CG Supervisor Craig Calvert, a 3D Animation & Visual Effects grad from 2000, is one of those alumni who have risen through the ranks over the years. By the time he worked on Resident Evil: Afterlife, he’d become Lighting, Texturing & Modelling Department Head at Toronto’s Mr. X Inc., where his other credits have included Hot Tub Time Machine and the upcoming Tron: Legacy.

Jessica Leigh Clark-Bojin introduces the Summer 2010 VFS Impact Awards

It was a night to remember at the Summer 2010 VFS Impact Awards. The evening was a pitch-perfect throwback to a golden era while the awards themselves celebrated the very future of entertainment.

The sold-out gala, planned and carried out by Entertainment Business Management students, began with a line outside the club that stretched up the street and around the corner. With anticipation high, the Red Room packed, and an audience dressed to the nines, the evening boasted live ’50s-themed entertainment, great food, and awards.

Especially notable were two wins – The Difference Maker Award and The Public Enlightenment Award – for Daniela Cervantes‘ Film Production documentary Hide and Seek, a must-see and often devastating exploration of the challenges faced by gay youth. Actor Matthew Lillard (Scooby-Doo, Scream) was also among the winners for his ongoing mentorship and support of Acting for Film & Television students.

Here’s a gallery of photos from the night:

Visit vfsimpactawards.com for the complete list of winners! Here are the winners:

The Difference Maker Award
Hide and Seek – Film Production
Daniela Cervantes
Watch it on YouTube

The Outstanding Performance Award
Reminiscing Her – Film Production
Payal Singh

The Outstanding Character Design Award
Zebra – Makeup Design for Film & Television
Sara Lee

The Zero to Sixty Award
Budding Love – Digital Character Animation
Michael Tse

The Public Enlightenment Award
Hide and Seek – Film Production
Daniela Cervantes

The Emotional Impact Award
The Light Pressure of a Thought – Classical Animation
Paula Assadourian

The More Than the Sum of Its Parts Award
Mora Azul – Entertainment Business Management
Jenny Bourne, Rebeca Ricoy and Diana Garcia Mendez
See the Blast Light episode of about it

The Outstanding Setting Design Award
Loved – Film Production
Jennifer Li
Watch it on YouTube

The Friend of VFS Award
Matthew Lillard – Acting for Film & Television
Find out more about Matthew Lillard’s important role at VFS

The Technical Achievement Award
Cyburbia – Film Production
Arun Fryer
Watch it on YouTube

The Storyteller Award
Stealing Canada – Writing for Film & Television
Tyler Smith

The Mission Impossible Award
Knossos Freaky 13 – Foundation Visual Art & Design
Chris Walker, Will Houston, Gary Slyvester, Corey Kurke, Jason Obermeyer, Jon Berezan and Mauro Gagliega

She joins an exclusive list of graduates who have demonstrated a huge commitment to learning their craft over an intense year of training at VFS. Armed with a prize package that contains products from MAC and Taut, a one-year subscription to Make-Up Artist Magazine, and a personal letter of reference from Head of Makeup Design Stan Edmonds, previous winners of the Makeup Achievement Award have gone on to find work in LA and their talents have also been recognized at international competitions such as IMATS.

“I was so happy to have earned the award!” says Carolyn. “Our class is full of amazing artists. I feel very honoured to have won. This has been a phenomenal year. I’ve never worked so hard at anything in my entire life, but I’ve never loved anything else this much either.”

“It was amazing to meet so many people who were passionate about the same things that I’m passionate about, and I loved spending so much time after school practicing with my classmates. I decided four years ago that I was going to do the Makeup Design program at VFS, and it was well worth the wait!”

Congratulations, Carolyn!

Check out her amazing portfolio, showcasing her work from a year of hands-on learning at VFS:

The video was edited by Film Production grad Paul St. Amand and shot by his brother, who lives in Behraam’s neighbourhood.

Of course, it helps if you understand Dutch. If you can, take a look at this segment about Angelo, who starts his year in 3D Animation & Visual Effects in October. They plan to follow up with him throughout his VFS experience and after he’s graduated!

You can already see, from the test shot below, that Angelo’s got potential to spare. (Check out his YouTube channel for more.) We can’t wait to see what he does with his VFS year!

Steve Darling interviews Head of VFS Digital Design Amber Bezahler

This morning, we had the pleasure of playing host to Global BC Morning News anchor Steve Darling and his crew, who gave viewers a series of inside looks at VFS throughout the broadcast.

If you tuned in, you saw a lot of quintessentially “VFS” moments – and some of the Department Heads, students, and alumni who make this school what it is. We had a great time! (And now we wouldn’t mind a nap – it was an early morning!)

Here are some photos from the day. We were also on hand to live-tweet from behind the scenes, meaning you can catch up right here.

Hello out there, we’re on the air…

You can’t take the hockey out of Canada, and you can’t take the VFS out of EA’s NHL games. Just about every new iteration of the long-running series has VFSers behind the scenes.

That includes NHL 11, which hits store shelves tomorrow with the force of a Matt Cooke blindside. Among the alumni that we know about, there’s 3D Animation & Visual Effects grad Jose A. Yapor, who worked on the check and collision animations, as well as Sound Design for Visual Media‘s Joshua Bandy, credited for Additional Speech Editing, too! Sharpen your skates!

Throughout the morning newscast, he’ll be bring you inside the VFS experience, meeting faculty, students, and alumni, and taking part in demos from a huge range of VFS programs, from Sound Design to Digital Character Animation, Acting to Makeup Design. It’s all to celebrate the back-to-school season – something, incidentally, we get to enjoy six times a year! Not only that, all morning we’ll also be tweeting from behind the scenes!

If you’re in BC, tune in to Global from 5:30am to 9:00am!

The list includes Film Production grad John Lenic, as one of the producers of Best Dramatic Series nominee Stargate Universe, and Acting grad Benjamin Arthur for Best Individual Performance in a Comedy Program for the lead role in the series Less Than Kind.

Film grad Trevor Cameron is up for two awards – Best Direction in an Animated Program or Series and Best Writing in a Children’s or Youth Program or Series – for his work on Wapos Bay. Finally, 3D grad Clint Butler is a co-nominee for Best Direction in an Animated Program or Series, and a trio of grads are on the Gemini-nominated team for Best Visual Effects – once again, for Stargate Universe.

(Are you a VFS grad who’s up for a Gemini and don’t see your name in the list? Leave a comment! We’d love to hear from you.)

Congratulations to all! The awards will be handed out in November – we’ll be watching!

Best Dramatic Series
Stargate Universe - John Lenic (plus 3 others)

Best Individual Performance in a Comedy Program or Series
Benjamin Arthur – Less Than Kind

Best Direction in an Animated Program or Series
Trevor Cameron – Wapos Bay
Clint Butler (plus 1 other) -  Hot Wheels Battle Force 5

Best Visual Effects
Alec McClymont, Craig Vandenbiggelaar, Andrew Karr (plus 7 others) – Stargate Universe

Best Writing in a Children’s or Youth Program or Series
Trevor Cameron – Wapos Bay

Armando and David worked on the film out of Modus FX in Sainte-Thérèse Québec, a suburb of Montreal. In fact, if you happen to be able to read French, Le Journal de Montréal has a nice overview of the work Modus was responsible for, including the environmental touches needed to recreate parts of earthquake-damaged Castel del Monte in Abruzzo, Italy. Interesting stuff – and another early notch for three-year-old Modus!

Here’s the trailer for The American. Enjoy!