Monthly Archives: February 2008

Filming a Himalayan Journey

AnnapurnaFilm Production grad Dan Baas is days away from embarking on the trip of a lifetime. He’s signed on to document an expedition up the Himalayan mountain Annapurna - all 8,091 metres of it.

A team made up mostly of Americans and Russians is spearheading the climb. Dan ships out in March 6th, so you can imagine that when we spoke with him, anticipation was running high – and, unfortunately, he’d come down with a cold to match. “I’ve shot film in the mountains before, but it’s never been a big project like this,” he tells us.

Dan’s an experienced climber and did some guiding in college, which obviously makes him a huge asset on the expedition, but what really sold the team was his filmmaking ability. “I’d been in contact with one of the guys, [veteran climber] Don Bowie, and I’d been an acquaintance of his for a little while,” Dan says. “He wanted to put a little more of a cinematic look on the footage.”

It’s a huge challenge, but Dan’s up for it. “I think in the end it’s just about being in the mountains and combining the two loves, climbing and making movies.”

As for what becomes of the footage, that’s somewhere between “top-secret” and “not yet decided,” but we promise we’ll we’ll get the whole story from Dan when he gets back. Bon voyage!

Sounds of India

Dus KahaniyaanWe’ve often heard how graduates of our Sound Design for Visual Media put their skills to work in North America, from Foley to Dialogue Editing. But what about in other parts of the world? What about India?

We were curious to know what kind of opportunities there were for sound designers plying their trade in the rich landscape of Indian film, so we went to two VFS Sound Design alumni, Nimish Chheda and Shrihari (Hari) Venkatasubramanian, and asked them about their experiences.

Nimish works right in the beating heart of Bollywood – Mumbai. After graduating from VFS, he spent some months in the U.S., then returned to Mumbai to make a go as a freelancer. He’d originally been drawn to VFS after establishing a career at a big telecom, processing audio data and reformatting for different handsets. “Typical corporate job, getting bored doing the same things,” he says. “So I decided to change streams to work in Bollywood, and that’s when I came across VFS. I got in touch with the advisor, and there I was.”

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Inside VFS Acting

Ever wondered what goes on behind the doors of VFS Acting classes? We sure do. How can the faculty prepare young actors in only one year to walk into an audition with the confidence to get the role even when competing against seasoned pros?

To find the answers, we poked a camera inside the acting studios here and produced a few new mini-documentaries for the Acting webpages. Introduced by Head of Department, Bill Marchant, and beginning with a look at how VFS treats Your Physical Instrument, the videos then take a look at each of the main themes that divide your year of study and exploration — Your Relationship with Yourself, Your Relationship with Other People, and finally, You, Your Craft, and the Business. We give away a few secrets to the success of the program here, but you’ll have to dig deeper into Acting to really get the picture.

D is for Daring

Author Gail VanstoneLast night, we had the pleasure to play host to some remarkable women and help pay tribute to many others. With International Women’s Day a little over a week away, the timing couldn’t have been better.

Gail Vanstone read from her book D is for Daring: The Women Behind the Films of Studio D (Sumach Press), about “Canada’s one and only feminist filmmaking studio.” She spoke at length about the history and legacy of Studio D, which shut down in 1996, and also fielded questions from the audience.

The evening also featured Alexis Krasilovsky presenting her documentary Women Behind the Camera. The screening was a provocative and affecting one – the doc, about a wide range of female filmmakers from all around the world, pulls few punches when it comes to the life-and-death stakes faced by women in many countries.

In all, it was a great chance not only for a lesson on one important chapter of film history but for students to interact with two pioneering and fascinating women.

Update: Film Production student (and Moviemaker Scholarship winner) Angela Harvey was there – check out the impressions she posted on her blog.

Duelity Talked Up

Directors Notes, a weekly podcast about independent filmmaking, has posted up a lengthy audio interview with Digital Design alumni Ryan Uhrich and Boca, the masterminds behind the much-ballyhooed Typographics and Duelity. Directors Notes is also hosting a bunch of never-before-released pre-production material from Duelity. Very cool!

