Vancouver Film School
Encyclopedia
Vancouver Film School is a private entertainment arts school located in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Founded in 1987, it has achieved international recognition. The Vancouver Film School has campus locations around Downtown Vancouver and comprises six buildings. As part of the school's 20th anniversary in 2007, in August 2006 one million dollars was set aside in scholarships for new students. In March, 2008, Vancouver Film School and YouTube launched a competition for three full-tuition scholarships for the creators of the three videos submitted and voted as favorites by the YouTube community .

History

VFS opened in January 1987 with a single class of six film students and has steadily expanded since. Recent milestones in the school's history include hosting the annual Game Design Expo
Game Design Expo
Game Design Expo is an annual event in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for video game industry professionals and enthusiasts, hosted by Vancouver Film School's Game Design program. The inaugural event in 2007 was the first of its kind in Vancouver...

 in Vancouver, which began in January 2007, and partnering with YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

 to launch a 2008 scholarship competition for the creators of three videos submitted and voted upon by the YouTube community .

Programs

VFS offers one-year, hands-on production programs,, including Film Production, 3D Animation & Visual Effects, Classical Animation, Acting for Film & Television, Digital Design, Entertainment Business Management, Foundation Visual Art & Design, Game Design, Makeup Design for Film & Television, Sound Design for Visual Media, and Writing for Film & Television. The school also runs a four-month Acting Essentials course and a 6-month Digital Character Animation program.

Notable faculty

  • Stan Edmonds
    Stan Edmonds
    Stan Edmonds has been a motion picture Makeup Artist for over 30 years. He has over 50 film and television credits and has served as Head of Department on such films as I, Robot, The Butterfly Effect, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Scary Movie, and Clint Eastwood's Academy Award-winning film...

    , Head of Makeup Design for Film & Television - Key Makeup Artist on The Butterfly Effect
    The Butterfly Effect
    The Butterfly Effect is a 2004 American sci-fi psychological thriller film that is written and directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber and starring Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart...

    , Get Carter
    Get Carter
    Get Carter is a 1971 British crime film directed by Mike Hodges and starring Michael Caine as Jack Carter, a gangster who sets out to avenge the death of his brother in a series of unrelenting and brutal killings played out against the grim background of derelict urban housing in the city of...

    , and Scary Movie
    Scary Movie
    Scary Movie is a 2000 comedy-parody film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans, as part of Warner Bros. Entertainment. It is an American dark comedy which heavily parodies the horror, slasher, and mystery genres...

    , and Makeup Department Head on I, Robot
    I, Robot (film)
    I, Robot is a 2004 science-fiction action film directed by Alex Proyas. The screenplay was written by Jeff Vintar, Akiva Goldsman and Hillary Seitz, and is very loosely based on Isaac Asimov's short-story collection of the same name. Will Smith stars in the lead role of the film as Detective Del...

  • Michael S. Baser, Head of Writing for Film & Television - writer/producer whose credits include Good Times
    Good Times
    Good Times is an American sitcom that originally aired from February 8, 1974, until August 1, 1979, on the CBS television network. It was created by Eric Monte and Michael Evans, and developed by Norman Lear, the series' primary executive producer...

    , Three's Company
    Three's Company
    Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....

    , The Jeffersons
    The Jeffersons
    The Jeffersons is an American sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, through June 25, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of 253 episodes. The show was produced by the T.A.T. Communications Company from 1975–1982 and by Embassy Television from 1982-1985...

    , and Maude (TV series)
    Maude (TV series)
    Maude was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 12, 1972 until April 22, 1978.Maude starred Beatrice Arthur as Maude Findlay, an outspoken, middle-aged, politically liberal woman living in suburban Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York with...

  • Marv Newland
    Marv Newland
    Marv Newland is a filmmaker who specializes in animation.Newland began a career making animated motion pictures in Los Angeles with the creation of the short Bambi Meets Godzilla...

    , Instructor - Animator of the 1969 short Bambi Meets Godzilla
    Bambi Meets Godzilla
    Bambi Meets Godzilla is the title of the cartoon created entirely by Marv Newland. Less than two minutes long, the film is a classic of animation—#38 in the book The 50 Greatest Cartoons ....

  • Glen Tedham, Senior Producing Instructor for Film & Television - producer whose credits include Marigold (2007 film)
    Marigold (2007 film)
    Marigold is a 2007 romantic musical comedy about an American actress who becomes engrossed in the Bollywood film industry after visiting India...

    , Stephen King's The Mangler 2, and Dangerous Attraction

Notable alumni

  • Magda Apanowicz – actor known for her roles as Andy Jensen on the TV series Kyle XY
    Kyle XY
    Kyle XY is an American television series with a science fiction premise and mystery-drama style. The central character is a teenage boy who awakens naked in a forest outside Seattle, Washington, with no more knowledge or abilities than a newborn. He is taken in by a family and given the name Kyle...

    and Lacy Rand on Caprica
    Caprica (TV series)
    Caprica is a science fiction drama television series. It is a spin-off prequel of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, taking place about 58 years prior to the events of Battlestar Galactica. Caprica shows how humanity first created the robotic Cylons who would later plot to destroy humans in...

