PopGoesTheNews.com A Canadian college is going to have bragging rights no matter what film takes the Oscar this Sunday for Achievement in Visual Effects.
Graduates and professors of the Visual Effects for Film and Television program at Ontario’s Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology had a hand in all six films nominated in the Visual Effects category.
Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, which is up for 11 awards including Best Picture, utilized the talents of Seneca graduates Tricia Kim, John Dinh, Karen Cheng and Rickey Verma as well as professors Mahmoud Rahnama and Kenny Tam.
Graduates Zac Campbell and Ken Lam worked as compositors (effects artists who combine computer-generated images with live action) on Rise of the Planet of the Apes. They’re up against visual effects created in part by graduates Clancy Silver (Real Steel), Geoff Sayer (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2) and Amy Daye (Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon).
Seneca president David Agnew is, not surprisingly, very proud. “We are delighted their careers are at a point where they can contribute to films of this caliber,” he said, “and we’re very proud that they’ve worked on films recognized by their peers as being worthy of an Oscar.”
Seneca has 10 campuses in the Greater Toronto Area. In 2005, the animated short film Ryan, produced in association with Seneca and featuring students and graduates of its Animation Arts Centre, was awarded an Oscar.
The Academy Awards air on CTV this Sunday.
