Me and Madison (Above)
Madison Thomas
(Arts In The Hood)
Bio
Sisler High School Alumni, Madison Thomas is a filmmaker from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Raised in a Metis household, storytelling was a huge part of Madison’s childhood. She found the natural extension into filmmaking in high school and has worked at honing her craft since. Madison studied filmmaking at the University of Winnipeg, receiving her Bachelor of Arts in 2012, and in 2011 was accepted into Prague Film School’s summer program. She was the first Canadian to attend in five years and the first Aboriginal person to ever be accepted into the program. Madison’s first feature film “This Is Why We Fight,” a gritty post apocalyptic set in Winnipeg premiered at LA’s Indiefest in 2013 and won an award of excellence. “This Is Why We Fight” enjoyed its Canadian theatrical premiere in Madison’s hometown and the film’s setting Winnipeg. In the fall of 2014 Madison represented her hometown once again as she competed for a $45,000 production deal on CBC’s “Short Film Faceoff,” a national competition series. Madison has partnered with Canadian Cinematographer Andrew Luczenczyn and together they work under the company “Prairie Kid Productions”. The pair now have a dozen shorts, a feature and a documentary to their name and have screened at film festivals globally. Madison consistently partners with inner city organizations and teaches film to youth in hopes the future filmmakers among them will become motivated the same way she did.
Questions
Q1) What was your favourite short to direct? Why?
Q2) Other than pride, what motivates you and your company to stay in Winnipeg?
Q3) Outside of talks and presentations, how do you plan on helping youth get the tools they need for their art?
Responses
I really enjoyed Madison’s workshop. She is an amazing speaker and an all around fun person to be around. Her charisma is inspiring and her enthusiasm is uplifting. Her story of coming from the hood and making her own career and following her dreams is something I can really relate and look up to. She remains humble and human through all of this. Her short films are both interesting and full of great messages that anyone can appreciate. I especially loved the short she made called The Middles (2015). It is about a group of teenagers and their social status and what they think of themselves. I have an easy time relating to these characters and the message the story is trying to convey as it mirrors my life quite closely. I would love to work with her or anyone from her production company, Prairie Kid Productions, once I have graduated and honed my skills. The film making activity portion of this workshop was also very fun. It consisted of a mad libbing script based off three friends. My group had the story revolve around one friend being a feud with a group of people that really liked pies. This activity was highly improvised by me and the members of my group and we all had a blast.
Group script writing (Above)
Trent Correy (Above)
Trent Correy
(Get Animated)
Bio
September 2012 – Present (4 years 1 month)
“Moana”- Animator
“Zootopia”- Animator
“Frozen Fever”- Animator
“Big Hero 6”- Assistant Animator
“World of Color”- Animator
“Frozen”- Apprentice Animator
Talent Development Program- Trainee
“Zootopia”- Animator
“Frozen Fever”- Animator
“Big Hero 6”- Assistant Animator
“World of Color”- Animator
“Frozen”- Apprentice Animator
Talent Development Program- Trainee
etc.
Questions
Q1) Being a Disney employee, what are you allowed to do with Disney property/assets?
Q2) How do you think you’ve grown since Attack of the 50 Foot Hero?
Q3) Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?
Responses
Trent’s workshop was a very fun experience. He was a very fun person to talk to over Google Hangouts. He answered questions very fairly and kindly whilst keeping his audience hooked and entertained. He walked through his animating process and work schedule while working at Disney in this workshop and explained its ups and downs. He explained what is was like to work on high budget, blockbuster animated movies such as Frozen (2013), Zootopia (2016), and the upcoming Disney feature Moana that comes out this November. He also explained that he had like a month of work scrapped because of scenes being changed while he was working on them. Overall he expresses that he loves working at Disney and how it took him a couple years of persistence and a bit of stubbornness to get the job. This workshop was also really conveniently timed as he touched on the basic principles of animation and how he used them when planning out scenes in a movie. This was only a few days before I we started our principles of animation unit in animation class and I feel as if it helped me visualize the principles in action in big budget films.
Links:
Trent and the class (Above)
Paul Donnet (Above) and Michael Coleman (Below)
Michael Colemen
(Once Upon A Time)
Bio
Best known for his role as Happy on ABC’s Once Upon a Time (2011) he has also played memorable characters on Supernatural, Smallville, Fringe, Stargate, Blood Ties, and Eureka. As a voice-over artist he has voices hundreds of commercials roles and voiced characters in X-Men: Evolution, Hello Kitty, Inuyasha, Dragonball Z, Mary-Kate & Ashley in Action, Hamtaro, Gundam Seed: Destiny and many more.
