Monthly Archives: August 2008

3 Magazine Covers for Grads

It’s been a banner couple of months: three magazine covers featuring graduates from three separate VFS programs.

We have Acting for Film & Television grad and Corner Gas star Tara Spencer-Nairn on the Fall/Winter 2008 Weddingbells, looking stunning in her custom Thien Le dress. (You know you’re a star when yours is considered a “celebrity wedding.”)

Then, the cover of the August 2008 issue of ToyFare features 3D Animation & Visual Effects grad Kolby Jukes‘ work for DC Direct, with the caption “Are These the Best Batman Toys Ever?” Inside, it also features his Dark Knight Joker bust as an “upcoming toy you’ll want to invest in,” calling it “Kolby Jukes’ 4.75 x 3 x 2.5-inch cold-cast porcelain gem.”

And finally, there’s the September 2008 Fangoria with Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer! We’ve given this film by Film Production grads Jon Knautz and Patrick White plenty lot of ink: the attention is well-deserved.

SPARK Animation ’08

Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH and the Vancity Theatre are presenting the SPARK Animation Festival September 10-14, with a stellar lineup featuring Kung Fu Panda directors John Stevenson & Mark Osborne of Dreamworks and Horton Hears a Who directors Jimmy Hayward & Steve Martino of Blue Sky Studios among many others.

The festival also features some VFS connections. Classical Animation instructor Marv Newland is co-presenting “Surving as an Independent Animator” on Day 4 and is the subject of a “Marv Newland Retrospective” on Day 5. You can also see 3D Animation & Visual Effects mentor Jericca Cleland-Hura on Day 5′s “Women in Animation” panel.

Check here for all the details, including ticket info. The opening event is at Granville 7 Cinemas, but the rest takes place at the much more intimate Vancity Theatre, so tickets are going to disappear very quickly. Tix are very reasonably priced, and further discounted for SIGGRAPH members!

Grad on World’s Funniest Commercials

Writing grad Wade Fennig stars in a BC Lions commercial airing tomorrow night on TBS’s World’s Funniest Commercials show. Congrats, Wade! The show is on tomorrow, August 30th, at 9pm. Or, you can enjoy it now…

Since graduating from the Writing program, Wade has taken his career in multiple creative directions. A former hockey player in the Junior A and minor pro leagues, he’s developing a “Hockey Rocky” feature called Ice… he’s been steadily working as an actor in film/TV/commercials… he’s a producer and director… and many in the VFS community know him as the Production Coordinator for all of the Writing program “Portfolio Shorts” student films.

So how does Wade’s education in screenwriting relate to these many creative pursuits? Wade’s philosophy sums it up: “Everything to me comes from Story. The rest is the interpretation and delivery.”

Miniature Rocket, je t’aime

In the quickie department, the French site eMob.fr has blogged the Digital Design final project by Nicolas Alexander and Yaniv Fridman, Miniature Rocket. Oh, and the site calls VFS “prestigieuse” which is at least twice as prestigious as “prestigious.” Not the first buzz the project has earned, and certainly not the last.

Sensex’ Coming to Theatres

Saas bahu aur Sensex, a comedy written and directed by Film grad Shona Urvashi, is set to hit theatres in India and the UK September 12th. It’s the first film Warner Bros. has produced in India.

After graduating from VFS in 1998, Shona went on to write and direct Chupke Se in 2003. A much-publicized dust-up with Sensex actress Tanushree Dutta is only likely to drive the box office for her new film – especially since Dutta still acknowledges that the story of some unlikely stock market investors is “a fantastic script.”

Swing by the official site for trailers, and here’s a profile of Shona herself with some details about how the film came about. And if Sensex appears at a theatre near you, check it out!

AICN Shout-Out for Bolt

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you know you’ve made it when you get namechecked by Ain’t It Cool News. None other than Quint himself has posted about a behind the scenes look at Disney’s Bolt. The “Lino” he mentions is Lino DiSalvo, 3D Animation & Visual Effects grad and lead animator on the highly anticipated film!

