Courtney Booker, Jeff Drew and Aaron Sorenson Join Studio
Vinton Studios, the Portland-based shop known for varied forms of animation (character, CG, stop motion, cel) as well as live action encompassing commercials and entertainment fare, has added three directors to its advertising division: Courtney Booker, Jeff Drew and Aaron Sorenson.
At press time, multimedia artist Booker was wrapping an animated music video for the group They Might Be Giants. Booker’s paintings have been exhibited at assorted venues, including Philadelphia’s Vox Populi Gallery and San Francisco’s 66 Balmy. She worked in story animation and effects on Pixar’s Finding Nemo and The Incredibles during her two years at that Richmond, Calif.-based animation studio. Courtney’s short film Lesson One won the Audience Award at the New York International Film & TV Festival.
Drew has also been active in the short film discipline. He created the animated short Walk, which did well on the festival circuit, gaining exposure at such events as Sundance and the Independent Film Project West fest in Los Angeles. The short garnered an Audience Award for best animation at the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival. Drew has also done animation and title treatments for two feature films: A Tale of Two Pizzas, which was released last year; and a documentary, Splittin’ The Rock, which is slated for release this month. He also has several spot credits, while also creating in-store pieces for Chicago department store Marshall Field’s. His illustrations have appeared in numerous magazines and he cites his marketing campaign for Target promoting kids’ literacy–which included a series of original art posters–among his favorite projects.
Sorenson made his first professional mark at Wild Brain Studios, San Francisco, breaking in as a layout artist. He eventually became an animator there on various TV projects as well as the direct-to-video release Ferngully 2. Sorenson served as an animator on spots for such clients as Nike, Coca-Cola and KFC. He then transitioned to animation director working on campaigns featuring the likes of The Jolly Green Giant, Bugs Bunny and Cap’n Crunch. Departing Wild Brain in 2003, Sorenson was animation director and designer on a CG feature film, Khan Kluay, produced in Thailand.
Vinton Studios also maintains an office in Los Angeles. The company’s advertising division is under the aegis of president Paul Golden. Over the years, the studio has copped 10 Clios, 11 Emmy Awards and an Oscar. Its spot endeavors include long running campaigns for M&Ms, the NFL on FOX and Arby’s. In the long-form arena, Vinton Studios is producing the feature film Coraline, to be directed by Henry Selick, who joined the company as supervising director last May. Vinton is also co-producing the stop-motion animation feature Corpse Bride, with director Tim Burton and Warner Bros., scheduled for release this year.
Phil Knight, co-founder and chairman of Nike, acquired Vinton Studios in ’03. He serves as Vinton’s chairman of the board.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