Directors often seem to have a distain for the technology, but I think this comes from their natural inclination to break the rules. That's how they got to be great directors. But Visual Effects do not always work when they're broken.
Robert Engleman
Speaking & Teaching
John Gajdecki Production Scholarship
I established a production scholarship at York University where a promising student is given a cash scholarship for equipment rentals, processing, etc.
Visual Effects Society / Directors Guild of Canada / Canadian Society of Cinematographers
I headlined several seminars for the DGC / VES and IATSE 669. My goal is to clearly explain the process and detail best practices so that prodction can take better advantage of our flexible and ever growing production tools.
The Foundry - Stereo Master Class
I was a keynote speaker for The Foundry's ( Nuke Software ) 2011 Master Class on Stereo Compositing. We presented the full day seminar in Los Angeles, New York and London.
We followed my work on The Hole 3D from shot design to final delivery, detailing how we used Nuke and Ocula in our production pipeline.
Film Festivals Monaco, Austin, Toronto Los Vegas, Taiwan, Vancouver
Presenter or Keynote speaker at assorted Film Festivals, conventions and seminars around the world, including Imagica in the Principality of Monaco, the Gold Maple Leaf film week in Taipei and “ The Post Experience “ series which ran for several years, including at NAB in Las Vegas.
Inferno, Flame, Flint School GVFX Toronto, Vancouver
GVFX ran a formal training program that turned out successful, independent, production ready Discreet artists in 8 weeks. Usually 4 students were chosen and taught the basics by our senior staff, with homework assigned and evaluated. The students knew from the beginning we would only be keeping 2 of them at the end of the program. It worked.
Guest Lecturing Assorted Colleges and Universities - Ongoing
I enjoy speaking to students at all levels, from grade school to graduate programs and try to do several per year.
