Missed out on the festivities at Penny Arcade Expo last weekend? Game Design grad Nick Halme is the custodian of Vancouver Game Design (itself started by a VFS grad). Nick was on the ground at PAX and is now posting his very detailed impressions on the games he scored hands-on time with. Including Starcraft II. So, yeah - worth reading.

Recent Film grad Peter Brown is putting himself in front of the camera for a new (and controversial) 12-part internet reality series called Steroids Saved My Life.

As the tongue-in-cheek title suggests, Peter himself is the guinea pig: taking steroids to bulk up. But despite the irreverent tone, the team is being rightfully cautious. “With any supplement or drug there are always positive and negative attributes. I am being closely monitored by my family doctor to make sure I am in good health,” Peter says. “Our main goal is to get me healthy and fit, to develop proper eating and exercise routines with long-term benefits.”

Steroids are a hot-button topic and Peter and the rest of the crew, which includes director/producer Nenad Barjaktarovic, cinematographer/editor Shane Smith, and advertising/publicity supervisor Youssef El-Khoury, have been getting plenty of views - and comments on both sides of the fence - since the series began in early August.

“We have found that whether people agree or disagree with steroid use they are still watching the show, still interested to see where the story goes and that’s what is important,” Peter says.

Viewers can check out the series at SteroidsSaveMyLife.com. They’re already up to Episode 6, so now’s a good time to catch up and join the conversation.

At VFS, we’re constantly adding instructors in all 13 of our programs - people with incredible professional careers and some pretty good stories to tell. One recent example: Dani Vachon, Talent Management instructor in Entertainment Business Management, manages You Say Party! We Say Die! but she also happens to be an accomplished designer of gig posters.

We’re huge fans. Check this amazing gallery for a taste. Among the many highlights: Sufjan, Unicorns, and the Saul Bass-y Dillinger Escape Plan.

After Birgir (Biggi) Tryggvason graduated from Sound Design for Visual Media at VFS, he returned to his native Iceland, and now, to show for it, he’s the subject of a lengthy profile by Digidesign - makers of industry-leading Pro Tools software.

Biggi’s one of the big movers at Syrland Studios in Reykjavik, the premier Icelandic music recording studio, a place where Björk, Blur, and Sigur Rós have all recorded. Syrland was interested in getting into TV and film post - and in came Biggi. The Digidesign article catches up with Biggie as he mixes an upcoming live DVD by Mezzoforte, a very popular funk-fusion band. Check it out!

David Bowring, a Game Design alum from the fourth graduating class, paid a visit to Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle this past weekend to talk up Saints Row 2.

David is Gameplay Designer on the title, developed by Illinois-based Volition and set for release in October. The original Saints Row not only sold well but surprised critics, who were no doubt expecting a shallow GTA-style clone. Not so!

Check out David’s video interview from PAX (which seems to have supplanted E3 as the place for developers to show off their wares) for more details on the new game.

When we spoke with Film Production grad April Laird for our The Many Faces of Film story, we were so intrigued by her career as a prop master and art director in L.A., we knew we’d have to follow up. Fortunately, she was kind enough to respond to our quizzing about her path, her projects, “day playing” on the likes of Heroes and Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, and what My So Called Life creator Marshall Herskovitz teased her about on the set of the web series Quarterlife.

We’ve talked previously about how you were drawn to the art department while at VFS. But what got you to VFS in the first place? How did you go from an English lit degree to a film education?

Even though I was a huge history and literature nerd growing up, film has always been my main interest. I read a lot as a child and a teen, but spent many more hours in front of the TV or at the theater. My parents used to take me to a place called the Cinema Grill in downtown Atlanta every week as a kid; I saw several really great movies there that most kids my age weren’t allowed to view. Instead of staying at the dreaded “Kid Stay N’ Play”, I was with my parents watching films like Goodfellas, Silence of the Lambs, and Pulp Fiction as a 8- to 10-year-old. Some might say I was still too young to be viewing R-rated films, but I attribute those Friday nights to my love of film.

Quarterlife made a splash online - but didn’t get much of a chance on network TV. How did its medium influence your work as on-set prop master? How was your experience on the production, overall?

