SIGGRAPH Panel

Join SCAD students and alumni for a virtual panel to coincide with this year's virtual SIGGRAPH. We will gather to hear industry experts discuss conference highlights, industry innovations, and networking tips.

SIGGRAPH dates: August 24-28, 2020

https://s2020.siggraph.org/conference/program-events/

This conversation will be moderated by Munkhtsetseg Nandigjav, SCAD Associate Chair of Digital Communication and Director of SIGGRAPH's Electronic Theater.

Panelists include:

Kori Amacker (B.F.A. Animation 2012, M.F.A. Animation, 2017)

Kori got her foot in the industry door with a Rigging internship at Sony Pictures Imageworks Canada in 2014, and was hired as a full time cloth and hair artist later that year. Simulation work ended up being the perfect undiscovered niche for her - that sweet spot between rigging and animation - and she has spent the last six years as a character fx artist. Kori has worked at numerous award-winning studios, including Sony, ScanlineVFX, MPC, ILM, and now Disney. She's worked on both VFX and feature animated films such as The Angry Birds Movie, Justice League, Aquaman, Detective Pikachu, and most recently Glen Keane's Over the Moon. Kori is passionate about simulation work, movement, anatomy, movies, nerdom in general, writing, drawing, and helping others, particularly students, find their way. She resides in LA as a recent transplant from Canada and is enjoying the profound amount of sunshine to be found there.

Nazlı Cem (B.F.A. Animation, 2016)

Nazlı decided to pursue a career in Animation after having received her Sociology degree from Bogazici Universitesi in Istanbul in 2013. During her Animation studies at SCAD, her interest shifted towards Motion Design and she embarked upon a slightly different career track. Her thesis film Suriphobia (2016) received official selections from Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, Film and Her Showcase, Short to the Point and Night of the Short Film in 2017. Nazlı has worked with smaller studios and agencies on the East Coast, which enabled her to wear many hats during projects including art direction, illustration and design in addition to animation. Besides motion design, her biggest passion is making zines in comics form; she is the creator of the mini zine series Some Weird Things, and hopes to turn them into short films one day. She is currently living in Washington, DC as a full-time freelancer.

Ty Coyle (B.F.A. Animation, 2013)

Ty is an award winning director/writer best known for his comedic animated shorts. His films "Baxter" and "Sunny and Steve" have screened in dozens of cities at film festivals across the world. Ty has worked in New York City as a director, writer, animator, and layout artist at The Moving Picture Company, Los Angeles where he acted in tv pilots and short films, and had his debut as an actor on television, and relocated to Montreal to animate key sequences on Godzilla v Kong (2020). Ty is now the Recruiter and Talent Development Associate at Blue Sky Studios, responsible for creating films such as Ice Age, Rio, and Spies in Disguise. Presently the studio is working on their next epic adventure, Nimona (2022).

Ed Mendez (M.F.A. Computer Art, 2004)

Ed has been in the Visual Effects industry for more than 15 years. Ed began his career as a Compositor at Kleiser-Walczak after earning his MFA at Savannah College of Art and Design. Ed’s career quickly took off working at ESC and Café FX while taking part in such high profile projects as X-Men, Spider-Man 3, The Martrix Revolutions, Sin City and winning an Emmy Award for his work on the mini-series John Adams for HBO. Ed then became Sr. VFX Supervisor at DIVE where he Supervised such projects as Silver Linings Playbook, The Leftovers for HBO, Power for STARZ, Public Morals for TNT and Outcast for Cinemax. Ed is the creative lead at PowerHouse VFX in New York.

Aaron McGriff (B.F.A. Animation, 2005)

Aaron McGriff began his animation career in 2005 in New York City after graduating from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Over the next several years, he honed his craft as an animator at Croog Studios, Walsh Family Media, Charlex, Method Studios, and Launch, where he served as a Creative Director until 2016. While in New York, Aaron worked on a wide range of projects from television programs, to commercial pre-vis, indie features, and VR projects before moving out west to pursue his passion of working on feature films. After moving to California, Aaron landed work on the critically acclaimed VR project Arden’s Wake: Tide’s Fall at Penrose Studios followed by a string of visual effects animation projects at Industrial Light and Magic, Atomic Fiction, and Method Studios. During this time, he completed animation work on projects including Avengers: Infinity War, Welcome to Marwen, Velvet Buzzsaw, Bloodshot, Men in Black International, Wonder Woman 1984, Top Gun Maverick, and Robert Zemekis’ upcoming remake of The Witches before landing at Pixar Animation Studios in late 2019. Earlier this year, Aaron completed work on Pixar’s upcoming feature Soul and is currently working on their next feature, Luca (2021). Aaron resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and son. When not animating, Aaron enjoys traveling, music, theater, great food, and cycling.

Michael Rhima (M.A VSFX 2016)

Michael Rhima is Vfx Matte Painter and Compositor based in Los Angeles. His passion for Art took him from his home city in Lagos, Nigeria all the way to Savannah Georgia in order to study Visual Effects. Michael has worked at Studios such as Dreamworks, Double Negative, and Ingenuity on both features and shows like Dr Strange, Thor: Ragnarok, Westworld, Dark Crystal, Star Trek, and most recently Black is King by Beyonce. When not working, he spends his spare time drawing, gaming, and collaborating on personal projects.

This networking event is hosted by the office of Career and Alumni Success at SCAD and is free and exclusive to SCAD students and alumni. Alumni can find jobs, get career advice, and stay connected by signing up for the monthly CAS newsletter, joining our LinkedIn and Facebook groups, and following SCADCAS on Instagram and Twitter. Learn more HERE.

Zoom details will be emailed to registrants on Tuesday, August 25th.

Questions? Email Alicia Lee (alee@scad.edu) or Emily Mayer (emayer@scad.edu)

Photo by Jakob Dalbjörn on Unsplash