Another week, another animated blockbuster-to-be! This time it’s Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. It’s not easy to follow the transcendent Up this summer, but the Ice Age series has generally been pretty charming, and this third installment earned a very positive review from Variety.

Among the grads who worked on the production by way of Blue Sky Studios are three who we’ve name-checked before on this very blog: animators Scott Lemmer and Thom Roberts and modeler Brent Wong. Look for their names in lights!

Like most Canadians, we’ll be taking Wednesday off, back later this week. Happy Canada Day, everybody!

In less than two years since he graduated from the Sound Design for Visual Media program at VFS, Eduardo Castillo has established himself as a pro sound designer, racking up credits on ads for Doritos, Corona, and even the Singaporean Army (when they give a note on your work, you take it) through his employer, Prado Sur Audio in Mexico City. He recently talked to us about how he got started on this career path, and his passion for sound that keeps him going.

Q: Hi, Eduardo. Thanks for answering some questions for us. Could you begin by talking about what drew you to designing sound?

A: At the beginning, it was all about the music for me. I started listening to a genre called Psychedelic Trance, which is a combination of electronic music with lots of sound design, and that got me into making my own sounds using synths. I think I like this genre because the speaker is always filled with the whole frequency range – it is a very full sound. I try to apply that into my sound designs. Then, I started to pay more attention to the way everything sounded whenever I went to the movies, especially in horror films where the sound design complements the music and vice versa. Sometimes I even lost the plot because of that. I realized that was what I wanted to do, and after some time of searching for schools, I realized VFS was the best option.

Q: Since you graduated, you’ve landed contracts for pretty big companies like GMC, Corona, and Doritos. What’s it like working on such a large scale?
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Many of us recognized Dany Papineau’s acting talent when he appeared in the VFS Film Production short Alibi, Inc., directed by Dany’s collaborator and fellow grad Grégoire Bédard. Within a few years of graduating from the Acting for Film & Television program, Dany wrote, directed, co-starred, and produced 2 Frogs in the West, a 21-minute short film based on his own experiences as a young man from Quebec exploring Canada’s West. That initiative opened doors for Dany’s acting career, helping him land a role in the big-budget Underworld: Evolution. 2 Frogs is now getting closer to becoming a full feature, with a projected shoot schedule for this Fall.

Here’s what Dany had to say about his journey up until now:

Q: Being a bilingual actor with experience on screen in both languages, how would you compare the acting opportunities in French-language media to those in English-language media?
A: Hum, I could write an essay on this one but I’ll keep it short. Everyone has a different journey but I think that you have to create your own opportunities. Nowadays, we’re in a global market and (acting) opportunities can be found anywhere on the planet. As an actor or filmmaker, exposure brings work and I believe that the best opportunity that you can get is to have your best film work screening in festivals around the world, in French, English, or any language. Now, if you ever get the luck to be in such a production and you don’t speak English (whatever your first language may be), that’s where you might “lose opportunities.” Whether some Quebecers like this or not, English is currently the language of the world and it sure is an advantage to speak it – in a standard American accent, of course!

Q: How did you land a part in Underworld: Evolution?
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Entertainment Business Management graduate Kelly Balon recently acted as Associate Producer on Mad Cow Sacred Cow, a documentary that follows the journey of filmmaker Anand Ramayya as he investigates the connection between the mad cow crisis, the farm crisis, and the global food crisis. You might have already seen it this week on CBC Newsworld, but in case you missed it, put on a pot of coffee or set your DVRs to watch the rebroadcast this Sunday at 3 am ET/ 12 am PT.

Check out CBC’s write-up about the film here.

Two summers ago, we interviewed Brent Krekoski, a Makeup Design for Film & Television grad whose skills were tested on the set of Jennifer Lynch’s Surveillance, starring Julia Ormond and Bill Pullman. Well, it finally premiered on video-on-demand a few weeks ago and today starts a limited theatrical run.

TIME’s Richard Corliss calls Surveillance “Rashomon meets The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in Twin Peaks.” Fertile ground for a resourceful makeup assistant. “The best part of Surveillance for me, in terms of makeup, was all the deaths that take place throughout the movie,” Brent enthused at the time.

If you’re in New York or L.A., check local listings!

Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer, the action-comedy-horror romp directed by VFS Film Production grad Jon Knautz and produced by fellow grad Patrick White, has won a Saturn Award for Best DVD Release! The Saturn Awards are the celebration of the sci-fi/fantasy genre in film and TV.

When we interviewed Patrick last summer, he told us his biggest hope for the film was DVD longevity – “It’s going to be a great party movie down the road.” A theatrical release, cult buzz, and a Fangoria cover story later, it’s great to see that it’s getting recognition on DVD – and hopefully landing in the libraries of genre fans everywhere.

Saturn Awards were also given out to a laundry list of films that had VFS grads behind the scenes (especially alumni from 3D Animation & Visual Effects and Sound Design), including Best Science Fiction Film Iron Man, Best Fantasy Film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Best Horror Film Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Best Action/Adventure Thriller Film The Dark Knight, and Best Animated Film WALL-E.

