It seems like this year, 3D grads have worked on all kinds of huge films. Some have been working their way up in the industry for many years, and are now in TD and senior positions. And then there’s the other kind of grad: talented, hard-working, and recruited right out of VFS to work on the big animated movies of the year. Case in point: Space Chimps!
By our count, at least 40 recent grads worked as animators on Space Chimps, the latest family flick to hit the screens this summer. The animation studio leading the charge on the movie was Vanguard, a Vancouver-based company. When it came time to recruit animators, CG Recruiter Barb Dawson, who has taught Production Management in the 3D program, knew exactly where to go first.
Barb says, “Space Chimps needed to crew top-quality local talent, but also needed to keep a strict budget in order to complete the film. We planned for 1/3 of our crew to be artists with loads of talent and potential but very little experience. Because of my connection with VFS, I knew that it was the place to look for up-and-coming talent, and starting hiring recent grads in the first few moths of production. Many students started in entry level roles and progressed to full artist positions by the end of the film by learning on the job. Though some students were hired from other schools, most came from VFS, as it was the school with the highest level of graduates by far, and those students had the best success rate in production.”
Can’t argue with the woman who does the hiring! Congrats to all those who launched their career this year by launching monkeys into space.
Since we interviewedActingand Film grad Felipe de Lara in April, a wealth of promotional material for the upcoming Spanish-language movie in which he’s a supporting lead, Viaje Redondo (”Round Trip”), has been released - including a very nice-looking official site.
The cast and crew has also been interviewed in a series of podcasts, giving Felipe the chance to speak about his role - at least, we think that’s what he’s doing. We don’t speak Spanish. For those who do, enjoy!
3D Animation & Visual Effectsgrad Jelmer Boskmahas been profiled by Softimage, makers of XSI. Jelmer goes into great detail about his time at VFS as well as his career so far, working on such films as Journey to the Center of the Earth and Watchmen. It’s a great read, so check it out!
Congratulations to everyone involved, including Writer/Director Jean-Sebastien Di Fruscia, Director of Photography Cole Stamm, Producer Veronica Bautista, Editor Leo Lu, Art Director Paul Orlando, and sound designersCraig Carpenter and Gunnar Petersen.
Cole, whose work on the film was recently honoured with a CSC nomination, says: “Everyone worked incredibly hard and was serious about their roles, which helped in delegating certain things and backing up to see the big picture. And, we got to shoot in an insane asylum that was absolutely haunted. That was memorable.”
UPDATE!: The NY Film & Video Festival has two sets of screenings, in July and September. Hail Mary is, in fact, premiering at the September festival. So there’s still time to make travel plans…
Now Sasha, along with his Game Design classmates, has graduated - and he’s already signed on as a level designer with local studio United Front Games. We thought we’d bring the story full circle and catch up with him now that he’s completed the VFS journey.
(Left: Sasha 12 months ago. Right: Sasha at his recent grad, holding the “Best Flash Game” award.)
The last time we blogged about you specifically, Sasha, you were holding a giant cheque and just getting going at VFS. It’s only been a year - how far do you think you’ve come in that time, as a game designer?
Far. I’ve really learned a ton of stuff that just isn’t possible outside of this setting, and I can safely say that what I’ve experienced over the past year, along with the people I’ve met, has definitely put me on the right path. When I first started, I had a bit of experience with level design, and now I have so much more. [ed. Sasha's scholarship application included planning documents for game levels.] The great thing about the program is that it gives you a bit of everything, so that in the end you’re well rounded and ready to explore almost any part of the game design process.
In your year in Game Design, did anything really take you by surprise? Was there anything you enjoyed doing that you didn’t think you would, or something that was eye-opening about the industry?
“Laugh At Me”, an anti-homophobia music video by Acting Essentials instructor David C. Jones, will be featured twice at the Out On Screen Festival in August.
“This was a moving master that traveled three city blocks with 22 actors in an uncontrolled environment,” David explains. “The film was shot in just three takes the version on screen is the third take - we had a terrible crash with the joggers on the first take.”
