It’s the beginning of an exciting new era at VFS: we’re thrilled to welcome industry veteran Alastair Macleod as our new Head of Animation & Visual Effects.
After starting his career in the UK, Alastair moved to Canada in 1999 and established himself as an expert in the field of animation & visual effects, first with Mainframe (Action Man, Heavy Gear, Barbie in the Nutcracker), and then Radical Entertainment (The Hulk and Dark Angel games).
From there, Hollywood beckoned: among many other memorable credits, you’ve seen Alastair’s handiwork in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Catwoman, Barnyard, and Matrix: Revolutions. Alastair is excited to be returning to VFS after a previous stint as a respected and popular instructor and visual effects supervisor: “I very much enjoy the creativity and energy that is fostered in the department by all the staff and students at VFS.”
We’d like to thank outgoing head Larry Bafia for his outstanding service to the school, in helping to make VFS the premier one-year Animation & Visual Effects education, and we wish him well as he undertakes new challenges in the industry.
With Alastair’s technical expertise, industry experience, and impeccable track record as a teacher, his new role as Head of Animation & Visual Effects is an invaluable opportunity for VFS to continue to grow, evolve, and further strengthen its place in this fast-moving industry. We can’t wait to see the results.
We wanted to know all about his role at MGS thus far — and how Kyle got in on the ground floor of this powerhouse studio. What can you tell us about the work you’ve been doing so far? When I first arrived here at MGS, they were finishing up production on Gears of War 2, and they had me get going on the dialogue editing that needed to be done. It was about 700 lines that had to be finished. While GOW2 was in production, we were also involved with Fable II. On this title I got to help with some Foley recording, along with designing some ambient / world objects. Some of the sounds that I got to hand craft included massive stone pillars falling over, magic potions, and achievement sounds. More recently I have been creating prototypes in Max/MSP for real-time DSP plug-ins to be integrated into the Xbox 360′s architecture. We are also gearing up for a big production sweep which will include intensive field recording… some of the trips we have in the works include a trip to Africa to record various wild animals, and maybe a visit to Europe to record rare exotic cars. There are also a few titles we have in the pipeline, but I am unfortunately unable to discuss at this moment. We’ll ask you about those later! So how did you land the job?
Film Production grad Mohammad (Mo) Gorjestani’s VFS film The Shade has been a success any way you cut it: festival screenings from coast to coast and acclaim from audiences everywhere. Now pre-production is ramping up on Mo’s followup short film, a dream i once had about an apple, which means the all-important search for funding (and every little bit helps). We thought it would be a good time to hear more about this new project – which should have fans of The Shade abuzz with anticipation. Okay, let’s talk about this new film… What can you tell us about it? It’s a short film called a dream i once had about an apple. As far as the story, it’s similar to The Shade in that the circumstances are the antagonist and not necessarily the characters. It’s about a girl stranded in a dream stuck in a desert with an indescribable craving for an apple. The irony is that she stumbles on an eaten apple and its decomposing core. As far as the origin of the story, I had a series of recurring dreams back in 2006 that ended up being the main inspiration of this film. It’s an important story for me because I think these dreams really had an impact on me at a turning point of my life. These dreams solidified ideas that I had always had about morality but made me realize the importance. I was really into Oscar Wilde at the time, and his play The Importance of Being Earnest, which I really admired, may have triggered some of these thoughts. Now that I think about it, the character I have in this film has a similar relationship with compassion as did the character of Earnest and his relationship with honesty. At what stage is the project currently, and what are you hoping to get done in the immediate future?
Can you tell us a bit about your current role and responsibilities? I work at Hello FM, which is one of the leading radio stations here in Chennai, among seven other radio stations. I am a Sales Executive, which is a part of the Radio Planning team. I have to meet up with corporate clients and generate advertising revenues for the company, and also come up with creatives like planning on-ground events along with on-air campaigns. What’s the most exciting – or challenging – aspect to your work? The exciting part will be getting to know so many people in the corporate world and meeting some of the CEOs of big companies, thus earning valuable contacts. The challenging part is getting huge revenues by creating a big and interesting project and convincing them to do such an activity on a regular basis. Where do you hope this work will take you in the future?
