The list includes Film Production grad John Lenic, as one of the producers of Best Dramatic Series nominee Stargate Universe, and Acting grad Benjamin Arthur for Best Individual Performance in a Comedy Program for the lead role in the series Less Than Kind.
Filmgrad Trevor Cameronis up for two awards – Best Direction in an Animated Program or Series and Best Writing in a Children’s or Youth Program or Series – for his work on Wapos Bay. Finally, 3D grad Clint Butler is a co-nominee for Best Direction in an Animated Program or Series, and a trio of grads are on the Gemini-nominated team for Best Visual Effects – once again, for Stargate Universe.
(Are you a VFS grad who’s up for a Gemini and don’t see your name in the list? Leave a comment! We’d love to hear from you.)
Congratulations to all! The awards will be handed out in November – we’ll be watching!
Best Dramatic Series
Stargate Universe - John Lenic (plus 3 others)
Best Individual Performance in a Comedy Program or Series Benjamin Arthur – Less Than Kind
Best Direction in an Animated Program or Series
Trevor Cameron – Wapos Bay
Clint Butler (plus 1 other) - Hot Wheels Battle Force 5
Best Visual Effects
Alec McClymont, Craig Vandenbiggelaar, Andrew Karr (plus 7 others) – Stargate Universe
Best Writing in a Children’s or Youth Program or Series
Trevor Cameron – Wapos Bay
Right now, something amazing is happening on the VFS Entertainment Business Management campus: a groundbreaking, truly unprecedented cross-discipline project that’s tapping the expertise of students and alumni from programs across VFS. Visual effects artists, actors, makeup artists, designers… they’re all bringing their talents to bear on a project guided by EBM students.
It’s called The Interactive Lovecraft, affectionately known by the internal codename Project Space Squid, and it’s bringing new life to the work of legendary sci-fi/horror writer HP Lovecraft, whose tales of insanity, monsters, cults, and impossibly old gods, are hugely influential to this day.
Teams of VFS students and alumni are creating a cutting-edge transmedia interactive magazine experience for the tablet marketplace, and laying the foundations of a model that future students will be able to experience with other public domain work as part of the Entertainment Business Management program. The end result – incorporating text, video, and games – will include adaptations of five seminal Lovecraft stories: The Call of C’Thulhu, Dagon, The Dunwich Horror, The Rats in the Walls, and The Music of Erich Zann.
Here is an excellent teaser video they’ve put together, explaining the project’s development and showing a lot of the progress so far.
The Interactive Lovecraft will be available to the public in the fall, and, in the spirit of public domain and open source, all proceeds from its sales will go to the Wikimedia Foundation.
In the meantime, the students and grads are keeping an active development blog, where you can find all the latest and get real insight into what goes into creating a project of this magnitude.
The project is about uncovering the most exceptional talent working in video today: the talent that inspires us, challenges us, surprises us, and changes the world.
In short, it’s about celebrating an entire medium and its power.
Developed by YouTube and the Guggenheim Museum in collaboration with HP, YouTube Play hopes to attract innovative, original, and surprising videos from around the world, regardless of genre, technique, background, or budget. This global online initiative is not a search for what’s “now,” but a search for what’s next.
YouTube Play is looking for submissions – including animation, motion graphics, narrative and non-narrative films, music videos, or something entirely new – of under 10 minutes in length that were created within the last two years. Up to 20 videos will be chosen to be presented at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, as well as Berlin, Venice, and Bilbao.
The deadline to submit is coming fast – July 31, 2010. Find out more, read the guidelines, and submit your work now at youtube.com/play.
It’s the third time Lillard has traveled to Vancouver to lead this intensive scene study course. Under his guidance, Acting grads pair up and delve into a number of pre-selected scenes, coming away with a rejuvenated dedication to their craft.
Click on the banner below to visit vfs.com/matthewlillard where you can learn more about just how deeply connected the veteran actor is to the Acting for Film & Television department at VFS.
