Author Archives: Laura

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Benson Shum

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What is your name and your current occupation? 
Benson Shum. Animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation? 

Mmm, I don’t know if its crazy haha, but I was a sweeper at the local fair during the summer, griller/cook at a restaurant and burrito maker 🙂

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? 

Some of my favourite projects are most recently Frozen and Wreck-it Ralph.  I feel very fortunate to be able to work on such compelling stories and characters.  Hotel T and the Smurfs were also something I loved working on.  oh, and Harry Potter and the goblet of fire, because I’m such a fan of the books!

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I was born and raised in Vancouver, BC.  When I was starting to do research on Animation, Capliano College just opened up a Commerical Animation program in North Vancouver.  I remember seeing Continue reading

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Oliver Simonsen

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Oliver Simonsen, President of What Comics Entertainment -currently in co-production with “Pink Slip Animation” Directing “Cerebus the aardvark -tale of a fractured destiny“, based on the Graphic Novel that started the independent comic book market.
and in pre-production: “Bug Juice” based on the hit indie Graphic Novel series “Bug House”.  The idea is we’ll focus on productions based on independent/alternative comics. A Miramax of cartoons, if you will:)
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Trying really hard to erase those from my memory lol.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
“The Hooligans” -a sorta adult swim type show…basically i learned computer graphics and computers in general while working on it, something i had barely touched upon till that point.


It was during the dotcom boom and the sky was the limit: heady days and a lot of fun and learned so much. The final outcome wasn’t maybe the best -but it was a great learning experience.

How did you become interested in animation?
Anybody who knew me as a kid knew that animation, comicbooks and film was the only thing i ever wanted to do. Not sure why. I’ve asked myself that same thing many times:)  One thing was moving to Norway when 9 and they really didn’t have much in the way of cartoons on TV overthere at the time, this was mid to late 70s. This in turn Continue reading

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Jennifer Ruiz

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What is your name and your current occupation? 
Jennifer Ruiz – Freelance Filmmaker/Photographer/Stop motion Animator.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation? After graduating collage I had to work several summer jobs to save up for my move to California.  One job was a Digital Media Summer Camp.  I had to teach kids ages 7-12 how to write, shoot, and edit (on final cut) a movie.  Some children were so young they didn’t even understand what editing was!  Not just imagine explained final cut to a 7 year old.  I get a headache just thinking about it. What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?  I through a fake wedding for Polaroid in a backyard a few years ago.  They never ended up using it, but we spent months setting it up and it was a blast to make.  The day of the “wedding” people who wanted to be in the wedding party all were randomly assigned secret roles that only they knew (groom, father of the bride, drunk ex, bride, etc).   The rest of our friends were wedding guests who sat back and watched as someone was proposed to and “married.”  It was full of improvised speeches, vows, a live band, dancing, a bouncy castle, a photo booth, flame throwing, guitar smashing, you know…the usual.
How did you become interested in animation? 
A friend in high school did a simple stop motion with toys for a class project.  I was so impressed how Continue reading
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Christian Suarez

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Christian Suarez and right now I´m a freelance artist and a part-time art director at Levalo Studio (a little illustration studio in my city)

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Maybe the craziest was working as the security guy in a disco when I was younger.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
The useful ones, projects for several NGOs. I´ve tried to collaborate at least in one of them each year working on my free time.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
I´ve always loved cartoons since I was a child. And now lot of friends of mine are Continue reading

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Michael Cawood

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What is your name and your current occupation?

Michael Cawood, and I’m currently working as a bit of a general dog’s body (that’s English slang for doing everything that’s needed) setting up a new Animation pipeline for a popular CG series. Some interesting new challenges, and lots of familiar old ones… but it’s all good and I’m having a lot of fun.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Paper boy? Cleaner? Brief stint in a tube factory? Erm… working in a supermarket selling the alcahol and cigarettes while making announcements over the tannoy and taking care of customers? I’m not sure I really have anything crazier than working in Animation. Oh wait, I did spend some time helping with the family business packing and branding surgical instruments for hospitals. There were some weird things in there!

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
It depends on how you view it and who you’re talking to. Film people love to hear about my work on Happy Feet and Prince Caspain. Games creators like to hear about my days at Rare working on Starfox Adventures and Kameo. Commercials people like to hear about my work at Passion Pictures. I love them all in one way or another but it’s the short films I’ve nurtured that I’m most proud of. ‘Devils Angels & Dating’ is my latest and the first one I’ve made time for since my student days, over a decade ago.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
Same old tale, too many cartoons as a kid, throw in a dash of  Continue reading

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Benjamin Plouffe

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My Name is Benjamin Plouffe and I’m currently Co Art Directing a new and exciting Tv series “Penn Zero: Part time Hero” for Disney Television animation created by Sam Levine and Jared Bush.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
In high school I worked as stock boy and Dishwasher. During my college years I also worked a few summers as an Inventory counter. We would to go to all kinds of stores and just scan and count everything. The worst was counting huge bins of tiny screws at home depot.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I’m really proud of the “Penn Zero: part time hero” show I’m working on right now. It’s the longest project I’ve worked on ( since 2011) and the one I’ve contributed the most too
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Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I was born near Montreal Quebec in the early 80’s . My father was in the Canadian Airforce so we moved around a lot. I spent 3-4 years in Germany early in my child hood and lived on a few military bases in Ontario HOWEVER Continue reading