VFS is home to many instructors who have built amazing careers from their life’s passion. Sound Design for Visual Media Senior Instructor Jonathan Fish is so committed to game audio, he even wrote his Master’s thesis on it. (Trivia: His paper is titled “Interactive and Adaptive Audio for Home Video Game Console Systems”.)
Before joining VFS, Jon was at Electronic Arts Canada where he worked on over 15 video titles including FIFA, NBA Live, and Medal of Honor. We asked him a few questions about his career, his love for sound, and what motivates him to teach here at VFS.
What do you teach in the Sound Design program?
Jon: As Senior Instructor of Game Audio in the Sound Design program, I devise, teach, and coordinate the game audio portion of the program. The program has undergone an overhaul in the past couple of years to make it more relevant to the industry, and I have been involved first-hand in revamping the curriculum from the game audio side of things.
My subjects span five terms, with curriculum touching on multiple areas of sound design for video games — from conceptualizing and prototyping; to recording, designing, layering, sweetening, editing and creating variety; to implementing audio design in game audio software “middleware” tools for the purposes of integrating into working games.
Sound design for games is a unique craft. It combines sound design with software development, and it’s certainly not for everyone. I balance a range of knowledge and skills in my teachings (both technical and aesthetic), and employ various audio tools and techniques to add to the students’ audio toolkit, giving them a competitive edge when they try to break into the competitive game industry.
We start with the basics of what interactive, non-linear audio means, and work our way up to designing complex, real-time, parameter-driven audio events functionality in software that works! This way the students garner an understanding not only of how to apply techniques for designing sound for games, but having a context and understanding of how everything works within the big picture of the game industry.
How did you break into the industry?
Jon: Certainly not in the conventional way (if there is such a thing). I actually came from a primarily academic background when embarking on my career in game audio. I came here to Vancouver after completing a Bachelor’s degree at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. I went on to complete a Master’s degree at Simon Fraser University, where I specialized in sound design within the School of Communication, studying sound production, soundscape studies, and electroacoustic music amongst other areas of study.
By the end of my studies, I was teaching introductory sound production and soundscape studies to undergraduate students. I researched and wrote my thesis “Interactive and Adaptive Audio for Home Video Game Console Systems”, which to this day is still the only MA thesis from SFU devoted to the area of game sound. After being awarded a Master’s degree, I went on to do some freelance audio work, including various projects at Airwaves Sound Design in downtown Vancouver. I had interviewed various game industry sound designers in compiling research and data for my thesis, and I maintained those contacts while working freelance.
I applied to work at Electronic Arts Canada, but they weren’t initially hiring. It wasn’t long, however, before they needed an entry level Sound Artist for a new burgeoning business unit. I interviewed for and was hired on to do audio for handheld titles to start with. This blossomed into a career where I had the pleasure of working on over 15 discreet game titles (most of them AAA sports titles) on a host of platforms/consoles, including FIFA, NBA Live, Medal of Honor, The Sims, Madden NFL, NBA Street, and EA Sports Active franchises. I went on to serve as Audio Lead, overseeing all core audio disciplines for several SKUs in development including some new IP titles.
Looking back on your career so far, are there certain projects you’re especially proud of? Any highlights you’d like to share?
Jon: So many valuable rewarding experiences! Working for EA was a real eye-opener. I got to work with so many talented peers, proprietary tools, pipelines, and processes under cut-throat deadlines. Working on AAA franchises on such a massive scale as FIFA was definitely a thrill, as was serving as Audio Lead on my first FPS franchise: Medal of Honor. I probably learned the most working as lead on the Playground IP title, for which we embarked on a completely new target market, technology, and platform never before attempted by EA. Also, wrangling speech for a trainer-driven fitness title was a massive undertaking that yielded great results and recognition.
What excites you most about teaching at VFS?
Jon: I’m big on giving back, and am passionate about sharing my knowledge and experience with the talent of tomorrow. I take pride in helping to build the skills that serve as the foundation for a student’s audio toolkit. Moreover, I find there’s very little that’s more rewarding in the world than when a student starts to embrace the skills I’ve helped to cultivate, and designs an audio product that they’re truly proud of.
