VFS offers an intensive one-year program… of terror.

You might have guessed that in a school full of creative minds (and ample makeup supplies) Halloween isn’t just another day.

For a sense of Halloween at VFS, here are photos of an impressive pumpkin carved (and we mean carved) by 3D student Alaa Al Taii, and some candid snaps of four Makeup Design students we caught having lunch in the VFS Café.

And here’s a step-by-step glimpse at what happens when Makeup T.A. Michael Nickiforek transforms a regular guy into the most convincing pirate you’ve ever seen. Arr!

This past Friday night, at a swank gala event at Toronto’s Drake Hotel, two VFS Film grads took home major awards in the first ever Air Canada enRoute Student Film Festival.

Check out our exclusive video from the red carpet, including interviews with the filmmakers:

 
At the Gala Awards Ceremony, Parallels by Paul St. Amand won the Canadian Reflections Award, which includes a trip to this year’s Whistler Film Festival. Aaron Beckum won the DGC Achievement in Direction Award for his film Who Wants To Be An Amerikan. His prize includes a trip to the 2008 Directors Guild of Canada Awards Gala.

Organizers of the festival approached 120 film schools, receiving over 200 short film submissions. A total of 19 student films (5 of them by VFS students) were selected to screen on Air Canada flights between July and October. Of the six student films under consideration for awards at the Gala Ceremony, three were by VFS students, and two of these were shortlisted for Best Student Film — Parallels, and Alibi Inc. by Gregoire Bedard.

The nominees and winners were selected by a jury that included Atom Egoyan and Donald Sutherland.

Blast Radius, the interactive agency which was founded by a gaggle of Digital Design (then a 40-week multimedia program) alumni in 1996, was acquired last week by WPP Group PLC - a sign of just how successful it’s become, to the tune of $41.8 million in sales last year. It’s been a fixture of the Vancouver scene since the mid-’90s, and has always been home to a lot of VFS grads. The next step towards global Digital Design domination? Time will tell.

Make sure to catch Monday’s episode of the Gemini award-winning television crime drama Intelligence — Head of Acting for Film & Television, Bill Marchant will make his first appearance in a recurring role on the series. Marchant plays Paul Le Gros, an Immigration Canada employee who finds himself involved
in the exploitation of Romanian immigrants.

With Hallowe’en around the corner, one of the most notoriously uninhibited pairs of VFS filmmakers, Film Production grad Mischa Hrziwnatzki and Acting faculty member Jimi Cuell got an early jump on the season’s treats by taking home the “Best Film” award at the Vancouver chapter of the Bloodshots 48-hour Film Festival. The rules were (blood) simple. Their Bloodshots randomly assigned filmmaking package required them to follow these restrictions:

Sub-genre: Backwoods
Weapon: Paper
Prop: Board game
Line: “The Monkees are better than the Beatles”

From that set of must-haves, Jimi came up with a film concept that is funny, scary, weird, and weirdly brilliant. “Cabin of Terror” will be moving on to the final round where it will be judged by Joe Dante (The Howling, The Burbs, Gremlins) against a group of other short horror films from other cities.

And if you liked it, shoot a voting email (ends today!) for “Audience Favorite” to:
bigsmashproductions@gmail.com

“CABIN OF TERROR”
Director: Jimi Cuell
Written by: David Bertrand, Jimi Cuell
Produced by: David Bertrand, Jimi Cuell, and Mischa Hrziwnatzki
Camera: Mischa Hrziwnatzki and Jimi Cuell
Music: Chris Alexander and Jimi Cuell
Editor: Jimi Cuell

Starring: Tyler Collyer – “The Gatekeeper”
Kara Eide - “Judy”
Kat Ethier - “Anne”
Nada Josten - “Dawn”
Kevin McKinnon - “The Demon”
Ryan Hoben - “???”

Animation: Mischa Hrziwnatzki and Jimi Cuell
Make-up: Kat Ethier and Ginevra Toniello
Set Decoration: Jackie Dives and Kara Eide

Representatives from Midway Games‘ well-known Chicago-based studio visited the VFS Main Theatre Thursday afternoon to give a packed house of 3D Animation & Visual Effects and Game Design students a presentation, Q&A, and look inside the venerable game maker.

Manager of the Central Environment and Character Groups Matt Taylor and Senior Environment Artist Joe Berger were both on hand. Oh - Joe just happens to be a 3D grad himself from 2003.

The two regaled students with an in-depth explanation of how Midway’s art groups operate, what it takes to be an environment artist, and tips on student reels. (The big one? Quality over quantity.)

Joe’s presentation was a fascinating glimpse at the role and process of an environment artist. He showed his own recent work on such games as Stranglehold, shared anecdotes, and even offered himself up to students for advice and critiques.

