Digital Media Festival 2008
13-15 November
Speakers:
Adam Valdez, Animation Director & Visual Effects Supervisor
In 2003, Adam joined as MPC's Animation Director, leading the development of the studio's animation, crowd and character rigging practices. He has also filled the roles of visual effects supervisor and creative consultant for various projects. Adam is a member of MPC's board, involved in the company’s growth and evolution as a leading creator of visual effects and animation. Adam's foundations are in practical model making and stagework. Joining the digital revolution was an opportunity to apply the traditional crafts of visual effects to the computer, and he has taken a traditional attitude to his collaborations with directors and software engineers alike. Though Adam has been involved in various aspects of filmmaking inside and outside the facility, work based on memorable, living characters is still his primary focus. Adam began his career with eight years at California's Tippett Studio. After two years at Pacific Data Images' re-launched visual effects group, Adam moved to Weta Digital to build animation, crowd, motion capture and rigging departments, and later supervised both animation and on-set work.
Nigel Sumner
Digital Supervisor - Digital Artists GroupLucasfilm Animation, Singapore
Nigel joined Lucasfilm Animation as Digital Supervisor for the Digital Artists Group (DAG) in August of 2007.Nigel came to Lucasfilm Singapore from its sister company ILM in San Francisco, where he was a Sequence Supervisor specializing in physical simulation and dynamic effects, such as fluid, fire and physical destruction techniques. During his nine years at ILM, Nigel worked onThe Perfect Storm, Terminator 3, Star Wars Episodes 2 & 3, War of the Worldsand, most recently,Transformers. He is responsible for the management and supervision of the Digital Artists Group, overseeing artist development as well as aesthetic and technical production processes.
Nigel studied computer animation at Bournemouth University (UK) where he received both his Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Arts in Computer Animation and Visualisation. He worked as a member of the Universities Consultancy Group producing work for both outside clients and internal projects. While completing his masters degree, the university employed Nigel to lecture undergraduate students in a number of computer animation systems and oversee associated projects. After graduation, he continued in this position, lecturing both undergraduate and postgraduate students before moving to London to work in the commercials industry.
Paul Kirwan
Paul Kirwan has worked at the highest levels of the visual effect industry, helping to create films asTitanic, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He has worked with such directors as Peter Jackson, James Cameron and Australian legends George Miller and Peter Weir. After stints at Animal Logic, Weta Digital and Industrial Light + Magic, Kirwan recently helped complete Michael Bay's Transformers as Compositing Supervisor at Digital Domain in Venice, California.
Originally from Canberra, Paul completed his Bachelors degree in Computer Science at ANU before obtaining a Master of Arts in Electronic Arts from CNMA (then known as the Australian Centre for the Arts and Technology). He has recently returned to Canberra to lecture in Digital Video at the Centre for New Media Arts at ANU, and to study for his Doctorate.
www.paulkirwan.com.au
Nick Hore
Nick Hore joined Animal Logic as a Recruiter in 2003. He was previously the new Media Officer at the New South Wales Film and Television Office, the NSW State government’s film and television funding body. Prior to that, he was the Artist Unit Coordinator at the National Association for the Visual Arts. When Animal Logic started production on Director George Miller’s Academy Award-winning animated feature film Happy Feet, Nick was invited to join the team as a Recruiter, due to his knowledge of the local education sector and the recruiting requirements, particularly at entry level, of digital production companies. Nick was part of a busy HR department that built an international team of over 300 artists, technicians and production staff on Happy Feet, responsible for satisfying the recruitment requirements of the film visual effects, design and television commercial units of the company. After Happy Feet was completed, Nick was offered the opportunity to supervise the Training Department at Animal Logic. He now develops training curricula and works with identified staff “faculty” to effectively pass on methods and techniques to new and existing staff.
Patricia Kung
Patricia Kung, Senior Recruiter, Animal Logic. Patricia joined Animal Logic in 2004 as the Recruiting Coordinator and over the last 4 years Patricia and the Recruiting team have recruited for a variety of positions ranging from Render Wranglers to Supervisors. Projects Patricia has been involved in recruiting for are 'Happy Feet', 'Cartoon Network', '300', 'Fool's Gold' and currently 'Australia', 'Knowing' and Animal Logic's next animated feature 'Guardian's of Gahoole
John Bowring, ACS
Over the course of his career, John Bowring has won over 30 awards for cinematography. In his earlier years he shot and edited TV comedy programs for Paul Hogan, Ernie Sigley, Graham Kennedy and Don Lane. For the BBC, he photographed and directed the Clive James Postcard series of specials on New York, Cairo and Sydney, and for the UK's Carleton TV,
In 1996, he shot and was the telecine colourist for Elle, Australia's top-rating TV documentary that year, and won an ACS Gold award for cinematography. Glenn Ridge's series, Year of the Outback, also won several awards for cinematography in 2003/4.
