Andrea Lacedelli

How did studying at Escape Studios help you into the world of VFX?

The connections that studying at the school gave me were really helpful to expand my working network. Classmates joining other companies were then able to tell me how things worked in their offices and so I got to know more people and workplaces. The teachers from the industry taught me the necessary skills to get a good looking showreel and some tricks of the job - very useful!

Where do you currently work and what are you working on at the moment?

I currently work in MPC London on Maleficent 2 - Mistress of Evil.

What’s your favourite movie and why?

Avatar is probably my favorite. In 2009 when I went to the cinema to experience this movie in 3D it just got my heart. The adventure they were living was amazing. Can’t wait for the next ones!

What is it like to work as a Crowd Artist at MPC?

It’s great fun, I get to play with little characters all day and I am learning quite a lot of things with Houdini which I am sure will help along the way not only in this discipline but with my whole career.

The team is great and everyone is very helpful. I get to learn from them or even just understand their workflow that leads me to discover new ways to think and work in a better way.

What work are you most proud of working on and what is your most notable achievement?

The work I am most proud of at the moment is Maleficent 2 itself as it’s my first big project, not mentioning that it is from Disney.Talking about achievements I would say that this right here is the biggest I have ever done so far. Starting from scratch and within 6 months from the first day of lessons, I got into the industry and worked my way up to where I am now - with some bits of luck!

If you had to sum up your time at Escape Studios in one word what would it be and why?

Endurance. I kept quite a fast pace, every day from early morning to late evening and extra time at home either weekends or nights for a good 6 months to get where I wanted, it was a personal challenge and so I did what had to be done to win it.

What is your advice for those considering entering the industry?

Be ready to face challenges every day, life won’t be boring, I can assure you that. Try to keep up with the latest news and softwares. Maybe if you do feel a particular interest for one field try to expand your knowledge and specialise in that, recruiters will be looking for someone with a very strong skill and some complementary ones but of course, the more the better.Another thing I noticed and I do regret not having it studied yet is coding. Learn with all the time you need a language like python or C++, trust me, it will help a lot.