Visual Effects (VFX)

Scholarships Available

2 Years Full-time

Main Campus In person

Last Few Places available for 2025 entry

Apply now for Beaconsfield

Visual Effects (VFX)

COURSE OVERVIEW

Are you serious about a career in VFX?

This course has a proven track record of providing the next generation of VFX professionals, the majority of which go straight into key roles on major productions. If you are determined to succeed in this thriving industry - this is the course for you.

The Rookies Award for 'Production Excellence - Visual Effects' 2023

Daniel Peoples profile picture
Adam Arnot profile picture

"One of the most unique things about the course is that it’s extremely collaborative and you really get to know the pipeline and how a VFX studio would operate in the Industry."

Daniel Peoples
2023 Graduate

"The collaboration, discipline and professionalism you hone whilst at the NFTS is as close as you can get to the industry." 

Adam Arnot
NFTS graduate with credits including Avengers: Endgame, No Time to Die and Wonder Woman 1984

Content Tabs

Visual Effects (VFX) has been an integral part of the National Film and Television School curriculum for over 15 years, and has evolved into a highly specialised course that delivers industry-standard training.

Our course involves multi-disciplinary ‘real-world’ training for production, and by collaborating with students across the School, on courses such as Cinematography and Production Management, NFTS Visual Effects (VFX) students are provided with a unique and unrivalled experience. You will understand what it’s like to work on a real set and how to effectively communicate VFX requirements throughout the production process. You will work with proprietary software, camera and real time technology, and be taught by current industry artists, experts, technicians, and supervisors.

As well as learning essential CG, Compositing and Real Time VFX techniques you will go on to develop a specialism as either an asset or shot production artist.

You will work on set, in design, previsualisation, world building and virtual production, right up to crafting the final pixels and will develop your expertise in close collaboration with other film, TV and games disciplines including model making, production design, sound design, cinematography, editing and colour grading, in a real studio environment. The volume of production work at the NFTS provides you with an unrivalled opportunity to learn your craft and hone it on industry-standard productions, working as a core member of a fully integrated team. 

The course provides a unique blend of technical and artistic skills, equipping you to produce work with the high quality of finish that the industry expects from its future leaders.

COURSE FACILITIES

Our VFX Labs are cutting-edge, with dedicated workstations that replicate those used in the VFX industry. Each machine has current industry standard software, including Maya, Unreal Engine, Nuke, Nuke Studio, Photoshop, Substance, Houdini, Resolve, Reality Capture and PTGui. You will work in a small cohort and receive personal and group tuition, gain experience on set, and an understanding of the entire production pipeline.

The NFTS environment provides a blend of technical, artistic and story based training, housed within a working film studio. You will take part in review sessions, where your work is seen properly at scale in one of our two cinemas. This replicates ‘dailies’ – the meetings in industry where artists discuss and agree the creative direction of their work. Our facilities are open 24/7 for the duration of the course and by the end of it, you will be industry-ready with two years of production experience and a specialist showreel.

Funding Available

The NFTS awards more scholarships and bursaries to British students, relative to the size of our student body, than almost any other educational institution in the UK. If you’re successful at gaining a place on the course, you will be contacted by our funding team with details on how to apply for one of these scholarships.

Tutors

Student Showcase

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VFX Photorealism Showreel

Watch our VFX MA showreel - highlighting our students' photorealism work on a range of NFTS productions.

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VFX Stop Motion Showreel

Watch our VFX MA showreel - highlighting our students' stop motion work on a range of NFTS animations.

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VFX Insights: Virtual Cinematography & In-Camera Visual Effects

Hear from our VFX students to get an insight into the kind of incredible projects that they collaborate on with other specialisms at the NFTS, including cinematographers, screenwriters and sound designers. This collaboration throughout the VFX process creates a much stronger result, where all elements work together seamlessly.

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VFX Insights: Animation & Visual Effects

Hear from our VFX students to get an insight into the kind of incredible projects that they collaborate on with other specialisms at the NFTS, including cinematographers, screenwriters and sound designers. This collaboration throughout the VFX process creates a much stronger result, where all elements work together seamlessly.

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Mission: Possible

VFX students take part in a number of exercises throughout the year, often in collaboration with students in other disciplines. 

Model Making for Animation Diploma students crafted a 1:6 scale replica of a set from the original Mission: Impossible film, which was then bought to life in collaboration with VFX MA students.

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Watch the behind the scenes of Mission: Possible, the incredible miniature replica set project with NFTS Model Making Diploma students.

