After finishing my degree in Computer Animation Arts at Bournemouth University, I chose to take on a Masters. I found this to be the best decision as I have learnt so much in a short space of time. The teaching in Digital Effects is thorough and help is always at hand if you get lost at all. It is an intense course for anyone who is new to the subject but it will bring you up to speed quickly as we all start from the same level.

The facilities were great with computer access 24/7, a green screen studio and high spec equipment to hire out. After taking the relevant training you will be free to hire out spaces as you please to complete your projects. This course is very practical and allows you to build on your skills ready for industry.

I would highly recommend BU for the study of Digital Effects.

My experience at Bournemouth University was good. There are many things that could be better though. In the beginning, I was really excited about the technology. However, during the second semester, I realised the technology was probably not enough 😂. As students of Digital effects, we require really good computers in order to do the work. The computers were sometimes crashing and the render farm didn’t work properly. All these reasons made our work harder to achieve and time-consuming. I believe the classes were good, but we only had one teacher per module for a big group of people. We were almost 50 and this complicated a bit the time that each teacher spent with us. Smaller groups could have been better to make the learning a bit easier.

The facilities were good. We had a lot of support from the student union. There was a gym, a supermarket and a cafe that worked pretty good. Moreover, there was some student associations. I joined the Animation society which usually had nice events, but many events were cancelled because of Covid. Other thing I liked was the idea of the Academic development department. They were there to help with the essays, and they explained us how to reference properly. Despite this, we didn’t use it a lot as many of our modules required practice with the computer.

It was definitely a busy and hard year. It was really intense and we didn’t have a lot of free time. There was a lot of homework and self learning, but overall it was a good course.

I took the MA Digital Effects course at Bournemouth University and it was a great experience. As a student who had experience studying the subject in other institutions, I found BU and especially MA Digital Effects is the better place to study VFX and I still learnt new things and techniques. The course is intense for students who are new to the subject, but it is designed to bring everyone up to the same level after the first few modules. Furthermore, BU probably has the best connection with the VFX industry and the resource they offer is unthinkable in other institutions. We have a guest speakers and industry professionals come every week to talk and give lectures sometimes.

I would recommend BU and MA Digital Effects to anyone who wants to step into the vfx industry.

If you plan a career in the movie industry as an fx artist/td this course is definitely for you but if you have no or little experience in 3D be prepared for a busy year as it’s really packed. However, teachers will help you as much as you will need it and their knowledge is very impressive. I need to highlight Phil Spicer who is the master of Houdini and he and other teachers were helping us even on Saturdays putting a lot of heart into our projects. If you are ambitious and want to succeed in VFX industry that is a good starting point. One small minus could be the fact that some international teachers were sometimes hard to understand.

The big plus of this Uni is the facilities especially with the fresh-new media building (Poole Gateway building) which contains huge computer labs, on-site green screen studio and a kit room which lets you to borrow very good quality equipment for the projects filmed outside. We used varicam camera as the main tool for shooting moving sequences and canons for backplates/HDRs.

A huge advantage were the every week meetings with people from the industry (big companies like ILM, Framestore, Dneg just named a few). I could take part in sessions and ask my questions directly to them. There was also a running animation society which helped to connect with students from similar courses (not only master ones).

The course itself is highly international and I had the opportunity to work not only with native British but also people from the whole Europe and world (in a class of 40, there were only a few British). Amazing opportunity to listen to different languages, get to know new cultures and make friends with people around the world. It also gave me a chance to see how my style of work differs from people who comes from different backgrounds.

What I liked the most about BU was definitely the location. Bournemouth is a cute little town located on the South-West coast of England and the beach is extremely long and beautiful. You and your coursemates can enjoy it almost any time during the year as winter is very mild in this area. We used to go to the beach even in December. What was great about Bournemouth is that it is one of the sunniest places in England (it is also in statistics!). Bournemouth uni is divided into two campuses (and MA Digital Effects runs on the Talbot campus which is the one outside the town) but the good communication and many uni buses help you to get to the centre in around 20mins and enjoy the beach and nightlife over there.