Sound is an art that is felt and is emotionally driven, so it’s more than just an accomplishment when you complete a sound design to your satisfaction; it’s a labour of love realized. When students contact me from the field to inform me about how my teachings helped to shape who they have become, or how they apply those lessons in their day-to-day work lives, I know I’ve made a difference. Aside from being a parent, what could be more rewarding than that?
Thanks, Jon!
Maggie kicked things off in October and has lately been posting bilingual interviews with VFS students and alumni like Teresa Chang, Jeff Chen, Lina Zhao, Owen Chen, Yuan You, and Benson Chang. With nearly half of VFS’s student body coming from outside of Canada, students in any program can expect a wide variety of nations represented — which, in this increasingly globalized entertainment industry, can only serve to expand a creative network of future collaborators. We’re lucky to have Maggie providing us with a look at Asian students and grads from Digital Design. Visit Oomph to check out her posts, along with a host of other content for design-minded students and pros.
This year’s focus was on non-fiction books and Carmen’s Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter made it to the top thanks to efforts by Toronto/Vancouver rapper Shad. Catch the announcement on CBC.ca. Congratulations, Carmen!
While Dionne Gordon and Jennifer Siddle, the Program Managers for Writing for Film & Television and Entertainment Business Management, respectively, are amongst the many Mad Men fans who can’t wait for season five to finally arrive. They decided to take the critically-acclaimed series into their own… hands. With the help of many VFSers, they launched Plaid Men this past weekend – a web series that puts hand puppets inside the feisty Manhattan ad agency and picks up where season four left off. You can catch a new episode every Sunday night at PlaidMenWebSeries.com. In March there will be two episodes per week on Sundays and Thursdays in the lead up to Mad Men‘s season premiere on the 25th. Plaid Men features the talents of Writing grads Bob Woolsey, Derek Thompson, Steve Toms, and Wade Fennig; Film Production grad Ryan Jackson; Writing/Film instructor Rudy Thauberger; Acting for Film & Television grads Naomi Dayneswood, Shannon Lang, Lauren Martin, and Aaron McCallum; and Head of Acting Bill Marchant. Oh, and that title sequence? It’s created by Ian Berg, a grad of both Foundation Visual Art & Design and Digital Design. Check out the first episode and ‘like’ the series on Facebook.
“Nobody uses film anymore,” he told the crowd during his acceptance speech. “You should change your name to the Vancouver Digital Motion Picture Critics Circle. I didn’t even know film critics saw my movies.” We spoke with Marv in March about his career, and the satisfaction he gets out of teaching. “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.” Congratulations, Marv! Check out Marv’s Bambi vs. Godzilla below.
“Nobody ever comes to me. Nobody in the history of filmmaking has ever gone, ‘You know who we need for this? Matt Lillard.” That’s the truth. It was an audition. I read the audition and I was like, ‘Dude, there’s no way I’m going to be this guy. There’s no way I’m George Clooney’s wife’s lover. That’s not happening.” And yet it did happen. According to this behind the scenes video shot on set in Hawaii, Lillard said he did the audition quickly with his kids waiting in the car, which actually played a part in him landing the role, according to Payne. Once he was cast in “one of 2011′s best” movies — a role that could potentially blow the doors off of the legacy of successful franchises like Scooby-Doo! and Scream — Lillard turned to his friend and colleague, Head of Acting for Film & Television Bill Marchant, for coaching help leading up to production. Considering the many hours Lillard has dedicated to weekend workshops with VFS Acting alumni, not to mention his previous guest speaker engagements, working with the passionate veteran actor seemed like a no-brainer for Bill, who was kind enough to share his thoughts on the entire experience: On Matthew Lillard, the Actor “Matthew Lillard is very much an actor’s actor. He is classically trained and very professional in his attitude toward the work. Because he spent most of his youth and early adulthood immersed in the slacker oeuvre, he is too often dismissed as being a slight character, a goof, a man-child. Yes, he is all those things but they represent a very small part of his palette. He is very much a masculine force of tremendous power and charisma with a surprising depth of sensitivity. He is also like mercury, silvered and quick and electric, ultimately impossible to pin down.” “I think it is Alexander Payne’s great genius to recognize this wild cactus flower, the outrageous beauty of bloom where we expected none. What a remarkable eye to know that behind the archetype that Matthew represents, lies an actor of extraordinary substance.” The