Digital Character Animation

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.

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.

2011 Retrospective: Looking Back on an Amazing Year

2011 has been a year of incredible accomplishments by VFS students and alumni.

For the first time, we saw a Writing for Film & Television student screenplay produced on a global stage with grad Seth Lochhead’s Hanna. A team of Entertainment Business Management students took their Compendium short down to Screamfest LA and beat out seasoned pros for the Best Short Film award. And Digital Character Animation grad Rafael Cardenas took home his first Ariel Award – Mexico’s answer to the Oscars.

As any regular reader of this blog knows, that’s just the tip of the iceberg for VFS alumni achievements this year. Students and grads from all programs raised the bar even higher for the next wave of artists to come out of VFS, and we’ve pulled all of their stories together at vfs.com/2011.

Browse through the milestones of 2011, month by month. You’ll see a special video feature, VFS Blog and In Focus magazine stories, YouTube highlights, and what the wider VFS community had to say about it all.

Congratulations to everyone on an amazing year – and thanks for letting us tell your inspiring stories!

Holiday Movie Preview

‘Tis the season to go to the movies! Hollywood continues to churn out big releases this time of year to give us a couple of hours of escape from the Christmas craziness. Looking back on 2011, it’s not surprising to see VFS grads on these big December releases — continuing the trend of alumni-backed blockbusters (which include 9 of the 10 highest-grossing movies of 2011).

Things kick off today with the release of Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked and the much-anticipated Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. In Chip-Wrecked, you’ll see the work of Digital Character Animation grad Adam Yaniv (Animation Supervisor) and 3D Animation & Visual Effects grad Derek Tannehill (Animation Supervisor), while Game of Shadows showcases the talents of 3D grads Andrew Juano (Roto/Prep), Paul Rodgers (Digital Matte Painter), Ryan Clarke (Senior Compositor), Steven Davies (Roto Prep Artist), Teh-wei Yeh (Lighting TD), and Rommel Shamoun (Compositor) — along with Foundation Visual Art & Design grad Bradey Strong (Shading & Lighting TD) and Film Production grad Stephanie Meyerink (VFX Coordinator).

Then next week, on December 21, we’ll see the debut of two big-budget films that will be sure to draw large crowds: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and The Adventures of Tintin.

Ghost Protocol features the technical artistry of 3D grads SriKalyan Tallapragada (Technical Director), Geeta Basantani (Digital Compositor), and Santhoshi Bala (Compositor/Digital Artist) — and in Tintin you’ll see the handiwork of 3D grads Aaron Gilman (Senior Animator), Carolyn Wong (Creature Technical Director), Chrystia Siolkowsky (Motion Editor), Kristin Sedore (Lighting TD), Matt Weaver (Animator), Nick Craven (Animation Sequence Supervisor), Roland Vallet (Animator), and Tamir Diab (Lighting Technical Director). Digital Character Animation grad Chad Moffit also lent his talents here as a Previs Animator.

Congrats to all the alumni whose work will keep us entertained over the holidays!

Spike VGAs Crown the Best of 2011

This weekend’s 2011 Spike TV Video Game Awards offered a few surprises and confirmed some widely-shared suspicions about this year’s best games.

Game Design Expo 2012 presenters Bethesda Softworks won Studio of the Year (an honour previously held by BioWare).  Their big release, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, also won Game of the Year and Best RPG.

Congrats, Bethesda! We can’t wait to hear about all the work that went into making Skyrim at Game Design Expo. (Tickets are still available here.)

Of course, VFS grads also shared the limelight this weekend as a number of games featuring their talents took home high honours. Batman: Arkham City won Xbox 360 Game of the Year, Best Action Adventure Game, and Best Adapted Video Game — which should make 3D Animation & Visual Effects grad Jason Shum happy, as he served as an Animator.

Classical Animation grad Mike Yosh and 3D grad Jason Richmond can gloat a little after their work as Lead Gameplay Animator and Game Director, respectively, contributed to Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception winning Best PS3 Game of the Year and Best Graphics.

