This stream is all about the 5 W’s: Who, What, Where, When, Why. The creative teams from top studios present on the creation of some of the most thrilling, dynamic films and television series to date.
Featured in this stream are popular productions such as The Umbrella Academy, The Expanse, Star Trek: Discovery, Monster Hunter, and more. It’s not just the “talks” there will be some pretty cool clips and techniques shared too.
In this stream:
- Creating Creatures with the VFX Team Behind Monster Hunter
- Indie Projects Through the Lens of a Professional VFX Studio
- Building the World of Bridgerton in VFX
- From Mystical Caves to Outer Space: Creative Muti-tasking on Star Trek: Discovery Season 3
- The VFX Story of The Umbrella Academy
- The VFX Journey of Warrior Nun: From Pre to Post Production
- Big Effects for the Small Screen: Destruction in The Expanse
- Indie Voice: In Conversation with Gabriel Kalim Mucci
- Advancing Diversity and Inclusion in Open Source Visual Effects and Animation
The epic sci-fi series The Expanse has been on the air since 2015. For 5 seasons, audiences have watched as the show has taken them on a high-stakes journey to locations across the galaxy – and blown a lot of stuff up along the way.
SpinVFX’s talented team of creatives has been with the series since season one, and with the jaw-dropping conclusion of the latest season, and only one more to go, this panel is an opportunity for the minds behind the visual madness to reflect.
Focusing on the enormous destruction sequences over the past five seasons, viewers will get to travel back in time to the early days of the show, and to learn about the creative decisions that shaped the story for the screen. The panelists will discuss the techniques and methods used to deliver the series, and share visual effects breakdowns to reveal their stunning technical work.
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Bert Poole
VFX Supervisor // SpinVFX
(Antz, Shrek, Nightflyers, The Expanse)
An industry pioneer, Bert found his start as a key contributor to Antz, the 2nd fully-CG feature ever made. He followed it up with Shrek, winner of the first-ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, where his creative and technical skills included noteworthy work developing skin and hair for human characters, which led to his debut presentation on Siggraph’s main stage in 2001.
In time, his achievements would lead to consideration for an Academy Technical Achievement Award for his contributions to a proprietary 3D Paint package.
In 2017, Bert pivoted to traditional VFX Supervision for shows such as The Orville, and The Exorcist, and developed on-set, live, in-camera Unreal Engine content for Netflix’s Nightflyers. Bert went on to code a real-time tracked, off-axis projection system for Epic’s Unreal Engine for the purpose of creating live in-camera LED content, and debuted the system on HBO’s pilot for Run."
Kyle Menzies
Visual Effects Supervisor // SpinVFX
(The Tudors, Star Trek: Discovery, The Expanse, In the Tall Grass)
Emmy nominated artist Kyle Menzies joined Spin in 2014. Menzies has over 20 years under his belt in the industry, across a wide range of feature films and television series, both live-action and fully animated.
His credits include the Showtime hit TV series The Tudors, and feature films Blade II (New Line Cinema), Resident Evil: Apocalypse (Sony Pictures Entertainment), and Silent Hill (TriStar).
Since joining the SpinVFX family, Kyle has served as VFX Supervisor on Netflix’s original drama adventure series Marco Polo, as well as the wildly popular science fiction series, The Expanse (Amazon Prime), which earned a VES Award nomination for S1. He also Supervised season one of Star Trek: Discovery (CBS), season two of Siren (Freeform), and the Netflix Original In the Tall Grass (2019) – a film adaptation of the Stephen King and Joe Hill novel by the same name.
Mahsa Ghorbankarimi
CG Supervisor // SpinVFX
(The Umbrella Academy, Stranger Things, Suicide Squad, Nightflyers)
Mahsa Ghorbankarimi is a dynamic and creative presence on the SPINVFX studio floor. With over twenty years in the visual effects and animation industry, her technical and creative expertise has been instrumental in achieving the powerful imagery that SPINVFX is known for.
Over the years she has worked at a number of animation studios on feature films and award-winning television projects in both lead and supervisory capacities in Art Direction, Lighting, Compositing, and CG Supervision. Her projects include Walt Disney’s The Wild (2006), Christopher Reeve’s Everyone’s Hero (2006), Vincenzo Natali’s Splice (2009), Chris Landreth’s Genie Award-nominated The Spine (2009).
Since joining SpinVFX, Mahsa’s work can be seen in films such as Suicide Squad (2016), The Fifth Wave (2016), and Hunter Killer (2018), as well television series’ like Nightflyers (Syfy/Netflix), Stranger Things (Netflix), and The Umbrella Academy (Netflix), the first season of which earned a 2019 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Special Visual Effects.
