The holidays are here, and the VFS Blog is going on vacation! Until early January, we’ll be taking a little breather from posting and from uploading videos to YouTube, Yahoo, iTunes, and our many other video channels.
Plus, you could easily spend a week browsing through our acclaimed YouTube channel. It’s the number one school channel on YouTube for a reason.
While we look forward to 2009, it’s also a good time to look back on 2008… and what a year it was! We’ve blogged well over 300 times since January 1st - including a 48-post April. (We’re still not sure how we managed that.) In June, we got to debut a new look for VFS.com (and the improvements keep coming!) and just this month, we launched the VFS Store.
It’s impossible to choose favourites - we love ‘em all - but here are a few highlights from another great year of alumni success stories, interviews, guest speakers, and events on the VFS Blog.
January Another Side of Game Design Expo
We take a look at how Game Design students benefit from VFS hosting the annual Game Design Expo.
February Getting the Independent Spirit Film Production grad and producer Neil Kopp does us all proud by winning a prestigious Independent Spirit Award.
March The Man Behind The Switch With his Digital Character Animation film cracking a million views on YouTube (now up to 1.8 million!), we get the goods straight from the source - grad Zack Mathew.
April Acting Grad’s Round Trip Acting graduate Felipe de Lara talks about forging his acting career in Mexico, highlighted by a small role in Carlos Cuarón’s Rudo y Cursi and a much larger one in Viaje Redondo.
May Makeup FX on Smallville, Reaper Makeup Design grad Michael Nickiforeck talks about being a sculptor/mold maker/jack-of-all-trades on these two TV series.
June Better Living Through Animation Classical Animation’s Pedro Eboli tells a tale that will inspire anyone looking to change careers: his journey from copywriter in Brazil to animation student in Vancouver.
July Modeling the Dark Knight
The biggest movie of the year, and we had a bit of a different spin: a profile of 3D alum Kolby Jukes, who modeled Batman and the Joker for DC Direct’s line of Dark Knight collectibles.
August Sound Grad on Gears 2, Fable 2 Sound Design for Visual Media’s Kyle Fraser shares his experiences working on two of the year’s higher-profile games: Gears of War 2 and Fable II.
September Writing Grad’s ‘Mexicans’ Premieres
On the eve of his short film’s premiere, Writing for Film & Television grad Miguel Valdez-Lopez shares - in his own words - what went into its making.
October Interning for the NHL’s Oilers
Sure, they’re our division rivals here in Vancouver, but we’re still proud of Entertainment Business Management grad Kevin Murray for interning with the storied Edmonton Oilers.
November Iran + Blogging = Motionographer
Few - if any - VFS student pieces got as much attention in 2008 as this Digital Design infographic. Check out the pingbacks in the original post to track this video’s journey around the globe!
December Making Up a Disaster Makeup Design students create realistic casualties for an elaborate emergency exercise. Good thing we were there to capture it! Incredibly cool.
And that brings us to the end of another great year for the VFS Blog. We’d like to thank you for reading, commenting, and watching our students’ films and reels. We’ve got lots more in store, so stay tuned!
We wish you all a peaceful season and a Happy New Year. See you in 2009!
Simplicity works. For proof, look no further than Ssstutter. The short documentary, created by students in the Film Production program at VFS, hit YouTube and instantly earned praise: commenters are genuinely surprised at what they’d learned in just a few minutes. It’s also gotten the attention of stuttering associations around the world.
At the heart of the film’s success? Well, the old adage “write what you know” holds true for documentaries, too; just ask Film grads Bruce Oothout, Ssstutter’s director, and Youssef El-Khoury, its producer. They both had a personal history with stuttering.
But above all, Ssstutter works because of its simple, direct approach: find the perfect subject in 16-year-old Hannah Seaman and let her speak for herself.
After VFS, Oothout settled in Portland, Oregon, while El-Khoury is based in Atlantic Canada. We asked them about how the film came together and what they thought about the reaction it’s been getting.
What was the original genesis of the film? What made you want to cover the topic of stuttering in the first place?
Oothout: I myself am a fellow stutterer. Although pretty fluent now, when I was younger it was much more pronounced. This had a deep, profound impact on my personality and the way I viewed the world around me. For this reason, from the outset I told Youssef that I did not want the piece to become about me, even in an indirect way. But I felt, thought, hoped, that it was an important subject, one that the general populace just might find as fascinating and compelling as I do.
