Freefolk internship scheme returns for sixth year

Freefolk has launched the sixth year of its Futurefolk internship scheme.

The scheme offers a one month paid internship within Freefolk Commercials and Freefolk Film & Episodic, in either the 2D or 3D department. It is open to all VFX students - pre and post graduate and those haven’t taken the university route - who are interested in all areas of VFX, including animators, CG generalists, FX TD or compers.

This year’s placement will take place during the summer and will be hybrid. This means a combination of both remote and a minimum of two days at the studio, with timings to work best for all.

Applicants need to submit a two-minute reel of their best work here by 23 April, and the top submissions will be invited to interview for the opportunity with the Freefolk team.

Freefolk managing director Fi Kilroe: “We all know how crucial it is to discover the VFX experts of the future and this initiative allows us to find the talent and nurture it. Covid and remote working has had a major impact on entry level and junior artists. The development and career progression of this group has been stalled so through Futurefolk and our existing junior staff, it’s our duty to do all we can to reverse this.”

One of the Futurefolkers of 2022 was nuke compositor Josh Hockney, who explains the value of his experience: “The opportunity of getting to work on live industry projects, and the experience it brings in: dailies, internal pipelines and rendering, working as part of a production line, assessing work and applying feedback from supervisors and clients are huge steps into making me a much more comprehensive and industry ready artist.

“My colleagues always made me feel very welcome and there was definitely a family feel around the office that was felt both on days inside the office and while working at home with everyone being very accessible and always helpful. I was lucky enough to get to work on a variety of shots for both a television show and an advertisement and got to work alongside people all around the office.”