Gnomon School of Visual Effects and VES presents
Golden Compass: Shot-Breakdown Series with Special Guests: Michael Fink, Senior Visual Effects Supervisor, Susan Macleod, Visual Effects Producer, Bryan Grill, Visual Effects Supervisor for Digital Domain and Raymond Chen, Co-visual Effects Supervisor for Rhythm & Hues Studios.
Join Gnomon School of Visual Effects and the VES in welcoming the visual effects team from the Academy Award winning, The Golden Compass. This evening, Academy Award nominated Michael Fink, Senior Visual Effects Supervisor, Susan Macleod, Visual Effects Producer, Bryan Grill, Visual Effects Supervisor for Digital Domain and Raymond Chen, Co-visual Effects Supervisor for Rhythm & Hues Studios will be will be discussing the planning and execution of many of the visual effects shots for The Golden Compass. Susan Macleod will go through the production challenges from beginning to end, while Bryan, Raymond, and Michael will discuss how they created the effects magic. Topics discussed in-depth will be daemon creation and animation, bear creation and animation, environments, and lots of fun war stories.
About this evenings speakers:
Michael Fink, Visual Effects Supervisor
Michael began working in film on China Syndrome in 1977 to support his fine arts career. He was seduced by the film business in short order, finding in it a perfect environment for his creative side. He “cut his eye teeth” on films such as “Star Trek the Motion Picture” and “Bladerunner” before becoming a Visual Effects Supervisor. Since then, Michael has been a pioneer in the computer graphics industry. Michael received his first Effects Supervisor credit on "Wargames,” where he created with computer graphics tens of thousands of feet of motion picture film for process plates. Other credit highlights include, Batman Returns, Superman, Constantine, X-Men, Contact, Braveheart and numerous other blockbuster films as well as commercials. On Batman Returns, for which Michael received an Academy Award nomination, he supervised the creation of the first photo-real computer graphic creatures in a feature film that faithfully replicated existing, living, beings (penguins and bats).
Michael joined the DGA in 1987 and received his first official 2nd unit credit on "The Seventh Sign.” In 1995 Michael joined Warner Bros. in starting a new venture - Warner Digital Studios - a full service visual effects facility. Under Michael’s direction, Warner Digital grew to 150 people, and produced highly lauded effects on films such as “Eraser,” “Superman,” and “Batman & Robin,” as well as commercials and special venue films. Michael received a Bachelor's degree in Business from California State University, Northridge, in 1966, a B.A. in 1973 from the Art Institute of San Francisco and an M.A. from the California Institute of the Arts in 1975. In addition, Michael is on the Executive Committee of the Visual Effects Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and is a founding member of the Visual Effects Society. Michael was also honored in October 2001 at the Premio Imaggine in Milan, Italy for his contribution to the art and science of digital filmmaking.
Susan Macleod, Visual Effects Producer
Susan MacLeod started working in visual effects when, as an assistant director in New York, she was hired to coordinate plate shooting for "Die Hard: With a Vengeance", in 1994. She ended up managing the VFX effort through post production on that film, and has continued working in the VFX industry ever since. In addition to producing the effects on "The Golden Compass", she has also produced Oscar nominated visual effects for "Hollow Man", and has served as VFX producer on "Blade 2", "Son of the Mask", "My Favorite Martian", and "Eraser".
Bryan Grill, Visual Effects Supervisor
Since joining Digital Domain in 1994, Bryan Grill has worked on some of the most groundbreaking visual effects ever to appear in motion pictures. Bryan most recently served as Visual Effects Supervisor on “The Golden Compass,” and last summer he completed work as Visual Effects Supervisor on “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.” Mr. Grill previously contributed his talents as Digital Effects Supervisor on Clint Eastwood’s “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters From Iwo Jima,” as well as Roland Emmerich’s “The Day After Tomorrow.” In 2007, Bryan’s work on “Flags of Our Fathers” earned him a VES Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture. Over the years, Mr. Grill has also acted as Compositing Supervisor on films as varied as “Stealth,” “The Time Machine,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “The Fifth Element,” and his compositing abilities are also on display in “Star Trek: Nemesis,” “XXX,” “Supernova,” “Chain Reaction,” “T2 3-D: Battle Across Time,” “Apollo 13” and the Academy Award®-winning “Titanic.” Prior to joining Digital Domain, Mr. Grill worked as a compositor and editor for two years at Digital Magic and in the same capacity for six years at The Post Group.
Raymond Chen, Co-Visual Effects Supervisor
As Co-Visual Effects Supervisor on “The Golden Compass,” Raymond Chen oversaw the Rhythm & Hues “Look Development” team for the numerous daemons featured in the Oscar nominated fantasy epic. Since joining Rhythm & Hues in 1996, Raymond has contributed to a number of films, including “Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift” as co-VFX supervisor; “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe,” as a lighting/compositing sequence supervisor; and “Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed,” as a lighting supervisor. Raymond worked as a lighting technical director on “Scooby Doo” “X-Men 2,” “Cats & Dogs,” “Little Nicky,” “The 6th Day,” “Mystery Men,” “Babe: Pig in the City,” “Mouse Hunt,” “Speed 2.” Raymond earned a BA in Visual Arts from Brown University, and an MFA in Computer Graphics from Pratt Institute. While completing school, he worked in New York doing commercial production.
Event Details:
- When: Thursday, February 28th, 2008
- Meet & Greet: 6:00PM
- Presentation: 7:00PM – 9:00PM
- Place: Gnomon School of Visual Effects - Stage 15
1015 N. Cahuenga Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90038
- RSVP: reserve@gnomonschool.com
This event is FREE of charge!
CLICK HERE TO RSVP |
