Classical Animation grad Andres Miranda has had a pretty eclectic career to date: he’s worked on globally-distributed animated series for kids like Timon and Pumbaa and Kappa Mikey; his art has been shown in galleries; he created his first graphic novel, Losers, Liars and Psychos; and he’s continually showcased new sketches on his blog, where he’s been “posting every day since March 2007.”
He’s also worked with Robert Valley, the artist behind Gorillaz’ unique animated style, on a moody short film. We asked Andres to name his favourite gigs over the years. Here’s what he had to say:
“My first job in Victoria, BC, where I was a Storyboard Assistant to Glen Lovett (amazing storyboard artist) on Disney’s Timon and Pumba for Studio B Productions. Second would be sitting next to [fellow Classical Animation grad] Jon Izen at Bardel Entertainment for that one season. I have never laughed so much in my life. I still think the producer split us up.”
“Third: Getting to work and meet Robert Valley on his independent project Massive Swerve. He is one of the best illustrators/animators I have ever met. You might know his work from Gorrilaz music videos to The Beatles: Rockband-animated trailer, which was all in his style.”
“And fourth: Getting to work and live in New York for Animation Collective for one year, which is where I also got to work with Ray Alma, who used to be a cartoonist for Mad Magazine.”
Thanks, Andres! Best of luck for many more memorable gigs!
When The Hurt Locker walked away with the Academy Award for Best Picture, beating out $237 million Avatar, it was hailed as a win for low-budget cinema. Low-budget in film is a highly relative term – it’s hard to imagine an $11 million video game, for example, being described with the same designation. While such David and Goliath stories are becoming increasingly more common in movie awards, it’s almost unheard of for a smaller game to even be in the same competition as a blockbuster like Mass Effect 2 (estimated budget $25-40 million). All of which must be fairly overwhelming. “It’s pretty exciting to see my game alongside some pretty huge competition,” Nick said during a recent interview. “It’s a great feeling though. Huge honour and opportunity.” Of all the categories he’s nominated in, winning one in particular would mean the most to him. “Definitely Best Writing. I put a lot of effort into the story behind PRIOR, especially considering it was penned under such a short time constraint. It was interesting too, how the game’s story came about. Since there was so little time I essentially made the story up as I went along.” During their year in Game Design, students develop games working in teams. Nick made the decision to develop on his own, as he did on PRIOR. Was it hard adjusting to working alone? “Well, of course,” Nick responded, when asked if Notch was an inspiration. “Minecraft, I think, is the de facto poster game for the current generation of indie game development. While I daydream of making ‘the next big game’ and reaping the millions of dollars and army of fans that come with it, I know that it won’t come without a lot of hard work.” As for starting his own studio: Time limits aside, Nick was able to cram an amazing amount of pathos into the game’s main character, a nameless black square with one eye. The ambiguous nature of the character was part artistic limitations (“I’m by no means an artist”) and part wanting “players [to] get a little more abstract with their imagination.” He’s already hard at work on his next game, a magnum opus of sorts called DotGuy vs. The Galaxy. A game philosophy document can be found on his site. Nick gives back to the flash development community, which he calls “amazing”, by offering tutorials and guides on the krangGAMES site. If you’re interested in the anti-gravity ability in PRIOR, that would be a good place to start. You can follow his work at facebook.com/krangGAMES and on twitter.com/krangGAMES.
He met Jens in 2009. Despite his unfamiliarity with the world of MMA, he was taken by the fighter’s story: “What struck me about him was how he completely defied the stereotype of the ‘cage-fighter’,” Gregory tells FilmThreat.com. “He’s a warm, casually unassuming guy, with a quick smile and big heart, that is willing to chat with anyone, and chat he did. In our first meeting I asked him 2 questions, and he talked for an hour.” To pay the production bills, Gregory turned to KickStarter.com where, thanks to the help of a passionate MMA community, he was able to raise $27,210 – over $2,000 more than his original funding target. 100% of the film is fan-funded, just like Gregory’s previous (dramatic) feature film, Person of Interest. Driven has developed a following that will likely continue to grow when Gregory takes the project on the road. You can keep track of the progress of this “open source tour” here, or visit the film’s website for updates. Good luck on the road, Gregory!