Writer As Storyteller

tihemme-gagnon.jpgWriting grad Tihemme Gagnon has been selected as one of this year’s NSI Storytellers!

The National Screen Institute program is designed to foster fresh new work by talented writers of Aboriginal descent.

Tihemme was kind enough to offer a little more context, saying: “The demographics of the Canadian film and television industries do not reflect the demographics of Canada as a country, and initiatives like the NSI’s Storytellers Program are designed in part to address these discrepancies. Specifically, the Storytellers Program gives culturally diverse – and underrepresented – screenwriters, directors and producers a chance to tell our stories from the “inside” of our own experiences and perspectives.”

On her selection as a producer in the Storytellers program, Tihemme says: “This is actually the second NSI program I’ve participated in; in 2006, I was selected for the NSI’s DiverseTV program as an emerging Metis screenwriter. The result was the development of a one-hour dramatic television series Broken Knives, which received development funding from VisionTV.”

“This time, it is my hope that the Storytellers Program’s Producer’s Internship will provide the foundation I need as a producer to facilitate the development and production of stories that would not otherwise be told. ”

Way to go, Tihemme – we can’t wait to see your work hit the screens.

Switch Hits Canada’s YouTube

Switch on YouTube Canada Homepage

Congrats to Zack Mathew, a recent graduate of our Digital Character Animation program — his final project Switch made YouTube Canada’s homepage!

Post-War Vancouver at Animex

Good news for Teh-Wei Yeh! He was awarded a runner-up prize at Animex, the internationally renowned British animation and computer games festival, for his final project in our 3D Animation & Visual Effects program.

Yeh’s sci-fi visual effects reel portrays the ambush of General Dynamic’s Stryker in a gritty post-war Vancouver. He was awarded second place for his film in the Visual Effects Award category at the 9th Animex International Festival of Animation and Computer Games held at the University of Teesside Middlesbrough in the UK in early February. The judging panel comprised representatives from major global animation studios including Sony Pictures, Aardman and Framestore CFC.

Talking about this year’s festival Chris Williams, Festival Director, said: ‘It’s been another great year for the Animex Awards. We are overwhelmed by the standard of this year’s competition entries; the quality of the work submitted improves year on year. Congratulations to Teh-Wei Yeh on being a runner up this category’.

Getting the Independent Spirit

Paranoid ParkOne of our own has been nominated for a 2008 Independent Spirit Award!

Film Production grad Neil Kopp is one of three up-and-comers in the running for the Producers Award, for exemplifying low-budget filmmaking (and producing Gus Van Sant‘s film Paranoid Park).

Neil’s kept real busy since graduating. Based in Portland, he produced a number of music videos for hot indie acts like The Decemberists and The Shins – with fellow VFS alum and director Dennis Fitzgerald – and he’s currently wrapping up Kelly Reichardt’s feature Train Choir.

Check out this interview with Neil in Willamette Week. The awards themselves take place tomorrow night, Saturday, February 23rd. We’ll be cheering him on!

Update: Neil wins! Neil wins! See him interviewed after the event here.

Interactive Sound Art in Surrey

Cardiff at MoMA

The Surrey Art Gallery is hosting one of the most innovative exhibitions in recent history. Focused on sound-based art, walking tours, installations, and performances, the gallery has curated work by internationally-acclaimed Canadians like Janet Cardiff, and local composers like Giorgio Magnanensi of Vancouver New Music.

Sound Design graduate Joshua Bandy worked as curatorial intern with gallery director Liane Davidson to help organize the Open Sound component of the exhibition. Open Sound consists of a series of commissioned audio art projects by Jean Routier, Brady Marks, David Grove, and Eric Powell, installed in and around the Surrey Arts Centre.

Joshua and Liane Davidson recently spoke with Paul Grant of CBC Radio about the show. And for your convenience, we’ve streamed the interview so you can listen to it right here. For more cutting edge sound experiences, make sure to visit the gallery.