Youssef, what drew you to the subject?
El-Khoury: We came upon the idea of stuttering when Bruce mentioned his experiences as a stutterer as a young boy. This brought me back to my own experiences as a stutterer when I was president of the student council in high school, when I had to make speeches in front of the whole student body. It was at this point that we decided to choose the topic of stuttering for our documentary.
Having a subject matter that we could both draw personal familiarity with was the first step in making a great documentary. Not only that, I knew that the struggles that we had lived through as stutterers would motivate us to do the best that we could to share with the world how could someone turn stuttering into a positive. Furthermore, the idea of having an encouraging message made it possible to have an arc. Knowing that storytelling is the most powerful way to relay a message to an individual, I did not just want to present facts. As a documentary filmmaker, I wanted to tell a story.
Where did you find Hannah? Was she always going to be at the centre of the film?
In Bollywood, it doesn’t get bigger than Shahrukh Khan - the actor/host/producer is a certified megastar. And his latest film, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, has a VFS connection in Film Production grad Santosh Kumar.
Santosh’s role on the film, which was written and directed by Aditya Chopra and came out to packed houses last week - meant directing, shooting, and editing the behind-the-scenes ‘making of’ material. He’s been working with the film’s production company, Yash Raj Films, since 2007, first with the its ad group as associate director, post supervisor, and writer for commercials and music videos, then helping produce DVD bonus material for Bachna Ae Haseeno.
In short, Santosh Kumar has been an incredibly busy guy since graduating from VFS in 2005. We managed to catch him around the time of the cast-and-crew screening of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi to find out more.
Let’s talk the new movie, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. I know that you shot and edited the ‘making of’ stuff for the DVD and television promotions. What’s challenging about that kind of project? What’s rewarding?
A constant challenge about directing, shooting and editing the making of a film as colossal in scale and perception as Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is that I intended to capture each and every fun, informative and insightful moment of the filmmaking process. These events could possibly occur at any given moment, without any warning whatsoever and could be over in a flash. I had to be on my toes, literally at times, during auditions, look tests, location scouts, set constructions, grooming sessions, photo shoots, interviews, dance rehearsals, music recordings, production meetings, and every single rehearsal and take during filming in order to be able to capture the “gold” that could hopefully be edited into a film that encapsulates and conveys the spirit of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.
The rewards however far outweighed the challenges. I got the wonderful opportunity to observe and learn a lot from the ways of some of the most talented individuals of the Indian film industry. Since the ‘making of’ the film granted me unrestricted access to every department of the production, it was as if a veritable spread of cinematic genius was laid out for me to feast upon and needless to say I had more than my fill!
See some of Santosh’s work, the Making of “Dance Pe Chance”, then read on for more!
This is obviously a massive, massive film with a megastar in the cast. What’s it like being involved in a production with such a high profile? Did it have a different feeling compared to your experience with smaller-scale productions?
3D grad Vikramjit Sorensangbam is living the dream of many VFS international students. He’s scored an awesome job in Canada, working as a Hi-Res Character Artist for Gameloft-Montreal. He had to pay his dues first, of course.
After graduating in 2006, he returned to India and spent 11 months working for Exigent Game Art as a 3D Artist. After spending some time trying his hand at freelance, he landed his current job.
In this role, he creates high-resolution characters for cinematic game reels, while also working for the game art department. Most recently, he created two characters for the stunning cinematic trailer for Gameloft’s newly released Hero of Sparta. “I did the modeling, sculpting, and texturing for the main character, ‘Hero’, and the ‘Zombie’,” he explained.
We asked Vic about his return to India and what brought him back to Canada.
Acting for Film & Television grad Colby Johannson is putting the web to work for him, writing and directing a hilarious comedy series called For Your Security, about - what else? - security guards. Naturally, he also stars in the series, with Chris Nowland.
Colby’s worked steadily in film and TV, including recent stints on Reaper and Men in Trees. Battlestar Galactica fans will remember him as Flat Top, the Raptor pilot at the centre of an ill-fated celebration early in season 1. He also starred in the feature Bird Co., written and directed by VFS Filmgrad Jason Bourque(Shadow Company, The Two Coreys) and shot in India this year.
