We asked Vicky McCann a few questions about her professional background and her passion for VFX and we think the answers make a pretty fun story. Grab a cup of coffee (or another drink of choice), sit back and read on. We think you'll like what you read, and will agree that she is the best person to head our new classroom VFX Production course starting November 7.
Disney Inspires Educators
Yes, Disney does inspire. The theme parks, the movies—they are awe inspiring and often bigger than life. A recent article entitled "To inspire, schools take a page from Disney" by Michael Alison Chandler in the Washington Post, noted that more than 300 school systems and charter school operators had undergone Disney training in the past two years to help them improve performance. Improve performance? With the help of Disney? How does that work?
A Brief History of Special Effects
Time Magazine has submitted a nice "Cliff's notes" version of the history of "Special Effects" in the movies. It's all here - cell animation, stop motion, explosions, water effects, CG characters, bullet time and even stereo are covered in brief here. It's always very interesting to note which movies are chosen to represent key innovations in visual effects, and this article covers "old school" versus "new school" ways of achieving effects. For example in the "doubling" section, the visual the iconic shot of twins Susan and Sharon in "The Parent Trap", wherein Disney employed some optical gadgetry to make Hayley Mills her own twin. The paragraph then goes on to explain how doubling was achieved in "The Social Network" with more complicated face replacement to create the twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss out of a single actor.
Dali and Disney—I think it was a match made in heaven
So Salvador Dali is truly one of my favorite artists. My colleague in the UK blogged about Dali recently (I think based on a conversation the two of us had, but I’m not sure). I’m confident most all of you know about Salvador Dali and his famous surrealist works. My favorite is “The Melting Clocks.” Of course, there’s no way to describe this painting. Just look at it and take it in.
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