Blockbuster season is well underway, so it’s a time when a lot of VFS grads can look for their names up on the big screen when the credits roll.

This week’s highlight is Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – bigger and robot-ier than ever. With much of the animation and VFX work done at ILM and Digital Domain, a number of VFS grads – all from the 3D Animation & Visual Effects program, worked on Transformers, including compositors Aruna Inversin and Bryan Jones, creature TD Henri Tan, digital artist Teh-wei Yeh, and animator Stephen King.

Some are calling the film ‘robot overload’ – we say there’s no such thing. Congrats, guys!

When Sveinbjörn J. Tryggvason’s 3D Animation & Visual Effects film Friends? hit YouTube, it caused a bit of a sensation. And with SIGGRAPH 2009 coming to New Orleans in early August, it’s about to get a whole new kind of attention – it’s up for an award at the prestigious Computer Animation Festival.

Friends? is one of three nominees for the Well Told Fable Award.

Tongue-in-cheek acronyms aside, it’s obviously a huge honour. “I was really excited about the film being accepted to the festival in the first place, but being nominated? That’s just crazy,” he tells us.

Great news, and we’ll be watching closely! Of course, VFS will also be at Siggraph, so stay tuned for details on where you can find us and what we’ll be doing!

Watch Friends? on YouTube

Charlie Bewley, who will appear in the upcoming Twilight sequel, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, can also be seen in a VFS Film Production short called Stuffed - a whimsical film written and directed by Shane Tanny and produced by Michael W. Penny. Best of all, the Twilight fan community has caught on – notably Twilight Lexicon – which has led to a sudden rise in attention for their little short.

We caught up with Shane and Michael to talk about the Stuffed and all the new attention – and praise – it’s been getting.

How did Stuffed come about? What was the genesis of the idea?

Shane: The inspiration for Stuffed came from the idea that even one little flaw can cause grief for the most perfect of people. Originally, the concept involved a practically perfect but thumb-sucking adult, but after realizing a similar story had once been told, I drew into my own past, and chose to write about a stuffed animal that my father had bought for me the day before I was born.

Michael: This was actually the second film Shane and I had worked on together. After completing our first documentary, Shane pitched me very early on about his idea. I thought it would make a great little piece, especially with the inherent implication that even the best of us are never perfect. I was happy to come aboard as his producer and help make this picture everything he wanted to achieve his first time out as a director.

No matter what school they’re from, a lot of student films are pretty serious. What made you choose to make one that was more funny and sweet than dark and brooding?

Shane: I wanted to make one that would be set apart. So I chose to make a film that still had an important message about acceptance and judgment, but could also be a fun, memorable, and original experience for the audience. With so many pretentious and preachy student films out there, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to make something that everyone, even the most casual of moviegoers, could appreciate.

Stuffed producer Michael W. Penny, writer/director Shane Tanny, and casting director Ryan Radchenko

Michael: I actually like pretentious and preachy student films, and would later go on to make one of my own. (laughs) But yeah, we just saw this as an opportunity to do something different and cute. A lot of people thought it would be silly at first, but upon seeing the final picture, also thought it was a great little film. I think it’s very difficult to do comedy, and to do it well is even harder. Everything just kind of fell into place on this show. We’re very proud of the entire cast and crew.

What’s it like seeing the film’s renewed life from the sudden Bewley-related buzz?

Shane: Having this much buzz surrounding the film has been a great experience. Being able to reach thousands of people with a sweet and simple message was the goal of this film, and thanks to the success of the very talented Mr. Bewley, we have recently been able to accomplish just that. We have been grateful to have had this much attention drawn to our little film due to the unlimited potential of Charlie’s rising star.

Michael: Charlie himself was actually the one who sent me an email mentioning the explosion of the film earlier this week. We had no idea that Twilight: New Moon fans had found the show, but it seems those fans the world over have been clamouring to find anything they could about Charlie, and when they found it, they latched onto this picture. It’s a terrific feeling to be involved in something that takes off with such force.

What’s the story on Charlie getting cast? And how was he to work with?

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As many grads know, a year at VFS is hard. Students are put through the wringer, and come out with top-quality reels and portfolios. The rigorous curriculum prepares them to become a part of the professional community right after they graduate.

That couldn’t be more true for someone like Sound Design for Visual Media grad Craig George. Ever since he got his sound reel in front of the right set of ears, Craig’s been swamped with work. But, as he explains,”it’s a good kind of hectic.”

Q: Hi, Craig. Thanks for taking some time out of your schedule for this. Could you start off by talking about what you do as a sound professional in the film and television industry?
A: I work as a freelance contractor for a few of the studios in town. My roles vary, depending on which studio I am working for and which project I am working on. My work ranges from providing sound editorial services (SFX, Dialogue, Music, and Foley) to completing all final deliveries of a production that will eventually make it to broadcast television or into theatres.

Q: What first attracted you to this field?
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