Joe related the rapid-fire process of making hit games to the VFS experience: “You have to learn to work fast and efficiently… and make your leads happy.”

Guided by RCMP escort, the ALS Across Canada crew of Harley wranglers and filmmakers returned home to Vancouver yesterday. On hand at the motorcycle dealership were friends and supporters, including representatives of the ALS Society, as well as Head of Film Production David Hauka. That’s because the crew consisted mostly of Film faculty and grads.

They shot footage for a feature-length documentary along the way, and we can’t wait to see what they make of it. Well done, guys! For the back story on their adventure, check this post.

Earlier this year, we blogged about grad Emilie Ullerup and her role on the first ever green-screen internet TV series, Sanctuary.

Now Emilie, who did the preparatory Acting Essentials program before studying Acting for Film & Television, is gearing up for the January, 2008 premiere of the new TV show jPod. Emilie plays principal character Kaitlin on the series, which is adapted from the novel by Generation X author (and proud Vancouverite) Douglas Coupland. We caught up with Emilie to talk about the show and her approach to her craft.

Tell us about your character on this show.

The character I play in jPod is a game designer. It’s all set in an EA-type environment. She is a character designer… a bit of a keener. She got thrown into this group of people that don’t do much work. And that’s not her type of deal, so she’s a little uptight, and a little bit unhappy in the first episode.

She’s still a strong woman and she stands her ground, but there’s a lot of insecurity to her, and she’s been thrown into this whole new world, so she has a lot to learn. To fight for.

Can you tell us a bit about what draws you to acting?

The human experience. We get to do so many things… I get to play with my own emotions and have that be okay. And that’s really the biggest high for me. I can go anywhere emotionally – I’m allowed to, I’m paid to do that. That’s amazing. It’s really the emotional and human connection that you get to explore.

What are some of the key things you took away from the Acting programs?

The basic tools: how to break down a scene, the lingo, how to behave in an audition room, how to write your resume… there are so many things that are taught at VFS that are just priceless. I know now that if I had not done VFS, I would not be where I am today.

Tell us about your experience in the Acting programs.

That year and a half was probably the scariest time in my life… it was also the absolute best. It’s a lot of self-reflection. It’s a lot of dealing with your own faults. And coming to terms with them, and realizing that there’s nothing you can really do about them, you just have to accept them. And that’s hard, because most people know they have faults, but if we don’t think about it, and we don’t talk about it, it’s like ‘I’m perfect’. But that’s not allowed when you want to be an actor– you have to be able to face every single fear, and every single bad experience you’ve had in your life, because you need to draw on all of that.

Emilie also offered some advice for those considering the VFS Acting programs:

Leave your ego at the door – it’s not going to help you, it’s only going to make it harder for you. And embrace the people around you. It’s all what you make it.

In the past year, Emilie has also had recurring roles on Battlestar Galactica and Blood Ties. Check out jPod on CBC this coming January, in which Emilie co-stars with Film grad Colin Cunningham.

To celebrate last week’s Game Design graduating class, we’re holding a contest!

We told you about industry presentation night, where students showed off their completed games to an assembly of industry pros. A lot of those teams made really cool swag to include with their games, and we have some we want to give away.

All you have to do is answer one simple question in the comments: As of right now, what upcoming video game are you anticipating most?

The prize package includes t-shirts for Fallen and Willis & Wedginald, and really cool old-school stickers and posters for Moira. The deadline is November 1, 2007, and the winner will be chosen randomly. Get involved and have your say!

Update: Voting is now closed!

Brian Vidovic was tapped by his classmates to deliver a speech at grad. A highlight: “Attaining a job is only step one/Now let’s go out and make something fun.” (Yes, it all rhymed.) Oh, and by the way, the ceremony was Thursday and Brian started at Radical as a mission designer on Monday.

A little more than a week ago, Toronto’s Metro Convention Centre was packed with 5,000 high school students — all gathered for Explore Design, an expo to help young people explore the possibility of a career in the design world.

Digital Design Head of Department Sebastien de Castell and graduate Mark Miller gave the Keynote Address, speaking to a rapt audience of teens.

Mark, on thehappycorp blog, said: “We chose to use our combined experience to give the students five areas of focus, things they could do that day walking out of the presentation, to help them decide if they should continue pursuing design.”

Sebastien shared his thoughts on the approach: “What we wanted to bring to the audience were concepts and stories that could help them bridge the gap between people’s preconceptions of design and the strange and wonderful reality of being a designer.”

For more on what that means, here’s a video of Sebastien at the event, discussing good design.

If you’re wondering where you know Mark from, we wrote about him when he graduated from Digital Design, and when his blog won awards at South by Southwest and Flash in the Can. Yeah, he’s that Mark Miller.