Coaching Process “Matt was excited about The Descendants, obviously, but he was calm compared to me. I am a huge fan of both Lillard and Payne. I knew that this bit of inspired casting was akin to the masterstroke of using Paul Giamatti as the hero in Sideways. I am sure Matt did have his concerns about flying to Hawaii and doing the gig but he remained fairly casual through out the process. It is never wise to do a project of this scope without working on it with a coach. It was my honour to play that role.” “[VFS instructor] Matt Fentiman and I flew down to the Lillard home in Pasadena ready to work. But we didn’t get right to it. We talked over the script and major scenes casually during the course of the next few days as Matt [Lillard] took care of his kids and wrangled busy schedules with his wife. I was chomping at the bit to play. Matt Lillard prefers to simmer. Slow.” “The day before we left for home, we finally got down to it. We started by walking for miles in beautiful suburban Pasadena down tree-lined avenues, just going over the lines, over and over again, letting them seep deep into the tissue of the actor’s body. On breaks we would ramble and debate about the truth of love and relationships and betrayal and getting caught. These are all the major hurdles his character faces in The Descendants.” “Finally, we took it back to the ‘work’ room of Matthew’s house and got the scene up on its feet. Matt Fentiman took on the Clooney role and we let it fly. Lillard is all animal impulse. He censors nothing as he repeats the scene, honing and tweaking and pushing at the edges of the scene until the ragged but glorious truth emerges. It’s not pretty. It’s not easy. But it is outrageously fun. Within a couple of hours we were done and wisely let it go. I knew Matthew could remain constant in the scene while adapting to all change regardless of the circumstance. His key strengths are energy, permission, and the connective sinew of love that defines the great actor. He brings it every time. That’s who he is.” Thanks for the insight, Bill! And a big congrats to Matthew Lillard on a wonderful performance! UPDATE (1/16/12): The Descendants has won the 2012 Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Drama).
He’s once again teaming up with Foundation Visual Art & Design grad Ryan Copple (Co-Creator and Writer of Riese), who will serve as Writer-Producer for a new wedding-themed horror feature entitled Death Do Us Part. Acting for Film & Television grad Peter Benson is also a Writer-Producer on this project and will be starring as well. Some other familiar VFS faces include Makeup Design for Film & Television grad Sarah Elizabeth, EBM grad Sandra Gonzalez, and Film Production grad Greg Brown. A press release for the film hints at the horror to come: “What started out as a celebration quickly descends into a bloody nightmare. Friendships are ripped apart and accusations fly in this blood-filled psychological horror with a whodunit twist.” Principal photography begins this month. We’ll bring you more details as they become available. Until then, visit DeathDoUsPart.com for more info! Break legs, everyone!
The eighth year of the contest came to a close last night, with VFS faculty and grads taking the lead with some shocking (and surprisingly funny) horror films. You can currently see all the entered films on the competition website — however, we strongly advise viewer discretion. If you’re not a fan of the horror genre, well, let’s just say you might be spending Halloween hiding out in a safe place with a favourite blanket after watching these. According to VFS Blog sources, we’ve learned that Acting for Film & Television instructor Andrew Moxham picked up the Jury Prize honours for “my guitar gently weeps”, which featured Acting grad Steve Bradley – who also received an award for Best Actor. Makeup Design for Film & Television grads Leah Cuff and Malin Sjostrom-Ewan, meanwhile, won the Best Makeup award for their work in “Full Moon Tonight” and the VFS Acting program-heavy “All Saints Day” won Best Score Congrats, all! Here’s the list of all teams featuring VFS faculty and grads – if you’re not on this list, let us know and we’ll add you! “Just One More” “my guitar gently weeps” “Full Moon Tonight” “All Saints Day” “Cerebral Static” “Satan’s Sideshow” “Nailed”