  • Neill Blomkamp
    Neill Blomkamp
    Neill Blomkamp is an Afrikaner-Canadian film and advertisement writer and director. Blomkamp employs a documentary-style, hand-held, cinéma vérité technique, blending naturalistic and photo-realistic computer-generated effects. He is best known as the co-writer and director of critically acclaimed...

     - Oscar nominated screenwriter and director of District 9
    District 9
    District 9 is a 2009 South African science fiction thriller film directed by Neill Blomkamp. It was written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, and produced by Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham. The film stars Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, and David James...

  • Sara Canning
    Sara Canning
    Sara Canning is a Canadian actress. She co-starred on The CW television series The Vampire Diaries as Jenna Sommers, and starred in the 2009 feature film, Black Field.-Early life:...

     - co-stars on the television series The Vampire Diaries
    The Vampire Diaries
    The Vampire Diaries is a young adult vampire horror series of novels written by L. J. Smith. The story centers around Elena Gilbert, a high school girl torn between two vampire brothers. The series was originally a trilogy published in 1991, but pressure from readers led Smith to write a fourth...

  • Jonathan Cherry
    Jonathan Cherry
    Jonathan Cherry is a Canadian actor known for playing Rory Peters in Final Destination 2 and also had a lead role in the video game film adaption House of the Dead. All his training was done at Thornlea Drama Classes. In addition, he was also in a low budget movie called Marker and a few CSI...

     - actor in House of the Dead, Final Destination 2
    Final Destination 2
    Final Destination 2 is a 2003 supernatural horror film and the sequel to the 2000 film Final Destination and was directed by David R. Ellis. It was written by Jeffrey Reddick, Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber. The film stars Ali Larter, A. J. Cook, Michael Landes and Tony Todd...

    and many other television and film productions
  • Colin Cunningham
    Colin Cunningham
    Colin Alexander Cunningham is an American television and film actor, now living in Vancouver, British Columbia.-Television:...

     - actor in Canadian television and film
  • David Gratton - Founder and CEO of digital agency Work At Play
    Work At Play
    Work at Play is an Vancouver, British Columbia based digital agency. Founded in 1999 by David Gratton, Work at Play employs over 28 people. It previously operated as Donat Group Enterprises before a major re-branding in early 2009...

  • Hanna Hall - She is most known for her roles in Forrest Gump, The Virgin Suicides and the 2007 remake of Halloween.
  • Neil Kopp
    Neil Kopp
    Neil Kopp is an American film, commercial and music video producer best known for his work on the films Old Joy and Paranoid Park ....

     - producer of Old Joy and director Gus Van Sant
    Gus Van Sant
    Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...

    's 2007 film Paranoid Park
    Paranoid Park (film)
    Paranoid Park is a 2007 American drama film written and directed by Gus Van Sant. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Blake Nelson and takes place in Portland, Oregon. It stars Gabe Nevins as a teenage skateboarder who accidentally kills a security guard.Van Sant wrote the draft...

     for which Kopp won a 2008 Independent Spirit Award
  • John G. Lenic
    John G. Lenic
    John G. Lenic is a Canadian television producer and production manager.-Filmography:* Deceived by Trust: A Moment of Truth Movie...

     – TV producer and production manager best-known for his work on Stargate SG-1
    Stargate SG-1
    Stargate SG-1 is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich...

    , Stargate: Atlantis, and Stargate Universe
    Stargate Universe
    Stargate Universe is a Canadian-American military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. It follows the adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration team traveling on the Ancient spaceship Destiny many billions of light years distant from the Milky Way...

  • Alec McClymont - lead CGI artist and animator who shared a 2007 Primetime Emmy Award
    Primetime Emmy Award
    The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming...

     for Special Visual Effects
    Visual effects
    Visual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...

     - Series on Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
    Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
    Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...

  • Chad Moffitt - Academy Award–winning animator on The Lord of the Rings
    The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
    The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...

  • Lon Molnar - co-founder, CEO, and senior visual effects supervisor at Toronto-based visual effects studio Intelligent Creatures
    Intelligent Creatures
    Intelligent Creatures is a motion picture visual effects company located in Toronto, Canada, currently headed by VFX Supervisor and CEO, Lon Molnar. Lon worked in the Graphic Design field before attending the Vancouver Film School in 1996....

  • Scott Mosier
    Scott Mosier
    Scott A Mosier is an American-Canadian film producer, editor, podcaster and actor best known for his work with director Kevin Smith, with whom he co-hosts the weekly podcast, Smodcast.-Early life:...