VFS Presents “This Is Our Youth”

A play put on by a number of VFS grads opens tonight! This is Our Youth, the cult-hit play by Kenneth Longergan (You Can Count On Me) is opening tonight and runs through this Saturday.

The play is directed by Writing grad and T.A. Bob Woolsey, and the 3 leads are Acting grads Sean Gilchrist, Andrew Baker, and Sydney Cochrane. Sean and Andrew are also producing, and Acting grad Beverly Wu is stage managing. (Click on the image to see the full poster.)

While our Acting program is focused on training for film and TV work, what you learn is largely applicable to the world of theatre. And stage productions allow actors to continue honing their craft while contributing to the acting community.

If you’re in Vancouver, you can check out This Is Our Youth Tuesday, August 26 – Saturday, August 30, at the Havana Theatre, 1212 Commercial Drive. Doors open at 6:30, show starts at 7pm.

Grad Celebrated by 3DTotal

Thaddeus Maharaj, a fairly recent 3D Animation & Visual Effects grad, has been getting huge props lately from 3DTotal – first an Excellence Award for a 3D model called The Beast (left) – a core part of his VFS reel – then another Excellence Award for his elven archer!

Congrats, Thaddeus! How does it feel to get this kind of affirmation from something like 3DTotal?

Well – it feels amazing! It certainly is very encouraging seeing my work up on a site such as 3DTotal, where I have only seen the works of other inspirational CG artists! It has long been in my bookmarks as a site that I’d go to for inspiration, so to be featured on the site is a big deal to me, and definintely gives a boost of confidence, since as of now, I am still yet to be tested on a professional level.

I’d definitely have to give a big thanks to the people at 3DTotal for honouring me like this, and I really appreciate the service their site provides.

How was the SIGGRAPH 2008 experience, on the whole?

Continue reading →

Writers in PAGE Semi-Finals

Several Writing department folk have made it to the semi-final round of the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards! Congrats to recent grad Yang Hu for his feature in the Historical Film category, and grad Sean Minogue and instructor Kat Montagu who are duking it out in the TV Pilot category.

The contest’s Grand Prize is worth $10,000 — but most screenwriters enter into competitions like this for the exposure they receive from producers, studios, and agents.

Yang has been actively developing his feature, The Red Road Home, since he graduated in April — including working closely with experienced producer Raymond Massey (Whale Music, Iron Road). We talked to Yang about his feature and further ways contests can be useful.

Tell us about The Red Road Home.

It’s basically set in China in the 1960s during the cultural revolution. It’s a love story where a foreigner must work with a local university co-ed in order to escape China by swimming across a lake in the south, while smuggling out a precious painting which was set to be burned at a demonstration.

Oooh. Cool. So what do you think is the value of contests like this one?
 Continue reading →

Farewell, Two-Face

We want to congratulate all the students graduating from VFS this week – well done, everyone! We wish you the best in everything to come, and hope you’ll stay in touch.

And we’d be remiss if we didn’t say a special goodbye to the graduating Makeup students this week. From potluck Thanksgivings in the cafe, to wandering around in bald caps, to above-and-beyond makeup projects, you’ve been a joy to have on campus.

As if they weren’t busy enough with individual final projects in their last term, the class decided to do a collaborative Batman-inspired project to add to their portfolios.

Above left: Damon Vanhee, as Two-Face, made up by Holly Dalpee. Application time: about 2 hours. The Joker is soon-to-be-grad Harris Haralampakis, made up by Damon (application time, close to 3 hours). Though these application times don’t include the sculpting, casting, and molding of the prosthetic pieces used, which, as Damon says, adds “a ginormous pile of hours”.

With Damon below are Sugar & Spice, Jaana Kujala and Sara Goins-Ramirez, respectively.

For a trip down memory lane, check out last Halloween’s blog post, featuring a much more clean-cut Two-Face…

Congrats, all! We hope you never stop having the kind of fun you had here.