The National Film and Television School is completing Dolby Atmos upgrades and adding Dolby Vision capabilities across its Beaconsfield campus.
The upgrades will see the ten sound design suites located within the School being outfitted with Dolby Atmos and all three of the school’s dubbing theatres also featuring Dolby Atmos.
Combined with NFTS’ existing Dolby Atmos equipped 150-seater cinema, the installation creates an exceptional end-to-end environment where NFTS students can develop, mix and experience immersive sound using technology and workflows used by those operating at the highest levels of the international screen industries.
The School’s grading suites will also be equipped with Dolby Vision to enable students to deliver their films in Dolby Vision HDR.
In January 2027, the School will open The Cubby Broccoli Building, adding 25,000 sq ft of new teaching space and increasing student capacity by 25%. Accessible accommodation will also be available for the first time in the school’s history.
The new building will house state-of-the-art facilities supporting both new and existing areas of training, rom virtual production, motion capture and real time technologies to VFX, animation, sound and post-production facilities
Alongside the infrastructure deployment, students will be taught how to create in Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. Dolby-provided educational materials and workshops for students will be integrated into the relevant curriculum. The School will be supported by ongoing technical collaboration and faculty training to ensure students graduate with practical experience in immersive audio and HDR workflows that reflect current industry standards.
The collaboration includes exploration of emerging applications across broadcast, gaming, user-generated content, and next-generation production workflows, including HDR and Dolby Vision-native production pipelines.
The NFTS has a longstanding relationship with Dolby Laboratories. In 2019, its Oswald Morris Cinema was upgraded to Dolby Atmos, giving students the opportunity to experience screenings in a state-of-the-art theatrical environment. The latest investment significantly expands access to the technology, bringing Dolby Atmos directly into the spaces where students develop and create award-winning work.
Jon Wardle, Director of the National Film and Television School, said: “Our ambition is for the NFTS to be the most technologically advanced film school in the world, giving our students access to facilities, equipment and workflows that match those being used across the industry. This major Dolby Atmos upgrade is another important step towards that goal. By embedding this technology across our Sound Design suites, dubbing theatres and cinema, students will have the opportunity to work with immersive sound throughout the entire creative process.”
John Couling, Senior Vice President, Entertainment at Dolby, added: “One of the most effective ways to support the future of the creative industries is to invest in education today. By integrating Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision into both the learning environment and curriculum, we’re helping students develop the technical expertise, creative confidence and practical understanding of professional workflows they’ll need throughout their careers.
This collaboration supports NFTS’ ambition to be one of the world’s most technologically advanced film schools while helping ensure graduates are ready to contribute from day one. We can’t wait to see the work that comes out of NFTS in the years ahead and are proud to play a role in developing the industry’s future talent pipeline.”
Previous graduates of the NFTS have gone on to enjoy significant success on the international stage, with alumni including Tarn Willers, who won an Academy Award for Best Sound on The Zone of Interest, trailblazing Production Sound Mixer Nina Rice (Barbie, Saltburn, Wuthering Heights) and Emmy winning Louise Burton (Kneecap, Moonage Daydream, Enola Holmes) among those to have established acclaimed careers in sound.
At the MPSE Golden Reel awards, which recognises outstanding achievement in sound editing across film, television and games, NFTS students consistently account for around 50% of nominations in the student categories each year, with several going on to take home the Golden Reel awards early in their careers.
