BFX 2021 Programme Round-Up

After an unavoidable hiatus in 2020 due to Covid-19, this year’s festival was held on the Bournemouth University campus instead of its usual location at the BIC. However, this didn’t lessen the experience; BFX 2021 had an incredible line up with sessions from leaders in VFX, animation and computer games from across the globe.

The event started on the Tuesday, with talks focussing on VFX and virtual production. Anders Langlands kicked off the event, giving us a glimpse into the visual effects of Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan and showing us how the team created a large-scale medieval Chinese city.

Innovation and the future of workflows was at the heart of both Framestore and Epic Games’ talks. Framestore discussed the convergence of traditional VFX and real-time workflows, while Epic Games’ Jordan Thistlewood gave us a look inside Unreal Engine and the seemingly endless possibilities it offered animators in real-time.

MPC’s Ben Jones held a captivating talk on The One and Only Ivan, offering his audience a look at the workflow for a feature film so reliant on CG, as well as an understanding of the numerous minute details that made the film so successful.

Wednesday paid particular attention to games and interactive media, with varying talks from Creative Assembly, Frontier, Unity, and others, plus a technical demo of Phantom Engine for Augmented Reality games.

Thursday was more focussed on animation and media. Our very own Ian Fellows and Craig Tonks gave a talk on Outpost’s work on News of the World, divulging the secrets behind creating three cities from one set and simulating raging rivers and dramatic sandstorms. They also touched upon the invisible VFX work that went into the feature and the unique challenge of creating a high number of hero assets for just two or three shots. Outpost’s talk was among others from Blue-Zoo Studios, Mano Animation, Studio Ghibli and MPC Episodic.

Outpost ended the week at the recruitment day where we were able to meet some of the talented attendees, talk about some of our latest work and provide artists with constructive reel advice. If you weren’t able to attend the recruitment day but would like to submit your details and sign up to our monthly opportunities newsletter, please fill out this form.

Overall, it was a fantastic return to live events for both BFX and the industry as a whole. After the period of downtime brought around by Covid-19, it was inspiring to see so many conversations of innovation and opportunity. Thank you to Bournemouth University for all their hard work in putting the event together; we can’t wait to attend again next year!