When Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War II hit last year, it was, for many, a very welcome departure from the tried-and-true RTS formula. But there was a big gap in the shape of the ever-popular Chaos Space Marines faction, and that’s something Vancouver-based Relic Entertainment rectified this week with the release of DOWII’s first expansion, Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising.

A lot of VFS grads work at Relic, to put it mildly. There were about a dozen on DOWII (check out our interview with one of them, Game Design grad Francois Chaput), and Chaos Rising is no different.

Right now, we can confirm two – Art Director Ian Cumming (3D Animation & Visual Effects) and Animator Jefferson Takahashi (Classical Animation and Digital Character Animation). Congrats on the release, guys, and to everyone at Relic!

When Jesse Davidge and Jonathan Busby graduated from the Classical Animation and Maya programs at VFS (the latter would soon evolve into today’s Digital Character Animation) they both took a pretty well-journeyed career path, working for big local studios like Studio B, EA, and Bardel.

A few years on, Jesse and Jon wanted something a little different. They wanted chances to work on smaller, more diverse projects – to build their own relationships with clients and see their work all the way through from concept to completion.

That resulted in the founding of Blatant Studios, a new Vancouver-based production studio specializing in animation and motion graphics. Jesse and Jon form two-thirds of the operation. “Blatant began as a way to brand our after-hours commercial work,” Jesse says. “Eventually, it became a full-time company.”

Blatant now boasts a splashy website and a nice track record of pro work, and, as Jon explains, it’s not the kind of thing you start on a whim. “Starting a studio is not an overnight venture. It takes years of networking, knowledge of production, and building a client base. It’s a 24/7 commitment.”

The two are putting their full range of animation, directing, and producing skills to use on an array of interesting projects – like this spot for Sprint/NASCAR, produced in collaboration with San Francisco’s Gunshop. Even more recently, they were approached by Tribal DDB to produce two videos for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at the Winter Olympic Games. They had about 3 weeks. Like a lot of homegrown talent involved in the many facets of the Games, it brought a whole new level of exposure. “The thought of having millions of people see our work definitely energized us to do what was needed to see the project realized,” says Jesse. The second of the two videos was projected on the floor of B.C. Place during the Closing Ceremonies.

We’ll leave you with a video for the Canadian singer-songwriter Dan Mangan that Blatant did. It was released earlier this year, and it’s pretty awesome.

To see all their latest work, check out the Blatant Studios website at blatantstudios.com.

The perennially eerie Tim Burton has once again returned to classic children’s literature in his next film, Alice in Wonderland.

Opening in theatres this Friday, a number of VFS grads have helped realize this not-surprisingly eccentric tribute to Lewis Carrol’s magical story of a girl who tumbled down a rabbit hole.

Alumni include 3D Animation & Visual Effects grads Andrew Lawson (Character Animator), Geeta Basantani (Digital Matte Painter), John Iskandar (Visual Effects Artist), and Phan Wiantrakoon (Animator), alongside Classical Animation alum Ken Kaiser (Animator).

Update — Not surprisingly, we’ve just heard from more 3D grads who have worked on this film: Veronica Marino (Compositor) and Jacob Curtis Miller (Digital Artist).

Click here to watch the film’s trailer on YouTube.

We’re very pleased to announce an official partnership between Vancouver Film School and 5 Alarm Music, America’s largest independent production music library for film, television, radio, and commercials.

This partnership means students throughout VFS will have full and easy access to music that can really make their work pop. 5 Alarm’s huge library of high-quality music is already used extensively by students in 3D Animation & Visual Effects, Classical Animation, Digital Character Animation, Acting, Digital Design, Film Production, Foundation, Game Design, Sound Design, and Writing as they create and polish their films, reels, and other projects.

5 Alarm has contributed music to such productions as Transformers, A Christmas Carol, and HBO’s True Blood – and that’s just a tiny selection.

“VFS partnerships are very important to the student experience,” explains VFS Managing Director Marty Hasselbach. “5 Alarm Music is great example of an opportunity for students to have access to a phenomenal music library which truly enhances the work they create while they’re here. It also becomes the perfect go-to resource after they’ve graduated and enter their own production world.”

