Lauren Bartie: I’m really psyched that I got into it because it’s just a dream come true working on films and games, just, it’s a really exciting, fulfilling thing to be doing.

I’ve always thought it was a really interesting industry. I love film and I love games and visual effects always really appealed to me. It is very different for each person, I think it’s one of those industries where everyone has a different background.

Dan Horsfall: Started as just a hobbyist 3d modeller. Just that was something I enjoyed doing in my own time. And then sort of towards the end of Year 12 I decided, hey, this is something I want to do sort of do as a job, started looking into how to do that.

Stephanie Davidson: So I was always interested in animation, um, when I was in Year 12, and I did an animated project for my HSC and one of my tutors at that point said you should really look at turning this into a career.

Darren Keating: Ive been drawing since I was about 5 and I always found watching cartoons and you know, sci-fi on the television really interesting. But I was always drawing all through high school, all through school, and then went and did animation in college. It just was a natural progression.

Jennifer Dickinson: Well there really isn’t a typical day for me, it tends to range all over the place. Within a single day I could be reviewing rough animation, I could be reviewing character layout, I could be discussing scheduling, looking at compositing and final cleanup looks. I’m working together with our production team to basically get the show out there.

David Booth: As a VFX supervisor, a lot of the time we’d end up going on set as well. So you do have opportunities to, let’s say, take some of the crew along, so you might take people to see how we’re shooting a visual effects sequence, whether that be in a studio or location. Then you can see how your shot that you might be working on progress from concept, let’s say, right through to final product. That’s quite, you know, that’s an exciting process.

Lauren Bartie: Rigging’s a really interesting department, but it’s essentially the department before animation. So animation needs essentially sort of digital puppets to move to animate and we are the ones that make the puppets, so we’re responsible for putting on the bones and muscles and controls on the characters that they animate, or any objects and things that are in films and games as well.

Dan Horsfall: I was actually looking more to go down an engineering path, mechanical engineering, that sort of stuff. I was always one of the math oriented kids at school, maths and science. It wasn’t until late Year 11, early Year 12, that I decided I wanted to go down this more creative path. The cool thing about the visual effects industry is the span of roles that exist within that industry. There are math based roles, there are creative based roles, there are leadership roles. It’s very flexible as far as you can change from one role to another as well, quite easily. But there really is so many different ways of implementing the different skills that you’ll learn during high school into this career path.

David Booth: You can be on set, working on a blue screen, working, uh, capturing all the information that’s necessary, or you could be in front of a computer. You could be developing the look or style or animation or movement of a character that’s in a major file, or you could be someone putting those shots together and making it so that you’ve got a final scene. So, yeah, there’s a lot of opportunity, lot of diversity.

Stephanie Davidson: You can work anywhere in the world. Animated content gets created internationally and huge studios are all across the world like Spain, Canada, and even New Zealand. You have the ability to take your gear with you and do freelance work. So you can either work at a studio internationally or you can go anywhere you want. As long as you’ve got power you can do your job.

Tim Schultz: It’s one of those industries where you have to have a real passion for it, and uh, you’re working with a large group of people. A lot of times you have to be a team player. So really a lot of it, the technical skills can be taught but a lot of it comes down to passion that students might have and their willingness to to learn new things and, um, take on new challenges and, um, sort of be able to deliver under pressure, but also work with a team to create something sort of new and exciting each time.

Jennifer Dickinson: The main quality that I like to see in an up and coming artist is the ability to take feedback and then extrapolate it going forward. Because no one comes into the industry knowing how to do everything. Everyone comes in learning. Everyone continues learning all the way through their career. The more that you are able to sort of learn something and keep applying it going forward, is probably the main thing that we look for.

David Booth: For students who want to get into this industry I would suggest speak to their careers advisor at school and from that, then I would look at all the other schools are available and the TAFE’s. Do your research, work out where you feel comfortable and what attracts you to the industry and then apply for any of those positions that are available.

