Last month, Vancouver Film School offered aspiring animators in Mexico the opportunity to experience VFS for themselves, through an Animation Intensive at Tecnolόgico de Monterrey . This five-day workshop, led by our own faculty of industry professionals, offered a taste of VFS’s Classical Animation and Digital Character Animation programs.
The students were exposed to animation fundamentals and shown ways to apply them in traditional and digital environments while learning some incredible new tools and exercises that will help them grow their skills and expertise. We were thrilled to be able to bring this particular opportunity to Mexico for the first time and the students seemed pretty happy to have us as well – the program sold out! We also received some very positive feedback about the event from some of the students who attended.
“It was a great experience,” said Guillermo Campos, who told us that he learned a lot and was shown aspects of animation that he had never taken into account before. “This will now make it easier for me to improve my animation skills,” he said.
Joel Hernández told us that the experience was really useful – not only the technical side but the artistic aspect as well. “The professors were really prepared and have the experience necessary to provide us with helpful feedback,” he shared.
Check out the photos below to see the students in action!
Learn more about our 2012 Summer Intensives beginning in July.
Is it possible to have a life-changing experience in just five days? If you were to ask past participants in Summer Intensives at Vancouver Film School, the answer would be a resounding yes! Nine programs. Five days each. A firsthand look inside our acclaimed programs. That’s what it’s all about. In one week with us this summer, you’ll: Best of all, the cost of your Summer Intensive is applied against your tuition if you choose to enroll in a full-time VFS program. If you’re seriously considering an education at VFS, you can’t lose. Visit the Summer Intensives website for all the details and to register right now.
Founded in 1987, VFS has become the destination for amazing artists from all over the country – and around the world. The 2012 Cross-Canada Roadshow is your chance to discover if VFS is right for you, and how you can get started on a rewarding path in the entertainment industry. Sign up to attend one of these free info sessions, where you will: - Hear about an exclusive scholarship opportunity for attendees April 11: Fredericton Click here to find out all the details and register now. We hope to see you this spring in a city near you!
It’s an exciting time at VFS right now! We’re kicking off our 25th anniversary celebration this year with an amazing opportunity for the storytellers, pioneers, innovators, and creatives who are looking to transform the entertainment industry over the next 25 years. If that sounds like you – and you’re ready right now to take the first big step in launching your career in film, TV, games, or design – then you may be eligible for a scholarship of up to $25,000 for specific full-time programs starting April 30th or June 25th, 2012. This is a limited time opportunity, so don’t delay. Visit the 25th Anniversary Celebration site now and get started!
Last summer’s SIGGRAPH conference provided VFS students with a ton of opportunities to hear from industry pros at the top of their game. We hosted a number of those talented men and women for special presentations and campus visits, including 3D Animation & Visual Effects grad Lino DiSalvo. Now a Supervising Animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios — where he’s made significant contributions to films like Tangled and Bolt — Lino graciously shared some advice with students and sat down with us for an on-camera interview. Check out the video here or on the VFS YouTube channel!
Here’s a quick look at some of the Oscar-nominated films VFSers helped create: Best Picture Animated Feature Film Visual Effects Check out the rest of the nominees and air times on the Oscars website.
The video, for Mangan’s “Rows of Houses”, is now up for a 2012 Juno Award for Video of the Year! (That’s the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys, for our international readers.) The awards aren’t until March 26th through April 1st, but you can check out the video now on BlatantStudios.com. We asked Jon to tell us more about how this project came together. Could you tell us a bit about the creative treatment for this video? What was the concept at the start? Jon: Well, when I was first asked to write, I was told the track was lyrically based on the movie Stand by Me and the album was a darker and deeper effort from Dan. I wasn’t interested in doing anything directly related to the movie, so instead I wrote a quick story involving ideas from the song that stuck out to me, such as homogenous urban sprawl and expansion. I then went over it all with Dan and he had similar concepts in mind, so it actually work out really well. What’s it like collaborating with Dan Mangan? Jon: For a guy who has spent so much time building a career on his own, Dan is a great collaborator. I like to get the story nailed down with him to start, and then let the details evolve as we’re making it, both visually and conceptually, and just steer them in the right direction. But if those initial ideas are in place, he is very trusting and lets us run a bit, which is great, though it may be because we’ve worked together before. For this project we were on set together which is always fun, the Mangan crew is a bunch of good dudes. He seems to have been catapulted to fame in the last while. Does that put any pressure on Blatant to up your game as music video creators? Jon: Oh for sure, but that’s a very good thing. They’re a great creative outlet, giving a chance to experiment and improve. You’ll see more. Thanks, Jon. Congrats to everyone at Blatant and good luck at the Junos!
There’s something in the water over at Classical Animation, and the results are all over the internet. A few week’s ago Vimeo chose a grad’s final project as a Staff Highlight, and now animation site Cartoon Brew has posted the final project of alumnus Andres Tapeton. As described on the site, Andres hopes to make it a series: “And well, luckily my life brought me to the point that I actually know how to do that now, hah. And that’s why this one is just a prologue of what hopefully will become a personal animated project.” Well done, Andres! Update: And now it’s on Applied Arts!
