Josh

School: The Ferrers School

Employer: The Edge Picture Company Qatar

Job Title: Film Producer

Qualifications:

• 2:1, BA hons Film & TV Production, The University of Westminster

Profile

Academically, after GCSE's at the Ferrers School, I completed a HND in Moving Image at Northampton College Booth lane and then BA in Film & TV Production at the University of Westminster.

Professionally, I started out in the film industry as doing work experience placements at film, TV commercial and music video production companies. This was unpaid entry level work to get a feel for the industry and hopefully make some useful contacts.

Through a work placement with Working Title Films, I got linked up with a production manager working on a feature film who eventually got me into the Edge Picture Company as a runner in 2012 and since then I've progressed through the ranks to Producer.

There were other jobs throughout this time that contributed to where I am today, such as working at the London Olympic Games, 2012 and various assistant director jobs here and there.

But overall, where I am today has a clear starting point and that is the work placement, to the feature film to the Edge.

I studied Computer Character Animation at Teesside University. I always knew I wanted to work in Films or Games. Teesside opened that door to me.

In the first year we focused on foundational art and 3D skills, learning the entire pipeline of the visual effects and character animation industry. From pre-production, storyboarding, concept art, pre-vis, 3D modeling, Texturing and on to rendering, post production. Everything we would need to make a choice on which speciality to take on in second year.

Between Visual Effects and Character Animation, I went for the latter. I wanted to take concepts for characters and bring them to life on screen. It was here where I found my passion for 3D modeling/sculpting. While I still studied how to animate creatures and characters, I began to focus on creating the models rather than animating them. I knew this is what I wanted to do, so following my final animation assignments for second year I went on to do a full game ready character module and final year project.

After graduating I went on to secure mentorships from industry professionals, gaining more confidence and expertise. Still working on these mentorships to this day, alongside my QA day job.

Advice to students

Talent is nothing without hard work. Commitment, effort and resilience will 9//10 beat talent.

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