Although it truly wasn’t meant for network TV, Quarterlife was a brilliant show and was the #1 webisode by a landslide during its debut. I got involved with the project through a well-known television prop master, Rich Hobaica, who hired me after interviewing 7 people. Suffice it to say, I was blown away I was picked and really nervous about being able to handle it by myself. It would be the first time I was a prop master for something of its budget and size, and I wanted to make the best impression possible.

There were 6 principal characters on that show! I worked like a nut, but it paid off in the end. The show flipped and I was inducted into the Local 44 art union as an assistant prop master. That show has given me a lot of work since in referrals, and I made a lot of close friends from the cast and crew as well. It’s obviously cliché to say, but it really was like a family. I had a blast! It’s a shame we haven’t gone back for another season.

So, has anyone ever told you that you kind of look like Claire Danes?

Indeed, several people have said that to me over the past couple years, even though I still don’t really see it, haha. Obviously, working with the creator of My So Called Life, Marshall Herskovitz, it came up a lot on the set of Quarterlife. Marshall and some of the other crew teased me about it often.

Seems like you’ve been pretty busy the last couple of years. The low-budget Pizza With Bullets with Vincent Pastore, Tony Devon, and Talia Shire: what were the challenges for the prop master? It’s a mafia story - that had to be interesting.

Read the rest of this story »

It’s been a banner couple of months: three magazine covers featuring graduates from three separate VFS programs.

We have Acting for Film & Television grad and Corner Gas star Tara Spencer-Nairn on the Fall/Winter 2008 Weddingbells, looking stunning in her custom Thien Le dress. (You know you’re a star when yours is considered a “celebrity wedding.”)

Then, the cover of the August 2008 issue of ToyFare features 3D Animation & Visual Effects grad Kolby Jukes‘ work for DC Direct, with the caption “Are These the Best Batman Toys Ever?” Inside, it also features his Dark Knight Joker bust as an “upcoming toy you’ll want to invest in,” calling it “Kolby Jukes’ 4.75 x 3 x 2.5-inch cold-cast porcelain gem.”

And finally, there’s the September 2008 Fangoria with Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer! We’ve given this film by Film Production grads Jon Knautz and Patrick White plenty lot of ink: the attention is well-deserved.

Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH and the Vancity Theatre are presenting the SPARK Animation Festival September 10-14, with a stellar lineup featuring Kung Fu Panda directors John Stevenson & Mark Osborne of Dreamworks and Horton Hears a Who directors Jimmy Hayward & Steve Martino of Blue Sky Studios among many others.

The festival also features some VFS connections. Classical Animation instructor Marv Newland is co-presenting “Surving as an Independent Animator” on Day 4 and is the subject of a “Marv Newland Retrospective” on Day 5. You can also see 3D Animation & Visual Effects mentor Jericca Cleland-Hura on Day 5’s “Women in Animation” panel.

Check here for all the details, including ticket info. The opening event is at Granville 7 Cinemas, but the rest takes place at the much more intimate Vancity Theatre, so tickets are going to disappear very quickly. Tix are very reasonably priced, and further discounted for SIGGRAPH members!

Writing grad Wade Fennig stars in a BC Lions commercial airing tomorrow night on TBS’s World’s Funniest Commercials show. Congrats, Wade! The show is on tomorrow, August 30th, at 9pm. Or, you can enjoy it now…

Since graduating from the Writing program, Wade has taken his career in multiple creative directions. A former hockey player in the Junior A and minor pro leagues, he’s developing a “Hockey Rocky” feature called Ice… he’s been steadily working as an actor in film/TV/commercials… he’s a producer and director… and many in the VFS community know him as the Production Coordinator for all of the Writing program “Portfolio Shorts” student films.

So how does Wade’s education in screenwriting relate to these many creative pursuits? Wade’s philosophy sums it up: “Everything to me comes from Story. The rest is the interpretation and delivery.”

In the quickie department, the French site eMob.fr has blogged the Digital Design final project by Nicolas Alexander and Yaniv Fridman, Miniature Rocket. Oh, and the site calls VFS “prestigieuse” which is at least twice as prestigious as “prestigious.” Not the first buzz the project has earned, and certainly not the last.