So we decided to dig a little deeper into those highly specialized and critically important disciplines – Cinematography, Producing, Screenwriting, Production Design, and Post-Production – and their place in the Film Production program at VFS. Read on!
As Michael says: “Classical animation to wildlife adventure filmmaking? Who knew?” The tease for this season sounds promising indeed: New episodes will take us from the rainforests of Gabon to anti-poaching in the Maswa Game Reserve. Watch [guide] Jean [Du Plessis] as he joins an operation in Kenya to relocate black rhinos within the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Check out the Animal Planet TV listings for the details!
Duelity, the split-screen motion graphics masterpiece made by Digital Design grads (then students) Ryan Uhrich and Marcos “Boca” Ceravolo, has won a prestigious 2008 Adobe Design Achievement Award – taking the prize in the Motion Graphics category. Boca’s VFS motion piece Drop was an ADAA finalist last year, which meant a trip to San Francisco. This year, the destination is New York City. Winners also receive a cash prize, Adobe software, and tours of NYC studios. Entries were judged by a panel of design luminaries. You can see the semifinalists, finalists, and winners for yourself right here. And here‘s the press release announcing the winners. Neither Ryan nor Boca are strangers to winning awards for their VFS work – but this one puts a great capper on their fruitful collaboration.
Show Production and Touring is a big part of what you will learn in the Entertainment Business Management program at VFS – everything from rock bands to corporate events to theatre. Field trips are indispensable in illustrating what students learn in the classroom. Instructor Shel Piercy recently took a class to see behind the scenes at Theatre Under the Stars in beautiful Stanley Park – a Vancouver theatre institution. Enjoy this gallery documenting the experience:
More Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer news for you: check out this interview with director – and VFS Film grad – Jon Knautz by Filmmaker Magazine. It has some good details about how Brookstreet Pictures began and how, after parting ways post-graduation, Knautz and producer Patrick White renewed their collaboration. You can see Apt. 310, the VFS project mentioned in the interview, right here on our Showcase.
The story, in Winona’s words: “I wrote this with my writing partner, Nola Tompkins. Committee is based on the true-life story of Vancouver educator and counsellor Jim Mandelin. Jim suffered from an abusive and dysfunctional childhood in rural Alberta, then as a teenager ran away to the big city, where he fell into drug addiction, prostitution, alcoholism and gang activity. Following time in prison and a mental health facility, he flatlined… but his near-death experience enabled him to turn his life around, and he now counsels those who went through similar experiences, as well as educating law enforcement and medical personnel in how to deal with people like himself.” Winona has been busy building her writing career since she graduated. She has five features scripts under her belt, and this is the second one to be optioned (after Found At Sea, optioned by Principia Productions). We asked Winona to tell us a little more about the success she’s having! First: how did you connect with Sistar/Carrie Wheeler to make this option happen?
Sound Grad on Gears 2, Fable 2
Sound Design for Visual Media graduate Kyle Fraser is currently at Microsoft Game Studios, and so far has worked on two hotly anticipated games slated for release this fall: Gears of War 2, and Fable II, designed by the legendary Peter Molyneux.
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a dream i once had about an apple
Good Morning, Chennai!
Entertainment Business Management grads work in all forms of entertainment: movies, TV, sports, new media… and now, radio! Recent EBM grad Preethi Ganapathisubramanian is using her marketing skills at a major radio station in India. We caught up with her to find out more!The Many Faces of Film
It’s tempting to over-simplify when writing about film – to focus on the director as the sole creator. Isn’t that where the glamour is? But we all know the truth: film, as an art form, is collaborative. Every film is the result of a crew’s collective creativity, skill, and long hours.Ultimate Africa Season 2 Premieres
The second season of Classical Animation alum Michael Dalton-Smith‘s popular Ultimate Africa series premieres tonight, Friday, August 15th, on Animal Planet. It will turn up on Discovery HD later in the year.Duelity Wins Adobe Award
EBM Goes Behind the Scenes at TUTS
Brooks’ Director Knautz Speaks
Grad’s Script Based on True Story Optioned
Writing grad Winona Kent has had her feature script Committee of the Unloved optioned by Sistar Films/Carrie Wheeler films!
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