Away from the pointy end of a camera, John started the company Lemac in 1975, originally to supply his services and equipment for Nine's production department. After leaving GTV, the Lemac service expanded to the film and television industry generally.
Over the years, John developed and introduced a number of significant techniques and equipment while working as a cinematographer and editor. Among these is the sync stretch frame, which won him awards for cinematography and technical innovation from the Australian Cinematographers Society. Other innovations are SUPER 16 and 16x9 origination for television, timecode on film and the MultiCam film system using TV pedestals for the series Murder Call.
In 1999, the Federation of Australian Commercial Television Stations (FACTS) approached John to shoot and post produce their High Definition Presentation for the Federal Government, which lead to the introduction of HDTV in Australia.
John introduced Australia's first HDCAM cameras into the rental inventory at Lemac in 2000. As Australia's only HD rental equipment supplier for some time, their facility helped support and train DoPs in this new capture medium. John as been directly involved in the HD acquisition and work-flow for Australian HD features such as, Wolf Creek, Macbeth, Rogue, The Tumbler and Lake Mungo, all photographed by former assistants of John. The introduction of P2HD followed, and the new RED 4K Digital Cinema System, beginning with Australia's first RED feature Nothing Men.
As a cinematographer and imaging technologist, John is always looking for new ways to shoot pictures, and in re-working old tried and proven ways, such as 3perf 35 with AatonCode. Many organisations and equipment manufacturers turn to him for advice on technology and training, and for assistance with camera, lens and system design.
He has shot all but one of Nine Network’s Image/ ID campaigns over the last quarter of a century, and several at Seven Network. Recently, he has covered national campaigns for Nine, Seven, Foxtel, Fujitsu, Greater Union, and Wyatt, many of which are currently ‘on air’. All were shot either on film or high definition digital. The Australian Cinematographers Society accredited John in 1991, made him a life member in 1999 and inducted him into their Cinematographer's Hall of Fame in 2005. He is also a member of SMPTE and the BKSTS.
James Neale, Producer ProMotion Studios.
James began his career as an animator in 1998 working at Brilliant Digital in realtime web animation. In 2000 he started ProMotion Studios with his wife Kim to meet a demand for static artwork using 3d tools.
ProMotion has since built a portfolio for a variety of multinational brands centred around the design, illustration and animation of characters.Matt Ebb - Lighting and Shading TD.After graduating from Design at UTS, Matt freelanced for a few years on projects across new media such as CG, the web, and video. He worked in Amsterdam as a lead CG artist on the world's first open movie, Elephants Dream, focused on visual design, rendering and compositing.
He has been employed by ProMotion Studios for the last year and a half concentrating on the lighting, shading, and compositing of their illustration and animation work. In recent years, Matt has been increasingly involved in technical development, through scripting, render programming and creating other custom tools. Much of this work has been returned to the Blender open source project, as one of the core contributors.
Matt Ebb, Lighting and Shading TD,
ProMotion Studios
Graduating from UTS in Design, Matt wirked on projects across new media CG, web, and video. He worked in Amsterdam as a lead CG artist on the world's first open movie, Elephants Dream, focused on visual design, rendering and compositing.
He has been employed by ProMotion Studios since 2006 concentrating on the lighting, shading, and compositing of their illustration and animation work. In recent years, Matt has been increasingly involved in technical development, through scripting, render programming and creating other custom tools. Much of this work has been returned to the Blender open source project, as one of the core contributors.