Now many of those companies will have access to a local server farm that will help them to strengthen and quicken production on high-profile feature films in the future. And that may mean more ways to see VFS alumni work as more studios — with bigger projects — flock to BC to take advantage of the deep talent pool of artists. The Hollywood Reporter ran this story on Friday as the news broke. “The opening of RenderCloud makes us competitive with such cities as London and New Zealand, and puts Vancouver into consideration for the next generation of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings productions,” Catherine Winder, president and executive producer of Rainmaker Entertainment, said Friday.
There was a time in the not-so-distant past when a video game could only be played on a purpose-built cabinet at an arcade. Suffice it to say the times have changed, and your average mobile phone now has more computing power than the original NASA command station. With gaming theory influencing almost everything we do, from interacting with friends to buying groceries to getting healthy, games are set to take centre stage in the popular consciousness in a big way. How big? Well consider that in 2011: In the following article, VFS grads – nine Game Design alumni, a Classical Animation grad, and a Sound Design for Visual Media grad – present their thoughts on games and the industry’s future. A NON-EXISTENT GAME THEY’D LIKE TO PLAY Annie Dickerson (Game Design, 2011 | Digido Interactive): I want a game that tracks every activity I do throughout the day. Brush my teeth – 2pts. Walk the dog – 5pts. My real world efforts then feed into a virtual world that rewards me for my deeds, challenges me to try new things, and helps me visualize patterns in my daily life. Bruce Kelly (Game Design, 2006 | Eidos Montreal): Because they’re the only games I can think about right now: I want a game that looks like Skyrim, plays like Dark Souls, feels and sounds like Battlefield 3, and theoretically never ends like Diablo. I’m pretty sure that game would be considered a crime against humanity, though, so it’s probably for the best that it never sees the light of day. McElroy Flavelle (Game Design, 2008 | Vancouver Social Games): Though I spend a lot of time talking about how the console era is coming to a close, I’d love to play a Red Dead Redemption-like game set in the Pacific Northwest. I imagine this is interesting to very few other people and there’s a good reason nobody will ever build it. Grayson Scantlebury (Game Design, 2008 | Radical Entertainment): Still waiting for a “holodeck” to be a real thing. Jake Kazdal (Classical Animation, 1996 | Haunted Temple Studios): I want the 16-bit adventure game genre to be revived. That may or not be a hint about what I want to do next! Brennan Massicotte (Game Design, 2007 | Independent): I’d like to see games that have compelling personal journeys that exist in a social space with your friends. There’s so much potential for experiences where the players generate the content and the meaning of the world that hasn’t yet been explored. Lawrence Metten (Game Design, 2009 | BigPark): I want to play a fighter where you face off against your pet-peeves. I’d love to kick the stuffing out of slow walkers, bad drivers, and nail biters. Virtually, of course. Melanie Genereux (Game Design, 2007 | Longtail Studios): I want to play some funky-but-realistic-and-mature RPG where the protagonist is long-boarding and hitchhiking across the Americas. The player would build relationships and acquire various skills as they travel and meet new characters. Jordan Fehr (Sound Design for Visual Media, 2008 | Independent): Some great ideas have been floating around about trying to make a game about photojournalism, especially as it pertains to war. I also would love to see something new created about maps and map-making. I have no idea how a game like that would even work, but since maps are such a central thing in video games, but only used as a tool, I would love to see where someone could go with trying to make the game actually about maps. CASUAL GAMING VS AAA TITLES Annie: Casual games have created experiences that a broader audience can enjoy, but there will always be gamers who demand AAA titles. Bruce: I don’t see why their respective existences need to remain mutually exclusive, because if anything the gap between “casual” and AAA is shrinking. As far as winners and losers go, I can’t imagine the success of one being bad for the other. Casual gaming will arguably become the dominant form, but that kind of success will mean exposing more and more people to our culture, inevitably bringing new gamers into the fold; today’s casual gamer could be tomorrow’s hardcore gamer. It’s win/win as far as I’m concerned. McElroy: I don’t think casual or AAA will die. I think we`ll see the line blur, and it’s already started. I think tablets will be the most common tool for delivering hardcore games and at that point there will have been a lot of lessons learned in the casual space to bridge the gap between core and casual. Grayson: The key is finding innovation. I think casual games have the edge there, as they typically have more freedom and smaller production cycles. The next step is to take that innovation, create a title around it, and give it the polish it deserves to become a AAA title. Neither side will win or lose – the industry needs both.
Announcing the 2012 Summer Intensives
VFS Summer Intensives 2012
VFS is Hitting the Road From April 11 to May 5, 2012!
We’re celebrating Vancouver Film School’s 25th anniversary by visiting 13 cities across Canada from April 11 to May 5, 2012 – and we’re bringing an exclusive scholarship opportunity with us!
