With post-election drama unfolding in Iran and commentators around the world searching for answers, many are turning to Iran: A Nation of Bloggers, the student infographic made in the one-year Digital Design program at VFS.

This isn’t the first time this two-minute video, created by Aaron Chiesa, Toru Kageyama, Hendy Sukarya, and Lisa Temes and written by Kate Tremills, has made its way around the globe – it’s landed on the homepage of Digg three times, aired on Al Jazeera English, and been written up by boingboing, Andrew Sullivan, and Ann Althouse.

But with all eyes now on Tehran, Iran: A Nation of Bloggers has become a means for viewers to quickly understand a little more about Iranian internet culture and why, even with the crackdowns, media silence, and spotty internet access, civil disobedience is still happening in both virtual and real space. Yesterday, it was linked by both the Washington Post and  Slate.fr.

It’s never been more relevant. Here’s the video in its entirety:

We’re about a month away from the VFS 2009 Summer Intensives! Due to the high demand, extra dates have been added for the Writing for Film & Television, Film Production, Acting for Film & Television, Sound Design for Visual Media, and Animation & Visual Effects Intensives.

The Game Design Intensive and the 2nd date for the Writing for Film & Television Intensive are almost sold out! Don’t miss your chance!

As announced in March, these 5-day creative boot camps put those who are considering attending Vancouver Film School in the trenches of their chosen program, where they’ll gain hands-on experience under the guidance of VFS’s staff of industry professionals.

Check out vfs.com/summer2009 for more information and to register.

Digital Design student Stefan Ramirez Perez recently won a 2009 Salazar Award for Web Design and Interactive Media with his short, “Venice.” Congrats, Stefan! The Salazar Awards honour and recognize “the cream of the crop” of each year’s graduating student designers.

Be sure to check out the works of Salazar Finalists Jorge R. Canedo Estrada – a current Digital Design student – and the Iran: A Nation of Bloggers team, including grads Aaron Chiesa, Hendy Sukarya, Lisa Temes, and Toru Kageyama. Their project has received a ton of attention online.

You might recognize Jorge’s and Stefan’s names as two of the winners of VFS/YouTube Scholarships. We knew you guys would be making a big splash!

Congrats to all!

The Toronto Star has published a great profile of Digital Design alum (at the time it was called Multimedia) Andrew Reid. He’s the son of Angus Reid – a name virtually synonymous with polling in Canada – and is himself founder and president of Vision Critical, a market research company doing some innovative things in the online world. The company’s also been recognized as one of the top employers here in BC. The Star piece is worth a read, so take a look!

Digital Design grad Jeff Greenberg has won a spot to represent Canada in the Young Lions Competition at the 56th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Part of a two-person team, he’ll go to France in June to compete against the best young minds from around the world in the Cyber category. Click here to see the banner ad that secured his spot as Canada’s best, and convinced The Globe and Mail to pay his way to Cannes.

Jeff and his teammate (both of whom work at Burnkit) will once again have 24 hours to create a new ad, but this time it will be judged by representatives from advertising companies from 23 countries.

Good luck, Jeff!

Way back in the summer of 2007, Digital Design instructor Sergio Toporek gave a master class at VFS called Digital Art: A Poetic Vision.

Sergio has turned that very talk into a 35-minute animated video, which has seen acclaim both online and off. It’s been featured on Creative Commons Mexico, prompted a personal response from CC guru Lawrence Lessig, and screened to a packed theatre at the Universidad Iberoamericana.

A side story to this thought-provoking work: not a motion designer by trade, Sergio learned After Effects from scratch in making the video. Giving him advice? Digital Design grad Ryan Uhrich.

You can see more of Sergio’s work at his site. Below, Digital Art: A Poetic Vision. Enjoy!

For a while now, the Academy Award-winning, L.A.-based animation and visual effects studio, Rhythm & Hues, has recognized the work of talented VFS grads and hired them for such projects as The Golden Compass, The Incredible Hulk, and Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Wednesday night, Barbara McCullough, Manager of Recruitment, and Matt Shumway, Animation Supervisor, chatted with students from 3D Animation & Visual Effects, Classical Animation, Digital Design, and Sound Design for Visual Media about the potential opportunities for employment open to VFS grads eligible to work in the U.S.