Bart has been teaching in the Acting department at VFS for over 10 years. He’s seen a lot of changes in that time, both within the school and in Vancouver’s film and television industry.
One look at his IMDB profile and it’s easy to see Bart’s been very active in the local scene for some time, racking up credits on numerous films and TV series, from The Outer Limits to Human Cargo and Da Vinci’s Inquest, not to mention a few recent appearances as an evil doctor on the hit web series, Riese.
Along with the many other talented and caring instructors in the Acting for Film & Television department, Bart plays an important role in making VFS a hot spot for aspiring actors, giving students the skills and knowledge to launch their careers in a very competitive industry.
What do you do in the Acting for Film & Television department?
Bart: I teach two different Text Analysis classes: an introduction class in the 4-month Acting Essentials program, and a more advanced introduction to genre in the first term of the one-year Acting for Film & Television program. In the students’ final term, I teach a class called The Biz where they study the business side of the acting industry and shoot promotional reels to showcase their talents to agents. I also help out on the “Instructor Shoot” (a collaboration between Acting and Film Production), monologue competitions, and other activities to support students and the department.
How did you break in as an actor, and what kind of work do you usually do?
Bart: I trained at Ryerson Theatre School for three years and spent another 10 doing part-time classes. I have also been training with the help of some of our faculty in the Acting program to prepare for rehearsals for Glengarry Glen Ross, which start at the end of June.
Originally, I broke in doing children’s theatre and small roles on television shows like Neon Rider and Night Heat. I also spent a season performing at the Shaw Festival. The work I do now varies from plays like Glengarry to roles in locally shot film and television. I produce plays when inspired, and I also get involved in VFS-related productions when I can, like Exley — the latest film project from the Head of Acting at VFS, Bill Marchant.
As we posted last week, The Hurt Locker‘s Academy Award-winning Sound Mixer Ray Beckettis at VFS all week starting today, where he’ll be meeting with students and sharing his experiences. We are, in a word, excited. We’re so glad our students will have the chance to learn from him.
But if you’re not a student, what does it all mean for you? Well, we’ve found some time in his busy schedule to sit down for a video interview – and we want your questions! Wondering about how he got his start? The life of a sound mixer? His experiences on The Hurt Locker? Where he keeps his Oscar?
Ask away, either right here in the comments, or on Facebook or Twitter! We’ll compile them and he’ll answer on camera! You only have until Wednesday to submit, though, so don’t take too much time to think up some good ones!
Persons Unknown, a 13-episode series on NBC, premieres tonight! Why are we excited? Well, for one thing, the series was created by Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) and showrun by Remi Aubuchon (24). And The Hollywood Reporter‘s Randee Dawncalls it “delightfully weird and foreboding.”
But that’s not all – a few VFS grads are involved, too. Three 3D Animation & Visual Effects alumni worked on the series out of Ollin Studio – compositors Alberto Landeros and Jose Julian Karam Lopez and animator Anibal Castellanos. Acting for Film & Television grad Felipe de Lara also earned a role on the show, “Ricky Morton”, but as for the whys and wherefores, they remain… unknown.
Persons Unknown premieres tonight on NBC at 10pm (9 Central).
Is it a new month already? As we did for May, we thought it would be a good time to look ahead at June’s film, TV, and game release schedules and play a little game of “spot the VFS grad”! Here’s a small slice of what we’re looking forward to this month – the entertainment properties that our alumni from numerous programs have had a hand in.
We’ll give a little more detail for each as the month rolls along!
You’re not tired of vampire puns yet, are you? Good, neither are we!
We wanted to give a big shout-out to Actinggrad Sara Canning, who plays Jenna on The Vampire Diaries. We interviewed Sara last year when she first landed the role. Now the show – an unqualified hit that’s already been picked up for a second season – closes out its first season tonight.
Of course, rabid fans already know that. But if you’re a more casual viewer, there’s two things you should know: 1) if the promo is any indication, the finale is going to be epic; and 2) the producers have confirmed that at least one main character is going to die in the finale. Will it be Jenna?