Part of the new game’s appeal, created with the help of 3D Animation & Visual Effects grads Jesse Davis and David Saiz, are the humourous animations and colourful settings. Both Jesse and David found time to discuss how they came to work on the largest PC franchise of all time, and what it takes to break into the industry. Can you start by telling us what you’ve been doing since graduation? Jesse: In June 2008, I graduated from VFS, moved back to California, and immediately started sending out reels to various companies. For the first few months, I sent out my short film in its entirety, but then decided to break it up to only highlight my best shots. That landed me a call from a company in Oregon called Funnelbox; they were looking for an animator for game cinematics. I worked there as a contractor for 6 months and afterwards moved back to California. David: I met my wife at VFS and that altered the course of my life. After a half a year of trying to get a job in Vancouver, my wife, then girlfriend, got a job as an FX artist in California. That’s when we decided that we were going to move in together and that I would try my luck to find a job around the California area. After more paperwork I got a work permit and permanent resident status and started applying to videogame companies around the area. I didn’t get many responses at first but then Jesse gave me a heads up that there was an Environment Modeler position open at EA where he worked. He told me to send him my reel and I sent it the next day. After just a couple of days I got a call to set up an interview at EA and in a couple of weeks I finally fullfilled my lifelong dream, to be a modeler for a videogame company. How did you get that first gig? Was it hard to break into the industry? Jesse: I landed a job at Funnelbox simply from sending out as many resumes and reels as possible. Unlike most people you’ll meet, I’ve only landed jobs from “blind” resume submissions instead of references. Being just out of school, I didn’t really have many connections in the industry. I guess in hindsight, a few months of job searching isn’t as bad as it could’ve been, so I find myself feeling lucky for that. But to those coming out of school and feeling like they don’t have any industry connections, don’t worry, it’s not impossible to be noticed. David: Working as an Environment Modeler on The Sims Medieval is my first job in the videogame industry. It was definitely hard to get into the games industry considering my not so successful experience in Vancouver. It helped that someone on the inside, put my reel in the hands of the Recruiting Manager. Having made good connections at VFS was an essential part of my success in breaking into the game industry. Several people apply for the same positions and their reels get lost in this sea of emails or DVDs. The fact that my reel was in the hands of someone that actually had a say so made a big difference. They were looking for someone with very specific qualities as an artist and as a person. I had no previous experience in the game industry, and that was the only concern during the interview, but on the other hand I had a strong portfolio with very unique and different pieces that showcased a wide range of abilities. David: I am happy to say that I was involved in all aspects of environment modeling. I modeled and textured props, buildings and terrain. We had amazing concept artists for our game which provided us with amazing work to start with. Our art director wanted the artists to be happy and constantly challenged, which is why he allowed us to do a bit of everything. It was great working in this game. It required a good balance of technical and artistic work. What I loved most about my job was that everyone was so passionate about our game and that everyone was helping each other out to make the best looking game possible. Jesse: I visited the Bay Area a lot and decided to just stop by to drop off a reel. I called them first to make sure it was okay, and just handed it to lobby security. I’m pretty amazed it went into the right hands now that I think about it; there was a rather large chance it could’ve been lost in transit. So I wouldn’t really recommend doing that! They called me up out of the blue almost a month later, and asked me to come in for the interview. VFS helped a lot because the interviewers were amazed at the amount of work that had been done in just 6 months, and that I actually did everything in my short. The Sims is one of the most celebrated and long-running franchises in gaming history. Was it daunting to work on? Jesse: I hadn’t truly realized the scale of the project until after I joined. One day it dawned on me. to realize how many people are involved with a project like that, how many people actually play the game, and what it takes to ship a product that big. That’s when I said “Woah. I better step it up.” It’s a constant fight between the time you’re allotted for animation and “raising the bar”. What I learned is that if you’re able to raise it within the time you’re given, the game looks better, you get to work on more, and your bosses are happy. David: To be honest when I started I didn’t know how big The Sims franchise was. It was only until a couple of months after I started that The Sims celebrated its 10th year anniversary. They held events at EA where they talked about the number of Sims games they have released and the number of fans they had. At that moment I knew I was working on something very big. Jesse: This wasn’t as drastic of a change as you might think from working on the regular Sims games. We kept to a similar pipeline with similar rigs. But from an animation standpoint, however, it was more fun! We got to reference “period acting”, mime, and gained a real sense for the dramatics. In the end, our goal was to dramatize our animations while still keeping to the same comedic style established in The Sims. As far as changes people might experience, I believe you’ll have to play to find out. David: The Sims Medieval is very different from all Sims games. Not only in the gameplay but in the art style as well. The executive producer, lead designers and the art director wanted to make something new, unique and at the same time related to The Sims. It was quite the challenge for everyone, for me especially, because I had never done painterly textures and also that this was my first job in the video game industry. I remember how difficult it was to tackle the textures of my first object. Luckily I was a part of a great team that constantly helped each other to make the art better. Also, I have to acknowledge the great work of Richard Schritter (Lead Environment Artist). He constantly pushed the Environment team and me especially to improve as an artist. We have totally new and different gameplay with the inclusion of quests, ambitions and heroes. I think that if you like the Sims and the medieval theme this is the game for you. Thanks, Jesse! You can see Jesse and David’s work right now on The Sims Medieval.