Shumway also plugged Rhythm & Hues’ four-week Animation Apprenticeship Program, which is a paid internship at their L.A. studio that gives fresh grads some hands-on experience in a professional environment.

“The Apprenticeship Program is awesome,” Shumway said. “I wish they had it around when I was starting out… We hire almost 95% of [our apprentices].”

That was the case for Josh Herrig, a 3D Animation & Visual Effects grad who landed an R & H Apprenticeship  and was then hired to work on projects like Resident Evil: Extinction and The Incredible Hulk.

As in most other creative disciplines, timing is everything. When Rhythm & Hues was in crunch-mode during production on Alvin and The Chipmunks, they quickly hired 100 animators (almost ten times their regular staff size for this department) to meet their deadline.

“That’s usually a good way to break into the industry – when people are in desperation-mode,” Shumway said.

Current VFS students are encouraged to whip their reels into shape before Rhythm & Hues starts work on their next production. They’re now working on Land of the Lost and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel.

Following their immensely successful collaboration at VFS, which resulted in Typographics and the ambitious Duelity, Digital Design grads Ryan Uhrich and Boca are at it again – this time, as a part of PSST!3 Pass It On, an exquisite corpse style “collaborative film series” that brings together all manner of designers, filmmakers, and other creative types.

When Boca and Ryan were invited to take part, it turned out to be their first collaboration outside of school. They made the “Wacko Gonzo” section of the madcap and awesome “Desserter Nocturne Wacko Gonzo”, which you can see right here. (Viewer discretion advised.)

Remember Nicolas Alexander? You should. While at VFS, the Digital Design grad was on the  team that made A Brief Guide About Bridesmaids, and he also joined forces with Yaniv Fridman on  Miniature Rocket.

Nick graduated last August. In the seven months since, he’s been busy, and his handiwork can already be seen nationwide. That’s because he went to work for MuchMusic, and was the designer tasked with the rebranding of MuchMoreMusic, the 11-year-old offshoot of Canada’s longest-running music TV channel.

Now called simply MuchMore, the rebrand launched this week. You can see it for yourself on the MuchMore website or just by turning on your TV. (That’s channel 35 to Vancouver Shaw cable customers.)

“I spent the last three months building the visual language and designed just about every graphic element on air right now including the new MuchMore logo,” Nick explains.

“Even though I did some animation work for the relaunch,” he says, “I had the pleasure of working with one of the best animation houses in Canada, Crush, who animated most of the promo elements and I must say, did an excellent job translating my styleframes, storyboards and typography work into animation.”

As if that weren’t enough, Nick’s recently started up a new design blog called Left Brain, Write Brain with fellow grads Jamie Peterson and Jadyn Aguilar, and he’s also working on reinventing his own blog, Good Morning Stranger, with the help of grad Pablo Kraus. (As Nick says, “Network, network!”)

Oh, and he’ll be featured in the next issue of Advance Photoshop Magazine for a retro art special. Well done, Nick. Can’t wait to find out what’s next.

Update: Some spirited debate on Under Consideration’s Brand New about the redesign. Like it or hate the new logo, it’s something that’s gotten people talking. (Thanks, Matthew.)

As you
discount travel, cheap travel, discount cheap travel usa might already know, VFS students come from all over the world to study in our beautiful city. Many return home afterward, bringing with them a greater understanding of their craft and creative potential.

That’s where Digital Design grad Antonio Suarez’s story begins. After VFS, he returned to Panama and continued refining his skills. Now, all his hard work is really starting to pay off.

Antonio’s graphic design and photography work is currently being exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Panama as part of the 2nd Panamanian Graphic Design Collective.  Spanish-speaking readers can check out the exhibit’s website here; English-speaking readers can learn more in this article from the Panama Star. Antonio has also posted photos of the exhibition on his blog.

If that wasn’t enough, Antonio’s work was also recently showcased on the Behance Network’s MotionServed.com, a website that exhibits “fresh works from leading creative professionals.”

Congrats on your success, Antonio!