Postproduction and visual effects company Splash Design, New York, has added two new staffers: Andy Milkis as visual effects supervisor/designer and Aliciane Smythe as executive producer.
Milkis was most recently at Black Logic, New York, which is part of The Tape House family of companies, where he had worked as a visual effects artist since 1996. Smythe comes from New York-based Cyclotron, sister company to Post Perfect, New York. Smythe joined Post Perfect in ’97 as an associate graphics producer, shifting over to the then-fledgling visual effects company Cyclotron, where she was promoted to full-time visual effects producer in March ’99.
Milkis and Splash president Scott Holmgren have known each other for several years, and recently became reacquainted. When they began talking, the possibility of Milkis joining Splash came up. "I wasn’t actively looking for anything at the time," Milkis recalls, "but once it was mentioned, I was very interested in the opportunity. Being a small company, Splash really offers me the chance to do my own thing, and to work the way I want to work, with the clients I want to work with," he said.
Looking to appoint his own producer, Milkis was interviewing potential candidates when Smythe came highly recommended. According to Smythe, she and Milkis immediately clicked when they met. "I was really impressed with Andy, so I met with Holmgren to learn more about the position, and he explained that they were after someone who could not only produce for Milkis, but be a part of the management of the company. After several conversations, I decided it was the right move to make," she explained.
Milkis graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in ’95, with a degree in film and television, specializing in animation. From there, he concentrated on building up the now defunct Digital Euphoria, a company he founded while still at college, mostly working on corporate videos. In February ’96, he took a staff position at now defunct RVI Editorial, New York, as an assistant engineer. This was his introduction to Flame, and what he refers to as his "epiphany." Teaching himself how to use Flame in his spare time, he was made a junior compositor on the Woody Allen feature film Everyone Says I Love You within two weeks, working the graveyard shift. After eight months, he left to work as a freelance Flame and CG artist at such New York companies as First Edition, Sony Music Studios, VideoWorks Live Post and Graphics, and The Image Group.
Through Black Logic, which he joined in ’97, Milkis has worked on commercials, including Canon USA/Elph 2’s "Panorama," directed by Cosimo of Cosimo and Company, New York, via Grey Advertising, New York, which shows a woman standing atop a bridge, taking panoramic shots of New York with Canon’s Elph 2 camera. He also turned out Showtime’s "Sci-Friday," an on-air promo for Showtime’s original sci-fi programs, for which he was awarded an ITS Monitor Award in ’99 for Best Electronic Visual Effects, and a Broadcast Design Association (BDA) Award in ’98.
Milkis teaches compositing and digital production at his alma mater, NYU; earlier this year he was the instructor for "Making a Digital Movie: Intensive Visual Effects Production," a 10-week course offered by NYU’s Center for Advanced Digital Applications.
Smythe graduated in ’94 from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Baltimore, with ma-jors in communication arts and psychology, and a minor in art history, returning to New York to become office manager/coordinator at now defunct R/GA Digital Studios. In February ’96, she joined SMA Video, New York, as a scheduler/coordinator, working there for a year before joining Post Perfect in January ’97. While at Cyclotron, she produced CG, visual effects, live action and design projects for a variety of commercial and broadcast clients. Spot credits include working with Cyclotron’s creative director Alex Seiden, on Manischewitz Rice Pilaf Mixes/ Egg Noodles’ "Maitre d’ " and "Identity Crisis," and LastMinute Travel.com’s "eCowboys." All three spots were via Burkhardt & Hillman Advertising, New York. (Dick Buckley, via Flying Tiger Films, directed the live action component of "eCowboys," while the live action component of the Manischewitz spots was directed by Ben Dolphin of Big Picture Communications, New York.) Smythe also worked on BMW’s "Choose Your Racer," directed by Seiden, via Publicis, New York.
Splash Design president Scott Holmgren said that Milkis brings with him a level of creativity and problem-solving expertise that Splash coveted. "Andy’s appointment represents a refocus for Splash-which is not on the technical side of the business and not on the equipment-but on the creative. We are a company that is a creative problem-solver for difficult effects work, and we have bought Andy in to set that agenda," said Holmgren.
Smythe replaces Harry Stoiber, who left the company several months ago. Other artists at Splash Design are Kenneth Alvarez and David Johnson.