And finally, Fight Night Champion took home Best Individual Sports Game. So a round of high-fives go out to Classical Animation grads Bernie Wong (UI Engineer) and Brian Hayes (Lead Designer), 3D grads Brad Saunders (Technical Artist) and Michael Miller (Character Modeler), Digital Character Animation grad Damien Abdool (Character Modeler), and Film Production grad Inder Nirwan (Editor).

Guest Post: Imaginism Studios’ Bobby Chiu Visits VFS

VFS recently hosted Imaginism Studios‘ Bobby Chiu, who shared his experience, techniques, and inspiration with students from the Animation & Visual Effects programs after years working as an illustrator for film. Classical Animation grad – and now current Entertainment Business Management student – Sheryl Vedamani was there with pen in hand to catch some of the advice.

Guest Post by Sheryl Vedamani

Bobby Chiu, an illustrator, educator, and creator of Imaginism Studios and Schoolism, visited VFS to guide students and, in his words, “show you guys what I wish I could tell my old self.” Within three hours, he had covered lessons ranging from motivational tricks, his method of sketching, what makes art popular, how to achieve a strong online presence, and how to close a deal with a potential employer.

One of Bobby’s strongest suggestions was to “visualize yourself doing something before you do it” to create a habit of visualization. It’s one of the hardest things to learn but he said, “once it’s mastered, anything is possible”. He reinforces this by drawing in Photoshop while explaining that low contrast helps you see more. “Sketching is like taking notes for an essay”, by keeping things fuzzy and light, it allows the imagination take over and will train the mind to understand the steps needed to get from point A to point B.

When asked about how to get recognized in sea of artists, he explained that it isn’t enough to just create a blog and post your work; you need to be present in anything related to your medium. Do it all – books, conventions, release art often, forums, live broadcasts, etc. He stressed that ‘going viral’ is the new ‘great’ and to do that, you must have a strong online presence. It’s not enough just to post a work of art online but now it has to offer something more to the viewer. To create something different and special so that others who come across that piece will turn to their friend and share it.

In discussing how to become a successful artist, Bobby chuckled to himself and explained that there was no one way of doing it. Not every artist has the same story but all our role model artists have 2 things in common: they were motivated and they went out to get the knowledge they needed.

Thanks for the recap, Sheryl!

VFS Grad-Founded Blatant Studios and Dan Mangan Team Up

It’s been a steady rise to fame for Vancouver singer-songwriter Dan Mangan – punctuated by a number of spikes in popularity following the release of his newest album, Oh Fortune. Mangan’s notoriety has been aided, no doubt, by two stellar music videos from Blatant Studios.

Founded by Digital Character Animation and Classical Animation grads Jesse Davidge and Jon Busby, the Gastown studio is behind the Leo Award-winning video for Mangan’s “Road Regrets” and recently worked with him again for “Rows of Houses”.

Watch the video below or visit Blatant Studios’ website to see their impressive portfolio of work.

Illustrating for a Good Cause

When Classical Animation Teaching Assistant Ayrin Witijono was thinking of creative projects that could also help charities, she turned to the VFS community for an inspired take on the Peter Pan stories of J.M Barrie. With the help of a host of grads representing Digital Design, 3D Animation & Visual Effects, Digital Character Animation, and Classical Animation, Witijono put together The Many Faces of Peter, with partial proceeds going to Oxfam.

As described on the book’s jacket:

The idea: 12 professional animators re-envision the story of Peter and Wendy in one or two frames each. Their vastly different graphic approaches range in media from hand drawn to digital, watercolour to embroidery, and are united by a poetic retelling of the 1904 J.M. Barrie novel. The Many Faces of Peter is designed for parents to read with children: to answer their questions, pick favourite images and guess which pairs of illustrations were drawn by the same artist.

