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Escape Studios Students Contribute VFX to ‘Borderland’ Indie Thriller

Students at the Pearson College school helped deliver more than a dozen shots on the upcoming feature about a retired Irish paramilitary who witnesses an SAS officer’s fatal shooting of his pregnant wife.

Pearson College’s Escape Studios offers a range of undergraduate courses, including visual effects, technical art, video game design, and character creation, matriculating graduates prepared to support these industries’ growing demand for skilled labor. Recently, the studio and its students were called on to provide visual effects for the upcoming UK indie theatrical thriller Borderland, directed by London-based filmmakers Tom and Charles Guard.

Starring Felicity Jones and Aml Ameen, Borderland takes place during the height of “The Troubles” in the 1970s. In the movie, a retired Irish paramilitary witnesses an SAS officer's fatal shooting of his pregnant wife and takes his revenge to the streets of London.

Charged with making the streets of 2022 Glasgow look like 1970s London, the students used paint and roto, 2D compositing, and smoke FX work to accomplish this. During the process, the filmmakers visited Escape Studios to brief the students and provide feedback on the ongoing VFX work.

Escape Studios’ students contributed over a dozen shots, led by the head of compositing and VFX Program Leader, Klaudija Cermak, who served as the in-house VFX Supervisor. Projects like Borderland offer compositing students real-world experience of live-action filmmaking and the chance to work with well-established directors.

The following compositing students contributed to the film:

  • Oliver Chenery – Junior Compositor
  • Henry N’Guetta – Junior Compositor
  • Stefano Ferron – Junior Compositor
  • Joao Moreira – Junior Compositor
  • Owen Manley – FX

Borderland will be released in theatres and on Sky Cinema.

The students received additional support from Foundry, developers of Nuke compositing software.  

Source: Escape Studios

Debbie Diamond Sarto's picture

Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.