Cinesite announces the winner of its 2012 Inspire Internship Programme
Firtina Ozbalikci awarded the programme’s first technical effects placement
London, UK, 2 July 2012 – Cinesite, one of the world’s leading digital visual effects houses, today announced that Firtina Ozbalikci, a second year computer science student from the University of Bath, is the winner of its 2012 Inspire Internship programme. Firtina is the winner of Inspire’s first technical effects internship which was launched this year to encourage skilled computer programmers to consider a career in the visual effects industry.
Firtina was chosen from hundreds of applicants. “Firtina’s application showed a real determination to investigate graphics programming beyond what he’d been taught in his computer science course,” said Alexander Savenko, head of pipeline at Cinesite. “He demonstrated a keen interest in the subject and went far beyond what we asked in the initial brief, taking it in interesting and novel directions.”
Firtina has won a six-week paid placement at Cinesite which will take place this summer. Under the supervision of Alexander and senior pipeline TD, Don Boogart, he’ll be working on integrating Cinesite’s core libraries into new technology and developing Cinesite’s real-time rendering capabilities.
“This placement will give Firtina the opportunity to see how graphics programming can be used in a fast-paced production environment and learn what it’s like to work with artists and creative supervisors under tight production deadlines,” explained Savenko “Developing cutting-edge technology into easy-to-use production tools is no mean feat, and this experience will give him a taste of what’s required.”
“I was looking for an internship when my placements officer at the University of Bath told me about Cinesite’s Inspire programme,” said Firtina. “I saw that Cinesite has worked on an impressive list of movies and realised that this would be a great opportunity to broaden my horizons. I’m honoured to be selected as the winner as I’ve wanted to work in the entertainment industry since I was young. I’m very excited about the prospect of learning from the experts at Cinesite and having this opportunity to contribute to the company.”
Previous winners of Inspire visual effects internships have worked on Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and John Carter, and are currently working on World War Z and Skyfall.
“We see a distinct lack of skilled programmers coming into the visual effects industry which is why we decided to offer a technical effects internship this year,” said Antony Hunt, managing director, Cinesite. “Programmers play a vital role in creating the tools we need to deliver stunning visual effects. We’re looking forward to showing Firtina what it’s like to work in this world-class industry, and we hope we’ve inspired other talented programmers to consider visual effects as an exciting career option.”
Louise Wells, louisew@rlyl.com, 020 7403 8878
About Cinesite
Cinesite is one of the largest and most creative visual effects companies in the world. Established in 1991 and headquartered in London, their visual effects team has the capacity and creativity to produce all manner of digital effects for feature films and TV shows of all scales. Their award-winning team of highly talented visual effects artists take filmmakers' ideas and turn them into spectacular cinematic reality.
Cinesite is currently working on World War Z (Paramount Pictures) and Skyfall (Sony Pictures). They’ve recently completed work on John Carter (Disney), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Disney/Bruckheimer), X-Men: First Class (Twentieth Century Fox) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Warner Bros).
For more information please visit www.cinesite.com, @Cinesite on Twitter or www.facebook.com/Cinesite.
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