Film FX luminary visits university

The School of Creative Technologies was delighted to play host to Mat Irvine, the highly acclaimed special effects designer, director, writer and television presenter. Mat was suitably impressed with the work undertaken and has agreed to return in Semester 2 to deliver a lecture to all of the Film FX students, detailing his extensive experience as a senior designer at the BBC as well as his ongoing career.

During his visit Mat stated: “I’ve been highly impressed with the work on the show, both from the Special and Visual effects aspects of the courses, and hope I can add something to the history and background of this whole, somewhat strange, industry…” Additionally, he will be conducting workshops on professional practice within the special effects industry and will offer advice to students regarding their upcoming projects Jim Costello, Programme leader for Special Effects Modelmaking said: “We are delighted to welcome Mat to the university and look forward to him offering insights into his career to the students”.

Mat’s contribution to the field of special effects spans many decades and his work on dramas, documentaries and science programmes are recognised globally. Perhaps his greatest claim to fame, however, is his long-term contributions to science fiction shows, most notably Doctor Who. He has also been active in developing formats for other popular programmes and was one of the devisors of the original ‘Robot Wars’ series, acting as one of the technical consultants and later as a judge. Simon Wiggins, Head of Creative Technologies said “The development of links such as this is central to our aim of integrating industry-leading practitioners into our programmes of study. Mat is a very welcome addition to this and we look forward to his return in the New Year”