Well, Celebration IV has come and gone, and the convention center employees down in L.A. have swept up the last of the discarded lightsabers, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still talk Star Wars, right?
Here’s a cool news item from CTV, which includes Film Production‘s very own David Hauka and Jon Hess talking about the influence of Star Wars on the movie industry and a generation of filmmakers.
Hey, right on! Film Production‘s own Aaron Beckum‘s Who Wants to Be an Amerikan is the featured short on Vuguru‘s The Cream! Vuguru is an offshoot of Michael Eisner‘s Tornante Company, and its regular Cream feature sets out to uncover “the very best of the very best in on-line quality content, the ‘cream of the crop’ if you will.” Makes sense to us, and we can’t question their taste where Amerikan‘s concerned. By the way, the movie is just chewing up YouTube: It’s the all-time 17th most discussed movie in the “Film & Animation” category! (As opposed to… skateboarding accidents and radio-controlled plane crashes?) All time!
Capoeira, Film Production grad Devon Villard‘s colourful doc about the acrobatic Brazilian martial art/dance, is YouTube’s Pick of The Day! The rhythm and athleticism of capoeira are really something to watch, and the YouTube rabble seems to love it. Check it out:
Digital Design is often about finding creative ways to solve a problem or fulfill a need for a client. To learn to do that, Digital Design students work with actual clients out there in the real world. One such client was BC’s Industry Training Authority and their Skilled Life campaign, designed to increase awareness of (and tear down some stereotypes about) skilled trades. In particular, the ITA is looking to draw interest from more young people, who may not be aware that a skilled trade could be as good, or better, an option for them as getting a degree. This was the task put to our students in the Motion Design course. Check out the 30-second video ads they came up with as part of the solution.
Here’s one that should be of particular interest to the EBM and Sound Design sets. Derek Sivers, the founder and president of CD Baby and HostBaby, services which have become big players in the way music is distributed and promoted online, is in Vancouver this coming weekend to host a workshop on what he knows best: e-commerce, viral marketing, and the nuts-and-bolts of digital music. The event is sponsored by the Pacific Music Industry Association. It was CD Baby, by the way, that gave Jack Johnson the means to get his music out there before being wooed by the majors. Just saying. Saturday, June 2nd
At VFS, our students take their education very seriously. Everyone strives to make the most out of their year. The quality you see in student projects on YouTube and elsewhere is the result of hard work, long hours, and a tireless passion for the craft. But mama mia! It’s not all about banging your head against assignments and deadlines. Sometimes students just have to escape from reality. Friday night karaoke in the VFS Café is the place to be for some royally good times.
We were on top of the world when we announced that a VFS doc team won the Reel Ideas Studio contest with their good-hearted Documenting Charity (and the Art of Street Shaving), but we weren’t the only ones swelling with pride. Global TV caught wind, and this story is the result:
Rani’s path was a winding one, taking him across hemispheres and up and down North America, but when you take a step back, the outcome seems like it was… well, destiny. “I was actually studying as a freshman student at a university in Lebanon before I came to VFS. I had to make a huge decision that year: do I spend the next few years getting a degree in graphic design, or do I move to Canada and study what I really love… animation?”
Take a group of guys in their early 20s wanting to do something positive in the world. Add some donated sports equipment and a VFS loaner video camera, and what do you get? Opportunitas Aequa, a group committed to giving something back. Their recent goal: build a soccer field and provide equipment to impoverished children in Ecuador. Film grad Sergio Mora Guerrero is a part of OA, and has been vlogging on the subject. Here’s the first inspiring post: And because you’re now dying to know how the field has developed, here’s Entry #2 and Entry #3. Boy, with this and the recent “What Cannes You Do In One Day?” documentary, it’s pretty clear: giving is the new getting.
Understanding Comics has long been essential reading for anyone interested in design and storytelling, and it made McCloud a bonafide star. He’s as approachable and down-to-earth as ever, though, and has remained a major grassroots supporter of the comics industry, from the smallest self-printed comix to the publishing giants. McCloud will be signing and chatting at Sophia Books, just a stone’s throw from VFS’s Hastings Street digs, at 7pm, Thursday, May 31st. Oh, and VFS students and staff get a 10% discount on book purchases at the store. You can’t lose!
“Amerikan” Gets Cream’d
Capoeira!
Mad Skills
The Skinny on Selling Tunes Online
Tom Lee Music Hall
3rd Floor, 929 Granville Street
1pm – 4pm
Is this the Real Life, Is this just Fantasy
Cannes Doc in the News
Clearly a victory the whole city can get behind!
The Path to the Land of Far Far Away
Last week, we told you about Rani Naamani, a 3D grad who had a hand in that little blockbuster to end all blockbusters, Shrek the Third. We said we’d follow up with him, and baby, you know we wouldn’t lie to you.If You Build It, They Will Come
Comics Guru To Make Vancouver Stop
Scott McCloud, the artist and writer behind the seminal Understanding Comics and its two follow-ups, Reinventing Comics and last year’s Making Comics, is visiting Vancouver as part of his whirlwind tour.