     - film producer, editor, and cameo actor who produced the Academy Award nominated documentary Salim Baba
    Salim Baba
    Salim Baba is a 2007 short documentary film directed by Tim Sternberg. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short....

    . He met Kevin Smith
    Kevin Smith
    Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...

     and cinematographer Dave Klein at VFS, and since graduating, the three have collaborated on the films in the View Askewniverse
    View Askewniverse
    The View Askewniverse is a fictional universe created by writer/director Kevin Smith, featured in several films, comics and a television series; it is named for Smith's production company, View Askew Productions. The characters Jay and Silent Bob appear in almost all the View Askewniverse media,...

  • Andrew Overtoom
    Andrew Overtoom
    Writer/director Andrew Overtoom is an Animation Director on SpongeBob SquarePants. He also wrote, directed and filmed My Life with Morrissey, an independent feature film shot on 16mm about an obsessed fan who meets her demise after meeting her rock star idol.Andrew Overtoom was born and raised in...

     - Animation
    Animator
    An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...

     Director
    Animation director
    An animation director is the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated film or animated segment for a live-action film...

     on SpongeBob SquarePants
    SpongeBob SquarePants
    SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series, created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. Much of the series centers on the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of "Bikini Bottom"...

    , for which he was nominated for Emmy Awards in 2004 and 2007
  • Kevin Smith
    Kevin Smith
    Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...

     - director of Clerks
    Clerks
    Clerks is a 1994 independent comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also appears in the film as Silent Bob. Starring Brian O'Halloran as Dante Hicks and Jeff Anderson as Randal Graves, it presents a day in the lives of two store clerks and their acquaintances...

    , Mallrats
    Mallrats
    Mallrats is a 1995 film written and directed by Kevin Smith. It is the second to be set in Smith's View Askewniverse series of interlocking films set mostly in New Jersey, although the movie was filmed in Eden Prairie Center and Osowski's Flea Market which are located in Minnesota...

    , Chasing Amy
    Chasing Amy
    Chasing Amy is a 1997 romantic comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith. The central tension revolves around sexuality, sexual history, and evolving friendships. It is the third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series....

    , Dogma
    Dogma
    Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, or a particular group or organization. It is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from, by the practitioners or believers...

    , Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
    Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
    Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is a 2001 American action adventure comedy film written, directed by, and starring Kevin Smith as Silent Bob, the fifth to be set in his View Askewniverse, a growing collection of characters and settings that developed out of his cult favorite Clerks...

    , Jersey Girl
    Jersey Girl (2004 film)
    Jersey Girl is a 2004 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Kevin Smith. It stars Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Raquel Castro, George Carlin, Jason Biggs, Jennifer Lopez and Will Smith...

    and Clerks II
    Clerks II
    Clerks II is a 2006 American comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, sequel to his 1994 film Clerks, and his sixth and latest feature film to be set in the View Askewniverse...

    ; Smith dropped out in 1990 and was presented with an honorary diploma in 2005
  • Dave Klein
    Dave Klein
    Dave Klein is an American cinematographer best known for working with director Kevin Smith on the films Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Clerks II, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Cop Out and Red State...

     - cinematographer, best known for work with Kevin Smith
    Kevin Smith
    Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...

  • Tara Spencer-Nairn
    Tara Spencer-Nairn
    Tara Spencer-Nairn is a Canadian actress best known for her work on the television series Corner Gas, in which she plays police officer Karen Pelly....

     - actor in Corner Gas
    Corner Gas
    Corner Gas is a Canadian television sitcom created by Brent Butt. The series ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009. Re-runs still air on CTV and The Comedy Network in Canada; it formerly aired on WGN America in the United States....

  • Jewel Staite
    Jewel Staite
    Jewel Belair Staite is a Canadian actress, who portrayed Catalina in Space Cases, Kaylee Frye in Firefly and Serenity, and Dr. Jennifer Keller on Stargate Atlantis.-Personal life:...

     - Canadian-born actress famous for her work on Joss Whedon's Firefly
    Firefly (TV series)
    Firefly is an American space western television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon, under his Mutant Enemy Productions label. Whedon served as executive producer, along with Tim Minear....

    , and Stargate: Atlantis
  • Emilie Ullerup
    Emilie Ullerup
    Emilie Ullerup is a Danish actress. She is best known for playing Ashley Magnus on the television series Sanctuary.-Early life and education:...

     - actor in Sanctuary
  • Seth Lochhead - writer of Hanna
    Hanna (film)
    Hanna is a 2011 European-American action thriller film directed by Joe Wright. The film stars actress Saoirse Ronan as the title character with Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett...

  • James Wootton - Co-Director of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
    My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
    My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is an animated television series that premiered on October 10, 2010 on the United States cable network The Hub, and is based on Hasbro's My Little Pony line of toys and animated works. The series is produced by Hasbro Studios and DHX Media Vancouver...


External links

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