If one of your favourite parts of going to the movies is the soundscape, then you were probably excited to read about VFS’s recent guests, Hollywood sound vets Perry Robertson and Scott Sanders (Up in the Air, Juno). During their week-long visit, which included spending a lot of time with students as well as staff and faculty in the Sound Design for Visual Media program, Perry and Scott sat down for an on-camera conversation with Head of Department, Shane Rees. You can watch it all right here, or on the VFS YouTube channel.
17 Vancouver Film School grads contributed their talents to the high-profile release that, like Synder’s previous films (Watchmen and 300), pushes the envelope on what can be achieved visually in movies today. 3D Animation & Visual Effects grad James McPhail – whose work you might remember from District 9 – offered some insight about the demands of working on such a big production. He served as an Effects Technical Director: “I worked on the Samurai sequence in Sucker Punch. It has definitely been the most demanding show that I have worked on, in both the complexity and scope of the work. Effects TDs are responsible for producing simulations and FX animation. I worked on effects ranging from atmospheric stuff like the snow falling outside, to more dynamic things like dust, debris, and sparks from all the destruction going on inside the pagoda.” “Some shots were extremely complex and had the input of up to 12 different Effects TDs, all working on a single shot, not to mention all the contributions from the other departments.” “So when you see a digital double of Babydoll sailing through the air with her CG hair and CG clothes moving in the wind while dodging tracers from a mini-gun-wielding samurai, which are tearing through the ground and shooting up bits of floor into the air – all while the whole environment is collapsing, with columns splintering under the strain, filling the air with dust and bits of falling debris – that was us.” Congrats, James, on all the hard work. And congrats to Sound Design for Visual Media grad Millar Montgomery (EPK Sound), Film Production grad Gary Hawes (2nd AD: Second Unit), plus the many other 3D grads who worked on Sucker Punch: Ben Dishart, Senior Surfacing Artist Sucker Punch hits theatres across North America today.
The project began with Writing for Film & Television grad Dan Benamor, but would eventually encompass alumni from Entertainment Business Management, Makeup Design, Acting, Film Production, and Foundation. “The screenplay was developed initially as a directing vehicle for Oren Benamor (my cousin),” Dan says. “He gave me the germ of the idea — a painter decides to rob a house he’s painting — and let me loose.” “Ultimately, the fates conspired to put me into a better situation to produce the film (in large part due to my connections with fellow VFSers), so I asked Oren if he was okay with that, and with his blessing I took over directing it.” Dan had previously collaborated with Entertainment Business Management grad Bo Gembarsky on Bo’s final project, a web series pilot called “Red Zone.” The two worked well together, so Dan brought the script for Betrayed to him, and Bo decided to add his producing skills. “The screenplay grabbed me right away because it’s dark,” he adds. “I like movies that take me to places I don’t normally go and allow me to meet characters I wouldn’t generally encounter in real life.” Here’s how Bo pitches the film: “Betrayed is a 90-minute independent feature film about a bunch of criminal misfits whose desperation, stupidity, and greed lead to tragic outcomes. It begins with a robbery, it climaxes with a murder… and then it gets weird.” Krysten served as Head of Makeup on the production: “It was a lot of fun to work on,” she says. “We spent a little less than a month in Delta [just outside of Vancouver] shooting at an amazing farm house. We had a very talented cast and an amazing crew.” The number of VFS grads that came together on this independent project is impressive, and reflects the kind of network Dan, Bo, and Krysten were able to build over their year. “This is the part that was the coolest for me personally,” says Dan. “During my year at VFS I jumped at every opportunity. If someone I didn’t know from another department sent an email out that made its way to me, looking for a writer, I applied for the gig… It’s all a snowball effect, you get in with one person and they happen to know another and so on.” Here’s the list of the many other VFSers who were involved in Betrayed: Writing grads Kevin Smith, Co-writer Acting grads Vance Brews, Actor (“Tom”) Not to mention. Foundation grad Kaiyu Chen (Cinematographer/Camera Operator), Makeup Design grad Carolyn Williams (Makeup Artist), and Film Production grad Jessy Dupont (Boom Op). Congrats to everyone on a successful collaboration! The team is currently submitting Betrayed to international film festivals. For now, you can check out the new trailer.
