Digital Skills for Screen: A Skills Bootcamp for York and North Yorkshire

Applications have now closed

Digital Skills for Screen: A Skills Bootcamp for York and North Yorkshire is a part-time programme over 16 weeks, designed to give people the opportunity to explore and enhance the digital skillset needed to thrive in today’s screen industries.

This Skills Bootcamp is delivered by Screen Yorkshire and funded by the Department for Education and are an integral part of the Government’s Skills for Life strategy. The York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership supports the roll out of Skills Bootcamps across the entire region it serves.

The Skills Bootcamp will upskill candidates from across the screen industries interested in expanding their understanding and knowledge of digital processes fundamental in a fast-changing sector which demands constant adaption to its increasing digital needs. Screen Yorkshire has designed a programme in collaboration with our industry partners Viridian FX, XPLOR, Production Park Wakefield, and Co-Lab to keep up with the latest industry developments.

We are looking for a diverse group of applicants based in York and North Yorkshire. The programme is open to freelancers, employees and graduates working across the audiovisual sector, or in adjacent industries with a good range of transferrable skills.

It will be delivered from October 2023 – February 2024 via a series of evening and weekend workshops.

What is the aim of the programme?

Digital Skills are a key requirement for thriving in today’s fast-moving screen sector. This programme will introduce participants to a range of digital skills in high demand in the audiovisual industries.

To provide the programme participants with a hands-on experience in programmes that are becoming more and more fundamental to audiovisual production processes, this Skills Bootcamp will take the cohort through a structured workflow process used in Virtual Production, through seminars and workshops delivered by industry professionals.

While the programme will prepare participants for a practical virtual production exercise at XPLOR, the LED volume based at Production Park, and therefore most learnings will be aligned to the requirements of that final exercise, it is important to note that all the programmes and skillsets introduced as part of the curriculum will have a wide range of applications throughout the screen industries and outside of virtual production, eg pre-visualisation, 3D designs of sets and props, VFX, XR, etc. Taking the cohort through a virtual production workflow allows us to introduce participants to a wide range of programmes and toolkits, which rarely can be found in that concentration in other audiovisual workflows outside of the games industry.

Attending the programme will equip applicants with:

Confidence in working with programmes and apps
Discover digital aspects of their chosen discipline
Work with and in virtual environments
Work with and in immersive environments
Improve their workflow and efficiency through the use of digital aids
Improve remote working through the use of digital aids
Acquire new digital skills that will allow career progression
Acquire new digital skills that will increase individuals’ competitive advantage and make them stand out as job candidates
Prepare for the increasing digitalisation of the industry and work environments
Understanding the basics of Unreal Engine and similar programmes
An introduction to 3D scanning for virtual and immersive production environments
Working with LED Volumes and Green Screen
Understanding the basics of Motion Capture application
A better understanding of the requirements of seeing a virtual production project through from beginning to end
Good understanding of how to present acquired skills on CVs and job profiles
Overview over how skills translate into new job opportunities

Photo: ViridianLAB

I’ve been overcome with delight at every stage, receiving support and encouragement and giving me a renewed vigour for life when I had lost interest in pretty much everything. I thought that was it for me but I’m 43, I’m not done yet! I just needed it teasing out of me.

John Cooper - Screen Yorkshire trainee 2022

Photo: ViridianLAB

How will you learn?

The delivery of the course will be a hybrid mixture of Face-to-face practical workshops, presentations, site visits, online training sessions, group and 1-2-1 mentoring support. Most of the sessions will take place in Harrogate and York with three sessions taking place at Production Park Wakefield. We endeavour to provide online access to as many in-person sessions as we can, especially in the case of the mid-week sessions, to enable programme participants to attend sessions while working away on productions or attending to caring duties outside of work.

The ability to attend all sessions, or at least as many as possible, is essential. Please see the below programme timeline for session timings.

Who is it for?

Applicants must be 19+ and work or live within the North Yorkshire region and the City of York.

We are looking for both graduates with some experience or education in the screen industry and people already working in the industry who either want to change jobs within the industry or want to gain more proficiency in digital skills in their area of work to access jobs and projects not previously open to them. We also welcome applicants who are educated or work in adjacent industries, or may already have some experience of working in the screen industries.

Any applicant needs to be in a position to pursue new opportunities or career progressions in the screen industries within 6-month of the end of the programme. This could include paid work experience, short and long-term employment contracts or career progression within their job. Screen Yorkshire will help to facilitate these opportunities.

Who we encourage to apply:

Graduates, who have a degree in a relevant screen course or adjacent discipline, e.g. animation, design, computer science, gaming, engineering etc. who ideally have had a first experience in the screen industry through placements or traineeships or at least short-term employment.
Freelancers, who are looking for progression in their current role, might work in the camera department, animation, vision mixers, drone operators, editors, directors, producers, art directors and designers, lighting, operations and technical post-production roles.
Employees already working in the screen industries who want to progress into roles or onto projects which require an enhanced digital skill set or work for companies interested in expanding their digital presence through an Immersive or Virtual Production pipeline.
People who have worked in adjacent industries, eg live advertising, videography, events, theatre, museums, galleries, games, architecture or graphic design with strong transferable skills and for whom gaining these digital skills will open up opportunities in the screen industry. Any previous experience in the screen industries is desirable, however we would consider someone with a particularly strong and relevant (technical) skill sets without previous screen experience.

We actively encourage applicants from groups who are currently underrepresented in the TV, Film, Games, and other relevant Industries.

Applications now closed

To apply for the Skills Bootcamp for Digital Skills for Screen, please complete the application form by following the link below. As part of our remit to monitor and improve access to under-represented groups in the industry, we report to our funders on the diversity of applicants to this scheme. We would be extremely grateful if you please could also fill in the diversity form on our website application page.

E&D Monitoring Form

Programme Timeline October 2023- February 2024

This course commences with it’s first session on 12th October 2023, and finishes on 28th February 2023.

Evening Sessions

Evening sessions will mostly take place in Harrogate weekly on Wednesdays with some Thursday sessions

All Day Sessions

Saturday 11th November, 10am – 4:30pm: Introduction to Unreal Engine
Saturday 18th November, 10am – 4:30pm: All day workshop – Unreal Engine
Saturday 25th November, 10am – 6:30pm: Introduction to Virtual Production Techniques
Saturday 2nd December, 10am – 6:30pm: Virtual Production Workshop – Motion Capture and Facial Animation
Wednesday 10th January, 10am – 4:30pm: Cluster Rendering and Post Production
Saturday 3rd February, 10am – 6:30pm: Final Project Filming Day

Equipment needed?

We will provide laptops for the in-person training sessions. However, it is highly recommended that applicants have their own laptop or desktop computer that meets the minimum recommended system requirements for Unreal Engine and DaVinci Resolve programmes, so they can work on their projects in their own time.

Course Fees

This Skills Bootcamp is free of charge for freelancers and micro businesses and for individuals, employed or self-employed, who seek to transfer into the screen industries from other sectors.

For applicants currently employed by a company in the screen industry, there is a fee of £350 per selected participant.

The course is filled with practical knowledge and activities which helped me build up my confidence and feel equipped and prepared for working in the industry.

Khue Tran - CoSE:Y Production Assistant trainee 2022

Photo: Lisa Stonehouse

This Skills Bootcamps is funded by the Department for Education and is an integral part of the Government’s Skills for Life strategy. The York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership supports the roll out of Skills Bootcamps across the entire region it serves.