Visual effects creative studio JAMM has added commercial and feature Flame artist Brian Hajek to its roster.
After graduating from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Hajek began working in the commercial field before crossing over to feature films. His extensive experience includes compositing shots for movies like The Avengers, Life of Pi, Avatar, Snow White and the Huntsman, American Sniper, Moonrise Kingdom, Guardians of the Galaxy and many more.
Hajek’s skill for making the fantastic feel tangible led to a VES Award for Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture, for his role in helping to create “Skinny Steve Rogers” for the movie Captain America: The First Avenger. The shrunk-down version of the superhero played by Chris Evans was so believable, many viewers assumed it to be footage of a doppelganger actor. After working on over 50 feature titles, Hajek is returning to advertising.
After working with JAMM as a freelancer, Hajek is glad to jump on board in a greater capacity, saying, “It’s an incredible opportunity to be part of JAMM’s creative team. I had the chance to work on the Toyota ‘Discovery Machine’ campaign here, and it was immediately clear that this was a place I’d like to stay.”
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More