boomsatsuma Games Art student works at Doghouse Post Productions

boomsatsuma supported student Alex Morgan-Smith gaining part time work with Bristol’s Doghouse Productions, a full post-production and visual effects provider to the broadcast industry, as he completed his first year Games Art BA (Hons) course.

Getting commercial opportunities and industry experience for students are central to boomsatsuma’s ethos, so when Recruitment and Marketing Administrator, Frankie Fletcher, alerted Greg Jamieson, Games Art Degree Course Leader to a Junior Compositor role at Doghouse Post Productions, he contacted Alex and they collaborated to write a CV and guided him through the application process. Greg comments:

“Alex is a real hard worker, always hungry to develop his skills, so it was great to help him secure this role. The Games Art programming skills we teach in After Effects, Premiere Pro and animation skills are all transferrable motion graphics VFX skills, being more commonly used in TV Production.”

The fixed term contract at Doghouse Post Productions had Alex working on a children’s TV show, scheduled to appear on Sky TV later this year.

Alex, from Brighton, was committed to another games course, when he found boomsatsuma’s newly launched Degree, he explains:

“I was really excited at how relevant and up-to date the boomsatsuma degree content is compared to other degrees, and Greg was clearly plugged into industry trends. Over my first year, the course has exceeded my expectations and gaining actual industry experience through this part time role was a massive bonus.

“The atmosphere and set up provided by boomsatsuma prepared me well for a professional working environment, which I really enjoyed. It’s been great to work in a commercial studio, combining different skills from animation, film, and VFX, and making industry contacts. My line-manager, Fred Tay, head of VFX at Doghouse Productions, and other colleagues, have been very encouraging.”

Fred states:

“Alex joined us as a Junior Compositor and came with a great attitude to work and was keen to be part of our team. We threw him in at the deep end, pulling in slap comps from CG and passing onto final comp. He was able to pick up the work quickly, without too much guidance and earned himself a credit as well. We will be keeping in touch with Alex and hope to work with him again.”

boomsatsuma’s Games Production Arts course draws the boundaries together between film and games, with a pioneering curriculum that includes virtual production workflows and the use of games engines to collaborate remotely to produce film. The course teaches using game engines to construct and project virtual environments that respond to the cameras motion in real time. This gives ‘in-camera’ CGI characters at performance and capture time.

Alex will return for his second-year degree studies in September and while it’s a career in games he has in his sights, the opportunity to cross into TV post production has clearly been enriching.