But all of that begs the question: if Colby is carving out a successful acting career, what’s he doing shooting a comedy series - low on budget but high on funny - in his parking garage and posting it on YouTube?
When Matthew Lillard came by VFS a few months ago, I think a lot of people were inspired by one piece of advice he gave: got nothing to do? Make yourself something to do. Great advice for someone just starting out, but you’ve worked steadily in your career so far. So, why does an actor who’s already working feel the need to take the do-it-yourself route too?
I love creating, I love making things - whatever that may be - and I really love storytelling, so the D-I-Y route is something that I find very satisfying. At times I find it much more fulfilling to create or work on my own projects that I’m really passionate about than to work on something that is not so creatively fulfilling but that I’m getting paid for.
By no means am I saying that For Your Security is the second coming, but I love getting up every day and working on it. In the end, I’m responsible and accountable for it whether it’s crap or not, and that pushes me to learn more and get better at what I’m creating.
Another reason that I wanted to do something like this is that I feel that I have a lot more control over my career now. I get to work every day and I get to decide who I work with, when I work, where I work, and how the end result looks. There could be an enormous payoff in the end or there could be nothing - except the experience and everything that I’ve learned. Which is a lot.
What are your pie-in-the-sky hopes for the series? I mean, after moving it to its own site, hopefully generating some revenue there… What comes next? Do you see it branching out further?
I absolutely see it branching out further. I have huge hopes for this little series that can and the great thing with it is that the possibilities are endless. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what comes next after it’s own site and advertising - I’m figuring out a lot of this as I go. I’ve thought of TV, but I like the idea that it’s a web-based series - one, because it caters to the web generation, and two, because I get to experiment and learn as I go. There’s not as much pressure.
Bird Co.: directed by Jason Bourque, who - in a funny quirk of fate - is another VFS grad. What can you tell us about the film, your role, and the shoot in India?
Nassim Ait-Kaci’s opening words to the packed house of students who attended his three-hour guest lecture this Tuesday were certainly encouraging: “I can’t emphasize enough what a great program you’re in.”
Nassim gave an overview of the game industry’s company structure and the field of game audio, then showed off an audio demo of Midnight Club Los Angeles. He wrapped up by offering tips on finding work in the industry and taking questions from the audience.
He left students with some useful nuggets of advice: “Selling yourself is the most important thing – it’s half of what it takes to get a job. While you’re at VFS, ask questions non-stop. Everything you learn at VFS is important and relevant to master because it all applies when you leave.”
Industry Speaker Day at Game Design Expo 2009 has sold out! With speakers and panelists from companies like EA, Epic, Insomniac, Microsoft, Nexon, Radical, Relic, and many more and a keynote from Ubisoft Creative Director Clint Hocking - an outspoken and popular speaker - it’s no surprise that all the tickets to this February 7, 2009 event have been snapped up.
Missed out? Interested in breaking into game design?
- Learn about the world-renowned one-year program at VFS
- Hear from Head of Department Dave Warfield, faculty, students, and alumni
- Play student-created games
- Take sample classes like Level Design and Storytelling
And for the first time, we’re offering a special schedule of industry guests speaking on topics sure to fascinate and inspire Open House attendees, including:
My First 90 Days at LucasArts
LucasArts’ Matt Manuel
10 Secrets to Designing Instantly Enjoyable and Addictive Games
Big Fish Games’ Nick Newhard & Jake Birkett
Design Through Prototyping Vicarious Visions’ Brandon Van Slyke
Women in Games Panel moderated by Big Fish Games Creative Talent Recruiter Noelle Hunt Bennett and featuring Brenda Bailey (Deep Fried Entertainment), Krissie Franco (Women in Games International/Hydrogen Whiskey Studios), Tara Mustapha (EA), and Susannah Skerl (Hothead Games).
You’ll also be among the first to get all the details about a $30,000 Women in Games Scholarship to VFS, and other scholarship opportunities too.
Everyone’s welcome to this free event! It was booked to capacity last year, so register early!
When we wrapped our five-part series on the Game Design teammates who made Bloom at VFS then went on to forge careers at five different companies, we hinted that there was one more part to come.
Like his collaborators from Game Design, we asked Joel to look back on the Bloom experience and catch us up on his career one year later.
How did you come to land at EA Black Box?
