Hi Sam I'm a postgraduate student at the University of Kent in the School of
Engineering and digital arts I'm currently studying masters
in digital visual effects and I was recently an undergrad student for three
years studying digital arts so I chose postgraduate study mainly because the
after three years of undergrad it was very clear to me that I still had a
passion for the effects in movies so it was very obvious that I was going to do
it anyway lecturers though did strongly advise that it would up my chances to
get opportunities in the VFX industry as well providing us with extra skills and
knowledge and yeah there's always room to learn as well so learning for me was
a big one just the more you know
I decided to stay at Kent University for my post-grad study because it's local
for me so I was able to travel easily by bike or bus and it provided with a
loyalty discount as well but the main important one was that we were going to
be taught by previous alumni students so these students people who have reached
previously done this course who have actually successfully branched off into
the VFX industry and now coming back to teach some of the skills that they've
learned through their you know their experiences and that has proven to be so
helpful for for our lessons and I'm so glad that I took this course on as well
because just because of that reason
postgraduate study is different to undergrad study there's there's a few
differences the first one being that you are a smaller group so there's less of
you meaning there is more opportunities for one-to-one time with your lecturers
the second one being it's a lot harder so you're expected to do a lot more work
in a shorter space of time the third reason is that there will be assignments
where at will mainly from the starts you're going to have workshops where you
will all be doing the same work mainly to learn the basic principles of the
software but at the end of each module you'll find that there will be a final
project that you'll have a lot of creative freedom as long as it sticks to
some of the guidelines and the criteria of that assignment so and the fourth one
being that we have an exclusive room so this room is only dedicated to post-grad
students so you're being your own space with the lecturers and yeah it's just a
quiet place to study as well rather than being with years one two and three of
undergrad students in one computer suite
having a master's will definitely help your employment prospects I've learned
so much in this single year compared to the three years of undergraduate studies
it's crazy especially from our alumni students they
have taught us so much and as they know how things are working currently in the
industry it has just been eye-opening I I feel I know what the VFX industries
are now looking for as well so I know how to tailor what I need to be learning
and and what I need to be showing in my portfolio and yeah it's just they've
been extreme help and some of these alumni students they they interview
people like me anyway so they they can explain what the sort of stuff is
required and what they're looking for for their company so yeah it's just been
very is it's very important I feel masters is a go-to if you are wanting to
look for employment in the VFX industry
if you are considering doing a masters that can my advice would be to learn
what you're learning it's it's important that you are learning you're
understanding what you're learning in the workshops rather than just learning
for the sake of completing the assignment because then these skills
that you are picking up is you can then quickly then implement into some of your
future projects of your own and yeah I'd say for those who maybe are looking at
compositing as well compositing is a highly I highly recommend doing digital
visual effects for compositing even lighting and look they're they those two
I did not expect to pop up and they they are actually very I've thoroughly
enjoyed those courses and I had no I didn't even think of doing those for
those who are probably looking at simulation or effects my advice would be
to just start learning Houdini now I'm learning Houdini right now the unis do
provide you with a an apprentice license so there are a few restrictions but the
software is free and you can just start learning on your own just you know just
in your own time when you can but for compositors and people who want to get
technical direction understanding render layers under just understanding has to
get really nice lighting and as well and and photorealism for your 3d CGI effects
so things like that I just yeah I highly advise studying this course digital
visual effects in masters
if I could sum up in three words my experience as postgraduate I would use i
opening exciting and challenging was very easy to apply it Kent I attended an
open day for postgraduate students and asked a few questions to some of my
lecturers they provided me with some information and then yeah I just applied
online and I was yeah postgraduate student masters at
University of Kent