Schools and colleges
Film is an engineering discipline. Your physics students should be hearing that from somebody.
Written for teachers, careers leads and heads of sixth form — the people who get asked the question first, usually in a corridor. A camera department is doing applied optics under time pressure, and a grip is doing load calculation on a deadline.
The STEAM argument
These are engineering jobs that happen to be on a film set.
| If they are good at | On set that becomes | And it is |
|---|---|---|
| Physics and optics | Camera, focus pulling, colour science | Applied optics and maths, at speed |
| Mechanics and structures | Grip, rigging, crane, motion control | Load calculation and structural engineering |
| Electronics and power | Lighting, distribution, studio systems | Electrical engineering, on a deadline |
| Code and real-time graphics | Virtual production, previs, VFX pipeline | Software engineering with a camera attached |
| Data and networks | DIT, data wrangling, post engineering | Systems work where the rushes cannot be lost |
| Making and modelling | Art department, SFX, animatronics | Fabrication, materials and mechanism design |
ScreenSkills’ own DIT job profile recommends A-levels in art and design with maths and physics. Nesta and the University of Sussex, in The Fusion Effect (2016), found that firms combining arts and science skills showed 8% higher sales growth than science-only firms.
Doors
Pick the one that matches why you are here.
Teacher CPD
Half-day and full-day sessions so you can answer the question when a student asks it, without needing us in the room.
Where their subject leads
The STEAM crossover, written so a physics or DT department can use it in a lesson tomorrow.
What we offer schools
Every offer states the Gatsby benchmark it evidences.
Benchmark 4 — linking curriculum learning to careers
A physics-to-camera or forces-to-rigging workshop: the curriculum content, taught through the job that uses it.
Benchmark 6 — experiences of workplaces
A day at the Ken Adam Building, Pinewood Studios, inside the test room with a full camera package in the room, for teaching and careers staff.
Benchmark 5 — encounters with employers
Technician-led sessions run by people who were on a unit the week before.
Free classroom material
A printable set-plan poster, two one-hour lessons — the physics of a shot, and rigging and loads — and printable role cards. Free for a teacher to use with a class.
Before you book
What a careers lead will need from us in writing.
Everything we run is 18 and over, and we do not run sessions for under-18s, because there is no designated safeguarding lead in post and we do not run activity we cannot safeguard ourselves. Where young people have been reached — at the Futures Festival and on school and university outreach — the host institution held the safeguarding duty and supervised its own students. Teacher CPD, the classroom pack and the careers talk are for the adults who answer the question. Insurance and DBS status for attending staff are confirmed per booking.
