Making Marvel movies and EA games: How creative media and animation/VFX courses launched an exciting career

Former CCC student Ewilson Alva shares how his courses helped shape a creative career spanning movies, TV series and games.

After completing a number of Digital Media and Creative Computing Courses at Capital City College (CCC), Ewilson Allva has gone on to build a successful career working across a number of leading visual effects (VFX) and games studios. 

We spoke to Ewilson to learn about his experience at CCC, how he built his career and to get advice for current creative students.

What brought you to Capital City College?

I’m originally from Portugal, so when I moved to this country, I didn’t speak any English and it was really challenging to get into school. I started college aged 14 and went to West Ham College to do entry-level English and Maths, start my GCSEs and my first Creative Media course.

I then joined Capital City College, where I did the Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 courses in Creative Media alongside my GCSEs, which I had to repeat as I struggled with the language. When I passed them, I was able to progress to the Level 3 Animation, Games and VFX course, which I finished in 2018. 

I think it’s amazing that I was not stuck just doing my GCSEs and had the opportunity to do Creative Media courses alongside them. This allowed me to continue on my path, and think about my career and my future while still learning the language – and that was very helpful.

What did you like most about the course?

I always found a particular interest in being creative and just being able to express myself. I know that sometimes courses are a bit broad and might not be as helpful for people that know exactly where they want to go, but they’re very helpful for those who are not sure yet. 

Particularly with the Level 2 Creative Media course, I actually ended up touching on everything creative, from making props to digital creation to set design. The course really allowed us to explore so many different levels of creativity, both in the real world and digitally.

I think that really allowed me to start thinking more deeply about where in the creative world I wanted to go, and what it means to be creative. So I definitely recommend that sort of course for anybody who has finished secondary school and isn’t really sure what they want to do, because it allows you to explore so many different avenues.

What did you like most about the college?

What I loved the most about the college was the flexibility. I had a lot of friends that ended up going to Sixth Forms and I saw how much stricter and more ordered things were for them. That works fantastically for so many people, but I do prefer a more flexible approach. I liked having different times for different courses and different activities throughout the week, and it really made me feel like every day and each week was quite exciting and different, and that kept me on my toes and motivated me to keep attending college. 

I loved the ability to just leave college on my lunch break and maybe go to the park or to a particular cafe – I absolutely loved those little elements. I do think that the location is really important, and being in West Ham compared to being in King’s Cross offers two completely different dynamics. King’s Cross is phenomenal in regards to the activities that happen nearby, and the different museums and galleries are so close. There’s so much free stuff in central London for students and young adults. I found that being a couple of minutes’ walk from all these different locations really allowed me to continue being inspired and to continue to pursue this career in the creative arts. 

Were there any highlights from your time at the college?

One of the things that I really enjoyed about college was how many different people and different courses existed within the same college. Just by talking to other students, I learnt that people are not as scary or intimidating as they seem. I had friends on music and music production courses, and I remember being in their studio and learning a little bit more about their subject. I had some friends who were doing tourism, and I remember going to their room and it was set up to look like an airplane because they had to practice on all these things. It was super exciting to just be in other people’s worlds and see other people’s perspectives. 

For my final project at CCC, I actually ended up using all the resources that I had, all these connections I made throughout the years. I ended up making a music video for my creative project, and I asked the music students to produce a song and the tourism students were in the video. It was really interesting, and everyone was happy with the final product. I did end up getting a distinction, which was great, but it wasn’t necessarily about the grade, it was mostly about the ability to create in a collaborative space and draw on different skills – and I absolutely loved that.

How did the teachers and college staff support you?

They were very supportive – and I think that’s why I’m still in touch with so many of them. I felt that they didn’t just want me to complete the course, they wanted me to find my own way.

Rather than telling us “this is what you need to do” they’d say “you need to achieve this mark, and you can do that in any way you like, and we’ll support you with that.”

For example, I was really interested in CGI and computer 3D animation. The tutor on my course didn’t have lots of expertise in that area, but they directed me to another tutor on a different course and gave me time to go and ask him questions and learn more from him. 

How did your course support you in taking your next step?

My experience at College definitely helped me to prepare for and get into university. To be honest, one thing I didn’t realise was that there are multiple ways to reach university, and every path is valid. But I remember getting to university and, because I’d done a BTEC, I was experienced in being proactive and doing a lot of different things. Once you are in university, the way you perform might be different based on what path you took to get there. In my case, because I already had experience using many of the tools and I was able to fly by my first two years without much stress. 

I ended up going to a university called Escape Studios, which is a private university. It’s very well-known in the industry for visual effects, 3D animation and games. I feel like there’s a misconception that private universities must be really expensive, but a lot of them offer scholarships and discounts for people from the UK, and some of the cost can be covered by student loans, which is great.

How did your career develop?

Because Escape Studios is so well-known, they do a final year showcase for students with industry recruiters, as well as industry leads from the biggest visual effects and games studios in the world. It’s a phenomenal opportunity, and so a few weeks after finishing university, I got a job with MPC, one of the biggest VFX studios in the world, first as a Production Coordinator,  then as a Layout and Visualisation Artist and Compositor.

My first project was the live adaptation of The Little Mermaid, which was super exciting. That was followed by Pinocchio, which was streamed on Disney+, and two Amazon Prime series, Wheel of Time and Halo. It was phenomenal to work on iconic movies and series straight out of university. 

