Solent students create Sci-Fi shorts, movie trailers and music videos to graduate industry-ready

Holly Godfrey, Cam Owen and Reuben Ebling each used Solent's virtual production (VP) stage to create ambitious, professional-grade screen work: a fantasy pirate adventure trailer, a sci-fi short set on Saturn's moon, and a music video exploring the grieving process.

Virtual production uses large LED screens onto which digital environments are projected in real time, allowing actors to perform against immersive, fully realised worlds. The same technology is standard practice on high-end film and TV sets worldwide. Only a handful of UK universities have a VP stage, including Solent.

Each student’s FMP expanded the possibilities of the VP stage in different ways. Holly built a series of fantasy environments, including a dramatic dockside scene, a stormy ocean and using a walking pad that allowed her actor to appear to move through the world.

Cam created an environment of Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, pairing it with a detailed handmade spaceship interior and costume. Reuben designed a music video in which environments shift and morph to represent different emotional states in the grieving process, creating sequences that would have been impossible to film in the real world on any student budget.

"What previously would have required multi-million-pound budgets and hundreds of VFX artists, we could walk into university and make ourselves," says Reuben.

That ambition was only possible because all three students had spent time building their technical and creative expertise, working together across each other's productions as well as their own, and learning the VP pipeline from the ground up.

"My pipeline was designed to mimic industry," says Holly, who created her digital environments in Unreal Engine before directing her actor on the VP stage. "I made the environments, then I produced a shot list, sourced the actor, the costume, the makeup, everything. On the day, you're the go-to person for everything. That's what a director or producer does." You can view Holly’s project here.

For Cam, working collaboratively was as important a lesson as any technical skill. Having Reuben behind the lens freed him to focus on the creative elements he needed to deliver. "I could trust them to do the bits I can't do," he says. "That's what it would be like in industry, where you allow other people to contribute and listen to their ideas."

That industry-readiness extended beyond their own FMPs. The trio also contributed to Solent's MA Virtual Production course, working on a range of additional productions throughout the year.

"We've worked on so many other projects," says Reuben. "And our projects could only have turned out the way they did because we'd learned from every mistake we made on every previous set. That's what makes it feel like real industry experience."

Holly plans to continue her studies at Solent with an MA in Virtual Production, while Reuben is launching his own photography and filmmaking business after joining the University's Student Startups programme. You can view Reuben's work here.

Cam is now looking to move into the industry in a role that makes use of the wide range of skills he has developed. “Before coming here, I’d always been interested in film and how things are done behind the scenes. Being around people with that knowledge and having access to industry-standard equipment and software, has been a really great experience,” he said. You can view Cam’s project here.

Together, their projects reflect Solent’s approach to practice-led learning, combining real-world skills, industry connections, and the confidence that comes from practical experience alongside academic study.

Find out more about our BA (Hons) CGI and Visual Effects course. Already have a degree and want to specialise in the technology shaping the future of film and television? Explore our MA Virtual Production course.