Since Dublin’s LA College of Creative Arts expanded into Special Effects in January, it has garnered interest over the unique skills and experience the course offers, and over what kind of employment opportunities it could offer. In an
interview with IFTN in February, LA spoke about a gap forming in the market for these artists, and how the demand was frequently outweighing the supply.
As the first ever special effects class graduated last week, all of its students have already started working, and all on Irish shores. The continuing growth in the Irish film and TV industry has seen the need for these artists and LA College have supplied them. Graduates now hold crew positions in theatre as well as TV and film, for example, on the sets of ‘Vikings’, ‘Penny Dreadful’, ‘Ripper Street’ and Ridley Scott’s latest production.
With Scott lined up for five more productions as well as a number of Irish programmes in pre-production, LA College will host a second Special Effects course beginning this September as well as a shorter 5 week part time Introduction to Special Effects for makeup artists looking to expand their skill set. Headed up by course director Siobhan Harper Ryan, whose credits for this year include anticipated sci-fi blockbuster ‘Guardians of Galaxy (starring Bradley Cooper and Chris Pratt) and World War II Drama ‘Fury’, starring Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf. Ryan’s experience has guided the students from classroom to career within 7 months. LA College’s industry-only lecturer policy, meaning that all lecturers are currently working within the field in which they are teaching, will continue to give students the opportunity to understand the inner workings of the creative arts industry.
For more information on LA College of Creative Arts upcoming special effects courses contact studentinfo@lacreativecollege.com, call +353 1 6751999 or view the company’s profile.
