People, Pixels and Production

We are always excited when finally a feature that we have contributed to with our digital effects is distributed in movie theatres or on TV. After months of hard work we can sit back, relax and enjoy the show. One of the latest projects we were involved in is the TV documentary America : The History of Us. We collaborated with our partners in the UK, Jellyfish Pictures to help relate the history of the United States using all sorts of digital animation, transitions, set extensions and full landscapes.

This 12-part miniseries for the History Channel premiered last Sunday, following a massive campaign. Already the numbers are impressive, the first night of this special broadcast becoming the highest rated and most watched TV show for the network.

Part of the enjoyment of our involvement in shows like this is to check out all the following in the media; in this case it has been extremely well received. But the best publicity feat about The History of Us is certainly it’s announcer: President Obama, with a special introduction kicking off the series. That was quite a surprise!

You can watch the trailer from President Obama here.

• Leave a comment... (0)
Digg   Del.icio.us   Bookmark   Stumble

An interesting happening will take place on March 29th; the VFX Online Townhall Meeting where an “open discussion of a visual effects industry in transition” will take place online as a free, virtual meeting. Already the interest is very high in the community, and signups are happening at a rapid pace.

This panel is set up by Lee Stranahan, a former visual effects artist and writer for The Huffington Post who posted a hugely popular article a while back: Open Letter To James Cameron: Fairness For Visual Effects Artists. His views on how the VFX industry is working hard to attain proper recognition and acceptable working conditions in a world where digital effects movies top the box-office stirred many conversations. The recent abrupt closing of two highly respectable digital studios, Image Movers Digital in San Rafael and C.O.R.E. Digital in Toronto has kept this topic a hot subject.

The panel will feature Chris deFaria -Vice President, Warner Bros. Pictures, Jefferey A. Okun – Visual Effects Society Chair and visual effects supervisor and Scott Ross – Co-Founder of Digital Domain & former CEO of Industrial, Light and Magic.

I have already signed up.

• Leave a comment... (0)
Digg   Del.icio.us   Bookmark   Stumble

With many deliveries and new projects starting up, we are in hiring mode at Modus FX. Available positions include :

• CG Character / Creature Animators
• Experienced Animator for a full length CG feature and animation for feature film VFX; Autodesk Softimage (XSI) working environment, but we are looking for raw talent from any software background.

• Set Dresser for layouts
• Set dresser/modeler TD for set dressing in a full length CG feature; Autodesk Softimage (XSI) environment.

• Creature TD / Rigger
• Experienced Creature TD for creature rigging in our numerous feature projects; Autodesk Softimage (XSI) environment.

• 2D Compositors
• Experienced 2D compositors for numerous projects, VFX for feature film and full length CGI features. Nuke working environment.

All positions are available immediately. Apply at jobs@modusfx.com

Good luck!

• Leave a comment... (3)
Digg   Del.icio.us   Bookmark   Stumble

Every month the NAD Center interviews on their blog one of their former students to get some insights of their careers and views about the digital effects and games industry. They have been kind enough to have me as their profile of the month. I hope some of my advice can be good for the students; you can never have enough pointers on VFX careering.
You can have a peek at my short interview here.

• Leave a comment... (0)
Digg   Del.icio.us   Bookmark   Stumble

Not too long ago I was personally invited to visit some industry development in China. Modus is currently working on digital effects of a very ambitious project for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, so we have new contacts with the Orient to explore. I have been to Asia before, but this was a first trip to China, very exciting. Considering the work to be done at Modus, I opted for a very short trip of only three days (!) so I would not have to suffer too much from jet lag on my return; the sheer adrenaline rush of spending a few days in China is enough to keep me awake on the other side of the world for a few days.

My trip was in part as an official guest of the 2nd China International Cartoon Creative Industry Fair (CICCIF), taking part in Wuhu, near Nanjing. (Yes, coolest city name). Not too sure what to expect, on a very not and sunny  morning I was politely ushered to an exterior stage, where about a hundred delegates and myself were greeted by a crowd of thousands!

I’m on the stage, in a dark suit under the blistering sun for an hour..

My view from the stage. The Chinese sure know how to open a conference!

The conference was interesting, even though not specifically geared towards digital effects. However, a large number of production houses were on location, and this is what business development is all about. Even without a clear agenda, you can mingle with a totally new territory of business opportunities. China Central Television for example, with over 20 channels, has a billion viewers as a daily audience…

As for the rest of my time, food is always the place for official talks, so business and formal government dinners were the norm. I raised few eyebrows as a Caucasian who can use chopsticks… Gan bei!

 One of many elaborate dinners. By the way, that’s not orange juice, but corn juice.

With business and government representatives. Don’t know if you can find me, I’m the one with dark hair.

• Leave a comment... (1)
Digg   Del.icio.us   Bookmark   Stumble

An interesting poll was published in Variety last week. Film industry insiders rated their favorite filming location using different criteria related to movie production. Montreal did not make the high list, but a very special honor was given to our VFX community… Read more below;
Here is the North American filming locations top 5 :

1. California - Los Angeles and environs, San Diego, San Francisco and spots throughout the state
2. New York - Manhattan, the rest of New York City plus upstate locations
3. New Mexico - Albuquerque, other cities and remote areas
4. Chicago - Prototypical urban America
5. Louisiana - New Orleans, other cities and parishes

And the international locations top 5 :

1. Morocco - Cities and landscapes
2. France - Paris, Provence and the Dordogne region
3. Prague - Center of Central European filmmaking
4.  Spain - Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands
5. U.K. - London, Edinburgh and elsewhere

In the honorable mentions, Sydney, Montreal and Toronto are featured for Best Production Resources. Here is what the poll had to say about Montreal :

“Montreal offers expert vfx work, spurred by tax breaks. High-profile films including The Golden Compass and Indiana Jones 4 might shoot elsewhere but still use Montreal’s talent pool for effects.”

Kudos to our good friends from Rodeo FX, who participated on both features! I can only agree when it come to foreign film shootings having its VFX produced in Montreal; it certainly represents the vast majority of our projects here at Modus.

You can read the full article here.

• Leave a comment... (0)
Digg   Del.icio.us   Bookmark   Stumble

New VFX projects are underway at Modus, we have jobs with immediate availability, including:

VFX Coordinator

• Management of information and project data;
• Client contact for project following and communications with production staff;
• Management of schedules and set deliveries;
• Knowledge of postproduction / digital effects organization;
• Billingual French and English, spoken / written;
• Team spirited and excellent communicator, both written and spoken.

Send your resume and questions to jobs@modusfx.com

Thanks and good luck!

• Leave a comment... (0)
Digg   Del.icio.us   Bookmark   Stumble