Design and digital production shop Timber celebrates its first anniversary with the addition of digital effects supervisor Nicholas Hiegel, and a move into a new and expanded studio in the heart of Santa Monica’s creative community. Timber is an artist owned, design-driven company that provides 360 production solutions from animation and live action to VFX and finishing for branded projects.
Hiegel has a wealth of experience in creating digital content including over 20 effects intensive feature films, including Star Trek into Darkness, Hugo, Harry Potter (Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows), TRON Legacy and Clash and Wrath Of The Titans. He’s also lent his talent and expertise to television series and short form content. In addition to digital effects supervision, Hiegel’s specialties are miniature and creature effects. He began his career at New Deal studios at the age of 16, worked as a freelance artist at numerous companies throughout the industry (Pixomondo, Shade, Zoic Studios, Illuminate, Brand New School, Cafe FX), and ran his own boutique firm before joining Timber.
“I felt an immediate connection with (Timber Founders) Kevin Lau and Jonah Hall,” he said, “and my experience crosses over with each so that we make for a robust team. I love being challenged by a diversity of projects and disciplines within digital production, which is very much the Timber experience.”
Over the last year, Timber has lent its creativity to commercials and music videos for clients and performers such as UGG, 1-800 Contacts, Lady Gaga, Bank of America Red with U2 (Super Bowl 2014), Beats By Dre, Taylor Swift, Old Spice, Hyundai (Super Bowl 2014), Visa and Chevy.
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More