieces of work for your portfolio, which you can add to with help from our Aftercare programme. Ready to apply for jobs in the industry!

Some of the opportunities you can consider once you’ve finished your studies include: 

  • Runner

  • Prep Artist

  • Roto Artist

  • Production Assistant

  • Production Coordinator

Compositors often start out in junior roles or as Rotoscope Artists to then rise to mid-level and senior roles such as Compositors and Compositing Supervisors, opening the path to becoming a VFX Supervisor. 

Our students have gone to work as both specialist and generalist artists in creative studios, across TV shows, films and commercials, at companies including Industrial Light & Magic, Cinesite, Pixomondo and Milk VFX. Read some of our VFX Escapee success stories.

Check out our Careers Guide for more information about career opportunities and progression routes.

Why Escape Studios?

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The excitement and gratification of producing the end result is an exhilarating position and creative career to grow into.

Davi Stein
Technical Trainer at Industrial Light & Magic