Autodesk Sponsors Visual Effects Award for Students « { design@tive } information design

Autodesk Sponsors Visual Effects Award for Students

by Itamar Medeiros 19 Oct 2 Comments

The call is out for fresh VFX sequences or short films by students for the upcoming 8th Annual Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards. Both the VES and Autodesk are on board, with the enthusiastic blessing from none other than Steven Spielberg:

Sandy Widyanata and Courtney Wise accept their VES Student Award in February 2009 (credits: CGSociety)

The Visual Effects Society and Autodesk will be presenting the Student Award during the upcoming 8th Annual VES Awards. The call is out for fresh visual effects sequences or short films from students who created the work this year. Both the Visual Effects Society and Autodesk are on board, with the enthusiastic blessing from none other than Steven Spielberg.

When Autodesk’s Vice President of the Digital Entertainment Group, Stig Gruman, presented the first-ever student award at the VES Annual Awards show on February 21 this year, the winners were Australians Sandy Widyanata and Courtney Wise, who created their short film, PLASTIC, as a graduation project while studying at the Australian Film Television and Radio School.

‘PLASTIC’ is a live-action film about the obsession for the perfect body image. An animation and visual effects feast developed using a variety of technology, including Autodesk Maya.
Sandy Widyanata and Courtney Wise are this year developing a couple of feature film scripts while working as freelance artists on adverts and broadcast projects in Sydney, Australia.

“When we won the VES Student award the welcoming response in Los Angeles was overwhelming,” says Sandy. “Courtney and I were introduced and invited to various studios and post production facilities, where we got an inside view into how the ‘big guns’ in Hollywood work. We met wonderful and very talented people. VES and Autodesk gave us a very memorable time.”

“We were thrilled when one of our earliest supporters, Autodesk, committed to making this important award possible,” said VES Executive Director Eric Roth. “We hope this student recognition will become an annual rite of passage for the Steven Spielbergs of tomorrow.”