My VFX Graduation Project

[Tom Servo]

Hey all, this project is about a 8 months old at this point, but I figured you all would appreciate it. I graduated in September from the Art Institute of Philadelphia with a degree in Visual Effects and Motion Graphics, and this was done as my senior graduation project. Since then, I was lucky enough to be brought on as a freelance paint artist and Nuke compositor at a small Philadelphia VFX company, working on I AM NUMBER FOUR and SAFE, an upcoming Jason Statham film. I've been lucky enough to be able to work with some very talented people, including some Trek feature vets.

Anyway, this project was obviously based on 50's era scifi films, such as The War of the Worlds, and Earth vs. The Flying saucers. In the vein, I wanted to use as many miniatures as possible, rather then relaying on solely CG creations. All additional 3d modeling was done in Maya, and compositing was done in After Effects and Apple's Shake.

I feel free to view my demo and breakdown reels as well. I should have new ones soon with new projects and my feature work.

Enjoy! And all questions comments, and criticisms are welcome!


http://vimeo.com/14585495

 

[Dac]

Heh, interesting opening shot - I did the exact same thing with my graduation project at Uni a year ago Although mine had to be a minimum of 3 mins, and be wholly animated with no live action elements.

Damn, both our animations share quite a lot of elements, but then I guess If we both went for the alien invasion thing they would be similar.

Here's mine:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBI4J--dl4E[/yt]

I know mine has some shitty walk cycles, but considering I only had 3 hours of digital animation lessons in 3 years of study and the rest is self taught, I don't think I did too badly...

Still though, I love yours. Very nice styling and some great clean composites. If I were allowed to use live action, I think I would have ended up with something like yours. Very very good work.

 

[Ensign Ro-]

@ Tom Servo...

That was excellent! Truly wish I had been able to attend film and/or SFX school. But, alas, I settled for military training in the field of TV news production. The rest of what I've learned is all self taught. Truly enjoyed your project. I thought the text really captured the 50's invasion movie feel. Thank you for sharing that. And I just downloaded "I Am Number Four" to watch later today.

@ Dac

I also enjoyed yours very much. I thought it was very different from Servo's. For me, yours invoked more of a "Fire In The Sky" feel. I especially enjoyed your soundtrack choice. It gave yours a unique vibe. And thank you also for sharing. :-)

 

[22 Stars]

Servo, that was awesome! Great job really!

 

[FalTorPan]

Great job, Tom!