Dan Horsfall: Absolutely practice in your own time. Don’t wait for someone to ask you to do something. Constantly refine your skills. If you don’t know something, Google it, look it up, how do I do this, watch YouTube videos. There’s so many people doing this now, that it really is getting easier and easier to teach yourself.

Darren Keating: Someone asked me the other day, what’s my dream career? I don’t have a dream career because I’m doing it. Like, there isn’t anything else for me. I could be a singer or a dancer but it’s not going to give me the same thing as being able to create whole worlds. That’s the benefit of doing this is you’re creating other universes that nobody else has ever seen before, and that’s the really exciting thing.

Dan Horsfall: One of the most exciting parts about this industry is just the rate of growth in it. So well, when I started 6 years ago, we were making cool stuff, we make trailers for video games and in game cinematics and things like that which is very cool. It’s cool to work on these games that you play in your spare time anyway. But these days pushing further and further beyond these cinematics we’re doing virtual reality experiences, we’re doing simulations, we’re doing Netflix series, it’s, it’s growing at such a rapid rate that it’s really exciting to see where it’s going to go next.

Tim Schultz: We’re all aware that the world’s changing and, um, the idea of a digital world that’s laid over the top of the physical world is going to play a huge part in content moving forward, and I think the students who are wanting to get into this space, there’s so many new ways to create content and so many avenues that, ah, really its, it’s a new, a whole new way of working, a whole new ecosystem and so everyone’s, sort of, on the same page really, at the start now, so, um, it’s a great time to jump into the industry.

Jennifer Dickson: Every now and again you remember that you’re working with these amazing creatives from all around the world and you’re making content that you know people are going to be really passionate about. And seeing the fan reaction when that comes back, and seeing people absolutely losing their minds over the quality of the show that’s being made, over the scripts, over the characters and seeing them bring all of their own interpretations that you’ve been working on, to me that’s probably the most exciting thing. Just creating art that everybody seems to resonate with.

Lauren Bartie: The fact that I actually get to appear in titles and stuff at the all credits at the end is just really awesome. Some of my workmates have, like, walls of all of the films that they have worked on and they’ve got just like, walls of fantasy films and superhero films and just everything, and it’s just a really thing to be working on and be, like, a part of.

Katrina Ryder, Senior News Editor: Working in the film and TV industry means that I can tell a story to the world, seeing your projects fall into something amazing for people to view. It's the best feeling in the world. When I was younger, I loved TV. I was always super interested in how it came out, looking so seamless. It's very collaborative. It's very high pace, energetic. Everyone just is happy to be there.

Ellie Hayward, Senior Post Producer: So, I joined the TV industry simply because as a child, I would spend hours in front of the TV and I just loved it. And as I was getting to that age in high school and talking to parents and teachers about what I might want to do as a career, I just, I just dreamt of working in this thing that I had spent my entire life watching and loving. And here I am, and it's really the industry I've worked in for the majority of my career. And I still love it. And I still spend hours and hours watching TV.

Gabriel Morrison, Cinematographer: Film industry is a really interesting industry, essentially, in a film you're creating a world. And so that means there's kind of every skill set needed to create a film. There's literally every art form and everything you can possibly think, especially on, the bigger you go, the more specialized these little roles become. As a cinematographer, you're the person behind the camera. You are working with the director to translate their vision into a visual sequence. And it's, it's quite a creative role, but also you have got to know how to light really well. You gotta run your camera team. You have to have a few assistants and you gotta tell a visual narrative.

Mitchell Wisby, Lighting Director: I joined the industry, from a very young age, something about, concert lighting intrigued me. I that's all I, all I wanted to do was light concerts. And looking into how lighting worked, lighting is very important. It brings so much mood and emotion to a scene. It can, it can help an audience sort of feel a way a director might not be able to do just within actor's face.