Mark Krentz
Paul DeOliveira
Visual Effects Supervisor // SpinVFX
(Star Trek: Discovery, The Expanse, Robocop, Pompeii)
From cartoons to digital painting, Paul transitioned his skills from commercial production to feature film, and later went on to become the Series Art Director for the Emmy-nominated second season of the animated series, Super Why! (PBS). He has also served as Senior Compositor for several major productions on the client-side of the business, including series’ such as Transporter (HBO), and Hemlock Grove (Netflix), and feature films Pompeii (2014) and Robocop (2014).
Paul’s creative lens is unparalleled in its scope. From the dazzling intensity of Guillermo Del Toro’s Blade II (2002) and Vincenzo Natali’s Splice (2009), to the rich beauty of the French countryside in the Golden Globe-nominated film The Hundred Foot Journey (2014), he has solved every creative challenge in stunningly astute ways.
Since joining SpinVFX, Paul has served as Lead Compositor on the first three seasons of the acclaimed series, The Expanse (Amazon Prime), and served as VFX Supervisor on seasons 4 and 5. He also supervised the first season of Star Trek: Discovery (CBS).
Tim Sibley
Effects Department Supervisor // SpinVFX
(In the Tall Grass, Stranger Things 3, Game of Thrones, The Expanse)
Tim Sibley joined SpinVFX in 2006, and has served as the Effects Department Supervisor since 2009.
Tim is a graduate of Ryerson University's Film Program, where the focus on traditional filmmaking fundamentals laid the groundwork for his success in digital post-production work.
He has since honed in on effects as his core focus, where he found a satisfying and challenging balance between artistry and technical skill.
Tim has contributed to over one hundred commercial, film, and television projects, including Game of Thrones season 3, Battle: Los Angeles (2011), Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012), John Wick (2014), and the fan-favorite Netflix Original series The Umbrella Academy seasons 1 and 2.
He was also recognized with an Emmy nomination for his work on the Showtime series The Borgias.
Kelly Singh
Head of Communications // SpinVFX
Kelly has long worked parallel to the film sector, often as an advocate on government policy that has driven the growth and direction of the film industry in Ontario.
Her versatile background has been foundational to her development from Policy Advisor to Minister Michael Coteau, and later to Minister Eleanor McMahon at the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture & Sport. Combined with her initial transition into the film industry on the studio developer side in Toronto, Kelly quickly gained a love for post-production and AR/VR technologies.
This stream is all about the 5 W’s: Who, What, Where, When, Why. The creative teams from top studios present on the creation of some of the most thrilling, dynamic films and television series to date.
Featured in this stream are popular productions such as The Umbrella Academy, The Expanse, Star Trek: Discovery, Monster Hunter, and more. It’s not just the “talks” there will be some pretty cool clips and techniques shared too.
In this stream:
- Creating Creatures with the VFX Team Behind Monster Hunter
- Indie Projects Through the Lens of a Professional VFX Studio
- Building the World of Bridgerton in VFX
- From Mystical Caves to Outer Space: Creative Muti-tasking on Star Trek: Discovery Season 3
- The VFX Story of The Umbrella Academy
- The VFX Journey of Warrior Nun: From Pre to Post Production
- Big Effects for the Small Screen: Destruction in The Expanse
- Indie Voice: In Conversation with Gabriel Kalim Mucci
- Advancing Diversity and Inclusion in Open Source Visual Effects and Animation
The epic sci-fi series The Expanse has been on the air since 2015. For 5 seasons, audiences have watched as the show has taken them on a high-stakes journey to locations across the galaxy – and blown a lot of stuff up along the way.
SpinVFX’s talented team of creatives has been with the series since season one, and with the jaw-dropping conclusion of the latest season, and only one more to go, this panel is an opportunity for the minds behind the visual madness to reflect.
Focusing on the enormous destruction sequences over the past five seasons, viewers will get to travel back in time to the early days of the show, and to learn about the creative decisions that shaped the story for the screen. The panelists will discuss the techniques and methods used to deliver the series, and share visual effects breakdowns to reveal their stunning technical work.
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Bert Poole
VFX Supervisor // SpinVFX
(Antz, Shrek, Nightflyers, The Expanse)
An industry pioneer, Bert found his start as a key contributor to Antz, the 2nd fully-CG feature ever made. He followed it up with Shrek, winner of the first-ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, where his creative and technical skills included noteworthy work developing skin and hair for human characters, which led to his debut presentation on Siggraph’s main stage in 2001.
In time, his achievements would lead to consideration for an Academy Technical Achievement Award for his contributions to a proprietary 3D Paint package.
