Meeting the vibrant VFX industry of Wales

We recently facilitated a special event in Wales, offering a small group of young competition winners the chance to visit several VFX and post-production studios in the GloWorks creative industry hub in Cardiff Bay.

Six students were selected - the first four, a group of friends from different schools in Wales, were selected in recognition of their short film Silently Suffering, which tackles issues around anti-bullying and which you can watch below. They were joined by two students who were selected to represent Llanharan Primary School, Rhondda Cynon Taf - the most active Primary school in Wales this term.

The group partook in an afternoon of activities at Bait Studio, GorillaTV and Milk VFX at GloWorks, Cardiff, getting an incredible insight into the world of VFX filmmaking. Touring the three studios, the group got to see the incredible work that goes into producing seamless visual effects, had the opportunity to quiz the experts on how it all works and on their careers, and even got the chance to have some hands-on experience, rotoscoping the TARDIS from Doctor Who among other things!

Richard Moss, Managing Director of Gorilla said: "It was a pleasure to welcome these talented and creative youngsters to Gorilla, to show them around the facility and to offer them an insight into the range of exciting job opportunities available to them in post-production in Wales. We're keen to inspire and nurture the next generation of Welsh creative talent and working with Into Film Cymru allows us to do just that."

"The medium of film can change the world and change lives", said Will Cohen, CEO of Milk Visual Effects. "Nothing proves that more to me than the incredible work done by Into Film to inspire the next generation of filmmaking talent. We were excited to welcome the keen young filmmakers to our Welsh studio to find out all about visual effects and how we do it!"

Peter Rogers, Creative Producer at Bait Studio, was also enthusiastic about engaging with a passionate new generation of filmmakers. "We've been working with Into Film for a few years now and have delivered a Beginner's Guide to VFX as part of the Into Film Festival previously. It was great to have such engaged future film-makers in the studio, finding out more about what we do and how we do it.

As more and more films and TV shows are filmed in Wales, it's important to provide the next generation with opportunities to learn about this exciting industry that's right on their doorstep and we're pleased to be able to work with Into Film to do so.

Two of the filmmakers behind Silently Suffering spoke about the incredible insights the day offered them, and how the experience will inform their future filmmaking exploits. "It was fantastic to receive feedback on our own film from the team at Bait and we now know how to improve our films in the future", said Chloe, 10, from Tenby Church in Wales Primary School. "I also enjoyed learning about the tricks of the trade from Gorilla and I'm hoping we can use these top tips when we make our next film! Getting involved with the special effects of Doctor Who with Milk was so much fun but I soon realised how difficult VFX can be!" 

Lauren, 14, from Ysgol Greenhill in Tenby said: "It was interesting to speak to the professionals and I have learnt so much about different aspects of their work. I do enjoy producing short films, whereas editing, sounds and effects is quite difficult to master, so it was good to see and learn from those who do this so successfully. To have this facility [GloWorks] in Wales and to see how vibrant the industry is in Wales is exciting and inspirational"

Silently Suffering

In this hard-hitting short film, a young girl suffers in silence as online bullying and abuse begin to take their toll on her self-esteem, until she's pushed to breaking point.