The long-time Classical Animation instructor’s career kicked off with the 1969 short, Bambi Meets Godzilla, which was recognized as one of The 50 Greatest Cartoons. He animated commercials for Sesame Street in the ’70s. He made storyboards for Barbapapa in Holland. And he’s never slowed down his creative drive for making innovative, hilariously weird animated films – like the 2005 National Film Board (NFB) short, Tête à Tête à Tête. Students and grads alike praise Marv for his mentorship and expertise. We’re very lucky to have him here, day after day. Looking back on his career, Marv offered some thoughts on what keeps him coming back to VFS. What do you teach in the Classical Animation program? Marv: You would have to ask the students this question. They may have a different answer. My theory is that I work with students on their story and motion picture concepts. The students present ideas for 2-minute long, hand-drawn 2D-animated pictures. These ideas are presented as mumbled conversation, written notes, a series of drawings from sketchbooks, or thumbnail storyboards. Sometimes fully drawn and timed-out storyboards are presented by more passionate students. We work together to move the production along through to digitizing the final storyboard, layout, animation, and some colour and soundtrack work. The aim is to have each student finish a 2D hand-drawn animated digital motion picture, with the minimum amount of suffering. How did you break into the industry? Marv: In art school I made two live action films and one animated film. When I graduated from art school, I luckily had three finished films. Lucky, because I graduated in a gentle mist of ignorance concerning the real world of moviemaking. This is all back in the 20th Century. I knocked on film production company doors asking for work as a film director. One very nice producer/director looked at my films and sent me to another production company specializing in animation. This served 2 important purposes: it got me out of the producer/director’s office and got me a job at an animation studio designing posters and characters for animated television commercials. A major lesson was also learned: no matter how much of a fool you appear to those from whom you seek work, if you have a good, finished film your chances of a job, or success in the animation industry are improved. At the animation company I learned more lessons about making animated films and added professional animation work to my demo reel. Five years later I started up my own animation company where, despite my skills, I always had a job. Looking back on your career so far, are there certain projects you’re especially proud of? Any highlights you’d like to share? Marv: Sing Beast Sing (1980), my first, full colour, 9-minute-long animated cartoon as a director. This picture was made with the collaboration of talented animators such as Mark Kausler and [Classical Animation Senior Instructor] Dieter Mueller. It won film festival prizes in France and the USA. The film was made at my studio, International Rocketship Limited, and all other highlights stem from this event. These would include: producing films for other directors, working for big time commercial clients like Earls Restaurants, YTV, MTV, Nickelodeon, Levi’s, The National Film Board of Canada, and many others. Making the first Gary Larson’s Tales from the Far Side (1994) film and television special was a highlight. Having the support of the National Film Board in the production of my most recent picture, CMYK (2010), is definitely a highlight, as this production is a complete departure in design and approach from any of my prior motion pictures. What excites you most about teaching at VFS? Marv: Working with students on their concepts and bringing these ideas to life. Vancouver Film School seems to attract students from all over the world. The interaction of these multilingual students with each other, with Vancouver, and in the making of their motion pictures vitalizes me — in positive ways and in confounding ways. Messages from graduated students telling of their success in a festival, or in a Vancouver studio, or studios in another country make me happy. Happier if the messages are sent in the snail mail with exotic postage stamps. In the classrooms there is also excitement in the form of personal drawings, photos and poetry stuck to the desk cubicle walls. Finally, I like the exhilaration when a student shows up with a particularly interesting haircut. Thanks for your time, Marv!