Ellie Hayward, Senior Post Producer: My role as a post producer means that I'm working in the edit on television shows. So I'm not on set. What I'm doing is working with the footage after it's been filmed. And my job is to watch it all pick what is the best stuff and the strongest stories and the best moments from characters. And then craft that into a TV show, using the edit software.

Yasmin Orr, Hair, and Make Up Supervisor: My role as a hair maker artist, in the TV film industry is definitely something where I am aiding someone in becoming the character that they're trying to achieve. Certainly, makes a big difference. Say for example, we're doing special effects on someone and the director is asked for something specific. I really feel like it actually improves the performance or the skills of the actor when they believe what's what they look like or the effects that they have on them. Yeah. I really appreciate the fact that my role can make a difference for someone else.

Jessica Maas, Make Up Artist: I would say the most exciting aspect on being on TV was actually seeing how they make things come to life and just watching them perform and then being normal again was so fun and exciting because you just see how quickly it switches up and also how everyone plays such a big role. I think it's so interesting. And then you watch it and you're like, wow, I was there. <Laugh>

Forest Lin, Junior Script Supervisor: Whenever you step on a film, set everyone there is there to do the same thing. And so there's this really camaraderie that comes filmmaking and every day is different. There's always interesting. And sometimes it's just there's moments on set where you're at a beautiful location or even in the studio and you sit there and stand there and go like, I can't believe this is my job.

Yasmin Orr, Hair, and Make Up Supervisor: I love the opportunities that I've had over the years where one day I'll be, um, doing a photo shoot at the beach and the next day I'll be doing a red carpet or Logan's event. And you know, the next day I might be working on a TV drama. And I just love that diversity. I find it very rewarding. I have loved every minute of it.

Katrina Ryder, Senior News Editor: I studied at TAFE St. Leonards, a certificate in screen and media and a diploma in screen and media. I loved it. There was so much range. It was hands on. It was like super in person. You had a lot of connection with the teachers. It was like, you're never in a class of more than 20. You, they had all the, all the equipment that you needed. They had all the support that you needed, but it was definitely a matter of, they're not going to force you to do anything that you don't want to do.

Mitchell Wisby, Lighting Director: TAFE was a really great experience, having equipment that I could jump on and use for the first time in a bigger environment than what my school had. For example, like the connections I made in TAFE, which without, I don't know where I've been in the industry. It took me as far as I've been.

Forest Lin, Junior Script Supervisor: As soon as I graduated from high school, I got accepted into the Australian film and television radio school. I studied a bachelor's there it's a free year course. And from there I was able to meet such great people. Like-minded people and collaborators that you kind of know for the rest of your life.

Ellie Hayward, Senior Post Producer: I studied television production at university, and then my first entry to the industry was a lot of work experience. And then I applied for a training scheme, which was the first entry into a full-time job, but that allowed me to gain some skills with a production company, get some training in the sort of things to expect and try out a few different roles at that junior level to see what I liked doing.

Jessica Maas, Make Up Artist: Some key attributes I would recommend for any student wanting to come into this industry is to have confidence. I would also say be resilient and don't ever give up if someone says, no, that's okay. Keep going, because you're gonna get a lot of no's. But when you keep persisting, that's when someone will see that and they'll be like, this person really wants it. You don't get a yes. Straight away. So it's totally fine, if you don't. Another key attribute would be to master your craft, do your, do your friends' makeup, do short courses, go on YouTube, get some books, and then you'll be really confident in your work.

Forest Lin, Junior Script Supervisor: Try and surround yourself for filmmakers, try and do subjects that, uh, involve film in any aspect and do that as much as you can, as long as you have a passion for film and you're willing to put your all into it and just go for It.

Katrina Ryder, Senior News Editor: There's so many different places to fall into this industry. So just be yourself. Don't ever have too much negative thinking and try and be as assertive as you can, no matter who you are or what your personality is. There's always some sort of role that you can fall into in this industry. If you want to be there.