Cassie Lord, General Manager at 5 Alarm Music, tells us: “We’re excited to partner with VFS and believe that providing professional tools to students is a valuable asset to their education. Understanding music rights can be cumbersome and we want to aid their understanding of music licensing and gain an appreciation for production music.”

Everyone here at VFS is very proud to make this partnership official, and we look forward to seeing the results in action!

Remember Classical Animation grad Todd Ramsay? He’s the mastermind behind the animated series of shorts Honkbarn, which we’ve written about a couple of times.

Well, now that the Winter Olympics are underway here in Vancouver, we’re starting to hear about more and more alumni who were involved in the games in one way or another. We’re hoping to bring you some of those stories soon, but to kick things off – Todd collaborated with Canadian filmmaker Sheona McDonald on Momentum, a short film commissioned by the Cultural Olympiad’s Digital Edition (“CODE”). See a little more about it on Todd’s blog, then check out the film!

On the heels of Mass Effect 2 comes the next big entertainment property with a huge contingent of VFS grads behind it: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, which boasts contributions from at least 15 alumni from five programs!

They come from 3D Animation & Visual Effects, Classical Animation, Digital Design, Film Production, and Sound Design for Visual Media. Their influence is felt all over this big-screen adaptation of the book series, which transplants Greek mythology into modern-day America.

The alumni who worked on Percy Jackson include…

From 3D: Character Designer Julianna Kolakis, Previsualization Supervisor Zeke Norton, Lead Layout Artist Jeffrey Burt, Look Development Artist Julien Stuart-Smith, Concept & Creature Artist Ryan Lim, Effects TD James McPhail, Lighting TD Richard Sur, Compositor Aruna Inversin, Roto/Prep Artists Cesar Rodriguez Bautista and Cynthia Rodriguez del Castillo, and Animator Anthony Di Ninno

From Classical Animation: Animator Dave Mah

From Film Production: Art Department Assistant Eli Best

From Digital Design: Compositor Bryan Jones

From Sound Design: Sound Recordist Nia Hansen

Here’s a post on Aruna’s blog , briefly pointing out a couple of shots he worked on from the trailer back in November.

In other release news, 3D grads Josh Herrig and Karin Mattson both worked on The Wolfman, as Lighting Artist and Animator, respectively!

Our students ooze passion. While doggedly pursuing their career dreams over an intense year at VFS, many of them turn their attention to more — how do you say — romantic pursuits in their film and animation projects. To celebrate Valentine’s Day, we’ve compiled a few of these videos from our YouTube channel for all the lovers… and the lovelorn too.

In A Trick of the Wind, Classical Animation grad Jae Hyun Lee shows Mother Nature can’t stand by and wait for true love to happen on its own.

Saloon from Digital Character Animation grad Thiago Martins proves cowboy-style antics can still get the girl.

In writing the script for The Morning After, Writing for Film & Television grad Yang Hu re-envisioned how a familiar awkward situation could play out.

Sound Design for Visual Media grad Todd LeBlanc brought a whole new life to the prehistoric domestic woes of a caveman in the following short, In The Rough, through his work on its soundtrack. (All visual media generously provided by Blur Studio.)

Film Production grad Jee-Won Sul evokes a story of unrequited love in a wartime setting in The Shortest Dream.

And, finally, Swing from Classical Animation grad Esteban Azuela defies simple description; without saying a word, he’s somehow able to show us the power of long-lasting love.

Let us know which one’s your favourite!

Or click here to watch more great student work on VFS’s YouTube channel.

Classical Animation grad Jacob Medjuck is either completely mad or a genius. With a devoted crew that included talented VFS alumni from Film Production, Sound Design, Foundation, and Digital Design, he wrote, directed, and co-starred in his first feature film Summerhood.

Jacob recently gave a special screening of the film and shared some war stories with current VFS students from Film Production, Digital Character Animation, Classical Animation, Acting, and Entertainment Business Management.

