Dominic Daigle, a 3-D animator and visual effects artist, has joined the animation department at Santa Monica-based R!OT. His experience spans feature films, episodic television, spots and music videos.
Daigle spent the past two years at Ice Storm Digital in Montreal, where his credits included The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne, a 22-episode, $40-million television series, co-produced by Filmline International, Montreal, and Talisman Crest, London. Jules Verne was shot entirely in HD. Daigle was part of a team of animators that, among other endeavors, created 3-D animation of the Aurora, a flying machine from Verne’s classic "Around the World in 80 Days."
A graduate of the National Animation and Design Center in Montreal, Daigle began his career with Buzz Image Group, Montreal. His credits there included The Sound of the Carceri, a Francois Girard-directed 55-minute piece which shows cellist Yo Yo Ma performing a Bach suite in a series of 3-D computer-animated treatments based on the drawings of Renaissance architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Daigle also produced 3-D animation for the television series The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest.
Daigle’s ad work includes spots for Coke, Molson Dry and Chevy’s Venture. The latter shows a minivan driving through a town constructed from children’s building blocks. His film credits include The Red Violin, in which he altered shots of European cities, replacing modern features with 3-D elements, to make the locations appear as they might have looked in centuries past. The feature was also directed by Girard.
"My favorite projects," said Daigle, "are those where the effects are invisible—where the 3-D elements are so lifelike, and are integrated so well with the live action, that they appear to be a natural part of the image."