Brett Feeney Brett is one of Australia's most respected production professionals, and his credits include 3D Effects Supervision on "The Matrix Reloaded" and Digital Supervisor on Academy Award-winning winning "Happy Feet." As Digital Supervisor, Brett Feeney was responsible for setting up the ‘Happy Feet’ digital production pipeline, overseeing its efficiency and working with George Miller and the creative teams to ensure the digital artists could achieve the visual brief. Brett was also instrumental in helping create the crowd system ‘Hoard’ that allowed the artists in the crowd department to generate up to half a million ‘penguin extras’. At Dr. D he is currently underway with large scale film projects, including Happy Feet 2. Also in pre-production are Babe 3, Fury Road and Justice League of America. This exciting new Australian digital media company has been established by Academy Award winning producers George Miller and Doug Mitchell in partnership with with Omnilab Media Group. George Miller said, “The brave new age of digital film-making is little more than a decade old. It offers extraordinary possibilities for storytellers like us who strive to break new ground with each of our movies. We have the perfect union of Omnilab Media’s resources and infrastructure with KMM’s story-driven film making.” George Miller says, “This is a very real opportunity to build on past successes with a continuous flow of ambitious projects and contribute to the future of digital cinema.” Brett Feeney is helping to establish Dr. D's production pipeline with a growing team of top talent from Australia and beyond which includes artists, animators and technicians. Brett Feeney IMDB Credits: # Happy Feet (2006) (additional effects supervisor) (digital supervisor) # The Matrix Reloaded (2003) (3D supervisor) # Moulin Rouge! (2001) (3D supervisor: Animal Logic) # WillFull (2001) (technical director) # Holy Smoke (1999) (3D animator) # Babe: Pig in the City (1998) (3D animator) (uncredited)
Stuart Monksfield General Manager – Film & TV,
Cutting Edge, Sydney .
Raised and educated in England, Stuart holds a Diploma in Television Broadcast Engineering. He spent fourteen years with Sony Europe in the UK, supporting and product managing post production equipment sales into Europe, Middle-East and Africa.
Stuart immigrated to Australia in 2002, working for Cutting Edge as Engineering Manager. During this time he was directly involved in providing post production services and workflow solutions for several Hollywood feature films, in addition to many other domestic and international productions.
In 2005 he moved to Germany, where held the position of world-wide Director of Business Development and Workflow Manager for Thomson’s Grass Valley Post Production Solutions Division. In 2005 Stuart returned to Cutting Edge as Vice PresidentofOperations in Sydney, where he currently oversees all technical and operational requirements at their Chippendale and Entertainment Quarter post production facilities. www.cuttingedge.com.au
Peter Holland
Peter Holland has been working in the film industry for fifteen years. Starting out as a camera/lighting assistant, he has worked on major feature films including Babe, the Matrix trilogies, Birthday Girl, Moulin Rouge, Star Wars and Farscape the Sci-Fi TV series.
Peter graduated from the highly prestigious Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in 2002 with a Masters in Cinematography.
He has shot numerous commercials, music videos and two feature films. The first feature film “Gabriel” was shot on a miniscule budget of $200,000 and was purchased by Sony Pictures for International Theatrical distribution. His second film “The Nothing Men” was one of the first films in the world to be shot on 4K Red cameras.
Peter has won many awards for his work and is a leading expert in digital cinematography. He is shooting a new feature film “Cedar Boys” also on the Red 4K camera.
Clinton Downs
Clinton joined The Lab Sydney in 2008 as its head of 3D commercials, a new creative team focused on the advertising market to operate from the company’s newly set up Creative Studio.
Downs is the VFX department’s 3D technical and 3D commercials lead heading up a core team of senior 3D artists. The Lab’s 3D team is part of the Creative Studio where 3D, 2D, design and colour teams work together in a dedicated studio assessing all creative briefs.
Downs was formerly with Animal Logic and his credits include being supervising technical director on Warner Brothers’ feature 300 and TVCs including the Whiskas Mouse series of 3 commercials, AGL Mimi series of 6 commercials, Gatorade Visitors, Visa Monster Chase and Birds, Tooheys War of Appliances, Honda Accord, Ritz Penguins, Adidas Nothing is Impossible, Toyota Prado Ice Sculptures, Australian Grown and Sony’s God of War.
Henry Karjalainen
Post-Production Producer on the claymation feature film “Mary and Max”, directed by Adam Elliot and produced by Melanie Coombs for Melodrama Pictures.
With 20 years' experience in film post-production, Henry has designed and managed the implementation of the “Mary and Max” DSLR RAW to DI workflow. He has also created a custom Content Management System for the control of post-production metadata.
Henry specialises in digital intermediate workflows, and was Post-Production Supervisor on the recent documentary feature film, “Night”, produced by Circe Films. Previously, he has worked as an Assistant Editor on many feature films, including “No Reservations” and “King Kong”, as a Negative Cutter, and a Nitrate Film Restorer.