Everyone who attended would likely agree that the shooting of Summerhood was not without its drama.

After only two weeks of pre-production, Jacob’s team began to shoot a 140-page script with a large cast of child actors, all of whom had very limited work schedules and “hands-on” entourages. The impending winter weather threatened their filmic illusion of summertime. They were missing a lead actor, which meant Jacob had to step in and direct from in front of the camera. And then, to top it all off, their budget fell apart — coming out of pre-production, they only had a few grand with which to pay everyone.

“Every Monday we had $0, and every Friday we paid our cast,” Jacob explained. While shooting, he spent many lunch hours dialing for dollars, raising money to keep moving forward on his dream project.

In the end, he had a four-hour film that made no sense. It took another couple of years’ worth of re-editing footage before they finally had a film ready for audiences. Then came the challenge of finding distribution — the field to which Jacob now devotes much of his energy.

Not surprisingly, he’s got some interesting plans for the future…

You can read our recent VFS Blog interview with Jacob here or see more images from his talk on VFS’s flickr page here.

Classical Animation grad Josh Mepham knows the value of stepping up and doing more than the bare minimum to get a project done. That philosophy has propelled him through the ranks in Vancouver’s always-bustling animation industry for the last 15 years.

Recently, Josh and a few of his colleagues created their own production company based out of Vancouver and Los Angeles called Slap Happy Cartoons. He took some time out of his schedule to talk about how he climbed the ladder, and what the view’s like from up there.

Hi, Josh. You’ve had what appears to be quite the productive relationship with Studio B Productions. Can you start off by talking about how you first started working for them?

Josh: My first job at Studio B was back in 1996 doing character pose sheets. It was a great entry level position because I wanted to get into character design and it gave me a chance to work under an experienced character designer. I was able to learn what was involved in that role and how best to approach designing characters for animation. I quickly learned it was a lot different than the detailed character designs I noodled away on in my bedroom for hours.

From there I went on to a job as a character designer, while also doing a bit of animation on smaller projects that came through the doors. When those projects would come in I would eagerly express how much I’d like to animate on them and found I not only enjoyed working on them, but also wanted to try and control how they were executed. I think [Studio B partners] Chris Bartleman and Blair Peters saw this control freak side of me and decided to nurture it.  I was given the chance to direct a couple of small projects for them, and those led to my first series directing job on What About Mimi? followed by Being Ian, Ricky Sprocket: Showbiz Boy, and now Kid vs. Kat.  A lot of years and many gray hairs later, I’m still directing and learning something new every day. It’s a blast!

Studio B is an excellent company to work for. They’re all about promoting from within, which is so helpful for someone hoping to grow within their chosen industry. It’s also good for the company because it breeds loyalty and ensures the people who eventually rise up to management roles know the company inside and out and how it operates best.

A lot of VFS grads have no problem getting that first job, but “climbing the ladder” requires a whole different skill set. What do you think your strategy has been for progressing from an animator to a director whom producers and broadcasters trust?

Josh: It’s tricky. A lot of it comes down to talent and drive, but a huge part is simply learning to speak up. You have to be vocal about your desire to climb that ladder, otherwise producers are going to assume you’re happy where you are, and if you’re doing a good job in that position, they’ll be more than happy to keep you there. It’s not that they’re trying to keep you down — it’s just that they’re not mind readers. So unless you vocalize your ambition it’s quite easy to get pigeonholed.

The clichés are true also: “‘it’s who you know“ and “people want to work with people they like”. You have to make the effort to build relationships within the industry (especially with the right people!) and be social. Get out there and sell yourself. Hell, you might even make some new friends!

Keep in mind, and I hope this doesn’t come across as vain, but not just anyone can direct.  It’s a challenging position that isn’t necessarily for everyone. You have to be able to balance an overwhelming workload while keeping a lot of different people happy. You have to be able to delegate well, and communication is key. It’s a rewarding job but also very demanding. The buck stops with you and you have to be prepared to take on that responsibility.