A native Torontonian, he returned home after VFS and started benefiting from his growing network of contacts. We know he’s got many irons in the fire at the moment and are looking forward to sharing more news about him soon! For now, he offered some insight into his current success he’s found with the Discovery Channel factual entertainment series, Cash Cab Canada. Hi, Cal. Can you start off by telling us about your work as a Writer/Researcher for Cash Cab? How did you originally get this job? Cal: Before I went to VFS, I was living in Toronto and recommended a friend of mine for a job as a Production Assistant. He kept moving up the ranks, and by the time I was back from Vancouver, he was a Production Coordinator at Castlewood Productions, which produces Cash Cab Canada. There was an opening for a researcher, so I got a call to come in for an interview with the director. The work was pretty varied. There was research done online and at the library, with follow-up phone calls for fact checking. There was the writing of the questions themselves, with rewrites following notes from the director, producer, and network. The questions have to be read on-air-while the host is driving-so the pacing is really important. The questions have to be concise and clear. A few times we also went to the Royal Ontario Museum and the Ontario Science Centre to do research and scout locations for the video segments. You’ve also been a script reader for local production company Infinity Features. How would you say that helped you as a writer? At Infinity, I was looking much more closely at character, story, dialogue-all the fundamentals of a screenplay. Reading other scripts helps you improve as a writer, because you’re seeing what works and learning what stories you respond to and want to tell. Plus, when I was reading for Infinity, Capote had just won lots of awards, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was being filmed, and Stone of Destiny was about to open. So it was exciting to be a part of that. How would you describe the year you spent at VFS? Cal: VFS was hectic, in a great way. For starters, you’re writing on a schedule, with real deadlines. That breaks you in, I think, and gets you in the habit of being a writer. And I didn’t just write a lot, in quantity, I wrote a lot of different things-formats, styles, genres. Again, I think that’s important for finding what it is you like to write and what you write well. But my year at VFS also established a lot of important relationships. I’ve collaborated with [fellow Writing grad] Cory Ross on some projects and I still trade scripts for feedback with my former classmates like Rob Sales, Tamer Akeil, and Amanda Carter. Having people who will not just read your writing, but have a context for it and can really gauge your work is invaluable. They’re the kind of relationships you need to make your writing better. What advice would you offer to new writers looking for work in the industry? Cal: So far I’ve found that keeping in touch with people goes a long way towards finding gigs and other opportunities. I say that having moved from Toronto to Vancouver to Toronto again. We’re lucky that email, Skype, social networks, etc., can help us maintain contact, because it’s an increasingly international industry. So we really have the freedom, more than ever, to go where our career takes us. To learn more about Cash Cab, visit the series page on DiscoveryChannel.ca
Mobile gaming has dramatically changed the video game landscape, opening up an entirely different industry for sound designers, 3D artists, and game design graduates. Some have even made the mobile arena their primary focus, turning handheld game design into a career. (If you’re one of the 60,000 people who download Angry Birds every day, you already know this.) We caught up with Dustin to find out what he’s been doing since graduation, how he got involved in the project, and his advice for aspiring sound designers. Hey, Dustin. Can you tell us how you came to work on Wispin? Dustin: Currently I work for a gaming company handling all audio for video slot gaming. The creator of Wispin is an ex-employee with whom I became good friends. After he left he mentioned he was working on an iPhone game, and asked if I would do audio for it. He needed music and I’m not much of a composer, but I thought I’d give it a try anyway. Two months of working on it after my regular job later and we had a pretty good product. It’s been doing well on iTunes and getting a lot of exposure. Making friends and trying new things seem really important in the industry. Did you have no experience with music, or just with composing? Can you describe a bit of the process behind how you made your decisions? Dustin: I have been in a couple of bands and played some guitar here and there, but in no way do I consider myself a composer or even a musician for that matter. With my job I have now I sometimes have to make quick jingles or happy little tones, and I realized that music is not as insanely difficult as I made it out to be in my head. The process was fairly simple. I would look for YouTube videos with some music references, then take all that in and try and put my own twist on it. Once I completed something I thought was decent, my