In 2017, Bert pivoted to traditional VFX Supervision for shows such as The Orville, and The Exorcist, and developed on-set, live, in-camera Unreal Engine content for Netflix’s Nightflyers. Bert went on to code a real-time tracked, off-axis projection system for Epic’s Unreal Engine for the purpose of creating live in-camera LED content, and debuted the system on HBO’s pilot for Run."
Kyle Menzies
Visual Effects Supervisor // SpinVFX
(The Tudors, Star Trek: Discovery, The Expanse, In the Tall Grass)
Emmy nominated artist Kyle Menzies joined Spin in 2014. Menzies has over 20 years under his belt in the industry, across a wide range of feature films and television series, both live-action and fully animated.
His credits include the Showtime hit TV series The Tudors, and feature films Blade II (New Line Cinema), Resident Evil: Apocalypse (Sony Pictures Entertainment), and Silent Hill (TriStar).
Since joining the SpinVFX family, Kyle has served as VFX Supervisor on Netflix’s original drama adventure series Marco Polo, as well as the wildly popular science fiction series, The Expanse (Amazon Prime), which earned a VES Award nomination for S1. He also Supervised season one of Star Trek: Discovery (CBS), season two of Siren (Freeform), and the Netflix Original In the Tall Grass (2019) – a film adaptation of the Stephen King and Joe Hill novel by the same name.
Mahsa Ghorbankarimi
CG Supervisor // SpinVFX
(The Umbrella Academy, Stranger Things, Suicide Squad, Nightflyers)
Mahsa Ghorbankarimi is a dynamic and creative presence on the SPINVFX studio floor. With over twenty years in the visual effects and animation industry, her technical and creative expertise has been instrumental in achieving the powerful imagery that SPINVFX is known for.
Over the years she has worked at a number of animation studios on feature films and award-winning television projects in both lead and supervisory capacities in Art Direction, Lighting, Compositing, and CG Supervision. Her projects include Walt Disney’s The Wild (2006), Christopher Reeve’s Everyone’s Hero (2006), Vincenzo Natali’s Splice (2009), Chris Landreth’s Genie Award-nominated The Spine (2009).
Since joining SpinVFX, Mahsa’s work can be seen in films such as Suicide Squad (2016), The Fifth Wave (2016), and Hunter Killer (2018), as well television series’ like Nightflyers (Syfy/Netflix), Stranger Things (Netflix), and The Umbrella Academy (Netflix), the first season of which earned a 2019 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Special Visual Effects.
Mark Krentz
Paul DeOliveira
Visual Effects Supervisor // SpinVFX
(Star Trek: Discovery, The Expanse, Robocop, Pompeii)
From cartoons to digital painting, Paul transitioned his skills from commercial production to feature film, and later went on to become the Series Art Director for the Emmy-nominated second season of the animated series, Super Why! (PBS). He has also served as Senior Compositor for several major productions on the client-side of the business, including series’ such as Transporter (HBO), and Hemlock Grove (Netflix), and feature films Pompeii (2014) and Robocop (2014).
Paul’s creative lens is unparalleled in its scope. From the dazzling intensity of Guillermo Del Toro’s Blade II (2002) and Vincenzo Natali’s Splice (2009), to the rich beauty of the French countryside in the Golden Globe-nominated film The Hundred Foot Journey (2014), he has solved every creative challenge in stunningly astute ways.
Since joining SpinVFX, Paul has served as Lead Compositor on the first three seasons of the acclaimed series, The Expanse (Amazon Prime), and served as VFX Supervisor on seasons 4 and 5. He also supervised the first season of Star Trek: Discovery (CBS).
Tim Sibley
Effects Department Supervisor // SpinVFX
(In the Tall Grass, Stranger Things 3, Game of Thrones, The Expanse)
Tim Sibley joined SpinVFX in 2006, and has served as the Effects Department Supervisor since 2009.
Tim is a graduate of Ryerson University's Film Program, where the focus on traditional filmmaking fundamentals laid the groundwork for his success in digital post-production work.
He has since honed in on effects as his core focus, where he found a satisfying and challenging balance between artistry and technical skill.
Tim has contributed to over one hundred commercial, film, and television projects, including Game of Thrones season 3, Battle: Los Angeles (2011), Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012), John Wick (2014), and the fan-favorite Netflix Original series The Umbrella Academy seasons 1 and 2.
He was also recognized with an Emmy nomination for his work on the Showtime series The Borgias.
Kelly Singh
Head of Communications // SpinVFX
Kelly has long worked parallel to the film sector, often as an advocate on government policy that has driven the growth and direction of the film industry in Ontario.
Her versatile background has been foundational to her development from Policy Advisor to Minister Michael Coteau, and later to Minister Eleanor McMahon at the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture & Sport. Combined with her initial transition into the film industry on the studio developer side in Toronto, Kelly quickly gained a love for post-production and AR/VR technologies.
