Former Ealing Film Students Are The Favourites At The Oscars

Five of them have worked on six of this year's nominated films

(Max Elliot-Lovell and Marta Baidek)

Former students from an Ealing based filmschool are shining at this years Oscar nominated films.

MetFilm School is based within the famous Ealing Studios which in recent years have supported productions such as The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything and Downton Abbey.

The students include Rina Yang, the 2nd unit director of photography on Bohemian Rhapsody who studied the BA in Practical Filmmaking.  

As well as film, Rina has worked on several music videos including videos for Skepta, Emeli Sande and Sam Fender. She has also worked on commercials for big brands including, o2, Nike and Under Armour.

Jess Wilcock-Stow, 24, lives in Battersea also studied the BA in Practical Filmmaking, he was a crowd costume trainee on this year’s hotly-tipped film, The Favourite.

Jess said: “It’s probably my favourite job I’ve ever worked on (no pun intended)! It’s amazing that the film is doing so well, it was a pleasure to be a part of, and to work for such an incredible designer that I’ve always looked up to.  

“I’ve been working on a variety of things since I left MetFilm School from Game of Thrones to Disney and lots in-between.

“I’ve just started working on an exciting new Marvel project. I can’t say much but it’s a really interesting story and I’m looking forward to it. It’s good to try and keep things diverse as you keep learning all the time.”

The animated film, Isle of Dogs is also strongly tipped to win. MetFilm School graduate Guy Lubin worked on the film’s visual effects (VFX), he said: “It feels great to be a part of such a big and outstanding animation film!“ Guy is now living and working between London and Tel Aviv; he has since worked on projects for tech giants, Huawei and Samsung as well as American fashion brand, Coach.

Max Elliot-Lovell 29, who studied on the MA Cinematography Course in 2016, was a lighting technician on Mary Poppins Returns. 

Max has also worked on Artemis Fowl, Tolkien, Billie Piper’s directorial debut, Rare Beasts, and a couple of Netflix shows.

He talks fondly of his time at MetFilm School – he said: “It gave me so much in terms of being able to walk onto a set, and gave me the right mind-set, skills and knowledge to carve my own path.”

Finally, Marta Baidek, who was a visual effects (VFX) assistant coordinator on Solo: A Star Wars Story, as well as the animation coordinator on Ready, Player One, is a graduate alumna of the BA Practical Filmmaking course.

Marta, 26 lives in West London, she said: “The feeling of having worked in two Oscar-nominated movies is fantastic!  The VFX team from Ready Player One got in touch with me because of the experience I had in motion capture. I went for an interview and was lucky to get it! It was one of my favourite experiences of my life so far. The team was just brilliant! I had the chance to see Steven Spielberg work and be a part of a movie that tried to break convention and dared to go further in visual storytelling.

Like the other graduates, Marta loved her time at MetFilm School, she said: I chose MetFilm because I wanted to learn more about filmmaking and gain more practical knowledge on how to create a movie from scratch.

“Just after I left film school I did some AD work in a few short films but soon after I joined the VFX department in films like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Alien: Covenant, Ready Player One, Solo: A Star Wars Story and most recently, Tim Burton’s Dumbo."

Marta is currently co-directing her first feature film.

Jonny Persey, Director at MetFilm school said: “Our learning philosophy is to minimise the difference between being a student and being in industry. It’s about make, make, make – feature films, short films, web series, documentaries etc. And, doing so under the guidance of professional filmmakers in an organisation that also makes films professionally, and at Ealing Studios, a filmmaking hub steeped in history.”

February 18th 2019