Read more about this brilliant project vie befores & afters: beforesandafters.com/2023/03/23/these-students-made-an-insane-replica-miniature-cia-vault-from-mission-impossible/

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Reality Heist (Trailer)

Reality Heist is a five-minute original story of a scientist who finds after some experimentation with a mix of technology, she can skip dimensions at the flick of a switch. The film, created by VFX students, blends traditionally post rendered photoreal CG with the new real time, in camera VFX.

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VFX Insights: Previz, Animation & Visual Effects

Hear from our VFX students to get an insight into the kind of incredible projects that they collaborate on with other specialisms at the NFTS, including cinematographers, screenwriters and sound designers. This collaboration throughout the VFX process creates a much stronger result, where all elements work together seamlessly.

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2001: A Space Odyssey - An Out of This World Replica Set Build!

VFX students take part in a number of exercises throughout the year, often in collaboration with students in other disciplines. 

Model Making for Animation Diploma students crafted a 1:6 scale replica of a set from 2001: A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick, which was bought to life in collaboration with VFX MA students.

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VFX Insights: Sound Design & Visual Effects

Hear from our VFX students to get an insight into the kind of incredible projects that they collaborate on with other specialisms at the NFTS, including cinematographers, screenwriters and sound designers. This collaboration throughout the VFX process creates a much stronger result, where all elements work together seamlessly.

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Behind The Scenes with NFTS VFX - Reality Heist

Visual Effects MA students experimented with ground-breaking technology to bring Reality Heist to life, an original five-minute film that uses cutting-edge Virtual Production techniques. 

Graduate Success

The course has an excellent graduate employment rate, providing the Industry with the next generation of VFX professionals, who go onto key roles on major productions.

Recent credits include...

Joker: Folie á Deux

Visual Effects Supervisor Ashleigh Ramirez

Joker: Folie a Deux publicity still

Graduate Success

The course has an excellent graduate employment rate, providing the Industry with the next generation of VFX professionals, who go onto key roles on major productions.

Recent credits include...

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

VFX Supervisor James Brennan Craddock
Digital Compositor Eloise Tomlinson

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice publicity still

Graduate Success

The course has an excellent graduate employment rate, providing the Industry with the next generation of VFX professionals, who go onto key roles on major productions.

Recent credits include...

The Boys S4

VFX Artist Nicola Borsari

The Boys season 4 promotional poster

Graduate Success

The course has an excellent graduate employment rate, providing the Industry with the next generation of VFX professionals, who go onto key roles on major productions.

Recent credits include...

Poor Things

Head of 2D: Union VFX Dillan Nicholls
Digital Compositor Manuel Perez

Poor Things promotional poster

Graduate Success

The course has an excellent graduate employment rate, providing the Industry with the next generation of VFX professionals, who go onto key roles on major productions.

Recent credits include...

Civil War

Lighting & Look Dev Artist: Framestore Eugenio Troiani
Compositor Rob Rankin

Civil War film poster

Graduate Success

The course has an excellent graduate employment rate, providing the Industry with the next generation of VFX professionals, who go onto key roles on major productions.

Recent credits include...

Napoleon

VFX Supervisor: One Of Us Victor Tomi
Visual Effects Coordinator Amy Gibson

Napoleon publicity still

Graduate Success

The course has an excellent graduate employment rate, providing the Industry with the next generation of VFX professionals, who go onto key roles on major productions.

Recent credits include...

Masters of the Air

Previs Artist Thomas Phillips-Howard
Dailies Operator Eryk Hildebrand

Masters of the Air TV poster

Graduate Success

The course has an excellent graduate employment rate, providing the Industry with the next generation of VFX professionals, who go onto key roles on major productions.

Recent credits include...

All Of Us Strangers

Head of 2D Dillan Nicholls

All Of Us Strangers publicity still

Graduate Success

The course has an excellent graduate employment rate, providing the Industry with the next generation of VFX professionals, who go onto key roles on major productions.

Recent credits include...

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3

Postvis Artist Paul Robinson
Compositor Victor Almela

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 publicity still

Graduate Success

The course has an excellent graduate employment rate, providing the Industry with the next generation of VFX professionals, who go onto key roles on major productions.

Recent credits include...

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Compositor Graham Dorey

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever poster

Graduate Success

The course has an excellent graduate employment rate, providing the Industry with the next generation of VFX professionals, who go onto key roles on major productions.

Recent credits include...

House of the Dragon

Visual Effects Artist Jakob Lundbye
Senior In House Compositor Gillian Simpson

House of the Dragon poster