- Get an inside look at student life at VFS
- Discover how VFS prepares you for your career in film, TV, games, and design
- Meet a VFS Admissions representative for application and portfolio tips
April 12: Ottawa
April 14: Toronto
April 17: Winnipeg
April 18: Saskatoon
April 19: Edmonton
April 21: Calgary
April 25: Victoria
April 26: Vancouver
May 1: Penticton
May 2: Kelowna
May 3: Kamloops
May 5: Prince GeorgeCelebrating 25 Years with Over $1,000,000 in Scholarships!
Video: 3D Grad Lino DiSalvo On His Journey to Disney
VFS Connections to Oscar 2012 Hopefuls
This weekend’s Academy Awards will celebrate another great year in film and alumni success. VFS grads contributed to a number of celebrated films in 2011 — garnering credits on 9 of the 10 highest-grossing movies of the year. On Sunday, we’ll see how many of those films take home the top prize in the biz.
*The Descendants — Acting for Film & Television Advisory Board Member Matt Lillard played “Brian Speer”.
*Hugo – 3D Animation & Visual Effects grads Elena Topouzoglou (Stereoscopic Compositor), Michael Eurek (Junior 3D Generalist), Geeta Basantani (Lead Compositor)
*The Tree of Life — 3D grads Jeff Tetzlaff (Modeling/Texturing Artist), Jesus L. Yapor (Compositor), Stephen King (Animator)
*Kung Fu Panda 2 — Digital Design grad Cesar Alejandro Montero Orozco (Surfacing Artist), and 3D grads Claudia Keene (Key Assistant Clean-up Artist), Nicholas Augello (Character Effects Artist)
*Puss in Boots — 3D grad Javier Solsona (Lead Character Technical Director) and Digital Design grad Cesar Alejandro Montero Orozco (Production Testing)
*Rango – 3D grads Cedric Lo (Lead Animator), Henri Tan (Creature TD), Jamie Bowers (Texture Painter), Kieran Tether (Digital Artist), Michael Lum (Animator), Scott Jones (Creature Lead), Stephen King (Animator), Teh-wei Yeh (Digital Artist), Will McCrate (Lighting TD)
*Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 — 3D grads Annabelle Kent (Digital Compositor), Henry South (CG Modeler), Joshua Herrig (Lead Lighting Artist/Look Dev Artist), Jozef van Eenbergen (Pipeline Developer), Kevin Mah (Effects Technical Director), Mike Rhone (Effects Technical Director), Nuno Nisa Pereira (Visual Effects Technical Director), Sara Hilmarsdottir (Matchmove Artist), Sofus Graae (Visual Effects Coordinator), Will Towle (Camera Tracker)
*Real Steel — 3D grad Aruna Inversin (Lead Compositor) and Makeup Design for Film & Television grad Cristina Atkin (Mold Making, Legacy EFX)
*Rise of the Planet of the Apes — Digital Character Animation grad Chad Moffitt (Animator), Film Production grads Gary Hawes (Second Assistant Director), Gord Dunick (Visual Effects Set Supervisor), Classical Animation grad Michael Cozens (Senior Animator), Makeup Design grad Mike Nickiforek (Animal Effects Fabrication), and 3D grads Abdullah Ecirli (Digital Compositor), Anthony Di Ninno (Previs Artist), Carolyn Wong (Creature Technical Director), Cesar Rodriguez Bautista (Digital Paint Artist), Chrystia Siolkowsky (Motion Editor), Jesse Sturdy (Witness Reference), Kristin Sedore (Lighting TD), Matt Weaver (Animator), Patrick Henry (Witness Reference), Richard Sur (Lighting Technical Director), Tamir Diab (Lighting Technical Director)
*Transformers: Dark of the Moon — 3D grads Anna Tonrungroj (Stereoscopic Nuke Background Prep), Borae Cho (Pipeline Technical Director), Cesar Rodriguez Bautista (Stereoscopic Prep/Roto Artist), Chelsea Whittet (Digital Production Administrator), Daphne De Jesus (Digital Paint Artist), Henri Tan (Creature Technical Director), Jamie Bowers (Texture Artist), Jooyong Lee (Roto/Paint Artist), Kelsey Ayukawa (Stereo Roto/Paint Artist), Kieran Tether (Digital Artist), Louis Cox (Visual Effects Artist), Pedram Daraeizadeh (Digital Production Administrator), Samson Wong (Integration Artist), Serguei Kalentchouk (Rigging Lead), Stephen King (Animator), and Film Production grad Justin Hammond (Lighting Technical Director)
*Hugo (as listed above)Juno Award Nom for VFS Grad Music Video
As we mentioned recently, Classical Animation grad Jon Busby and Blatant Studios — which he founded with Digital Character Animation grad Jesse Davidge — teamed up for a second time with Vancouver-based indie crooner Dan Mangan for a music video project.Classical Animation Grad’s Final Project Featured on Cartoon Brew
RenderCloud Arrives in Vancouver to Pump Up Production
District 9 put Vancouver on the visual effects map, drawing the entire industry’s attention to the many local companies responsible for delivering high-quality work to studios around the world.All Work is Play: VFS Grads on the State of Gaming