Matt Taylor, Animation Director, Sixty40
Matt's vibrant characters drip with popular culture and feeling. His 2D animation style is gaining notoriety for its fresh look and unique sensibilities. Matt's work as Animation Director at Sixty40 covers pilots, TV commercials, promos and station ID's and he works with animation teams of varying sizes to get things done. Matt's characters also gain a life of their own outside the animated world created for them often seen in an art context, having exhibited around Australia and in New York. .
Mark Simpson, Design Director, Sixty40
Mark has established himself in the design world through over 12 years of digital design. His skills have evolved from the conception of interactive media to the now multilayered and luscious world of motion graphics and compositing. He combines innovation with the practical requirements of broadcast and print schedules and is yet to lose a patient in the field. As design director for Sixty40, Mark either is elbow-deep in sketches and software or is overseeing the look and feel of a larger team. He has directed the look and feel for the on-air look of promos for all of Sixty40's clients including ABC, Nickelodeon, VH1 and MTV. .
MARCUS GILLEZEAU
Writer / Producer/Director, Firelight Productions
Marcus began his career as an editor before moving into producing and directing.
He is a specialist in digital production technologies and applications. As a producer and writer he is known for the adventure series 'Afrika - Cape Town to Cairo' (ABC TV and National Geographic). He directed 'Little Dove - Big Voyage (Network 7), a fully convergent, multi-platform documentary project. Other credits include ‘Dreamtime to Dance’ a four part series for ABC, ‘Hell Bento!!’(SBS), The Dalton Sisters (ABC) and ‘Painting with Light’(SBS).
Ellenor Cox After managing a post production facility for three years, Ellenor and Marcus Gillezeau joined forces to create Firelight Productions. Ellenor has been a principal partner in the company and has produced award winning films for most networks in Australia as well as a gamut of international broadcasters including National Geographic, Channel 4 and ZDF. Films of note include the international hit series'Afrika - Cape Town to Cairo' which has now screened in over 14 countries to an estimated 200 million viewers; the emotionally charged documentary ‘Breaking Bows and Arrows’ which recently received the United Nations Media Peace Award for Best Television for 2002, the highest rating Australian documentary for 2001 'Little Dove Big Voyage'and 'A Cave in the Snow’, the first official film on the extraordinary life of Tenzin Palmo.
Kylie du Fresne A principal partner of Essential Viewing Group/ RB Films, Kylie has produced both drama and documentary. Lockie Leonard, based on the award winning novels by Booker-nominated author Tim Winton, was the first Australian children’s drama shot in HDCAM and post-produced in high definition. It screened on the Nine Network in 2007.
In 2005 Kylie produced the ABC telemovie Stepfather of the Bride, Other drama credits include include The Djarn Djarns, a half hour drama for SBS which won the Crystal Bear award at the 2005 Berlin Film Festival, the first Small Claims telemovie, for Network Ten and UK TV. Kylie has also produced a number of documentaries for SBS and ABC.
Rangi Sutton - Founder Kanuka Studios
Rangi has played key technical, artistic and leadership roles in a wide variety of productions including feature film visual effects (Daybreakers, Blade 2, The Matrix, Harry Potter), animated features (The Ant Bully), and award winning TVCs.
Warren Lynch
Warren is an experienced digital colourist and founder of Intercolour, established since 2004, which provides digital colour grading and post production facilities for feature film and television in Sydney's Fox Studios - Australia.
Evan Butson
Evan Butson is the founder of TDE Post, a Melbourne-based media solutions company working within the television, corporate and educational sector servicing such clients as BHP Billiton, Aurius Diamonds, Honda MPV, Shell, and Ford.
David Nerlich David Nerlich is a writer, filmmaker and visual effects artist who has been involved in digital media since its early evolution. He is experienced in music and sound design for films, as well as independently producing works for radio. David created the visual effects for two features prior to Black Water: Hanoi Twelve Days and Nights (Vietnam, 2002) and the Australian fantasy feature Pictocrime (2004). Michael Robertson Michael Robertson is a graduate of the University of New South Wales and University of Southern California film school. Michael's first short The Hard Word (1967) starred David Elphick, and won Best Short Film - Fiction at the Sydney Film Festival and an Australian Film Institute award for black and white cinematography. He established the TV commercials production company Prodigy, and as a TVC director won the Cannes Lion, Mobius, One Show New York, WorldFest, CLIO, MADC and ATV awards. Michael has directed three feature films: The Best of Friends (1982), Going Sane (1987) and Back of Beyond (1995). Black Water is his first feature as a producer. John Biggins Experienced in shooting films, promos and documentaries, John Biggins has shot feature films in Australia and UK, most recently "Black Water".
