Motion Design Love -

I’m Glenn, currently creative director at SparkleVFX & before that managing director at sparkle media. My current role as creative director see’s me back with hands on work and directing of CGI for live action and animation. I’ve been in the industry or over 10 years, time lies when your having fun.. I remember working in AE 3!! you don’t know how good you have it now!!

Motion Graphics and Visual FX found me, i didn’t really choose it. I started out life as a graphic designer dabbling in motion during the late 90′s. Early part of 2000 i moved to Australia and worked in Design/motion agency. A few twists of fate later i was working on some a few feature films being baptised by fire along the way. I tried to go back to print design but it no longer had any interest for me, new things in motion had started.

The challenge of being presented with a shot and figuring out how we can achieve it using the desired tools. My new and current role allows me to to work with great directors, listen to what they want then propose how we achieve that without compromising  the integrity of their shoot or product.

Apart from tight deadlines people who don’t understand what we do but feel its their god given right to tell you how to do it, just because you use cinema 4d doesn’t make you a 3D modeller for example. 3D modelling doesn’t happen over night. My co-creative director at SVFX (Glen Southern) has been modelling for over 20 years, anything regarding 3D I take my direction from him so you can imagine how annoying it is when some one under values who says a models wrong.

I’ve a lot of huge highlights, worked around the world on film/TV/ interactive productions yet i think my best is still yet to come. Feature films and tv are always great but can get mechanical so i’d say 2 of my prouder moments was the opening of the Liverpool Capital of Culture, huge video and stage production to an audience of 30,000 people. That was a big rush knowing all your work was be admired and such a huge stage. The second was on a return visit to Australia filming for 3 weeks on 2 separate jobs, a TV commercial and a production with the Sydney Theatre staring Cate Blanchet & Joseph Fines. Green Screen, 3D, animation, projection!! Huge job. It was eventually shown to an “A List Celeb” crowd in Geneva, i nearly fell over when i saw a TV clip of Kevin Spacey saying “wow.. the visuals where amazing”. It kind of ended that part of my career and time to move onto the next

What are your future plans in Motion Graphics?

This weekend I’m off to the depths of Wales where i’ll be on set for 3 days directing & Supervising VFX on a horror film. The film contains elements that give compositors/3D artists shivers.. Werewolves!! mainly HAIR!!! Glen’s already built the Werewolf which looks great, now we have the problem of shooting on 4.5k plates and creating moving hair within the shots.Its a big challenge and we only have approx 5 weeks of post on those scenes