Monthly Archives: April 2007

Acting Shout-out

This caught our eye today: Drama students at Kelly Road Secondary School up in Prince George are putting on what sounds like a pretty funny version of Parlor by playwright James C. Wall. Among the actors involved is 16-year-old Zachary Kerr Holden, who told the Prince George Free Press, “I’ve always acted, even in elementary school. Every year I attend a fine arts camp in Ontario, and this summer I’m going to take film and acting there. When I graduate, I want to attend Vancouver Film School. I’m very interested in film.”

Right on! See you soon, Zachary!

Rhythm & Hues Opens a Door

AslanMore congrats are in order… 3D grad and ambassador to the world Josh Herrig has been selected to apprentice at L.A. animation & VFX studio Rhythm & Hues, responsible for bringing the lion Aslan to life in Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

R & H awards 3-4 week apprenticeships to promising artists in the fields of Animation, Compositing, Rigging, and in Josh’s case, Lighting. Apprentices are regularly hired on at the studio (but we won’t count Josh’s chickens until they’ve hatched).

The apprenticeship starts today… good luck, Josh!

Good Night, and Good Luck

DD Class 06Well, another round of VFS graduations have come and gone.

All programs celebrate differently. Many graduations involve watching the students’ final films or reels. Some grads involve the shedding of joyous tears (we’re looking at you, Acting!). And some – like Digital Design – celebrate awards-show-style, recognizing huge achievements by graduating students.

Congratulations to the recent winners of the Digital Design graduation awards:

Best Motion Design — Natasha Ali (My Love)
Best Communication Design — Maggie Chu (Lang Hwa)
Best Interactive Design — Stefan Belavy (Opium Harvest) / Jeff Greenberg & Eric Wada (The Dark Shield)
Outstanding Achievement — Ryan Clark
Best Portfolio — Stefan Belavy
Best Final Project — Stefan Belavy (LINK.tv)
Best Designer in a Supporting Role — Carlos Guimaraes

The graduates also recognized two faculty members: Brett Forsyth for Excellence in Instruction, and Gagan Diesh for Best Course (Branding).

Stay tuned for further glimpses into VFS program graduations!

The Best of World Fest

World Fest Houston LogoCongratulations to Film Production grad Matthew Westlake!

His film ‘Til Death Do You Part is screening at WorldFest Houston, and has been nominated for Best College Level Student Production.

The competition has already been narrowed down to 4 films, all of which will receive a prize from Bronze to Platinum. The awards will be given out at the WorldFest Awards Gala Dinner, Saturday April 28th.

Swing is Here

We know 3D Animation gets a lot of the glory. But we love our Classical Animation too. The proof? The current film featured on our YouTube channel.

Enjoy the sweetness of Esteban Azuela‘s Swing.

Vancouver to Yorkton

parallelsMore good news on the festival front! Two shorts created by students in our Film Production program will be screened at the Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival this year.

Paul St. Amand’s documentary Parallels, and the drama Alibi Inc. written and directed by Gregoire Bedard are both are up for a Golden Sheaf Award in their categories.

This year’s Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival runs from May 24-27, 2007. Winners will be announced at the Golden Sheaf Awards ceremony to be held Saturday, May 26 at the Gallagher Centre in Yorkton, SK. Fingers crossed!

VFS Festivals & Awards – 2007

Whistler to Tribeca

Tribeca Film Festival LogoThe Shade isn’t the only VFS film headed to Tribeca this week…

…also screening is Heart of Whistler, a comedic short co-written and co-produced by Writing instructor John Meadows, that features Writing grad/T.A. Wade Fennig (who, rumour has it, goes bare-bottomed!) as well as a cameo by Head of Department Maria Jacquemetton in scrubs…

Whatever’s in the water at the Writing campus, can we have some?

Entertainment Business Management Open House

EBM Open HouseOn May 17th, Entertainment Business Management hosts an exclusive Open House. This is a great opportunity to come down to the VFS campus and get an inside look at everything that makes this program such a powerful education in the art of the deal.

• Learn about our one-year program which includes real-world industry projects and meetings with executives.

• Hear from Head of Department Jeff Young who has worked with Virgin Records, BMG, Disney, Sony, Fox Family Channel, as well as with top musicians and filmmakers.

• Talk with current EBM students and working grads about the VFS curriculum and their advice on entering the industry.

From the board room to the back room, Entertainment Business Management at VFS gets you on the inside track to the high-powered businesses of film, music, and sports. As a student you’ll learn intellectual property law, negotiations, deal-making, and financial strategies to become an influential manager, producer, or talent agent.

TIME: 6pm
DATE: Thursday, May 17th, 2007
LOCATION: VFS Cafe, 390 West Hastings
To Register for this Event: openhouse@vfs.com or 604.631.3591

Contest Clock is Tickin’…

Press Kit 2Want to win some cool swag? There’s still ten days to go on the Amerikan contest. All you have to do is post us a comment with your best logline (a one-sentence description) for VFS Film Production student Aaron Beckum’s terrific film Who Wants to be an Amerikan? Show us how you would pitch the film in one line, and this beauty of a press pack — created entirely by VFS Digital Design students — could be yours.

Deadline for entry: April 30, 2007. Be sure to include your email address so we can contact you if you win!

There Is No “Try”

That’s Yoda-speak for “just do it”. Apparently, Sound Design grads Jeremy Bowker and Jessica Lemes da Silva were listening!

Before even finishing the Sound program here at VFS, Jeremy and Jessica were asked to interview at George Lucas‘s Skywalker Ranch with Skywalker Sound head Randy Thom — Oscar-winning sound designer on several Star Wars films as well as Apocalypse Now, Cast Away, Indiana Jones, The Incredibles, and other insanely huge movies. Mr. Thom visited VFS to speak to Sound students last year.

In late 2006, Jeremy got the call. Based on Jeremy’s work, and the wide variety of experiences he’d had in the program, he got hired at Skywalker. Check out this interview for more in Jeremy’s own words:

Then, in early March, Jessica got the call too! Here’s what Jessica has to say:

“Honestly, I wouldn’t be talking about this opportunity if it weren’t for the Sound Design program at VFS. We had Randy Thom come in as a guest speaker, and just having that shows the caliber of the program, the curriculum, and the administration. I think what really helped me get to this point was the people–
the Sound Design faculty is gold.”

Jeremy & Jessica: knock ‘em dead.