The Cold War never ended, and soon Soviet transforming submarines will fly out of English Bay and attack Vancouver. That’s the premise of 3D Animation & Visual Effects grad Ali Aboud‘s final project, the longest visual effects demo reel in VFS history.

As part of NVIDIA‘s speaker series for SIGGRAPH, Ali presented his reel, went through the breakdowns and tools he used, and discussed the next step for “Red Phantoms”. He started working at Goldtooth Creative after graduation, when he received a message through VFS from Blackrock Films. They were originally looking for a CG Artist, but on learning that Ali wasn’t available pitched him on a different idea – developing “Red Phantoms” into a feature film.

With a script treatment finalized they’re now shopping the film to various studios, and Ali’s ambitions remain big. “Mr. Michael Bay, you are not the only one who can make ‘Transformers’. Just kidding. I love Michael Bay!”

Congratulations, Ali! You can check out his demo reel on the VFS YouTube channel.