Legendary designer, artist, and ‘visual futurist’ Syd Mead came to Vancouver last night, to speak to a sold-out crowd at the Empire Theatre.

But before the designer for Blade Runner, Tron, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and Aliens talked to the public - he spent the day with us.

Syd enjoyed a tour of the Animation & Visual Effects and Sound Design programs, sharing thoughts about his process, anecdotes about his experiences, and signing the occasional autograph (as well as his own drawing in a Classical Animation class).

He then spent time with students at computers in labs and in the “ant farm”, offering thoughts on work in progress, and advice to the next generation of artists.

Syd’s impression of the work coming out of VFS was that he loved the sense of humour in so many students’ pieces.

As far as how VFS enjoyed Syd’s visit, one 3D instructor was heard speaking to a few students in low tones: “God is here today”.

Thank you so much for the visit, Mr. Mead - you’ve been an inspiration for decades, and we thank you for your work, your time, and your words.

You might remember one of our big stories last year: a team made up of VFS Film Production instructor Glen Tedham, his wife Jeannie, and a host of grads from the Film program made a short documentary called Documenting Charity (and the Art of Street Shaving) that won a contest at Cannes through Reel Ideas Studio.

That success led to the team embarking on the fundraising motorcycle trip ALS Ride Across Canada, which they documented along the way. It became the feature-length 1000 Days to Live.

Well, Glen and the team is back in Cannes promoting the film, and they’ve got a five-minute trailer for all to see:

VFS has a stack of student work up for 2008 Adobe Design Achievement Awards. Most come from our Digital Design program, but Foundation Visual Art & Design and Film Production are in the mix as well.

(You’ll recall that Digital Design’s Boca ended up with a trip to San Francisco after his Drop was a finalist for one of the awards last year.)

You can see the full list (and it’s long!) of semi-finalists here. Below, the VFS students and grads who made the grade. Congratulations to all!

Installation Design
Ivan Cruz, Gaia: a self-contained environment (Digital Design)

Animation
Jadyn Aguilar, Monday (Digital Design)

Live Action
Jadyn Aguilar, While You Were Out (Digital Design)
Jordan Clarke, Human Movement (Foundation Visual Art & Design)
Jonathon Corbiere, See Through Me (Film Production)
Simon Haiduk, Nagdeo (Digital Design)

Motion Graphics
Yaniv Fridman, Nicolas Alexander & Amber Mackay, A Brief Guide About Bridesmaids (Digital Design)
Ryan Uhrich & Boca, Duelity (Digital Design)

Illustration
Jeanette Seah, Surrealism Design (Foundation Visual Art & Design)

Print Communications
Everardo Iniguez, typographique abecedarium + compendium of thought process (Digital Design)

Browser-Based Design
Pablo Kraus, Pablo’s Garden (Digital Design)

Event planning and management is a big part of our Entertainment Business Management program, and it’s a busy month for those EBMers - here’s three places to be in the coming weeks.

On Saturday, May 17, there’s Where Were You in ‘92, a love letter to ’90s dance music produced by Ian McDonell, Tony Huang, Anna Pesavento, and Rico Amezquita, then Click & Sip on Wednesday, May 21 - that’s the handiwork of Annie Dumitrescu and Jasmyn Pozzo, with Ian DJing this celebration of amateur photography - and finally Beautiful Struggle on Thursday, May 29, a screening of the film Diamonds in the Rough which will include a performance and Q&A with Silas.

Whew! Check the sites for tickets, times, and locations!

VFS’s Acting for Film & Television program held a free event last weekend called Acting on Camera: An In-Depth Workshop on Professional Acting, and it was a hit. We invited high school acting teachers from all over British Columbia to come along with two of their promising students for a day of workshops with our instructors.

Here’s just a few of the glowing reviews we’ve gotten since the event:

“Just wanted to say thank you so much for the workshop this weekend. I felt that it was a terrific opportunity and a life-changing experience. I feel rejuvenated.”
- Coralee Clark, Carson Graham Secondary School

“Thank you to you and your staff at VFS for a great session on Saturday. Everyone in the van talked about it all the way home – it was such a wonderful time.”
- Grant Sandeman-Allen, Cedar Community Secondary School

“Thanks for all your efforts to make last Saturday’’s workshop such a success for the students and the teachers. We at Sutherland very much appreciated the excellent instruction and dedicated atmosphere of VFS. It was a great day.”
- Cynthia Bunbury, Sutherland Secondary School

Thanks to all those students and teachers who participated, and we hope to see you again soon!

The new Narnia movie, Prince Caspian, is coming out next week, and to celebrate VFS grads’ involvement in the making of the film, Disney has provided us with some advance screening tickets and swag to give away!

