THE curtain has come down on the Bolton Film Festival. But Bolton's involvement in the world of film continues all year round.

At the University of Bolton, the next generation of behind the scenes talent, who help to make the movies even more magical, are learning their craft – taught by people who have worked, or still work, in the industry.

Today IAN SAVAGE takes a look at the special effects and visual effects course which is being recognised throughout the industry as ground-breaking.

ALIEN planets, sorcery, terrifying villains and amazing superheroes fill the big screen in many of today’s Hollywood blockbusters.

And bringing to life the seemingly never-ending stream of Marvel superhero, other-worldly characters from Star Wars and horror films requires skill and patience.

Students studying the special and visual effects degree courses at the School of Creative Technologies at the University of Bolton are learning the latest techniques to create fantasy worlds or the latest creature.

They can learn a variety of skills, from designing a CGI world to transforming someone into a monster using special makeup – and they are being taught by lecturers with experience of working on big budget film sets.

Natalie Woods, Special Makeup Effects Course Leader, started work sculpting and mould-making for the theatre and later worked on the Steven Spielberg movie War Horse, as well as the hit Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy, where she applied prosthetic pieces to actors to create a variety of alien creatures.

She now teaches and says her experience in the industry is hugely valuable to the students.

She said: “I have worked in theatre and film and having that background is incredibly valuable.

“There are more and more students joining these courses and there are more opportunities than ever in this country, partly because of the new Star Wars films being made which are all produced in the UK.

“At one time, you didn’t go into those kinds of jobs from a university course but now it has been absolutely established that you can and our courses teach areas that are relevant now.

“I wrote the course to teach stuff that I felt was needed in the industry, so that when our students leave here they can go on to be decent trainees with a lot of knowledge and experience of using the latest techniques and materials that are industry standard.

“As our courses get more well known, industry professionals know that they don’t have to teach them as much from the outset.”

Over the summer, there has been extensive building work to make sure the special effects students have the best working and learning environment.

Even the individual rooms are named after different fictional worlds – Narnia (from C S Lewis’s fantasy novels), Asgard (Thor), Pandora (James Cameron’s Avatar) and Q Branch (from the James Bond series) – so that students feel at home.

Simon Wiggins, head of the School of Creative Technologies at the university – said that the degree courses were “getting a lot of respect”.

He said: “There is a big growth in these courses across the country, especially makeup courses.

“The reason for that is there are more sound stages than ever in this country and so many big films and TV series being made. All the Marvel films and the rise of Netflix and all the fantasy spin-off shows means there is huge demand for people with skills in all manner of special effects.

“All of these films and shows need special effects, from CGI work to prosthetics, hair punching, all sorts of work.

“The thing that makes us at the University of Bolton different is that we offer our students the chance to learn all disciplines – we offer the complete package.

“We integrate all the disciplines together and we also get the students used to working as part of a team.

“Anyone can teach technique but because we have experts who have worked in or are working in the industry leading our students, they get a true understanding of what it is like working on a film set, on a huge sound stage with a crew of people.”