friend and I would collaborate on changes or ideas until we had something we both liked. Can you just talk a bit about the tools you used (hardware, software)? Dustin: I have a pretty simple setup at home, nothing too fancy. I use an iMac with a Pro Tools Mini interface and two KRK Systems monitors. I have the Oxygen 8 keyboard, and use Reason 5.0 and Pro Tools for my music creation and audio editing. This particular game had quite a bit of voice work for all the individual characters, so that was a lot of work to nail down each voice. Dustin: Absolutely. Before this project I had done a couple iOS games, but nothing compared to the fun and creativity I was able to have on this particular project. Mobile gaming is making it easier for people like me who don’t have AAA games experience but still want to do audio for games and expand their portfolio. Mobile gaming has really exploded in the last few years – do you think it would be possible for a sound designer to be successful only working on mobile games? If so, is this something you’d consider? Dustin: I don’t think we’re even close to seeing the tip of the iceberg as far what can can be done on a mobile device, and now we have a flood of tablet computers coming out trying to outdo each other. I have been considering concentrating more on looking into a full time gig doing freelance sound design for mobile games, but the freelance world can be a scary place. I think if you had enough games out there and enough contacts you definitely would be able to earn a living just on the mobile platform. Can you tell us a little about your experience after graduating – was it hard to break into the industry? How have you gone about finding work? Dustin: After graduating I moved backed to Arizona and found a gaming studio in town. The company was not hiring at the time, but I just sent my portfolio for future positions. The very next day I received an email to come in for an interview. Long story short I am still here, going on almost two years, and have met a lot of people and have learned a lot of things. Moral of the story: regardless if a company is hiring or not it doesn’t hurt to send in a resume as you never know what might happen. That sounds like great advice for all grads. Now that you’ve tried your hand at soundtrack work, do you think you’ll try and do more of it? Or is your heart in special effects? Dustin: Depends on the complexity of what they want. I am no way ready to take on orchestral scores or epic soundtracks. One day I hope to make stuff like that but until then I’ll stick with short little electronic video game music. Thanks for checking in Dustin! You can hear Dustin’s work in the trailer below, and find Wispin on iTunes.
Flash Game PRIOR Battles with Giants
And yet that’s exactly what’s happened with PRIOR, created by Game Design grad Nick Yonge. The Flash game, built over a 48 hour period for “the cost of a large pizza”, is going head to head with the aforementioned Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age Origins – Awakening, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, and a host of others at the Canadian Videogame Awards. Originally designed for Ludum Dare, where it placed 4th overall, the game is nominated in four categories, including Best Game Design. As if that weren’t enough, Nick is also nominated in the Student Category for Ginkgo, a game he helped make while still at VFS.
“While it’s exciting to do solo development, there is definitely something compelling about the collaborative process in a team environment. So while I primarily focus on krangGAMES (his newly started game design company), I do actually have a handful of external collaborators I work with as well.”
Nick is a fan of Minecraft, an indie game phenomenon made by Markus “Notch” Persson that, while still in Beta (released but unfinished version), has sold over 1.5 million copies. This does feel like something of a golden age for independent developers – smaller studios making very individual games that privilege personality and game mechanics over flashy effects.
“I figured after graduation from VFS it was the best route for me personally to take. When I graduated, it seemed that the odds of starting a profitable indie game company were about the same as getting an entry-level job in the industry. While I definitely looked at job opportunities, none of them seemed as attractive as “going indie”. It was a huge risk and I would not recommend it for everyone (I was lucky enough to have some financial backing), but it’s worked out so far and I’m enjoying it immensely. The choice to start an official company was purely business – it gave me a name to go by, and I get a handful of legal and tax benefits from being incorporated.”
“That’s where VFS came in pretty handy. The Game Design course taught me how to properly handle game development, and that means quantifying everything that goes into a game, properly tailoring the experience for the player. Making games is of course an iterative, amorphous process, but if you have a clear black-and-white design behind a game, it comes out so much the better. And DotGuy vs. the Galaxy has a pretty complex design (despite being a simple game), so working out and objectifying that design was pretty important.”
