TECH Freefolk launches fifth annual internship scheme

Freefolk has launched its annual internship scheme, Futurefolk.

The VFX house is celebrating the fifth year of the scheme, which offers two one-month paid work placements working in the 2D or 3D departments on episodic and commercial projects at its London studio - although the placement can also be remote, or a combination of the two that works for all parties.

Freefolk particularly welcomes applications from women, BAME, people with lower-income backgrounds and those from further afield than the Greater London area. 

Applicants need to compile a 2 minute reel of their best work, and can complete their application here. 

Freefolk MD Vittorio Giannini said: “We know that the creative potential of a team is maximised when it contains a diverse range of people, so our mission with Futurefolk is to find and nurture talent from all parts of society. The global talent shortage is more acute than ever, so discovering the VFX stars of the future has never been more urgent.”

Last year’s intern, Luke Evans, said about his placement, “The overall experience has been extremely rewarding; it feels great to finally be able to put my skills towards a full production. The project I’ve worked on has been a real test of my modelling and texturing abilities, and I’ve certainly been pushed in terms of finding the line between getting the best quality result for my assets and being able to get them out at a good pace.

“The main thing this experience has provided me is a great insight into the differences between personal project workflow and production workflow, and I’ve been able to refine my modelling and texturing to be more efficient and better for the production environment. I would say if you want the best chance of getting any job or internship, you need to work hard on your skills and your portfolio independently. If you’re at university, don’t just use uni work because everyone will have that, try to learn what you can in your own time to stand out with your own projects and make sure it’s all presented as well as possible.

Carina Carlsson, Nuke compositor, said about her experience: “I really appreciated how much my mentor checked in, through a combination of both calls and messaging via Google Hangout. I was able to learn so much and as some of it was written in the chat, I was able to make a lot of notes too, which was helpful when reviewing the skills I was learning. The use of screenshots to give feedback was also a really useful means of communicating so I could easily see the specific areas of the shot the feedback was for.”