While the Acting for Film & Television program focuses specifically on acting in front of the camera, the skills and techniques students discover over one year of intense exploration can be applicable to other avenues, such as theatre. Alumnus William C. Vaughan, whose young career already boasts credits like Battlestar Galactica: The Face of the Enemy, Defying Gravity, and Men with Brooms, describes why he’s drawn to theatre: “I do it for the experience and to build something that people can experience live with us. No one can edit my performance, or cut a scene, or ‘fix’ anything afterward. That’s the real thrill of it. A tiny, freezing theatre where the audience has no idea what they’re in for and will never forget what they’ve seen. And once it’s done, it’s done. When it was meant to be done. And I can truly be proud of what I’ve accomplished.” Fellow grad Paul Piaskowski (Shattered), when asked how acting in theatre affects his film and television work, answered with this: “Acting is living truthfully under imaginary circumstances. Whether you’re doing this in front of a crew of 50 on a film set, or in front of an audience of 500 in a theatre, it makes no difference. There are some technical things that need to be adjusted, but the art of it, the art remains the same; that truth you feel in yourself, it never changes.” “The reward of the work is the work. If you’re doing this for the right reasons, the passion you feel working on a multi-million dollar Hollywood blockbuster will be the same passion you feel working on a no-budget independent theatre production in some tiny black box theatre in the middle of nowhere.” Both William and Paul will be joined by another VFS Acting grad, Jessica Charbonneau, as well as Senior Instructor Cara McDowell, in the upcoming production of Asymmetry at Vancouver’s Havana Theatre (1212 Commercial Drive) on October 25-30. Want to win two tickets to see Asymmetry on Wednesday, October 26 at 8pm? Hit the Like button on this post, or on Facebook, by Friday, October 14.
Trained as both a writer of fiction and films, Rudy has become a great resource for student filmmakers and screenwriters looking to make the most impact with their stories. His writing has been anthologized and taught in schools and produced for the big screen. You can see a short film adaptation of Rudy’s short story “Goalie” at the upcoming Vancouver International Film Festival. (Interestingly, both “Goalie” and Rudy’s first feature The Rhino Brothers are steeped in the world of hockey.) What do you do in the Writing for Film & Television and Film Production programs? Rudy: I teach screenwriting in both the Writing and Film Production programs. In Film Production, I concentrate on short films and in Writing, my main focus is features. I also teach a course on the Second Act. How did you first break in as a writer? Rudy: I was in my 20s. My girlfriend at the time was going to visit her family for the long weekend and, as she went out the door, she handed me an ad for a short story contest. Something to keep me busy while she was gone. Over the weekend, I wrote the short story “Goalie”, which not only won the contest, but went on to be published over two dozen times. It was a great success, but it taught me some bad lessons. For a long time afterwards, I thought, well, that’s how you write. You take a weekend, rattle something off and it gets published. Turns out it’s a lot harder than that. Looking back on your career so far, are there certain projects you’re especially proud of? Any highlights you’d like to share? Rudy: My second feature Chicago Heights came from a script I co-wrote with the director in the ’90s. It was based on the classic early 20th century book Winesburg, Ohio, a book widely considered unfilmable. The project went nowhere and I figured it was pretty much dead. Then the director, Daniel Nearing, went to work at a film school outside of Chicago and resurrected the project as a student/faculty production, updating the story to the present and setting it in the largely African-American exurb of Chicago Heights. He shot the feature with a production budget of — I’m not kidding — one thousand dollars. And this film, which I thought would never get made, ended up playing at festivals all over the world and even got a glowing review from Roger Ebert. The lesson there was, no project is ever dead if you’re passionate, clever and determined. (Dan also directed a short based on “Goalie” playing at VIFF this year.) The upcoming project I’m most excited about is a web series I’m developing with Dwayne Beaver called “Coma State”. It’s a sci-fi series that combines live action, animation, puppetry, comics, and gaming (and anything else we can think of). We started out thinking of a web series as a film, cut up into bite-sized chunks or a mini-version of a TV series, but working on this project taught us that a web series is a whole different creature. The potential for what can be done with a web series is only just beginning to be explored. Figuring it all out has been a blast. What excites you most about teaching at VFS? Rudy: Working with the students on their scripts. I love story editing, which is basically just figuring out what writers want to do with their stories, then helping them reach those goals. And since we have such an amazing diversity of students at the school, the stories are incredibly varied. It’s fun watching the students grow into the writers they’re going to become, discovering their voices. Thanks, Rudy! Update: While playing at the 2011 Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), Goalie received this glowing write-up in The Vancouver Courier, describing Rudy’s story as “rich and complex”.
