The Creator Curriculum

Ian is a motion designer for Amazon and has done concert visuals for artists like The Glitch Mob, Wooli, The Funk Hunters, Seven Lions and more. He's an absolute beast, pumping out elaborate personal projects and pushing motion graphics into the realm of high-end CG. In our conversation he motivated the hell out of me with his self-starter attitude & work ethic. Literally the day after this conversation I signed up for a $700 Houdini course.

Timecodes:

0:01:54 | From Selling Knives to Keyframes

0:10:48 | Glitch Mob Took the Bait

0:18:28 | Concert Visuals Deep Dive

0:32:38 | Getting Noticed

0:36:11 | 3D Rendering Tips

0:39:50 | His 5 Year Commitment to Houdini

0:53:53 | Future Career Directions

1:01:22 | Outro

Jenny Kleiman is a talented filmmaker and an electric personality. She's pitched to Roman Coppola. She's pitched feature films to Sony. Recently Austin Film Festival X No Film School declared her “Top 5 Screenwriters to Watch for 2021.” Having been in writing groups with her, I’m not surprised. Hear Jenny discuss life as a professional director & screenwriter and its many highs and lows.

Timecodes

00:01:17 | The Value of Writing Groups

00:05:42 | Pitching “Mozart in the Jungle” to Roman Coppola

00:15:08 | First Steps to Becoming a Director

00:20:49 | Directing Your Own Work is Hard

00:27:04 | First Feature Film “Fleurs”

00:31:20 | Being a Great Director

00:32:32 | Evaluating Your Movie’s Budget

00:35:33 | How to Attract Talent to Your Script

00:39:46 | Most Depressing Times in the Industry

00:44:59 | A Day in the Life of a Director

00:48:55 | Working the Wound

00:52:44 | Writing as Therapy

00:59:39 | Write More Diverse Characters!

01:17:10 | Writing Problems

01:28:54 | Simplest Elements of a Good Script

01:45:39 | Tragedy: Not Small Death, But Small Births

01:54:18 | Is It Easy to Sell Content During a Content Boom?

02:03:53 | Marketing

02:12:04 | Early Projects

02:19:55 | Adulting as a Freelancer/ Creative

02:25:35 | Do What Makes You Feel the Most Present

02:28:04 | Art Gets You High

02:30:56 | Critiquing Religion/ Jewish Stuff

02:34:34 | Pitching Movies

02:45:47 | Creativity is a Disease

02:55:34 | Outro

Joe Garrity was studying Molecular Biology. Instead he ended up on Saturday Night Live. That lead to a job at Pixar. His coworkers helped him with his (award-winning) short, Twinsburg. Then he went on tour for a while with a Canadian pop band. Now he's getting his MFA in screenwriting.

Timecodes

2:05 | Biochemistry > SNL Errand Boy

9:54 | Genetics Script

15:17 | Quitting or Doubling Down

18:49 | Screenwriting MFA

28:48 | Story Math

36:35 | Twinsburg

48:48 | What Makes a Great Script

1:05:03 | Marketing Your Short

1:10:57 | Working at Pixar

1:25:57 | Pixar Culture

1:39:36 | Pixar > Imaginary Forces

1:48:55 | Alvvays Touring Setup

1:57:03 | Tour Experience

2:02:44 | Being the Messy Twin is Good

2:08:00 | Leading the Watergate Doc

2:15:15 | Outro

Take advice from Thomas. He’s gone from compositor to VFX Supervisor by working at every studio on the bucket list. He’s freelanced around the globe. He’s a teacher at the School of Visual Arts…he even won a Grammy.

Timecodes

1:36 | From Quake to Compositing

26:43 | Learning Scarcity vs. Abundance

39:47 | Working in Person vs Remote

52:47 | What Makes A Good VFX Supervisor?

1:16:08 | Biggest Mistakes On-Set

1:25:55 | Compositing Tips for 3D Artists

1:32:31 | Working at Apple

1:41:37 | SVA Freelancing Pep Talk

2:02:32 | Opening Your Own Studio?

2:15:27 | The Values of Meditation as a Creative

Having worked at Imaginary Forces and The Mill, Austin is a gentle giant of CGI and rendering’s technical minutiae. He shares some secrets and speculates on digital imagery’s relationship with the fate of our species.

