A special program for the next VFX/PDX meeting – your short films! It’s no secret that many of us visual effects and animation artist types are also filmmakers, and when a good idea presents itself we jump behind it full force. We burn the midnight oil, sometimes outside of our day jobs, and do whatever we can to make it happen. We roll up our sleeves and get it to the screen!
It’s with that mindset that I present to you our first ever “Short Film Saturday.” A heavy dose of inspiration that should give us all that Vitamin D like boost we sorely need this time of year. We’ll screen the films and then break out the microscope and find out what makes them tick. Be ready for behind the scenes you’ll never see on any DVD-extras, and feel free to fire away once we get to the Q&A.
On the docket as this year’s headliners are Toby Froud’s Lesson’s Learned and Joshua Cox’s Proximity.
Lesson’s Learned is a practical puppet short about a young boy who receives an intriguing birthday gift from his father; a gift that will stay with him for the rest of his life. After the screening, Director Toby Froud (with puppets!), VFX Supervisor Adam Sager, and Layout/Matte Painter David Manuel will present the visual effects from the film. Adam and David are tremendously talented, and Toby steps into the spotlight with literally a lifetime of training – a family history of filmmaking that’s both rich and unique. Watch the trailer here.
Proximity is Director Joshua Cox‘s tribute to a collection of his grandmother’s that inspired him to craft a story that is a “suspenseful romantic crime drama involving ceramic statues.” Joshua is a talented filmmaker, and that all-encompassing title may be the one that best captures the many hats he’s able to wear: Animator, Technical Director, Graphic Designer, Producer, on and on. His skills will be on full display with this film, and I’m sure we’ll never look at grandma’s shelf quite as innocently again. 🙂 Full VFX breakown after the film. Watch the trailer here.
Rounding out the program will be shorts from
Kameron Gates/House Special, A Tale of Momentum and Inertia
Paul DeSilva, A Spark at Darkest Night
James Chick, Legend of Baby Chick
Jacob Miller‘s Conception Trailer
and more films TBA. If you were recently involved with or know of a locally crafted film that has a VFX component and you’d like to submit, please get in touch with J immediately.
All of this and more will be shown on the legendary OMSI Empirical Theater screen, what with it’s 4 stories of 4k projection + Dolby Atmos sound system bliss. Worth noting that all of the films are safe for a younger audience, and that OMSI is graciously offering a $2 discount on admission to the museum and current Animation exhibit after the show – so feel free to bring any young, budding vfx artists in your clan and make a day of it!
Tickets are free and you can (and should!) reserve your spot over at Eventbrite now:
http://shortfilmsaturday.eventbrite.com
VFX/PDX Meeting: Short Film Saturday!
Saturday, November 15th, 10am-12pm
OMSI Empirical Theater
1945 SE Water Ave, Portland, OR 97214
See you all there!
It was a fantastic show and will definitely be repeated. Big, big thanks to Jacob Miller, Paul DeSilva, Joshua Cox, Toby Froud, Adam Sager, and David Manuel for putting up all of their hard work on the big screen and then dissecting it before our very eyes. It was a great morning and a great turnout. My only wish was that we could have gotten more time for Lessons Learned and especially David Manuel, who’s matte painting + Artrage presentation was nixed because of technical difficulties getting his Cintiq to project on the big screen.
Until next time! Which happens to be February 12th, with a screening of Orland Nutt’s short film “Bear of Heaven” and selections from his catalog, complete with Compositing breakdowns and behind the scenes. And also on the docket is AEMoji winner and talented illustrator + After Effects whiz Ben Luce, showing some of his killer techniques and recent projects. More info to come, stay tuned!
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