Michael’s feature film directorial debut was the critically acclaimed Best Day Ever: Aiden Kesler 1994-2011 (2011). Michael is one of the owners and founders of Western Canada’s largest casting studio, GO Studios as well as accredited post secondary schoolcreative: Institute of the Arts, Vancouver Acting School, and Vancouver Young Actors School.
In late 2015 Michael will be announcing a production team who will write, shoot, and distribute original television and feature film projects.
Questions
Q1) What do you think you can do with a portfolio as large as yours
Q2) What is your favourite part of being part of so many TV series
Q3) What are your plans for your film and acting school
Responses
Michael`s workshop was really good. He was a very engaging speaker and a real character. This makes sense however, as he is an actor, writer, producer, and owner of a school (School Creative) that has classes involving the entertainment arts. These include concept art, writing, acting, animation, and more. The beginning of his video conference was with his friend, Paul Donnet, that helped him set this whole thing up with us. Even though the call was not meant to be with him he still kept us all intrigued and involved. He started by asking us questions and asking us what our goals and dreams are. He was very polite and great to talk to before Michael Coleman showed up from his meeting. Once Michael showed up he caught all of our eyes by bringing his pickaxe prop his character Happy uses in the show Once Upon A Time. He was very charismatic and put a smile on my face almost instantly. He even pointed me out and asked me what being a filmmaker and story teller meant to me. My response was “I want to tell stories that people can stand behind and enjoy as a group. I want people to come together because of me and be one big happy community”. He said he enjoyed my answer and that I was speaking his language. He called me and the rest of the group the future of entertainment and that we could do anything we wanted if it helped us achieve our goals in life.
Links:
Me and Chris (Above)
Chris's Work (Above)
Chris Darnbrough
(Character Concept Design)
Bio
Illustrator/Animator at Chris Darnbrough does freelance Illustration/Animation
From: Halifax, Canada Area
From: Halifax, Canada Area
Questions
Q1) How would you describe the difference between working on video games vs commercials
Q2) How did you get your work noticed to be a freelance artist
Q3) If you weren’t a freelance artist where would you like to work and why
Responses
Chris’s workshop was pleasantly different from the other workshops. Chris did less talking than most other presenters however he had much much more to show us. He showed us what you could work on if you decide to become a freelance artist and animator. He showed us his work on some Dark Souls and Assassin’s Creed Revelations animated commercials he has worked on in the past. After he showed a Taco Bell commercial and the two had an entirely different feel and style to them. Even after that, he showed us a PowerPuff Girls music video he animated. Once he exhausted official productions he has worked on to show us he went to his Tumblr and we got to see his pitch ideas and some scrapped work that never got picked up or canceled. He told us this was all part of the process. That being a freelance artist and animator meant most of your stuff does not get accepted or picked up by your clients. In the second period we participated in a concept art activity. Based on our class vote, we decide to draw a shark as a hitman. This is when I learned that he goes crazy with his referencing. He got at least twenty reference images before even starting his concept. Once he had his stage set up he drew his shark hitman so quickly, I could not keep up for the life of me. His speed did not hinder his ability what-so-ever. His final product was incredible.
Chris’s workshop was pleasantly different from the other workshops. Chris did less talking than most other presenters however he had much much more to show us. He showed us what you could work on if you decide to become a freelance artist and animator. He showed us his work on some Dark Souls and Assassin’s Creed Revelations animated commercials he has worked on in the past. After he showed a Taco Bell commercial and the two had an entirely different feel and style to them. Even after that, he showed us a PowerPuff Girls music video he animated. Once he exhausted official productions he has worked on to show us he went to his Tumblr and we got to see his pitch ideas and some scrapped work that never got picked up or canceled. He told us this was all part of the process. That being a freelance artist and animator meant most of your stuff does not get accepted or picked up by your clients. In the second period we participated in a concept art activity. Based on our class vote, we decide to draw a shark as a hitman. This is when I learned that he goes crazy with his referencing. He got at least twenty reference images before even starting his concept. Once he had his stage set up he drew his shark hitman so quickly, I could not keep up for the life of me. His speed did not hinder his ability what-so-ever. His final product was incredible.
Agent Sharky Seven: My concept art from Chris's activity
