Character concepts up close on the Harry Potter studio tour

Posted on 25th October 2017 by Katy Edgington

On 19 October students studying Character Concept Design turned up for class at Hogwarts rather than College Road…

As part of their Character Concept Design module, one of our undergraduate classes took a trip to Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter last week. Anne Ramsden, course leader for the foundation year for Concept Art for Games and Film, organised for Level 3 and 4 students to spend an eye-opening day at the Leavesden studios.

With worksheets designed by their tutors and sketchbooks at the ready, the students explored the rich world of the Harry Potter films. They took careful note of the behind the scenes information provided, looking especially at the concept art and models.

Paying particular focus to costume and character design, along with set design and environment sketching, the students were encouraged to draw and sketch as they went along, and to take photo – which were then pooled together on the module’s Blackboard. Some of the students even got a close up of the goblin masks and concept art when the tour guides spotted their sketchbooks.

The Concept Art students will show and critique their sketches from the trip in class in Week 6.

A day at PLAY Expo Manchester

Posted on 25th October 2017 by Katy Edgington

Our Games Studies students experienced PLAY Expo Manchester at first hand when it took over EventCity earlier this month.

Dr Ying-Ying Law, our resident esports specialist, took her class to ‘the north’s biggest video game expo’ as part of their module on Esports and Competitive Gaming.

Dr Law’s lucky students had a tour from the director of the event, as well as getting to talk to the tournament organisers. They also had the chance to compete in the Smash Tournament, allowing the class to get a glimpse of how a tournament is run and to think about the mini-esports event they will be running themselves in Week 9 of this semester. It’s clear they’ve already learned a lot!

“During the tournament, they spotted a mistake made by the TO,” Dr Law said. “They spotted an incorrect match where a player from the winners’ bracket was playing against someone in the losers’ bracket in a double elimination tournament. I went through tournament rules with them last week – I felt so proud!”

Next stop for the Esports and Competitive Gaming class: Insomnia Gaming Festival!

Congratulations, Class of 2017!

Posted on 18th July 2017 by Katy Edgington

Congratulations to all of our students who graduated on Friday!

It was great to see the School of Computing and Digital Technologies out in force for the grand finale of Awards Week 2017. Despite the day starting off a little on the dark side, the sun came out to see lots of our students and staff enjoying the day with family and friends on the beautiful Trentham Estate.

Our Computing graduands were up first in the morning ceremony, where Carol and Kevin Shanahan received the joint award of Honorary Doctor to recognise their work and the thriving local business they set up together – Synectics Solutions.

“Change always equals opportunity for someone,” Kevin told our new graduates. “Major change equals major opportunities, and it’s up to you guys to go and seize them.”

The company employs over 350 people – including two Staffordshire University alumni on the senior leadership team – and has taken many students on placement over the years.

“We’re absolutely delighted that the Class of 2017 are coming to Synectics,” added Carol, explaining that three of this year’s graduates will be joining the company.

staffordshire university awards 2017

Then our Film and Media, Journalism, Games and Visual Effects students took to the stage in the afternoon for what Vice-Chancellor Liz Barnes described as “probably the liveliest ceremony of the week”! Staffordshire-born explorer, photographer and writer Major Levison Wood received his honorary doctorate, and he too had some inspirational words for our graduates:

“This isn’t the end; it’s only the beginning of a new great adventure, which you should be very excited about.”

If you want to relive the moment you crossed the stage, you can view the live streams now on the Awards Ceremonies Facebook page.

Find all the best photos of the day on the Staffordshire University Facebook page.

Now we’re looking forward to doing it all again next year!

staffordshire university graduation 2017