Numerous Bournemouth University graduates are celebrating after their win at last night’s BAFTAs in the visual effects category.

BU graduate Andy Lockley and one of BU’s honorary doctorates, Paul Franklin, were invited on stage to pick up the award for their work on sci-fi blockbuster Interstellar.

Andy and Paul are just two of a number of graduates of BU’s National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA) who work at Double Negative, the visual effects house that worked on Interstellar.

Of the nomination Andy said it was never a sure thing but that he was very excited to be nominated once more.

NCCA lecturer Sofronis Efstathiou said: “Witnessing our graduates move into a very competitive industry and then work on some of the best creative projects from around the world is a fantastic feeling. We take great pride in the work of our students and graduates within the Computer Games and a Film sectors.”

BU graduates worked on four out of the five blockbusters nominated for both the BAFTAs and the Academy Awards, including Interstellar, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Mr Efstathiou added: “We will have had over 100 graduates working across all the nominated feature films. I’m sure all of the staff and current students at BU are proud of our graduates. Their work and success raises the bar for course delivery and student projects every year.”

BU Graduate Andy gave advice for students looking to enter this field. He said: “You should know your subject inside out, there’s a lot of competition out there and if you can sound confident and like you know what your talking about that can make a big difference in an interview.

“Be flexible, don’t pigeon-hole yourself to anything too specific. You might get your foot in the door doing something that isn’t entirely what you were after but then leads to what you really wanted to do ultimately.”

Photo credit: ©LauraThorne

Hollie Wong

February 9, 2022

I am a first year multi-media journalism student. I'm interested in films, music, magazines and politics. I am currently deputy news editor for the Bournemouth Rock.

Categorised under

News andrew lockley BAFTAs Bournemouth Bournemouth university BU Interstellar visual effects holliewong newseditor

Tagged in

andrew lockley, BAFTAs, Bournemouth, Bournemouth university, BU, Interstellar, visual effects,