The lead Audio Director at Black Box has a pretty close relationship with the VFS Sound Design faculty, and he tends to let them know when Black Box is looking for new recruits. A few months after I finished the program, I was very happy to find out that my instructors had recommended me for an interview. I got the gig, and have now successfully made it through one full game cycle without dying, which I’m fairly proud of.
And how’s the work?
I couldn’t be learning from a more talented group of guys. The audio team at Black Box is one of the best in the business, and over the last year I’ve found out why. They have a very unusual group of people that excel both artistically and technically, combined with a ridiculous work ethic, and a healthy tendency to party hard during finaling.
Looking back, a year on, what do you think you got out of collaborating with the five Game Design students on Bloom?
Video games are a huge part of my life. I’ve been fascinated by the medium since I was old enough to experience it, and when I finally got the chance to help make one, I was very, very excited. Luckily, I happened upon some of the most talented guys to ever go through the program, and they were gracious enough to let me contribute to Bloom in a meaningful way.
What the experience affirmed for me was the importance of attitude and perspective. Believe it or not, Bloom was the only project pitched to our Sound Design class that nobody wanted to work on. It just seemed too wide in scope, too overwhelming, and frankly impossible to pull off in the amount of time they had. I ended up volunteering to work on the project because no one else would.
After subsequent meetings with the team, though, it became clear to me that these guys were incredibly talented, and that they had enough love, passion, and enthusiasm - fueled by a rabid badger named Brian Vidovic - to possibly, maybe, if they were lucky… realize their grand design.
The attitude of positivity was infectious, and I quickly became more excited about Bloom than I was about any other project I worked on. So much, in fact, that I continued working on it long after I was supposed to, and sacrificed some important film projects, and the marks that went with them, to take on a larger role with the team. It was a risky and slightly unpopular decision at the time, but in retrospect, one of the best I’ve ever made.
Have you found that the experience has informed your work in the professional arena at all?
Makeup Design grad Claire Bannister certainly didn’t dread working on the set of Dread, the horror film slated for release in 2009 and based on Clive Barker’s novel.
“The days were very long and it was freezing throughout the whole shoot, but it was great,” said Claire. “I was very lucky because there were some amazing makeup jobs, and the makeup artists I worked with were really helpful and let me do a lot.”
As a trainee, Claire worked with another experienced makeup artist to maintain the makeup of the film’s extras. She also assisted the crew’s makeup designer in, among other tasks, doing some impressive full-body work.
As Claire described: “The main makeup work that I assisted on was giving a girl a full-body birthmark that was designed by the makeup designer and had been made into transfer tattoos so that we could easily apply the shape and fill in the gaps with greasepaint. It was like a giant jigsaw puzzle. We had about 20 reference pics over a wall and would have to match up the shape perfectly for each application. This was a huge challenge, as the transfer didn’t always apply perfectly and there were shortages of some parts of the transfers.”
“It was an incredibly long process, taking about five hours in total. We were very lucky to have an actress who was really patient. It was amazing that I got to work on such a challenging makeup job, and to work so closely with the makeup designer was a great experience. I will be working with her in the future.”
It’s been almost a year since we’ve seen a new episode of Classical Animationgrad Todd Ramsay’s Honkbarn. The wait is over! Todd released episode 5 last week.
See below for more animated musical wackiness, and check out Honkbarn.com for past episodes, news, and swag. We didn’t think it was possible to <3 Honkbarn any more than we already did, but somehow it happened. If you like the musical vignettes on The Muppet Show, you’ll love this.
The holidays are here, and the VFS Blog is going on vacation! Until early January, we’ll be taking a little breather from posting and from uploading videos to YouTube, Yahoo, iTunes, and our many other video channels.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Simplicity works. For proof, look no further than 
Youssef, what drew you to the subject?
In Bollywood, it doesn’t get bigger than 
When 
Nassim Ait-Kaci’s opening words to the packed house of students who attended his three-hour guest lecture this Tuesday were certainly encouraging: “I can’t emphasize enough what a great program you’re in.” 
When we 
What the experience affirmed for me was the importance of attitude and perspective. Believe it or not, Bloom was the only project pitched to our Sound Design class that nobody wanted to work on. It just seemed too wide in scope, too overwhelming, and frankly impossible to pull off in the amount of time they had. I ended up volunteering to work on the project because no one else would.