As for the trust part: at the end of the day you’re only as good as the last thing you’ve done. That’s how you build trust. If someone can look back at a project you’ve completed and say, “he (or she) did that well,” then most likely they’ll trust you to do it again. But you have to deliver.

What first drew you to working in children’s animation?

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Classical Animation grad Jacob Medjuck has created quite a path in his career so far, leapfrogging from animation to acting to directing-producing-writing and editing.

Those latter skills came together on the 2008 festival darling Summerhood, an independently produced  film that explores childhood friendships from a more realistic perspective than you’d find in most mainstream movies.

One look at the trailer, and you’ll probably agree.

Oh, and did we mention John Cusack is the film’s narrator? And that Joe Flaherty and Christopher MacDonald make appearances too? How about the fact that Pixar requested a special private screening?

In colouring outside the lines, Jacob has gained a first-hand education in the barriers as well as the emerging opportunities in independent film distribution. While his team struggles to find the best method of getting the film to audiences, Summerhood continues to gain fans – including a crowd of 800 kids in Italy at this summer’s Italian premiere.

Jacob took some time out of fighting the good fight to explain the film’s VFS connections and how he believes indie film distribution methods should change.

Hi, Jacob. Congrats on all the success Summerhood has brought you. In a nutshell, can you tell us why you made this film?

Jacob: Thank you! A lot of people have worked very hard for a long time. To highlight the real success, when you employ hundreds of people over several years, you come into contact with all that the world offers: births, deaths, marriage, divorce, stress, success, and celebration. So I’m learning to take all of our swings in stride, and that has been the biggest success for me on this project, because there will be a lot more “life” to navigate ahead than the journey of each film experience, and I have had to learn to pace myself. It’s too easy a trap to marinate in the massive effort and then stink of the rewards/failures that come.

That said — it lifts me right up to see the film in a theatre with a wild audience. Summerhood really is a film for the people, not a film for the math; where a company says, “trends suggest that people want to see vampire dogs.”  And the film is connecting, likely because it was truly born of frustration.

Why did I make it? I had been animating on “children’s” properties for years – corporate waxed portrayals of families and neutered realities. And nothing out there reflected my actual experiences growing up — wickedly honest, funny, and painful too. I made the film to free my spirit. That was my driving force. And perhaps, even with blurry shots, and thrifty production values – there are people out there who need to be freed from canned life too, and are taking it how they can get it, and some from our film.

You’re a Classical Animation grad who has made a live action film. What’s the connection between what you studied here at VFS and what you’re doing now?

Jacob: GREAT QUESTION. I missed the point for 25 years. As it turns out, a script doesn’t care if it will be animated, live acted, puppeteered, or made into a graphic novel. Story is story is story. And VISUALLY, all the rules of cinema apply across all mediums.  Animation was a perfect education.

How did you get John Cusack to come on board?

Jacob: Persistance. It took 18 months and a day. For a year, I tried making offers myself. In my apartment. In my bathrobe.  I sent letters.  I sent camp-1989-themed care packages, mood rings, Big League Chew, ‘89 Playboys, unopened vintage Chicago baseball cards, a mixed tape.  Yielded nothing.

After I shot the film, I wanted to show it to professionals, to show them I had craft, maybe generate some interest in my other projects. So I sent some footage to Michael London Productions (Sideways).  They liked the film and asked what I still needed for Summerhood.  I replied, “John Cusack”.

An hour later the William Morris Agency called and we were negotiating.
 
John was very generous with his participation and did a perfect job, but his “brand” is worth $10 million – and this was a cash-strapped indie flick. So we came to a solution with his agency whereby he could help us, but I can’t put his name on the poster. But his voice is so iconic that everyone can tell anyway, and people can look it up on the Internet, which is fun. So I got what I wanted and feel like I maybe saved $10 million too….

Summerhood has a fairly young cast. What was it like working with kids on a film set?