The interior design of the book was done by Digital Design grad Keiko Furukawa, who helped to ensure consistency amongst the images and to navigate the printing process in China. Providing illustrations were Ross Klettke, Tammy Dubinsky, Tzanko Tchangov, Michelle Clement, Grahaeme Cowie, Ayrin Witijono, Carlo Solanoy, Desiree Cassidy, Eric Montero, Ian Milne, Louis Étienne Vallée, and Marisa Smit.

If you’re in Vancouver the book is celebrating its launch on November 18, 2011, with an event at Fall Tattooing & Gallery. You can find the details below or follow the book on its blog.

The Thing

Remaking a classic, even a genre one, can be a risky business. When Gus Van Sant produced a shot-for-shot remake of Psycho, the prevailing response was “Why?”. Of course, deviate from the original too much and you end up offending the die-hard fan base that would hopefully make up the core of your audience. It can and has been argued that everything is a remake, anyway, so if you’re going to tackle a much-loved film you might as well add your own flair, which is exactly what the team behind The Thing has done.

Helping them achieve this vision was a group of 3D Animation & Visual Effects, Classical Animation, Digital Character Animation, and Film Production alumni.

Andres Vergara – Visual Effects Compositor
Ben Dishart - Senior Surfacing Artist
Ben Steel – Lead Animator
Bernhard Kimbacher – Lead Compositor
Biren Venkatraman – Lighting and Asset TD
Brian Harder – Modeler
Derek Stevenson – Lead Matchmover
Freddy Chavez Olmos – Visual Effects Compositor
Henry (Hung-Chi) Peng – Generalist / Matchmove TD
Jacob Miller – Generalist TD
Jami Gigot – Texture Artist
Jeremy Stewart – Animator
Jessica Wan – Senior BG Prep / Roto Artist
Julianna Kolakis – Creature Texture Artist/Concept Artist
Kevin Mah – Senior FX Artist
Luke Spence Byrd – Matchmover
Robert Bourgeault – Lighting Artist
Ryan Valade – Visual Effects Editor
Steve Johnston – Render Wrangler
Veronica Marino – Compositor
Yuta Shimizu – Lighting Artist

Also opening today is the latest comedy from Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson, The Big Year. Helping to bring the laughs were 3D and Digital Design alumni.

Jeffrey Burt – Lead Layout Artist
James McPhail – Effects Technical Director
Diego Piccinato – Prep Lead
Bryan Jones – Lead Compositor
Jooyong Lee – Nuke Compositor
Oded Granot – Digital Compositor

An Evening with VFS: October 13, 2011

If you’ve been wondering what it takes to start a career in film, television, video games, animation, or design, you can find out on October 13 when VFS opens its doors for a public information session.

This special evening features the Heads of Department from all 13 of VFS’s acclaimed programs, representing a huge body of industry credits and high-profile awards in one room, from Tropic Thunder and Changeling to the Academy Award-winning Unforgiven, television series like Three’s Company, Smallville, and The X-Files, the NHL videogame franchise, plus experience working with clients like Nike and Microsoft.

Register now for a night of:

- Advice from industry pros
- Stellar student work
- Live, hands-on demonstrations
- Alumni success stories
- Info on how to apply to VFS

An Evening with VFS
Thursday, October 13th
6pm SHARP
420 Homer Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada

Register online at vfs.com/evening or call 604.631.3095. See you there!

NHL 12 Hits Stores Today!

NHL 12, the next installment of Electronic Arts’ long-running [like, 20 years long] hockey series, hits stores today. The franchise has won twenty-two Sports Game of the Year awards and consistently impresses critics and fans alike.

Needless to say, it’s a big deal for a VFS grad to contribute his or her talents to such a high-profile series. VFSers on NHL 12 include Digital Character Animation grad Sophie Gagnon, who was a Lighter/Environment Construction Artist, and Sound Design for Visual Media grad Joshua Bandy, who – not surprisingly – was a Sound Designer.

Congrats to both of you on a newly shipped title!