A UNIVERSITY VIEW
APRIL was quite a month for graduates of the University of South Wales (USW), with nationally and internationally-recognised accolades going to films they have helped produce.
Starting with the British Academy Film Awards (Bafta), held the week after Easter, British films – including Over The Moon, Wolfwalkers and Midnight Sky, on which 22 USW alumni worked – scooped awards for their animation excellence and outstanding visual effects.
Following these successes, films featuring 20 USW alumni were nominated for awards at the 93rd Oscars, announced on April 25.
After success in the Baftas, blockbuster Tenet won the honour for Best Visual Effects; another milestone for USW graduate and former lecturer Rosie Walker, who now works in Vancouver for visual effects company DNeg.
For all of us at USW’s Film and TV School Wales, seeing our graduates honoured by their industry peers creates a profound feeling of pride. After all, it’s what we are here for – to educate the next generation of screen talent, whatever role they take up in the industry, and help them build a successful career.
This success doesn’t, however, disguise the challenges that the sector, like almost all others, has faced since Covid-19 hit. For the creative industries generally, 2020 was an extremely difficult year, with the screen industries among those that were initially hit the hardest.
But the beginning of 2021 has seen the industry in Wales bounce back, with current production already outstripping pre-Covid levels. With many more TV and film productions coming to Cardiff over the next six months, it’s a very exciting time for both graduates and students aiming to gain their first experience in the industry.
In particular, high-end TV drama is flourishing. In and around our capital city, right now and through the summer and autumn, several high-profile international TV drama series are being filmed.
Bad Wolf productions, based close to Cardiff Bay, is leading this Welsh drama renaissance. The company behind His Dark Materials is currently putting together the third series of the acclaimed BBC One drama, while the second series of Industry is being filmed for BBC Two at Wolf Studios later this year.
Meanwhile, both BBC and Channel 4 are reconfirming and strengthening their commitment to Wales as part of a general move towards nations and regions production, and several Welsh production companies have already benefited from new commissions as a result.
With S4C’s continued commitment to innovative Welsh language content, and high-profile Welsh successes on ITV, such as The Pembrokeshire Murders, it’s proving to be a good time for both scripted and unscripted TV in Wales.
Being at the centre of all this activity is a major boost for USW, having, as we do, massive expertise in the sector, as has been shown by the USW-based Film and TV School Wales (FTSW).
Operating out of the university’s Cardiff campus-based Faculty of Creative Industries, all the courses in FTSW have been developed in consultation with the Welsh screen industries sector. Our profile has been further strengthened by our partnership with Screen Alliance Wales, which was established as a gateway between the film and TV industry and its workforce by promoting the talent, crew, and services of the industry in Wales. This relationship has meant we are able to offer unparalleled training and development opportunities to our students, including a range of masterclasses given by top screen professionals.
Over the past three years, graduates of FTSW courses – which include media production, set design, animation, and performance and media – have secured many entry-level jobs in the industry with exciting and progressive companies such as Gorilla, Painting Practice, Eleven Film and, of course, Bad Wolf.
Another massive FTSW success has been our MA Film course, launched in 2019, which has grown to be one of largest in UK, welcoming students from across the world, including China, Africa and the Middle East, to a range of different production-orientated pathways.
Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, our first cohort graduated in January, with many of them already finding work on high-end drama productions, such as Netflix series Sex Education, which is filmed in south Wales.
Now in the 53rd year of teaching film in south Wales, USW and its predecessors have probably never encountered a year like the one we have just had. However, the foundations we laid before the pandemic meant we were able to face up to its challenges to ensure that our students achieve, and will continue to achieve, success in their chosen careers.
■ Tom Ware is director of production and performance in the Faculty of Creative Industries at the University of South Wales.