I then went to Framestore, another leading VFX studio, where I had the opportunity to work as a Cinematic Previsualisation Artist on the live action film Snow White, and the Marvel project Deadpool & Wolverine. It’s just incredible how quickly everything happened, but it’s also been the result of many years of doing creative work and studying at college – so it’s kind of like a snowball effect. 

I then decided to shift my career, and I started to get into games. I started working as a Senior Cinematic Artist for EA studios, one of the biggest studios in games, especially in the UK. I worked on Need for Speed and Battlefield 6, which has just come out and is already winning so many awards.

What prompted your shift from VFX into games?

I shifted my career about two years ago. There were writer’s strikes in Hollywood and people were striking against studios using AI for writers, actors and voices. The whole of Hollywood stopped for about six months and all the movies got delayed. It was chaos and there were a lot of layoffs – so I decided not to wait. 

I’ve always been passionate about gaming, and I do think that sometimes we have this pressure, this idea that we can only follow one path, because there’s so many people telling us, if you want to do something, just do it full speed. And I do agree to a certain degree, but at the same time I think you need to feel free to change your career or change your course if you need to. Nothing that we do is a waste, and everything that we learn, we keep it within us and we utilize it in life. So, I made a shift, and I’m loving it. I’m now in a new studio, working for PortalOne in Norway, working on mobile games. I work remotely but they fly me to Norway every month.

What does a typical day look like for you?

At the moment, I’m a cinematic artist, so my role is mainly to create and direct cinematic sequences for games or films, anything that needs visual storytelling and 3D cinematography.

With every studio I’ve worked with, there’s always a morning meeting, where everyone discusses what they’re doing. We’ll talk about the milestones for the day and the week and how we can reach them. Then I spend a couple of hours producing stuff. After that, there’s lunch. Most studios that I’ve worked at offer a free lunch or a budget for lunch. After that, there’s another hour of work and then the afternoon meeting which involves going over work and thinking about how we can make it better and what the vision is. Some days there’s more meetings than others, like when there’s a new project, or a new phase in the project – but most of my days are spent listening to my music and creating, looking at the angles and the colours, and going through my creative process.

Sometimes I have a podcast in the background, sometimes it’s music, whatever gets my creative juice going. My days are pretty flexible. Sometimes I just go outside and go for a walk and come back with new ideas.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

I get a lot of inspiration from music, and music is something that we can all say makes us feel something. As a cinematographer and visual storyteller, my main job is to make people feel something through the beautiful images that I’m producing. I do get a lot of inspiration from music videos, because we already feel something through the music and then the visuals are there to emphasise the music. It’s the same kind of process with my work. If it’s a game, my job is to make the visuals emphasize the emotion of the game. If it’s a film, my job is to emphasise the lines that are being said. If someone is upset, how can I make this scene feel sadder? If someone is scared, how can I make this scene feel scary?

What challenges have you faced in your career, and how did you overcome them?

There are a lot of challenges. I hope people don’t think the creative world is something easy, because it’s really not, and a lot of my peers have already left the creative industry. One of the most common challenges at the moment is the instability of the industry. Unfortunately, it’s not an industry where you can just get one job and stay there for a really long time. Most people get a contract for six months or a year. Some people do get a permanent contract, but that doesn’t mean that they’re going to stay there indefinitely. If the company doesn’t have any projects, then they will still let you go. But then again, most creatives are able to adapt to their environments, you might specialize in 3D animation for one project, and when it’s over, you’ll use your editing skills for another project. 

I always try to keep my skills current and something that people are using a lot now is AI. If I don’t keep up with the programmes and the system, then I will eventually be left behind. That is one of the biggest challenges, and the best solution is just to stay up to date with the technology, keep improving your skills, and be open to building on what you have.

What’s your perspective on AI?

AI is a very sensitive topic at the moment, and I can only speak from a personal perspective. I do understand and empathise with those that are against AI, because obviously AI is trained on data that is already released, aka things that have been produced by talented artists, writers, and storytellers. So AI is stealing from those people, and that is the simple truth. 

However, the world is not going to stop because we’re not happy with it, and AI is here to stay. If we don’t learn how to use it, we’re going to be left behind. It’s all about finding the balance of  how AI can support me in being creative, instead of thinking about AI as a robot that is going to replace a person. In the end, someone still needs to direct AI, so we just need to keep in touch with it.

What advice do you have for students looking to pursue a career in your industry?

Well, number one, you need a good showreel. Our showreel is basically our passport. When I apply for a job, they don’t ask about which uni I went to or what grade I got, they ask to see my showreel. It needs to have a proper structure, be no more than a minute long, and the first three seconds need to be exciting, as most recruiters won’t watch past the first ten seconds. 

My second piece of advice is to use LinkedIn. I have applied for things through various websites and never heard back but I’ve got all my jobs through LinkedIn. When I’ve used LinkedIn, I’ve been able to find a company that I like, then find the recruiter for the role I’m interested in within that company, show them my showreel and get an interview. I think of it like this – my showreel is the passport, and LinkedIn is the airport.

Finally, try to utilise all the opportunities that you have at your current stage in life, because everything stacks up. Everything that you’re learning today, you will eventually use at some point in your life. 

What’s next for you?

That’s an interesting one. At the moment I’m enjoying my career, I’m enjoying going to Norway and experiencing Norwegian culture. I’ve had opportunities to work on some great movies, series and now games. I think that the next natural step would be to proceed into a leadership role. I’m already training and mentoring some people, and I am always happy to show people that there are many different opportunities out there and you can have a successful career doing something creative.

If you’re looking to explore a range of creative pathways while learning new skills, take a look at our Digital Media and Creative Computing Courses.

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