Short Film / Music Video Production
The following page contains a list of filmwork I have been fortunate enough to be closely involved with as either part of my position at Media Design School or as freelance. My roles have been varied but primarily have been VFX and CG oriented often in roles of supervision but also as a vfx artist as well. Scroll down to see what I've been up to!
Accidents, Blunders and Calamities (2016)
A father possum reads his kids a story that’s an alphabet of the most dangerous animal of all – HUMANS!
Inspired by the Edward Gorey classic, this black-comedy for kids and parents alike is a hilarious and brutal alphabet of death and mayhem exacted upon animals by ignorant humans. 30 CGI animals were meticulously crafted and killed by a team of 44 students at Media Design School over an 11 week production. This was also my first official debut as Cinematographer with was a real blast. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did making it.
Escargore (2015)
Claude and his friends are out of their element and in a whole lot of trouble when they choose the wrong lettuce for lunch. They must now find their way out of this world of horrors before they end up on the menu! Escargore is the latest third year production from Media Design School's Bachelor of Art and Design (3D Animation and VFX). The project took around four months of intensive work to complete by a group of 22 students. My roles on the project were Writer, Director and Supervisor.
Over The Moon (2014)
Over the Moon is finally online and you can watch it here. It took about 5 months to complete and was crafted with 15 students. It has picked up numerous awards - such as a finalist in the NZIFF and also Jury Prize at Siggraph Asia. Probably the biggest accolade of anything I've been involved with so that's pretty cool. James Cunningham and I even were fortunate enough to attend the event and were able to speak about its production.
State Of Mind Featuring Sacha Vee - Black Raven (2014)
Another music video for State of Mind from Sakowski Studios I had the pleasure to freelance on. A great track and a cool creative project to work on. My role was basically Onset VFX supervision, providing some CG supervision for holographic work and generalist VFX artist roles such as matchmoving, creature development and simulation, fluid effects, rendering and compositing.
Alpha Orion (2013)
A very talented ex-student of mine and my colleague James Cunningham put together this great little teaser. We had a great day out on the west coast of New Zealand doing a short 1-day shoot. I had the pleasure of a day onset capturing survey data and generating high-resolution spherical HDRI's to assist with CGI production.
Shelved (2013)
Shelved is an animated short film starring a couple of total loser robots called Craig and Beano. Live-action with full CG character replacement.
Directed by James Cunningham with visual effects produced by eleven Media Design School students. My role was onset sound, CG supervision, Producer and Colorist.
Dr Grordbort Presents: The Deadliest Game (2012)
A project of ours from Media Design School that builds upon the existing sci-fi world created by Greg Broadmore - Concept Artist for Weta Workshop. After gaining permission to develop a short film - we spend the following 22 weeks with 11 students to pull off this VFX heavy production! Unfortunately, I did not have the pleasure of being onset and in production full time but while there provided CG supervision, project management and was the colourist for the final film.
Cocked Up (2011)
Reg the Rooster seems to have partied a little too hard on his stag do - the night before his wedding! He will have to think fast to get himself out of quite a predicament involving a bad hangover and a stripper! I had the pleasure of both directing and producing this short with 8 students. We were working within a short timeframe but am happy with the results! Nice to get a chance to do more stylisation and exaggerate the art a bit more.
Rotting Hill (2011)
A Zombie Rom-Com film!! Man, this one was a blast to work on. I even got to be a zombie in the opening shots. We had a small student team so we keep the VFX Shot count low - but made sure they were challenging enough! Seems other people liked the film as well. It's had over 1.5 million plays on Vimeo!
Tiki Featuring Sambora - Come Fly With Me (2011)
I had the pleasure of being a freelance VFX artist on this music video. I was able to provide lighting, rendering and composting for the butterfly. The video was also filmed in my apartment for the opening sequence. Kudos to Sakowski Studios for quality shooting and direction!
State Of Mind Featuring Thomas Oliver - Parasomnia (2011)
A labour of love designed to put Sakowski Studios on the map. All resources when into production to produce this VFX Music video. I was VFX Supervisor for the shoot, surfaced, lit, rendered and comped all VFX shots all while balancing a busy day job - Probably making the film below...
First Contact (2010)
First Contact is a CGI-Live action integration short film we got an opportunity to apply some head tracking and head replacement techniques. It's a story about Planet Earth is being visited by aliens, but this isn't the intelligent life we're expecting …this has to be up there as one of the funniest film's that we made at Media Design School.
Das Tub (2010)
Lost in the frozen depths of the Atlantic a German U-Boat crew find themselves on a collision course with objects stranger than they can fathom. The truth leaves them bathed in confusion in this submarine drama of domestic proportions.
35 VFX shots with fully CGI submarine shots and 3D submarine interiors composited behind green screen film actors, this film was made by a team of 5 digital artists in just 8 weeks. A classic for me.
Time For Change (2010)
A fully CGI production also done with probably one of the smallest 3d teams to come through the school. Time for change takes us into a town clock where a puppet man is not happy with his circumstances and does something about it!