The first 5 VFS students to email Student Services Manager Liz McDonald at lmcdonald@vfs.com will win a Narnia t-shirt, a movie poster, and 2 tickets to the advance screening of Prince Caspian Monday night, May 12th, at 7pm. (How fast can you type?!)

A number of graduates worked on The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, including Andreas Hikel (Previsualization Artist), Christoph Schinko (Character Animator), and Jami Gigot (Senior Layout Artist/Crowd). Makeup Advisory Board Member Howard Berger was the Creature Supervisor, and his company KNB Effects worked on many Special Effects for the film.

VFS is thrilled to be co-presenting the upcoming Screenwriters Summit, June 7-8, 2008. The Summit will bring to Vancouver four legends in screenwriting theory: Syd Field, Linda Seger, Michael Hauge, and John Truby.

We’d be shocked to hear if there’s a screenwriter — newbie, or pro — that doesn’t have at least two of these speakers’ books on their shelves.

The weekend will include half-day lectures with each speaker, with very little content overlap: the speakers have worked together to build their lectures to complement one another. Major topics include: character goals and desire, character arcs, the nature of conflict, universal themes and symbols, understanding your demographic, key genre conventions, deep structure, and the 7 steps to a great premise. Each half-day will culminate in a Q & A session with the speakers.

Screenwriters Summit
Saturday June 7- Sunday June 8, 2008
8:30am - 6:00pm each day
Vancouver International Film Centre
Vancity Theatre
1181 Seymour Street

Here’s how to register. Participation is limited to 175 people, so if you know you want to go, don’t wait too long!

And here’s a little more on the speakers:

Syd Field is regarded by many Hollywood professionals to be the leading authority in the art and craft of screenwriting in the world today. His book Screenplay was one of the first books on screenwriting theory, and continues to be a kind of bible for screenwriters. When Tina Fey was asked how she wrote Mean Girls, she said “I did the thing everybody does. I read Syd Field.”

Linda Seger has given seminars for studios, networks, production companies, television series, and film commissions, and, as the author of nine bestselling books on the art and craft of screenwriting, including the seminal Making a Good Script Great. Oscar winner Ron Howard says “I’ve used your concepts [from Making a Good Script Great] on all my films starting with Apollo 13.”

Michael Hague’s book Writing Screenplays That Sell, now in its 32nd printing, is a definitive reference book for marketing screen work. Jeff Arch, writer of Sleepless in Seattle, says of Michael’s lectures: “Every time I revisit my notes, I learn something new or reinforce something that I need to remember.”

John Truby’s screenwriting classes have trained some of the top players in Hollywood today, including creators of Shrek and Star Wars. This past fall, Truby released his highly-anticipated, critically-acclaimed book The Anatomy of Story, which raced to the top of the bestseller list.

Just a reminder that these books can be purchased at Biz Books in Vancouver, and VFS students get a 10% discount. In case you’re feeling the need to catch up!

We mentioned last week that Film grad Paul St. Amand’s documentary Parallels was a contender for the Babelgum online film contest - and that he had a chance to win a trip to Cannes.

Parallels is now in the Top 10 in the Documentary category! If the film makes the shortlist of 3, it goes right to Spike Lee. Go rate and vote!

The Vancouver Student Film Festival is coming up fast - May 24, 2008 at the Vancity Theatre. Tickets are on sale now to this showcase of some of the best student and alumni filmmakers the province has to offer.

Advance tickets are $8 for single and $14 for the full double bill - check vsff.com. At the door, they’re still a very reasonable $10 single and $16 double bill, but the screenings will be popular, so you’re better off to book them in advance. There will be awards, and the panel of judges includes everyone from Uwe Boll to indie toast-of-the-town Gwen Haworth.

For VFS’s part, the festival will feature screenings of Percy Kiyabu’s popular After Oz (3D Animation & Visual Effects), and Classical Animation grads Jae Hyun Lee’s off-the-wall A Trick of the Wind and Tammy Dubinsky’s madcap Hold the Mustard.

Vancouver Student Film Festival
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Vancity Theatre
Set A 5:30-7:30/Set B 8:00-10:00
Tickets & Details: vsff.com

Filmmaker, artist, and Classical Animation instructor Marv Newland is featured in the latest major exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Opening on May 17, KRAZY! The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art promises to be jam-packed with original pages and sketches from the most famous and infamous newspaper comics, underground comix, graphic novels, animated cartoons, anime, manga, computer/video games and visual art that covers a century of artists.

There’s a whole bunch of Krazy lectures planned to coincide with the show, and Marv will be one of them. Marv, you may remember, is the genius behind Bambi Meets Godzilla, a cult classic in the field of independent animation, and at 7pm on Tuesday, May 20, he’ll be at the gallery to present a history of animation in Vancouver. See you there!