ITI Articles

Star Trek Enterprise’s visual effects producer, Dan Curry, and Dreamwork Animation’s Tim Johnson were among a lineup of global luminaries inspiring students at the Media Design School-sponsored AnimfxNZ Student Master Classes in Wellington on Wednesday November 7.

The event, held at the Film Archive, attracted a crowd of students from tertiary institues throughout New Zealand and consisted of high intensity tutorials and audience interaction in the form of Q&A from a top lineup of speakers.

Invaluable advice on topics like ‘What you need to know to work in the gaming industry in New Zealand and ‘How to sell your big idea’ went down extremely well with the audience. In particular, Tim Johnson’s (Director of Over the Hedge) opening address ‘Mistakes student’s make and how to avoid them’ illustrated some salient points on what not to put in student showreels. The results of his words sent quite a few people scurrying back to the drawing boards.

The full lineup of speakers was: Tim Johnson (Dreamworks Animation), Dan Curry (CBS/Warner Bros), Warren Franklin (Rainmaker), Rita Street (Radar Cartoons), Mario Wynands (Sidhe Interactive), Maru Nihoniho (Metia Interactive), Matt Aitken (Weta Digital) and Michael Carrington (Children’s BBC).