Freefolk announces return of Futurefolk internship scheme

Soho-based VFX studio Freefolk has launched the fifth annual Futurefolk internship scheme, their initiative to nurture, inspire and kick-start the careers of the next generation of VFX talent.

Futurefolk is a one-month paid work placement, for two people, in the London studio within the 2D or 3D departments, working on episodic and commercial projects.  

The VFX industry has traditionally been male-dominated and Freefolk wants to address this by providing great opportunities for anyone who is interested in starting a career in post-production. Futurefolk was created to help this cause and build a workforce that reflects the society we live in. The scheme will result in two people being offered a placement. Freefolk particularly welcomes applications from women, BAME, those from a lower-income background and those from further afield than the Greater London area.  

The opportunity is now open to all VFX enthusiasts. So whether you’re a budding creature artist or a superstar comper, you need to compile a 2 minute reel of your best work to be in with a chance of gaining a one month paid work placement this summer, working with the team on live projects from the next hit Netflix show to one of our award winning ads. 

Freefolk managing director Vittorio Giannini commented on the company’s commitment to Futurefolk, “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.” 

Previous intern, Daniel Evans has since been offered a full time contract at Freefolk and last year’s intern, Luke Evans had this to say 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, had this to say 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.” 

This year’s placement will be either remote, at the studio, or a combination of both with timing to work best for all.  

Deadline for submissions is 14th May 2022. You can apply via the Freefolk website.