All of this talk about philosophy had us wondering about a thorny issue that’s popped up around video games recently, namely ‘Can games be considered Art?’ Should video games be judged on their artistic merit? Nick has his own opinions.
“Oh, hell yes! I definitely think games can be an art form. I think there’s absolutely no reason why they can’t. I’ll grant that some games aren’t really art – take the Halo franchise for example: I’m a diehard Halo fanboy, but those games are a franchise cash-in, not examples of artistic or innovative design. But games can totally be art – Google search “Loved Flash game” and you’ll see an example of an artistic game. Even PRIOR ended up being on the artsy side of design.”
Congratulations, Nick!Film Production Grad ‘Driven’ to Succeed
Film Production grad Gregory Bayne‘s project Jens Pulver: Driven “is an intimate feature documentary film about legendary mixed martial arts [MMA] champion, Jens Pulver, who rose from a childhood laced with violence and substance abuse, to become one of the most loved and respected MMA fighters of all time” – or, so Gregory says in this interview with FilmThreat.com.Ye Olde Sims Game Goes Historical
Before the release of the Sims 3, a game that itself sold 1.4 million copies in its first week, the Sims franchise reached 100 million sales. Tuesday saw the launch of the latest iteration of the game, The Sims Medieval, which reimagines the lovable Sims in an older, joust-ier time, and initial reviews indicate this version will be no less successful.
How’d you get the job working for EA on the Sims? What was your role on the game?
The setting for The Sims Medieval is obviously different from previous Sims. Did this affect how you approached your work? What kind of changes will people experience?Up in the Air’ Sound Experts In Conversation (Video)
Sucker Punch Visuals Powered by VFS Grads
Zack Snyder’s latest film may be getting mixed reviews from critics, but one thing everyone seems to agree on is the impressive, otherworldly visual feast that Sucker Punch offers.
Kevin Mah, Senior TD: Effects
Pedram Daraeizadeh, Render Wrangler
Jelmer Boskma, Character Modeler
Ryan B. Clarke, Digital Compositor
Matthias Lowry, Compositor
Harry Mukhopadhyay, Lead Effects TD
Julien Stuart-Smith, Look Development
Richard Sur, Senior Lighting TD
Jeff Tetzlaff, Model/Texture Lead
Tuba Yalcin, Effects TD
Teh-Wei Yeh, Lighting TD
Jeffrey Burt, Lead Layout Artist
Ferda Guray Ayaokur, Track/Matchmove ArtistVFS Grads Bond on ‘Betrayed’
Sometimes you just have to go out there and do it yourself. The barriers to breaking into today’s filmmaking industry aren’t as daunting as they used to be. There are more opportunities than ever for driven, creative VFS grads – such as the many that came together recently to shoot the independent feature, Betrayed.
“I was the executive producer,” says Bo, “which means that, among other things, I also put up the money that paid for the various makeup and SFX appliances [Makeup Design grad] Krysten Merrick and others used for the film.”
Brennan King, Editor
Dylan Thompson, Assistant Director
Younghoo Kwon, Gaffer (also a Film Production grad)
Tamara Wood, Caterer
Alex Coulombe, Actor (“Mark”)
Kelsey Murphy-Miles, Actor (“Madeleine”)
Andrew Zeleny, Actor (“Rob”)
Michael Germant, ProducerFaculty Spotlight: Legendary 2D Animator, Marv Newland
Marv Newland is a legend in traditional, 2D animation.
Writing Grad Takes a Ride on Cash Cab
Since Cal MacLean graduated from Writing for Film & Television in 2008, he’s made a number of significant steps into the industry as a working writer.
Cal: Reading for Infinity Features/Foundation Features was invaluable. When I was in college, I did some script coverage for a financing and distribution company, but it was much different reading scripts in development.Sound Design Grad Explores Colourful Side
Sound Design for Visual Media alumnus Dustin Bozovich counts himself among these pioneers. Dustin was responsible for both the music and the sound effects on Grumpyface Studio’s Wispin, and his hard work paid off: 50 four-star reviews, and Apple’s Game of the Week for the iPad.
Did you have an interest in video games before coming onto this project?