Lights, Camera, Action! £500k investment brings Hollywood film tech to Basingstoke college

Basingstoke College of Technology has announced a £500,000 investment to build a new production suite.

The start-of-the-art facility will feature technology used by directors such as James Cameron and Jon Favreau.

This technology includes motion tracked cameras, an advanced greenscreen and lighting set up, high-spec video editing and colour grading hardware and software, and real time rendering equipment allowing filmmakers to see digital environments live on set so they can make creative decision in the moment.

It will open in September, when the first cohort of students taking the college’s new Media, Broadcast and Production T-Level and Advanced Games Development HND course will start.

Students taking any course in the Creative Industries Department will have access to the studio and will be encouraged to work collaboratively.

Peter Gordon, Course Director – Games, Media and Art & Design, explained: “Our new production studio will benefit all of our creative industries students.

“They will have access to some of the highest specification equipment being used in the industry today for example the Red Komodo 6k camera that was used on Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.

“We have also consulted with leading companies such as Mo-Sys Engineering and Epic Games to ensure the equipment chosen for the new facility is the very best.

“Students will be able to work side by side on projects, each contributing their specialty, whether it’s narrative planning, or costume and props, or motion design, or real-time production.

“By working in a cross curricular way, our students will be able to have real hands-on experience of working as a production team, which is exactly what employers want and need.

“This project has been years in the making, so we are all very excited to see construction work starting in the studio space, and we cannot wait for it to open for the next academic year.”

The new production studio is the latest state-of-the-art facility on campus. Last year, BCoT opened the Green Energy Technology Centre, to equip students with the knowledge and skills in renewable technologies such as air or ground source heat pumps.

Anthony Bravo, Principal and Chief Executive of BCoT, said: “BCoT has a long-standing reputation for offering excellent educational opportunities and we are proud to announce this significant investment in our games, media and art provision, so the filmmakers and set designers of the future have access to such pioneering facilities.”

The new facilities have been part-funded through the Local Skills Improvement Fund.

For more information about the creative industries courses at BCoT, visit https://www.bcot.ac.uk/subject-areas/media-and-games-design/cf85/