• SFX/Particle/Simulation Artists/TDs
• Experienced CG particles and simulation artist/technician for film VFX and CGI features. All software background with solid experience will be considered.

• Lighting TDs
• Lighting Technical Director in charge of lighting CGI/VFX shots following setups and instructions from the artistic direction team. Autodesk Softimage (XSI) working environment.

• CG Character / Creature Animators
• Experienced Animator for a full length CG feature and animation for feature film VFX; Autodesk Softimage (XSI) working environment, but we are looking for raw talent from any software background.

All positions are available immediately. Apply at jobs@modusfx.com
Good Luck!

This 12-part miniseries for the History Channel premiered last Sunday, following a massive campaign. Already the numbers are impressive, the first night of this special broadcast becoming the highest rated and most watched TV show for the network.

Part of the enjoyment of our involvement in shows like this is to check out all the following in the media; in this case it has been extremely well received. But the best publicity feat about The History of Us is certainly it’s announcer: President Obama, with a special introduction kicking off the series. That was quite a surprise!

You can watch the trailer from President Obama here.

An interesting happening will take place on March 29th; the VFX Online Townhall Meeting where an “open discussion of a visual effects industry in transition” will take place online as a free, virtual meeting. Already the interest is very high in the community, and signups are happening at a rapid pace.

This panel is set up by Lee Stranahan, a former visual effects artist and writer for The Huffington Post who posted a hugely popular article a while back: Open Letter To James Cameron: Fairness For Visual Effects Artists. His views on how the VFX industry is working hard to attain proper recognition and acceptable working conditions in a world where digital effects movies top the box-office stirred many conversations. The recent abrupt closing of two highly respectable digital studios, Image Movers Digital in San Rafael and C.O.R.E. Digital in Toronto has kept this topic a hot subject.

The panel will feature Chris deFaria -Vice President, Warner Bros. Pictures, Jefferey A. Okun – Visual Effects Society Chair and visual effects supervisor and Scott Ross – Co-Founder of Digital Domain & former CEO of Industrial, Light and Magic.

I have already signed up.

• CG Character / Creature Animators
• Experienced Animator for a full length CG feature and animation for feature film VFX; Autodesk Softimage (XSI) working environment, but we are looking for raw talent from any software background.

• Set Dresser for layouts
• Set dresser/modeler TD for set dressing in a full length CG feature; Autodesk Softimage (XSI) environment.

• Creature TD / Rigger
• Experienced Creature TD for creature rigging in our numerous feature projects; Autodesk Softimage (XSI) environment.

• 2D Compositors
• Experienced 2D compositors for numerous projects, VFX for feature film and full length CGI features. Nuke working environment.

All positions are available immediately. Apply at jobs@modusfx.com

Good luck!

My trip was in part as an official guest of the 2nd China International Cartoon Creative Industry Fair (CICCIF), taking part in Wuhu, near Nanjing. (Yes, coolest city name). Not too sure what to expect, on a very not and sunny  morning I was politely ushered to an exterior stage, where about a hundred delegates and myself were greeted by a crowd of thousands!

I’m on the stage, in a dark suit under the blistering sun for an hour..

My view from the stage. The Chinese sure know how to open a conference!

The conference was interesting, even though not specifically geared towards digital effects. However, a large number of production houses were on location, and this is what business development is all about. Even without a clear agenda, you can mingle with a totally new territory of business opportunities. China Central Television for example, with over 20 channels, has a billion viewers as a daily audience…

As for the rest of my time, food is always the place for official talks, so business and formal government dinners were the norm. I raised few eyebrows as a Caucasian who can use chopsticks… Gan bei!

 One of many elaborate dinners. By the way, that’s not orange juice, but corn juice.

With business and government representatives. Don’t know if you can find me, I’m the one with dark hair.

1. California - Los Angeles and environs, San Diego, San Francisco and spots throughout the state
2. New York - Manhattan, the rest of New York City plus upstate locations
3. New Mexico - Albuquerque, other cities and remote areas
4. Chicago - Prototypical urban America
5. Louisiana - New Orleans, other cities and parishes

And the international locations top 5 :

1. Morocco - Cities and landscapes
2. France - Paris, Provence and the Dordogne region
3. Prague - Center of Central European filmmaking
4.  Spain - Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands
5. U.K. - London, Edinburgh and elsewhere

In the honorable mentions, Sydney, Montreal and Toronto are featured for Best Production Resources. Here is what the poll had to say about Montreal :

“Montreal offers expert vfx work, spurred by tax breaks. High-profile films including The Golden Compass and Indiana Jones 4 might shoot elsewhere but still use Montreal’s talent pool for effects.”

Kudos to our good friends from Rodeo FX, who participated on both features! I can only agree when it come to foreign film shootings having its VFX produced in Montreal; it certainly represents the vast majority of our projects here at Modus.

You can read the full article here.

VFX Coordinator

• Management of information and project data;
• Client contact for project following and communications with production staff;
• Management of schedules and set deliveries;
• Knowledge of postproduction / digital effects organization;
• Billingual French and English, spoken / written;
• Team spirited and excellent communicator, both written and spoken.

Send your resume and questions to jobs@modusfx.com

Thanks and good luck!

Key duties :
- Bidding projects and script breakdowns
- Manage clients and their expectations
- Attend client and production meetings
- Work closely with the VFX, CG and Comp Supervisors
- Work closely with the coordination and project management staff
- Monitor project status and budget

Please send your resume to jobs@modusfx.com

Thanks and good luck!

Mr. Nobody is continuing its tour of international festivals, this time at Sitges 09, the 42nd Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantastic de Catalunya. The film is part of the official competition with 21 other productions, with styles ranging from horror, fantasy and sci-fi. An impressive list of movies from all over the world.

The festival is happening from October 1 to 12 in Sitges, Spain.