SVA Computer Art Alumnus Nominated for VES Award

The nominees for the 11th Annual Visual Effects Society Awards have been announced. Among those nominated for Outstanding FX and Simulation Animation in a Commercial or Broadcast Program is Shayne Ryan, 2008 BFA Computer Art alumnus. He is nominated for his work on the commercial Nissan Altima: Wouldn’t It Be Cool at Framestore NY along with Tim Borgmann, David Forcada, and Aron Hjartarson.

To see the official announcement and the nominees for other awards, visit the VES website. To see the commercial, visit Framestore's website.

Two Projects by Computer Art Faculty Members and Alumni at Nathan Love featured on Motionographer

Developed and directed by Computer Art faculty members and alumni Joe Burrascano (2002) and Anca Risca (2008), the projects McGraw Hill Reading Wonders and Ring Force were featured recently on the website Motionographer.

In Wonders, Nathan Love joins forces with McGraw Hill Education to brand their all-encompassing reading program for kids. They have created an animated trailer for the program as well as a vast range of digital media, web products and marketing material. Other alumni involved in this project are Ryan Moran (faculty and '07 alumnus), Luis E. Perez ('08 alumnus), Ylli Orana ('05 alumnus), Eric Xu ('10 alumnus), David Han ('08 alumnus), David Avetisov ('06 alumnus) and David Lee ('11 alumnus), as well as current students from the class of 2013.

Ring Force is a children's book created by Nathan Love in the spirit of the 2012 Olympics. The books follows the adventures of five different kids, each with their own Olympic dreams. Another of our current students, Ellen Su (class of 2013), also worked on this project.

Read the article on Motionographer and learn more about Nathan Love by clicking on the links.

2008 & 2009 Alumni to screen at YoungCuts Film Festival 2009

This year YoungCuts has accepted eight films by both 2008 and 2009 alumni. These films have not only been accepted, they are also part of the YoungCuts top 100 films at the festival this year and nominated for the following awards:

Best Short Short Award nominees:
 
Le Cou Cou by Zed Bennett (2009)
Static by Jack Lykins (2009)
Alien Abduction by David Han (2008)
Dogface by Shai Halfon (2008)

Best Animation Award and/or Best Original Music Award nominees:

We Are All Here by Yong Hwa Choi (2009)
YEA by Adam Newman (2008)
And Some Days It Rains by Will Frazier (2008)

Best Editing Award and Best Cinematography Award nominee:

Macabre Muse by Dan Devine (2008)

All eight films will be screened and judged during the eight days of the festival in Montreal, Canada. Please check back here for more news regarding these awards. For more information, please visit the YoungCuts website, www.youngcuts.com.

2008 Alumni screen at Woods Hole Film Festival 2009

Three films by 2008 alumni have been accepted at this year's Woods Hole Film Festival in the town of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Rock N' Roll King of the Southwest: The Bobby Fuller Story by Nicholas Carrol, Alien Abduction by David Han, and Dogfact by Shai Halfon will be screening during the week of July 25th through August 1st. The 18th Woods Hole Film Festival is an eight day showcase of independent film featuring daily screenings, workshops, panel discussions, staged readings, special events, parties, awards ceremony and more. It is held annually for a week beginning on the last weekend of July and is the oldest independent film festival on Cape Cod and the Islands.

For more information regarding tickets and showtimes visit www.woodsholefilmfestival.org.

2008 Alumnus ties for 3rd Place at KAFI 2009

Michael Vicari's film The Annotation won a tie for 3rd place in the Kalamazoo Animation Festival International 2009 Student Post Secondary and UP Category. Michael is an alumni from our 2008 class. The film was very well received by the audience at the screening. KAFI is a biannual project of Kalamazoo Valley Community College in Kalamazoo, Michigan. At KAFI, artists, educators, and students display their talents, observe the talents of their peers, and participate in roundtable discussions.

For more information please visit their website http://kafi.kvcc.edu/.