We’ll all have to tune in to find out who bites the dust (or gets bitten). But if you’re the betting kind, check out this dead pool for some odds!
The finale airs tonight on CW at 8pm/7c, and in Canada on CTV at 7pm/10c.
Update: Sara was interviewed by Teen Vogue this week! Read it here!
They came out in droves, they packed the Biltmore nightclub, and they celebrated an incredible diversity of talent from VFS. In every way, the Spring 2010 VFS Impact Awards were a massive hit!
The VFS Impact Awards are an event created and carried out by Entertainment Business Management students as part of their one-year curriculum. But they’re also a chance to fête an amazing array of white-hot student work from all 13 programs.
Highlighted by an array of multicultural entertainment and a ridiculously awesome buffet, the event saw winners in 12 categories. Without further adieu, here they are! Congrats to all!
The More Than The Sum Of Its Parts Award An exceptional project that incorporates multiple media to produce a resulting experience that is more impactful than any one element of the property Curtis Churn and Yu Hsin Feng, Sound Design for Visual Media, Noise
The Difference Maker Award A project with demonstrated significant social impact Raylene McEachern, Film Production, Hide No More
The Outstanding Performance Award An exceptional performance in a project, whether acting, dancing, fighting, singing, speaking, playing music or simply performing super human feats Dave Lennon, Acting for Film & Television, Appealing to Women
The Outstanding Character Design Award For envisioning and giving life to a new character that is especially inspiring, beautiful or simply very unique Scott Sawchuk, Acting for Film & Television, Phil
The Zero-To-Sixty Award An exceptional project created by a student or team with no prior knowledge of associated software, equipment, or methodologies Calder Archinuk, Jeffrey Cheng, Jonathan Hudson, Nathaniel Sinn, and Jordan Whitlock, Game Design, Eat ‘Em Up
The Public Enlightenment Award An exceptional project that makes simple a complex subject, makes common obscure knowledge, or provides a new and unique way of looking at something previously considered mundane Ana Mendez, Ezra Istiroti, Jordan Scott, and Ehab Kamal, Digital Design, Terms & Conditions
The Emotional Impact Award An exceptional project which creates an emotional connection between the audience and the content Arielle Tuliao, Jared Paul Abrahamson, Rachel Wegener, Whitney Underwood, Devon Copico, and Kyle Cossairt, Acting For Film & Television, Come Home Soon
The Outstanding Setting Design Award For envisioning and giving life to a new world/setting that is especially inspiring, beautiful or simply very unique Mario Brioschi, 3D Animation & Visual Effects, Maybe One Morning
The Friend of VFS Industry Award Industry professionals, organizations, and companies that have gone above and beyond the call of duty in providing opportunities for VFS students Next Level Games
The Technical Achievement Award Outstanding display of technical prowess in the student’s field as demonstrated through exceptional project execution Meena Ibrahim, Digital Character Animation, Change
The Storyteller Award An exceptional project that takes us on a creative journey and leaves a lasting impression Katelynn Dey, Writing for Film & Television, Red Light Go
The Mission Impossible Award They said it couldn’t be done… exceptionally ambitious or complex project scope that was successfully pulled off in the end Jeffrey Cheng, Patrick Donaghy, Russ Ding, Garrett Schram, and John Brunkhart, Game Design, Pollen Nation
And finally, here’s a sweet photo gallery from the evening, telling the story better than we ever could!
Not sure what these are?
Nominees for the 2010 Gemini Awards were announced this week, and a number of VFS grads made the cut! The Geminis are Canada’s top TV awards, and this year’s nominations include alumni of Film Production, Acting for Film & Television, and 3D Animation & Visual Effects.
This month’s Faculty Spotlight is on VFS 
Bart: I trained at Ryerson Theatre School for three years and spent another 10 doing part-time classes. I have also been training with the help of some of our faculty in the Acting program to prepare for rehearsals for 
You’re not tired of vampire puns yet, are you? Good, neither are we!