Aspirations

One day,  I would like to see my name in the credits of the latest blockbuster! IE. Work for a studio fulltime (hint WETA Digital )

Interests

Technlogy takes up my time. I like experimenting with the latest stuff (software, hardware; you name it). I also like to read, snowboard occasionally.

Education

Currently studying NCEA Level 3 at Whangaparoa College

2009 – Whangaparaoa College – NCEA Level 2 achieved with Merit
2008 – Whangaparaoa College – NCEA Level 1 achieved with Excellence

Familiar Software

• Autodesk’s Maya
• Adobe Master Collection CS4/5 (After Effects, Mocha, Photoshop, Premier, Dreamweaver, Flash)
• VB.Net, PHP, HTML + CSS
• Microsoft Office 2007
• Windows | Mac

My Story:

Once upon a time, back in 2003-4 (11-12), I found out I like watching the ‘Behind the scenes’ DVD more than the actual film. My facination of film creation continued to grow over the years. In 2005 I decided to check the internet out for more information. There was some very basic information at the time, but I came accross a site, www.theforce.net and it showed Star Wars fanfilms; ordinary people creating star wars videos! I was amazed; starwars lightsaber effects on home videos. I was hooked, and wanted to try it.
I came across a few tutorials by www.ryan-w.com showing how to do lightsaber effects in Adobe After Effects. My first ever lightsaber video was completed in the UK and can be found here (2006 – Saber Stab)
Naturally, with lightsabers, came force lightning (2006 – Force Lightning)

2006 was the year that changed my life, literally. June 2006 me and my family moved to New Zealand. Naturally, I was the alien, and had no friends. What did I do? AfterEffects! My skills had improved a little, and had managed to convice a good friend of mine to act with me in a little lightsaber battle. In August 2006 I had completed my second lightsaber video – deemed ‘Jabba Vs Will’ (2006 – Jabba Vs Will)
After settling in, and finally getting broadband, I found what everyother after effects hopful finds; VideoCopilot.net. Naturally, thanks to Andrew Kramer, I gained more inspiration and tried some other special effects (non-starwars related!) (2006 – Garden Explosion)

Videos like that continued for the rest of that year, untill I got occupied with other things, school, homework and the likes. I find I have had stages, where I would do effects for a few months, games for a few months, and relax/do nothing for a few months. This usually cycled around once per year.

2007 -
My next ‘big’ – or so compared to all the VFX Tests I did – video was a short clip. (2007 – CCTV). I also redid a previous effect, and made it better – (2007 – Garden Missiles).
I also experimented a lot with particles in after effects, inspired by the recent release of the Harry Potter film. (No images/Video of this)

2008 -
I continued to experiment with After Effects, along with trying a few 3D packages. After watching the film ‘Jumper’, I tried (2008 – Jumper Test)

TBC!