Timecodes

5:00 | Early Mistakes

15:10 | Imaginary Forces & HBO

19:18 | Getting to the Mill

26:45 | GPU Democratization

31:18 | Austin Loves Halation

47:46 | Micronormals & Shader Tips

55:55 | Respect the Content

1:14:52 | The Future of Digital Imagery

1:21:53 | The Realtime Tik Tok Campaign Hellscape

1:27:29 | Epic's Metaverse vs. Meat World

1:33:44 | Aliens in the Metaverse

1:44:52 | Digital Worlds = Human Rights Violations

1:49:57 | Being Artsy AND Happy

2:01:18 | Wrap Up

His service to the cause of quality underground techno now spans three decades. High profile projects with the likes of Pet Shop Boys and the Chemical Brothers pricked the consciousness of the mainstream to his talents.

Timecodes

3:04 | Commercial Success in the Music Industry

12:38 | Abe's Backstory

22:17 | Seeking Out U.K. Labels

27:14 | Touring in Germany, Austria

30:04 | The Biggest Risk/ Reward

31:49 | Blowing Up

37:49 | Walking Away From It All

42:16 | Teaching > Touring?

45:32 | NYC During COVID

50:46 | Abuse Industries

55:33 | Music Labels Are Evil

1:05:22 | Making Money (Or Not) In Music

1:09:30 | Effective Promotion

1:13:00 | Go to More Parties in Ibiza

1:17:46 | Syncing, the Last Hope

1:26:29 | Playing Live/ Every Dog Has Its Day

1:31:17 | Just Write A Hit

1:37:10 | Picture Your Ideal Dance Floor

1:41:57 | The Future of Music

1:53:17 | Robbing Homeless People/ Music Visuals

Big dude who likes big computers, Japanese stuff and Pokemon cards. Has worked with studios such as Brand New School, Hornet, PSYOP and CNN Motion.

Timecodes

2:59 | Shane’s Backstory

15:13 | Financial Sacrifices

26:50 | Kicking Ass in the Industry

41:53 | How to Get That NFT Money

56:51 | Shane Comes Out As a Pokemon Trainer

1:02:25 | Why Are People Buying JPEGS?

1:21:47 | AI Generated Artwork

1:30:23 | DeviantArt Furry Artists

1:39:09 | Why Purists Suck

1:47:02 | Freelancing, The Double Edged Sword

1:54:47 | Closing

Combining a love of fine art with a curiosity for code, he has lent his talents to brands such as Dolby, BMW and artists like Amon Tobin. Designing, apps, animations, concert visuals, experiences, and spaces, this man has done it all.

Timecodes

5:59 | What is Experience Design?

8:17 | What Do You Get Hired For?

11:31 | Core Skills You Need

15:39 | What Helps You Stand Out?

19:41 | The Justice League of Experience Design

25:32 | Favorite Projects You've Worked On

34:31 | Amon Tobin Deep Dive

42:15 | Music Visualizers

46:43 | The Future of Concerts

53:37 | The Future of Art

1:03:31 | Personal Experiments

1:08:21 | Math and Art

1:11:41 | Houdini is Just Data Viz

1:22:03 | What is Consciousness? The Multiverse?

1:25:51 | Freelance. Its a Good Experience

1:30:34 | Life Improvements

Senior Previz artist on films like Ready Player One, Beauty and the Beast, The Hunger Games, Jurassic World, and more. Award winning short filmmaker. Globe trotting freelancer.

Timecodes

2:18 | Arsens Backstory

10:17 | The Strategy for Getting Into Film

18:08 | Why Previz is Dangerous

25:04 | Ride or Die for the Director

36:48 | Arsen’s #1 Advice

42:07 | Necessary Skills for Previz

1:01:31 | Getting Your First Previz Job/ Unreal

1:12:32 | Spend Money on Ads, Not Film Festivals

1:20:07 | Sam Mason and Personal Projects

1:28:22 | Why Freelancing Rocks

1:37:52 | Jurassic World Getting Cancelled

1:53:22 | Why the LEGO Movies Rock