A BOURNEMOUTH University graduate is celebrating after his work on the film Interstellar won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects on Sunday night.

It is a second Oscar for Andrew Lockley, who also won in 2011 for his work on Inception, and earlier this month he received a BAFTA award in the same category.

Mr Lockley is one of more than 50 other graduates from Bournemouth University and the Arts University who have worked on the special effects of several of the latest blockbusters.

“I'm very excited that we are winners again,” he said.

“Everyone seems to think that we should have expected to be nominated, but it's never a sure thing. I really enjoyed my time at BU, I came in as a mature student and hadn't been to university before, so I embraced student life to its fullest.

“I have very fond memories of my classmates and working through the night in the rather smelly lab.”

Mr Lockley, who has an MA in Digital Special Effects, collected the award alongside BU honorary doctorate recipient Paul Franklin.

 

Both work at British production house Double Negative alongside a number of other graduates from the university's National Centre for Computer Animation.

Lecturer Sofronis Efstathiou said: “Witnessing our graduates move into a very competitive industry and then work on some of the best creative projects from around the world is a fantastic feeling.

“We take great pride in the work of our students and graduates within the Computer Games and Film sectors.

“Indirectly we will have had more than 100 graduates working across all the nominated feature films.”

The 87th Academy Awards ceremony was held at its traditional home in the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, with a host of British actors and filmmakers in attendance.

Interstellar beat four other films to the title, most of which were worked on by Bournemouth graduates.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was tipped to win in the Best Visual Effects category and was widely praised for its story and unexpected emotional punch.

Some of the credit for this must go to the ape animators, among them a number of Bournemouth graduates.

The latest entry in the long-running comic book franchise, X-Men: Days of Future Past was also nominated for the Best Visual Effects category and was worked on by former Bournemouth students as well. 

Guardians of the Galaxy involved Dorset computer animation specialists which were nominated in the Best Visual Effects category.

The sci-fi comic book action adventure was highly praised for its distinctive visual style and madcap effects.

Several Bournemouth University graduates worked on the film as part of the team at international firm Framestore, which has a base in the town.

Meanwhile two brothers, Oliver Payne, 10, and Finlay Wright-Stephens, nine, played Stephen Hawking's children in The Theory of Everything, which won Eddie Redmayne Best Actor at the awards.

The pair attended Bournemouth-based Swish of the Curtain theatre school.

The Imitation Game, another largely British effort which focused on the life of the famous scientist, Alan Turing was nominated in several categories. 

The early part of the film covered the school days of the renowned cryptanalyst, mathematician and computer scientist at Sherborne School, regarded by some as an important influence on his later life.

He was supposedly so determined to attend the school on his first day that he rode a bike more than 60 miles from Southampton, train staff having gone on strike.