David Puttnam Involved in Escape Awards
24 December 2007
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Acclaimed UK politician and Oscar-winning film producer Lord David Puttnam has confirmed his involvement in 2008’s inaugural Escape Awards, an exciting new initiative from London-based Escape Studios to recognise and honour the wealth of computer graphics talent in the UK.The awards, which will be held at Tate Modern in London on 27 March 2008, will celebrate the cream of the UK computer graphics community with Lord Puttnam taking key position as chairman of judges presiding over a panel of more than 30 of the industries’ leading figures.It will be the first major event of its kind to bring together the full spectrum of the UK CG community to celebrate all of the various industry sectors that that depend on the astonishing skill and craftsmanship of digital artists to produce stunning imagery for them. Escape Studios has partnered with two of the largest technology providers to the world of computer graphics, Oscar®-winning software giants Autodesk and leading hardware innovators AMD.The awards categories will cover visual effects, games and design visualisation and entries will be judged by a stellar panel of over 30 key industry figures from world-renowned companies such as Pixar, Sony, Seymour Powell and Foster + Partners. The call for entries has gone out and entrants will be able to submit work via the Escape Awards website from Monday 24 December 2007.In anticipation of the event Lord Puttnam said: 'It’s such an exciting role to be acting as Chairman for the Escape Awards. The creative industries are very much a jewel in the crown of UK business and this country's excellence in the field of computer graphics deserves to be celebrated.'Not only do the awards recognise the incredible work taking place in the UK today but they also shine a spotlight on the stars of tomorrow with the categories catering to professional companies and studios as well as students from all over the country.Escape Studios CEO Dominic Davenport said: "We're honoured that Lord Puttnam and all the judges are so keen to be involved. We've had nothing but support from everyone we've spoken to proving that a major annual event that brings together the UK CG community is long overdue.
Currently working on the Government’s environmental policy, Lord Puttnam will join the rest of the judges to vote for the pick of the entries. His own role call of films includes hits such as The Mission, Chariots of Fire and Midnight Express.
The worldwide explosion in the use of CG imagery has seen the UK become a centre of excellence and expertise with barely a film now made that doesn’t pass through the world renowned post-production facilities in Soho.
Alongside this, world-leading architects based here use CG to visualise their award-winning concepts and British game developers create awe-inspiring titles that sell millions of copies worldwide.
Central to the Escape Studios ethos is their desire to fuel creative potential and in addition to the professional categories are three student categories that represent an ideal way for up-and-coming CG talent to showcase their projects to a high profile audience of industry professionals.
Escape Studios itself is Europe’s first dedicated computer graphics and VFX school that opened its doors in London in 2002 to attract a new generation of creatives.
It was launched by Dominic Davenport in response to the lack of training facilities outside of the US and has been endorsed by Oscar-winning movie director Ridley Scott and some of the biggest names in film, games and animation - including Pixar and the Sony.
No stranger to big name Hollywood blockbusters many of the world’s major movies, such as X Men 3, Harry Potter and The Golden Compass have all had their effects and postproduction worked on by graduates from Escape.
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