2008 Alumni make it to Regional Finals of 2009 Student Academy Awards

Lilium Urbanus, by Anca Risca & Joji Tsuruga, has made it through the Semi-Finals of the Student Academy Awards and will be competing in the Animation category at the Regional Finals in Los Angeles. The film screened here in New York along with two other 2008 alumni films: Alien Abduction by David Han and YEA by Adam Newman. Lilium Urbanus will be moving on with a film from SVA's MFA Computer Art Department. Check back here soon for the results of the next round of competition!

2008 Alumni participate at SIGGRAPH 2009, New Orleans

The SIGGRAPH conference and exhibition is a five-day interdisciplinary educational experience that includes a large variety of presentations and installations from the newest technology and software to the most innovative digital art and film. SIGGRAPH also hosts a Computer Animation Festival, celebrating the some of the most innovative and stimulating of computer-generated animated films. This year two of our 2008 thesis films will be among those shown this August in New Orleans: Lilium Urbanus by Anca Risca & Joji Tsuruga, and Daydreamer by Roland Womack.

For more information about SIGGRAPH and this festival, please visit http://www.siggraph.org.

Collaboration at Curious Pictures by Faculty, Alumni & Current Students

The short film, Little Spirit: Christmas in New York, produced and directed by Curious Pictures, premiered Wednesday December 10th at 8:00 pm on NBC. The film involved several people from our department, including:

Yohance Brown - Colorist (alumni 2006)
Marco Burbano - Rigging (alumni 2003)
Will Clark - Animator (alumni 2008)
Angelo Collazo - Animator (class of 2009)
Mark Corotan - Art Director (alumni 2004 and faculty)
Jesse Flores - Texturing (class of 2010)
Stefania Gallico - Modeling (alumni 2007)
Kevin Gironda - Lighting/Compositing (alumni 2008)
David Han - Animator (alumni 2008)
Eric Huang - Modeling, Texturing, Lighting/Compositing (alumni 2008)
Marci Ichimura - Lighting Compositing / Development (alumni 2005)
Felix Lu - Rigging (class of 2009)
Ramon Martin - Texturing, Lighting/Compositing (alumni 2008)
Jess Mireau - Lighting/Compositing (alumni 2008)
Josephine Noh - Texturing, Lighting/Compositing (alumni 2006)
Marta Sovis - Animator (alumni 2008)
Nate Ten - Texturing, Lighting Compositing (alumni 2008)
Masako Toyoda - Modeling (alumni 2007)

Below is a brief description:

When a friendly cabbie (Danny DeVito) tells two young sisters the story of a boy named Leo (Michael Hall D'Addario)who moved to Manhattan with his family, a magical adventure begins. While adjusting to the big city and enjoying the days leading up to Christmas, Leo accidentally loses his dog Ramona in Central Park. Leo is devastated by his loss until a magical creature named Little Spirit appears and takes him on a quest to find Ramona. Leo and Little Spirit venture out on the journey of a lifetime, taking in the festive surroundings of the city and meeting people from all walks of life. By the time Leo is reunited with Ramona, he has an eclectic group of friends that make the strange city seem like home.

To view the trailer for this film, please follow this link http://www.curiouspictures.com

2008 Alumni dominate at MetroCAF 2009!

At this year's MetroCAF, our 2008 alumni had huge success - a total of eighteen out of thirty films were from SVA, thirteen of which were from our department! The following films screened the evening of September 25th at FIT's Haft Auditorium:

Lilium Urbanus by Anca Risca & Joji Tsuruga
Henshin by Eric Huang *
Drop Shot of Doom by Richard Pernice & Maxim Kornev
Red; State by Sun Young Kim
Alien Abduction by David Han *
YEA by Adam Newman
Daydreamer by Roland Womack
Macabre Muse by Dan Devine
The Future King by Shayne Ryan
Bumbleflies by Michael Shin
Pollen by Marc Christoforidis
Vorota Diamos by Luis Perez & Denis Kozyrev
Dogface by Shai Halfon

*Both David Han and Eric Huang's films won Jury Recognitions, the highest award of this festival.