The video stars Acting for Film & Television grad Peter Breeze and features Acting alumni Michael Aaron Keith and Jillian Pasquayak, who did both Acting Essentials and the one-year Acting program at VFS.
David is hosting a fundraiser on Saturday, where the full festival lineup will be announced. Keep your eyes on outonscreen.com for more festival details!
Daniel’s role as Lead Model Maker on Stargate Atlantis puts him in contention for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series. He was nominated for the same award in 2005 and 2006 for Battlestar Galactica (fellow VFS grad Alec McClymont took home an Emmy in 2007, also for BSG).
A number of VFS grads worked on the Sci Fi miniseries Tin Man - also up for a slew of awards. And two VFS Advisory Board Members - Digital Design’s Matthew Mulder (The Company) and Sound Design’s Paul Sharpe (Tin Man) - are also nominated.
You can peruse the complete list of nominees here.
Karen J. Lloyd knows a thing or two about being a Storyboard Artist - but best of all, she wants you to know, too.
The Classical Animation grad - and former VFS instructor - has been storyboarding animation for 11 years, a specialization that, as she emphasizes, is as much about communication as anything else. And that ability to communicate - and the drive to give back to “the younglings” - led her to create storyboardblog.com, which she maintains along with “live-action guy” Adrien Van Viersen.
It’s a practical, honest, and often hilarious look inside the animation industry and how it works, whether it’s the must-read breakdown of the importance of professionalism in animation or handy storyboard templates or the value of training for an aspiring Storyboard Artist. It’s not to be missed for anyone even thinking of joining the industry.
We wanted to go directly to the source and find out from Karen - who’s worked on everything from Rugrats to Studio B’s Kid vs Kat - what’s behind the ‘boards.
As someone who’s trained in Classical Animation, what do you like about being a storyboard artist?
Nothing. Next question. Alright, alright, I’m kidding - I do that… It keeps me sane.
Oddly enough for me, it’s not the drawing part. I like telling stories visually and the drawings are just a means to that end. I love the challenge of working through a script that may not be the strongest and finding ways to ‘fix’ it. To make something that may read awkward work in the visual medium. I really enjoy making the characters come alive and act. I’ve done acting myself so that’s probably why it comes naturally to me.
I enjoy ‘playing director’ and being in control - for the most part - of how the cartoon will turn out. And I love freelancing and pretty much being my own boss. I do my thing, hand it in on time, and everyone leaves me alone. You have to earn that, but it’s great.
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer is about to make its theatrical debut.
The action/horror/comedy feature starring genre legend Robert Englund is the work of Brookstreet Pictures: Filmgrads Jon Knautz (director) and Patrick White (producer), along with producer Trevor Matthews, who also plays the titular plumber-turned-monster-slayer. (Jack Brooks Key Makeup Artist Brandi Boulet is also a VFS grad, out of Makeup Design.)
Now it’s hitting select theatres in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal on July 25th. Click for the details.
This is Brookstreet’s first feature after several well-received shorts: a huge transition.
“It was daunting,” says Patrick. “It was a long process, and definitely a lot more risks, but that much more rewarding.”
“We’ve been making short films. We’ve been working on this stuff for a long time. To get a 35mm print that’s going to be shipped to theatres… It’s fulfilling the dream.”
Jack Brooks should appeal to anyone who remembers the great popcorn horror movies - Patrick cites The Fly, Gremlins, and Evil Dead. “It’s a real fun movie. It definitely is a throwback to movies we enjoyed back in the ’80s.”
“I think what we’re trying to capture is fans from the ’80s horror but also people who might think that the so-called ‘torture porn’ has gone too far. We don’t hurt people - we hurt monsters.”
The trio started Brookstreet in 2004, but Jon and Patrick go back a couple of years earlier, to their VFS days. “Jon and I met at Vancouver Film School then Jon met Trev, and we all came together,” Patrick explains.
“Really, this project kind of birthed itself. Jon and Trev kind of had an idea down at Trev’s cottage, so from there, we all drew on our ideas. I started thinking, ‘Okay, well, how do we get the cast involved? Where do we shoot it?’”
A key part of that cast was Englund, a fixture of film and TV best-known for playing Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street films: probably the most familiar face from that era and genre.
