Year one students on the NFTS’ Production Design MA course have recently returned from an inspiring visit to Pinewood Studios where they were given a personal tour of the sets on Kenneth Branagh’s new film ‘Cinderella’.
The eight students also got to see the sculpture works department, viewed esteemed Production Designer Dante Ferretti’s set drawings and met the Supervising Art director and NFTS graduate Isona Rigau Heras who is working as the Art Department Assistant on the film.
Year one Production Design student Daniel Warren said the visit was inspiring: “It was fascinating to see how the film was made and to see all the creative effort put into the sets. It was especially inspiring to see Dante Ferretti’s drawings and to meet Isona; it made the possibility of working on a film at Pinewood seem achievable.”
Fine Art BA graduate Daniel decided to turn his hand to production design after visiting the Warner Bros Harry Potter Studio Tour at Leavesdon: “It was the first time I’d seen concept drawings, set models and then the scale model of Hogwarts. I thought ‘why am I not doing this? This is what I want to do!’”
Other recent NFTS Art Department alumni working at Pinewood include Alexandra Toomey, John Merry. Four NFTS Production Design graduates worked on the Oscar and BAFTA-winning film Les Miserables (Art Director Gary Jopling, Assistant Art director Jane Harwood, Junior Draughtsmen Sophie Neil and Patrick Harris).
DON’T MISS OUT ON YOUR CHANCE TO JOIN THE PRODUCTION DESIGN COURSE – APPLY BY JULY 11th.
Scholarships and bursaries are available for the Production Design course. On a previous visit they got to see the sets for ‘The Suspicions of Mr Whicher’ and ‘Prometheus’ - where students met Production Designer Arthur Max. NFTS Head of Production Design Caroline Amies said: “These set visits are great opportunities for students to see what it is like to work on a real film set and make the contacts that they need to get work in the industry.” The NFTS a has a tremendous track-record for graduates getting work, which is in part due to the fact that the tutors are all still working in the industry and are able to secure work experience placements for many students over the summer on TV shows and feature films such as Harry Potter, Dark Shadows, Les Miserables; Skyfall and Call the Midwife.
Picture: 1st year Production Design student working in the Production Design base at the NFTS
