Industry Giants 2003: Visual Storytelling was the first event to feature a full panel of CG and animation industry speakers.
Produced by A Bunch of Short Guys in cooperation with the Applied Graphic Design Technology department at Collin College, presenters from Sony Pictures Imageworks, Reel FX Creative Studios and CGchannel participated in the day-long event and presented their perspectives on visual storytelling in today’s high-tech medium.
Industry Giants 2003 took place in the John Anthony Theatre at the Spring Creek Campus of Collin College in Plano, Texas.
2003 Speakers
Dale Carman
Dale Carman is the founding partner and Senior Creative Director of Reel FX Creative Studios and a former creative director for a national advertising
agency. He is a pioneer in the field of digital visual effects production methods and proficient with every tool in the building (and most of those outside of the company’s building). Reel FX was selected as one of only a few alpha test sites for Discreet Logic software (Inferno, Fire, Flame, Smoke, Combustion). Dale completed over 400 visual effects scenes in one year for the award winning children’s series Wishbone on PBS. He is the winner of multiple gold /silver Addy and Telly awards for visual effects/animation in commercials. He leads the Reel FX team on all projects such as Pixar’s Humpty Trouble, Harper Collins George Shrinks books, Man In the Moon for William Joyce and visual development work for 3-2-1 Penguins!.Dale was visual effects director for over 130 shots in the Spy Kids 2 movie. Previous to this year, Reel FX produced the 44-minute G.I. Joe Spytroops animated movie. Dale is married with 4 children.
Alan Chan
Alan Chan served as a television Producer/Director in Oklahoma City for five years beginning in 1990. In 1995 Alan joined Venice,CA based effects house Digital Domain, creating visual effects for James Cameron’s Titanic as well as for Clio-award winning Nike and Chevrolet commercials. The success of Titanic presented Alan with the opportunity to become a cofounder of Station X Studios, where he served as VFX Supervisor on commercials as well as projects such as Tom Clancy’s Netforce. In 2001 Alan signed on with Sony Pictures Imageworks, returning to feature film work as a Look Development Lead on the Quidditch sequence for Warner Brother’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. His most recent work
includes tours of duty on Imageworks’ Academy Award-winning short The Chubb Chubbs, Peter Jackson’s Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers and Bad Boys 2.
Alan’s body of work includes several screenplays, including a science fiction project entitled ‘Ark’ which he is currently developing. His short film 12 Hot Women, a spoof of sexploitation films (www.12hotwomen.com), is currrently making the rounds at film festivals. He has been tapped to direct an upcoming independent feature which begins principal photography in Mexico at the end of June 2003.
John A. Davis
John A. Davis graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1984 with a BFA in film production, receiving the first ever Nash Clay Parsley award. He is a writer, director, producer, animator and founder (along with his partner Keith Alcorn) of DNA Productions, Inc. in 1987. A full service animation company based in Dallas, Texas, DNA currently produces 3D animated projects for television and feature films. In 1997 Davis wrote, directed and even animated a few shots of the first all-3D animated special for primetime, “Santa Vs. The Snowman.” It aired as an ABC Christmas special, and won a Gold Award from the World Fest-Houston International Film Festival, as well as a Lone Star Award. The film played in IMAX 3D theaters during the 2002 Christmas season. In 1999, Davis served as director of animation for Fox’s Christmas special Olive the Other Reindeer. The project was produced at DNA Productions and earned Davis an Emmy nomination in 2000. Davis is the original creator of Jimmy Neutron (formerly Johnny Quasar). He went on to write, direct, and produce the feature film, “Jimmy Neutron: Boy
Genius” earning him an Academy Award nomination in the new Animated Feature category in 2002. Davis also serves as a producer on “The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius” television series. Other current projects include writing, directing, and producing assignments for The Ant Bully (along with producer Tom Hanks), and the eagerly awaited Jimmy Neutron feature sequel.
Ramahan Faulk
Ramahan Faulk is an accomplished 3D character modeler. During the 9 years that he served with the U. S. Navy as an aircraft mechanic, he taught himself computer graphics and animation. His early character influences were horror films such as An American Werewolf In London and The Howling. Ramahan also works in traditional media such as drawing, painting and sculpture. He finds that maintaining his traditional skills is a benefit to his 3D modeling work. Ramahan was a character modeler for Electronic Arts Sports and also taught character modeling there. He worked on Madden Football, NCAA Football and a soon to be released new title for EA Sports. He has also done various freelance projects for Ice Pond Studios and helped producethe book Maya Feature Creature Creations. He is now the Modeling Supervisor for Reel FX Creative Studios where he has been working on their G. I. Joe animation.
Jean-Eric Henault
Jean-Eric Henault first learned computer graphics with an Amiga computer in 1987. It was a hobby until the early 1990’s when he began freelancing in Montreal as a 3D artist. In 1997 he began work on a web-site for NewTekniques Magazine (Advanstar Communications) called NewTekniques.com. The website, with its bold graphics and daily updates quickly became more popular than all the other sites owned by Advanstar. One of the best things about NewTekniques was the ability to give exposure to artists and help them accomplish their dreams. Jean-Eric left NewTekniques in 1999 and a year later in 2000, he launched CGChannel.com with the same critical elements that made NewTekniques.com such a big hit. With an initial investment of $70 US plus $20 a month in hosting fees, the site quickly grew to 3,000 – 4,000 visitors a day within the first 3 months of operation.
Since then, CG Channel has grown considerably to about 30,000 visits a day reaching well over 100,000 computer graphics professionals around the world every month. CG Channel Inc. became a legal entity in Canada in October 2002 and is now owned by 4 shareholders. In 003, CG Channel recruited its first full-time employee and they are investing in new projects and services that will help even more people in the industry achieve their dreams and goals.
Kevin Johnson
Kevin Johnson is a thirteen-year veteran of the animation industry. He joined the staff of Sony Pictures Imageworks two years ago and served as head storyboard artist for The ChubbChubbs!. The ChubbChubbs! earned the first Academy Award® for Sony Pictures Imageworks in 2002. Kevin created and directed Imageworks’ new animated short, Early Bloomer. Prior to joining Imageworks, Mr. Johnson held staff positions at Warner Bros., Disney and Don Bluth Studios. He serves as the assistant director of the Character Animation Program in the School of Film and Video at the California Institute of the Arts. He currently is employed as a Storyboard Artist for Sony Pictures Animation.
2003 Sponsors