Jacob: Children are brilliant. Kids just “Are.” Which is what actors everywhere aspire to be. Children are just real little beings. They play. They make believe – so genuinely. They are however also like working with special effects, because of the entourage and coordination required. We only had the young actors for 4 hours during 12-hour days. They needed school and breaks and juice boxes, and all sorts of complicated parameters existed. When you’re only shooting 28 days and all your leads are kids that can shoot for only 4 hours, panic sets in across the team.  It’s a RIDICULOUS prospect. We had to stagger them to fill our days fully. And sometimes an actor would be talking to a broom with a sweatshirt on it that bobbed. Anything to finish on time. Brooms don’t need school. So… next film… more brooms in wardrobe perhaps.

That said I did audition 4,000 kids across the continent to find these leads. These tiny actors poured their giant souls into the film, and I am indebted to them for a lifetime.

What are your plans for distributing the film?

Jacob: The million dollar question. If a tree falls in the forest…  We happened to make a great fun film that won over audiences and festivals and critics – at the exact same time that the independent film distribution world collapsed. Zac Efron made a film with Richard Linklater and THEY couldn’t get distribution. Unreal. They raised money and released it themselves in theaters. What were we supposed to do?? It cost them more money to release it in 57 theaters than we had to shoot our film. The world is on its butt. We didn’t just need a plan; independent films everywhere needed a new model.

While touring the festival circuit an extra year, we built our fan base as I watched the world burn and took notes. And then I came up with an idea. Something radical. We might fail, or we might help a lot of filmmakers. But there are no other solutions yet. We’re going to run an experiment. And a few other films have signed up to be guinea pig with us. The method comes second but as a start – we’re going to help map the land and track the cities to open in first using the “DEMAND IT” feature on the Eventful.com site.

If you want to end the tyranny of movies that pander – DEMAND IT. (Click the ‘Demand’ button at Summerhood.com).

If you want to see SUMMERHOOD with a hot date – DEMAND IT.

If you want Hollywood to make movies YOU want, and not movies THEY think you want – DEMAND IT.

We want to come to your theaters. Tell us where to come.

Side note: True indie films, and not the studio McLatté look-a-like-indies (the ones that are borrowing hand-drawn titles to fake you out) have the poor but indulgent benefit of being driven by emotional people, and not beholden to the ticker tape trends. These are films by the people for the people. Humor that can cut to the bone, with heart that matters. The world is burning down but it’s an exciting time.  Feels like the end of Fight Club, and maybe the beginning of a fresh start for everyone. With star-driven films on the decline and technology letting audiences speak out, it can only benefit the quality of films at every level. Fortunately/unfortunately, it’s time to be exceptional.

What was it like to work with fellow VFS grads on Summerhood? Did you make those connections during your time here?

Jacob: Immensely satisfying. [Film Production grad] Paul McNeill is a great producer, and we met at VFS. What it means to have a great producing partner is this: Paul had my back even when he disagreed with my decisions, and that is rare. Filmmaking can get messy, especially with a tight budget in a tighter time frame with egos crossing. Paul absorbed any brewing frustrations on set and created none. That is the job of a producer. The hot potato of bruised ego has to stop somewhere.

What is funny is that I was in Classical Animation and Paul was in Film at VFS. We met when I auditioned for one of his short films. I wanted to prove that animators were actors too. Everyone at VFS helped out on each other’s projects — it was expected, and invaluable. It was like a little artist colony. And it helped cull my autocratic technique, a lonely style which previously had only lead to failure.  Teamwork, people. Rub it on your chest.

Do you have any upcoming projects you’re working on?

Jacob: The circle of it all… I just got hired to write, and then possibly direct, an animated feature. The story is under wraps but I promise you it’s scathing, otherwise it just isn’t worth it to me. Life is short. Say what you want to say.

And I’ve finished my next script. Hopefully that’ll go out in the new year. It’ll stab you in the heart and then apologize.

Otherwise, we’re really excited and focused on releasing Summerhood, and trying to help put the film distribution world back together so people coming out of school can make films and have them released theatrically. That’s right VFS grads – respect your forebears!

It all starts by sharing the trailer – and DEMANDING to see Summerhood.

Have fun making your films, VFS. It’ll show. Great success to us all.

Thanks, Jacob. Best of luck with Summerhood!

Click here to visit the Summerhood website.