MetroCAF is an annual, juried competition produced by NYC ACM SIGGRAPH. It features the best student work from the NYC metropolitan region in the areas of computer animation, visualization, and special effects.

For more information please visit the website http://www.metrocaf.org.

Live Broadcast of 2007 & 2008 Alumni Films via NICKTOONS Network

Five films from 2007 and 2008 alumni have been selected to participate in this year's Nicktoons Network Animation Festival. Their selection has won them a live television broadcast on the Nicktoons Network (check your local cable or satellite television provider for channel info). These films have been selected and will air at the following times:

Alien Abduction by David Han - October 1st @ 11pm
Lilium Urbanus by Joji Tsuruga & Anca Risca - October 3rd @ 11pm
Henshin by Eric Huang - October 18th @ 11pm
El Mono by Min Chung Cho - October 22nd @ 11pm
A Faery's Tale by Sylvia Apostol - October 25th @ 11pm

The Nicktoons Network Animation Festival, back for its 5th year, is the first ever multi-platform festival featuring the best animated shorts (10 minutes and under) from around the globe. Prize winners will be announced during the exclusive live event for creators in Los Angeles on October 3rd. These films, along with the other selected films, will also be featured online where viewers can vote (GO VOTE) on their favorite shorts. A new short will air each night in October at 11pm, at which time that short will also be available for online viewing and voting.

For more information please visit the website http://nicktoonsnetwork.nick.com

2008 Alumnus to screen at San Diego Asian Film Festival

2008 alumnus David Han's film Alien Abduction will screen three times at this year's San Diego Asian Film Festival as part of their Shorts Program. This is annual event of the San Diego Asian Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and promoting the diverse Pan Asian experience through the media arts. The festival will be taking place in San Diego October 9th through the 16th and in Riverside October 21st through the 23rd.

For more information about the festival, and specific screening information, please visit the website http://sdaff.bside.com

2008 Alumnus featured at Coney Island Film Festival 2008

2008 alumnus Nick Carroll's film Rock N' Roll King of the Southwest: The Bobby Fuller Story has been selected to screen at this year's 8th Annual Coney Island Film Festival on Sunday, September 28th. The festival screens a truly eclectic range of films from the U.S. and all over the world and much to the delight of our audience features a number of "made in Coney Island" productions each year. The screenings are held inside Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY.

For more information please visit the website http://www.coneyislandfilmfestival.com

2008 Alumni Semi-Finalists in ADOBE Design Achievement Awards 2008

Four films by 2008 alumni have been selected as semi-finalists in this year's Adobe Design Achievement Awards: Macabre Muse by Dan Devine and Drop Shot of Doom by Rich Pernice & Maxim Kornev in the Live Action category; Ryde by Ryan DeCarlo and Cest La Vie by Mike Milyavsky in the Animation category.

The Abobe Design Achievement Awards celebrate student student achievement reflecting the powerful convergence of technology and the creative arts. The competition honors the most talented and promising student graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, animators, digital filmmakers, developers and computer artists from the world's top institutions of higher education.

For more information please visit the website http://www.adobe.com/education/adaa/.

2008 Alumni participate at MetroCAF 2008 - September 25th, 2007

Since its inception in 2003, MetroCAF has provided an exciting opportunity for all students in the NYC metropolitan area to gain international exposure for their computer-generated imagery and make contacts within the NYC-area computer graphics community. ACM SIGGRAPH is a non-profit, professional computer graphics organization serving the greater New York City area.

Every year our graduating seniors submit their films to this festival and every year they have had great success. Last year six of our seniors' films screened at MetroCAF, two of which received Jury Recognitions, and ten senior films were featured the year before that. This year, thirteen of our 2008 graduates are included in the festival.

Please join us this Thursday, September 25th at 7PM in FIT's Haft Auditorium to find out which of our 2008 seniors will be featured in this year's program, as well as any Jury Recognitions that might be awarded. For more information please visit www.metrocaf.org.