Creative industries professionals and emerging creatives have completed Wales' first Virtual Production Fellowship, gaining cutting-edge skills in advanced media production.
The programme was delivered by Final Pixel Academy, in partnership with Media Cymru Consortium partners University of South Wales and with support from fivefold and Gorilla Academy. It brought leading industry partners together for hands‑on training in real‑time workflows and virtual production techniques.
The Final Pixel Virtual Production Fellowship™ offered in-depth, highly quality experiences for 16 mid-to-senior level crew and emerging industry talent – working across film, High-end TV, games, broadcast, animation, VFX, live events and post-production in Wales.
Virtual production (VP) skills are increasingly in demand across the sector as productions adopt LED volume workflows and real‑time engines to streamline shoots, enhance creative control and support more sustainable practices.
Over nine months, participants developed core VP competencies – from creating virtual environments to operating inside an LED volume – building the skills required for production environments.
James Codling, Lead Trainer at Final Pixel Academy said:
“The Virtual Production Fellowship showcases what happens when training is grounded in current production workflows. It's been great to see how quickly people develop not just their skills, but their confidence in the technology and the changes we're seeing across the industry. Fellows come in curious and leave ready and excited to apply this learning on productions. Some fellows were also able to join a live Final Pixel production placement, gaining hands-on experience in a professional VP studio environment.
“For me, the real success is creating a space where people can learn, collaborate and experiment, allowing them to understand where they fit in an ever-developing area of the industry.”
Lewis Rawlins, Virtual Production Fellowship Wales trainee, said:
“The placement gave me an incredible introduction to on-set virtual production and left me genuinely inspired about my future in the industry. Being part of a real virtual production setup, from BTS cameras to camera tracking, gave me valuable hands-on experience at a professional level.”
Sally Lisk-Lewis, Skills Partnership Manager for Media Cymru at University of South Wales, said:
“What makes Virtual Production special isn't just the technology – it's the willingness of a global community to learn together, teach together and grow together. Through our Fellowship, we're helping to build that community in Wales one connection at a time.
“We would like to thank Final Pixel, fivefold and Gorilla for coming together to make it all happen.”
Media Cymru is a collaboration which aims to turn Cardiff and the surrounding capital region’s media sector into a global hub for media innovation with a focus on green and fair economic growth.