“We never thought we’d ever get him,” says Patrick. “We had a list, and everybody was on the left and he was on the right. The shorts came in handy, because we were able to send him a short we made called Still Life that did really well in the festival circuit. He read the script and saw that it was a meaty role. He was going to have some fun.”
Audiences are loving it, and Patrick, Jon, and Trevor are enjoying the ride. “We just came back from Fantasia in Montreal,” Patrick says, “And there’s nothing better than being in the theatre with people screaming at the screen.”
What’s next for Jack Brooks? Well, after its run in theatres, it’s bound to have a long life on DVD - Patrick hopes it becomes one of those staples, like Evil Dead, of teenage parties: “It’s going to be a great party movie down the road.”
Recent Makeup Design for Film & Television graduate Crissy Renaud placed 2nd in the 2008 Make-Up Artist Magazine International Student Make-Up Competition, taking place at IMATS in Pasadena on June 21st and 22nd.
The competition was open to makeup students and recent graduates from around the world, with only 8 competitors accepted for participation. The theme in the character makeup category? A Werewolf in London.
The contest was hosted and judged by renowned makeup artist Michael Key, who is also the Editor-in-Chief of Makeup Artist Magazine and the founder of IMATS.
We had to ask Crissy more about her werewolf…
What was the process like on the day of the competition?
Hard! Michael Key selected 2-5 foam pieces varying in size, edge, quality, and air bubbles that fit our model. When we had our pieces, they started the clock and we had three hours to complete the look we were going for. In the Werewolf category, they added that they’d be judging the hair laying.
How did you decide what style of werewolf you wanted to create?
I watched almost all the movies I could get my hands on that had Werewolfs in them and picked things that I liked about them — like hair color, the ones that were more wolf than human, teeth, eyes, hands, and skin color. I spent hours on the internet looking at pictures of dog hair to see the direction of hair growth, as well as different variations of wolf men. We worked on a werewolf at work [WCT] for the show Reaper, and I always loved that it had a mohawk, so I knew I wanted to have that. But it all came down to a clean, simple look on the day, which meant a lot of prep work.
Tell us about your preparation process.
I did two solid weeks of prepping after work. I had already made a hair cowl and hands for the werewolf that I did at London’s IMATS [the London IMATS competition in January had the same theme; Crissy's werewolf in that competition was a female model]. The hair cowl just needed a hair cut and I put work gloves over the werewolf gloves I made. I did a teeth casting of Sean, my model, and sculpted upper and lower full dentures. I ended up making a latex chest that I ran from a mold at work that was from Smallville, then painted it up and laid hair on it. Finally, Bill Terazakis from WCT lent me a pair of contacts from Wrong Turn 2 that had just finished a werewolf look.
I learned from the last two IMATS shows that I did that the more prep you do, the faster you’ll be, and the better your final character will look.
Any particular challenges and/or aspects of the werewolf makeup you’re really proud of?
I like the hair work I did. I had Michael Key and Leonard Engelman both come up to me to tell me I did a good job on my hair work. That was a great moment for me!
And we can see why — incredible work, Crissy!
Here’s a final shot of the full werewolf group. If you see this gang headed toward you, you might want to cross the street…
It seems like this year, 3D grads have worked on all kinds of huge films. Some have been working their way up in the industry for many years, and are now in TD and senior positions. And then there’s the other kind of grad: talented, hard-working, and recruited right out of VFS to work on the big animated movies of the year. Case in point: Space Chimps!
“Laugh At Me”, an anti-homophobia music video by 
Karen J. Lloyd knows a thing or two about being a Storyboard Artist - but best of all, she wants you to know, too.
Jack Brooks should appeal to anyone who remembers the great popcorn horror movies - Patrick cites The Fly, Gremlins, and Evil Dead. “It’s a real fun movie. It definitely is a throwback to movies we enjoyed back in the ’80s.”
“We never thought we’d ever get him,” says Patrick. “We had a list, and everybody was on the left and he was on the right. The shorts came in handy, because we were able to send him a short we made called Still Life that did really well in the festival circuit. He read the script and saw that it was a meaty role. He was going to have some fun.”