Master degree course is focused on Houdini and Nuke. Well structured and oriented to build a portfolio through project-based assessments. Good quality of teaching and facilities (access to computer lab/green screen studio).

Great opportunity to build connections with classmates through group projects and university activities.

Recommended!

The Digital Effects program is very useful whether you have previous experience with VFX or not, the course starts with the absolute basic principles and techniques. The entire course is project-based where you learn each module while working on a project both individually and in groups. You will learn how to solve problems and create the effects you want. The class was very diverse in terms of nationalities which made it a great experience sharing experiences and learning about different cultures.
The University is very nice and has a very good campus with industry-standard facilities and equipment, the teaching staff is friendly and experienced and ready to help with whatever problems you face during the course.

Overall the experience at Bournemouth University was a very good one

I had a Great Time! First off, I love the countryside, it has a more chilled vibe on Campus & around town! It is a small town, so you wouldn’t expect many activities, but studying, chilling with schoolmates or partying will make up part of your whole school life!

The campus is wonderful. The facilities and equipment there are of good quality, and it is sufficient enough for us to do our works, as you know, we need good Hardware for Rendering, Simulation, etc.

Course-wise, I enjoyed my time there throughout the whole year and made a lot of new international friends! As I have experience in the field, the learning curve ain’t so steep for me. But it is not an easy course, you must really have passion & determination for you to succeed. Basically, it’s not for the faint-hearted. But given the school’s good track record, most graduates, including my classmates are able to look for jobs around the UK, or even in the US. I need to warn one more time, there are many times that we stayed late or overnight due to rushing deadlines, and just to make sure all the renders and works are up to par.

Our teachers are attentive and have the utmost concern for its student. We can approach them to help troubleshoot our problems too! (although teacher to student ratio, is quite high, so please learn to troubleshoot yourself as much as possible first before approaching them) They also expect a certain level of quality & detail in our work. So if they see that you are willing to push yourself beyond your limit, they will definitely be there with you.

Personally, my last semester happened during the Covid pandemic, so it was confusing and worrying. But ultimately, I think the school handled it fairly given its circumstances, and I’m really happy that I have gone through this course! I definitely recommend artists in my same field to experience the course, and learn from it!

My experience at Bournemouth University was great. It was a very intense year and lots of things were taught each week. Our course was also affected by the pandemic which had repercussions on our education. In the first semester, everything was normal. Therefore, we could work with our classmates and it was face to face education. However, the last semesters switch to online. I believe these last semesters could have been better in terms of the university handling several aspects.

About the master, it’s a complete course. You will be trying to reach photorealistic projects along the course. Teachers have a lot of knowledge and the faculty is in a good location. Buses run frequently and you can take a monthly pass for a good price. Recommended!

The master of Digital effects will give you extensive knowledge in different aspects of the VFX pipeline. Since the beginning, we learn how to integrate CG elements and film footage trying to achieve a realistic look. The first project – “Aquascape” – is meant to illustrate how a CG element interacts with water. There are many examples of the students’ work on their YouTube page.

We work in a total of 3 projects during the course: Aquascape, Group project, DE techniques and Master project. These are basically the practical part but the course has also some theoretical classes that will also involve extensive research and course work. Toolsets like green screen or tracking are also seen during the year.

It is a very international university, and I believe this is what makes it so special. There are people from all backgrounds, from different countries and communities. Another good thing about the university is the connections. There are many industry speakers that come each Friday to talk about their experience and how working in the industry is, which is pretty insightful to be able to make decisions regarding your career in the future. There are several successful alumni that also came and had a more personalised talk with us.

It is what you would expect and more!

Bournemouth University is a great university. There are some buildings that could be renovated on the outside but they are modern on the inside. On the other hand, there are a lot of international students, so apart from good teachers, you will always have your peers to help you. The master was not completely what I expected tho. I thought that we were going to learn fx in detail but just some things are explained deeply. It is a very intense year, where Nuke and Houdini are the programs used. These programs are the ones that the industry works with. The campus has a nice library available for everyone and you can find good computers to work on. Overall, I will recommend this master to new students although several aspects could be improved.