Oomph Interview Series Features Asian Students & Alumni
Readers of the Oomph blog — especially those with any interest or knowledge of Chinese — have been treated with the recent ‘Dragon Tales’ blog story series, written by the Digital Design program’s visiting scholar, Maggie Guo.Acting Instructor’s Book Tops CBC’s Canada Reads Competition
We’re excited to hear the news that Acting for Film & Television guest lecturer Carmen Aguirre has drawn top acclaim in CBC’s Canada Reads competition. The annual battle of the books pits well-known national personalities against each other in a public debate where they must champion a work by a Canadian author.Plaid Men Web Series Unveiled
VFS is a place focused on helping students spend most of their waking hours on amazing projects, staff and faculty also find unique ways to work together creatively.VFS Instructor Marv Newland Honoured by Vancouver Film Critics
As we head into awards season, one VFS instructor has gotten a head start. This past Monday the Vancouver Film Critics Circle gathered to recognize the best in Canadian and International film, and Classical Animation instructor Marv Newland was honoured with the Achievement Award for Contribution to the BC Film and Television Industry. Both The Province and The Globe and Mail stories show Marv hasn’t lost his trademark sense of humour that made his Bambi vs. Godzilla short such a cult hit. Head of Acting Bill Marchant on Coaching Matthew Lillard
In what’s been described as a “bracingly honest” interview with BlackBook, VFS Advisory Board Member Matthew Lillard spoke about his career and what being cast in Alexander Payne’s The Descendants meant for him:
Wedding-Themed Horror Features VFS Elite
As director of The Little Mermaid – an award-winning short film from Compendium IV: Psycho Princess – Entertainment Business Management instructor Nicholas Humphries is no stranger to working with VFS students and grads.
VFS Faculty and Grads Go “Gore” at Bloodshots 2011
You might’ve heard of the annual Bloodshots 48-hour Horror Filmmaking Contest. Films created during this twisted filmmaking frenzy can be scary, gross, horrifying, or just downright wrong. And that’s the point. ‘Tis the season, right?
Team Awesome
Film Production grads Katelynn Mann (Producer), Jan Floor (Art Direction), and Carson Haight (1st AD), along with Makeup Design grad April Beer (Makeup Artist).
The Studes
Acting grads Andrew Moxham (Director/Editor/Story), Steve Bradley (Story), and Andrew Dunbar (“Driver”/Camera Op), along with Makeup Design grad Jennifer Kaminski (Makeup Artist).
Borrowtime
Acting grads Lauren Martin (“Chloe”) and Tom Belding (“Jeremy”), Film Production grads Darren Borrowman (Director), Joshua Mark Guitar (Editor), Darshan Rickhi (Grip), and Sean Avery (Grip), Entertainment Business Management grad Sebastien Dryland (Assoc. Producer), Writing for Film & Television grads Bob Woolsey and Andrew Menzies (Writers), and Keith Opatovsky (Producer), Makeup Design grads Leah Cuff and Malin Sjostrom-Ewan, and Digital Design grad Ian Berg (Motion Design).
After Shock
Acting grads Matt Fentiman (Director/Writer – also a VFS Acting instructor), Scott Alonzo (Writer/Producer), with VFS instructor Suzanne Hepburn and Head of Acting Bill Marchant appearing on screen as well. Digital Design grads Drew Hutchinson (Editor) and Matthew Lawless (DOP), and Makeup Design grad Jennifer Kaminski (Makeup Artist) also contributed.
Team Lost Boys
Sound Design for Visual Media students Luis Orlando Ruiz (Boom Op, Sound Editor/Mixer), Bryce Raffle (Music/Boom Op/Sound Editor), and Juan Carlos Aguirre (Boom Op/Sound Editor).
Hora Morior
Makeup Design grad Shimona Henry (Producer/Makeup).
Bloodclot
Film Production grad Hope LaVelle (Producer/1st AD).Win Tickets to See VFS Grads & Faculty in ‘Asymmetry’
Faculty Spotlight: Writer Brings Fiction to the Big Screen
VFS faculty member Rudy Thauberger teaches in both the Writing for Film & Television and Film Production programs.