Burris, Tucker, Saavedra, Broussard and Maude join studio; Trippe promoted to head of FX
Five artists have come aboard MPC Los Angeles’ Advertising 3D division. Steward Burris joins as head of animation, Zach Tucker as VFX supervisor, George Saavedra as rigging lead, Brian Broussard as texture and look development supervisor and Matthew Maude as head of lighting. In addition, Charles Trippe has been promoted to head of FX after two years on staff as FX TD. The 3D team reports directly to head of 3D Jason Schugardt, a veteran VFX supervisor who joined the Los Angeles studio in March. This new team brings together a group of artists who have expertise in specific software, are fluent on many platforms and also involved at the cutting edge developing the next generation of tools.
Burris brings 20 years of experience at studios such as Digital Domain, Psyop, The Mill, Framestore and Rhythm and Hues to his new role as head of animation. Among his credits are spots for Kia (featuring the Kia Hamsters), Call of Duty and Acura; the TV series’ Breaking Bad and The X Files; and films The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, George of the Jungle and Alvin and the Chipmunks. VFX supervisor Tucker has a wealth of experience including WETA Digital in New Zealand, where he worked on The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and The Two Towers, as well as stateside studios such as Digital Domain, Asylum, R!OT, Radium and Mirada; additional film credits are Pacific Rim and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, and spots for such brands as Lexus, Porsche, Under Armour and Microsoft.
Rigging lead Saavedra also draws from deep experience on many high-end films and commercials at studios such as Sony Pictures Imageworks, Method Studios, Psyop and Digital Domain; highlights include Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, X-Men: First Class, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Star Trek, and spots for Kia, Intel and DirecTV. Texture and look development supervisor Broussard has helped craft such high profile projects as Robert Stromberg’s Cannes Lion-winning branded film What Lives Inside for Intel, and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’s “Discover Your Power,” an AICP Show honoree, both while a freelancer at MPC LA; and while at Digital Domain, AICP honoree Destiny’s “Become Legend.”
Head of lighting Maude has worked at studios including Cinesite London, Double Negative Singapore, Asylum and Method Los Angeles, Wildfire Studios New Orleans and most recently, Atomic Fiction in Montreal. He has collaborated on feature films such as Fast & Furious 6, Twelve Years A Slave, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Into the Woods, and ads for brands including Apple’s iPhone, GMC, Diet Dr. Pepper and Hershey’s.
Promoted from FX TD, a position he has held at MPC LA since 2013, to head of FX, Trippe has been instrumental on some of the Los Angeles studio’s most highly praised commercials including the Kia 2014 Super Bowl spot “Applause” and later that same year, “Evolved,” and Fiat’s “Godzilla,” in which Godzilla memorably craves Italian in a promo for Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures’ 2014 summer blockbuster.
The team of new 3D artists joins current senior artists Michael Wynd, sr. VFX supervisor, Timothy Kafka, lead lighter, and Corinne DeOrsay, 3D lighter. Andrew Bell is managing director of MPC LA.
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