The Allan McKay Podcast

VICO SHARABANI is a Creative Entrepreneur, award-winning Creative-Director, Director, and Producer. He is also the Founder and CCO of The-Artery, a New York based media production company that creates high-end visual content for brands, feature films, commercials, digital experiences, art installations and more. As one of the most notable Flame artists in the world, Vico is the winner of the first ever Autodesk Flame Award recognizing his vast contributions to the VFX industry over the past 25 years. Vico’s portfolio includes a wide range of commercials for fortune 500 companies such as Mercedes-Benz, Nike and AT&T, music-videos for Beyoncé, Coldplay, Niki Minaj, KanYe West, and work on dozens of films such as Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, Ocean’s 8, Tower Heist and Sex and The City, to name a few. YUVAL LEVY is a Director, Creative Director and VFX Supervisor at The-Artery. With two decades of VFX experience, Yuval spent half that period of time steadily moving up the ranks at Gravity New York (formerly RhinoFX) as CG Supervisor / Head of CG to VFX and Digital Supervisor, as well as Creative Director. Along the way, he’s lent his talents to high-profile top-tier brands including BMW, Mercedes, and Coca-Cola, commercials and documentary films for National Geographic and The History Channel, and multiple successful feature films such as The Other Guys, Crazy Stupid Love and The Adjustment Bureau. Vico and Yuval co-supervised the VFX on Paramount Pictures’ recent horror film SMILE which has crushed it in the box office. Globally, the film grossed over $137.5 million with a $17 million production budget in just the first two weeks. In this Episode, the Founder and Creative Director of The-Artery Vico Sharabani and VFX Supervisor and Creative Director Yuval Levy talk about their collaboration on Paramount Pictures’ recent film SMILE, creating its realistic visuals, the most challenging horror sequences and so much more! For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/405.  

ARwall is a group of indie filmmakers based in LA who are on a mission to democratize their virtual production tech that has previously only been accessible to major studios. ARwall is a virtual production, software and solutions company.  Since its founding 7 years ago, the company has been one of the pioneers of in-camera realtime effects. They've worked on projects for HBO, Disney and Discovery.  Most recently, ARwall's work won an Emmy for their first film Muppets Haunted Mansion where their real-time tech enabled the stunning visuals.  In this Podcast, Allan McKay interviews CEO and Co-Founder of ARwall Rene Amador about the launch of the company, its plugins, tools and affordable solutions for filmmakers, the pros and cons of virtual production, as well as shares the behind-the-scenes of their most challenging projects to date. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/404.  

Wonder Dynamics is utilizing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to develop cutting-edge technologies, innovate production tools and create original content for Film and TV Industry. A startup founded in 2017 by Ready Player One star Tye Sheridan and VFX expert Nikola Todorovic aims to lower the cost and level the playing field for visual effects. In 2021, the company raised $9 million in a Series A funding round that included Epic Games and Samsung as investors, helping expand its team of machine learning engineers and CG artists to expedite Wonder AI Suite — a cloud-based content creation platform designed to bring blockbuster-level VFX to projects of all sizes.  The startup has a heavyweight advisory board that includes Sheridan’s Ready Player One director Steven Spielberg, Avengers: Endgame co-director Joe Russo, Capital Factory CEO Joshua Baer, Rhea Films’ Terry Dougas, Google research scientist and Berkeley professor Angjoo Kanazawa, private equity investor Robert Schwab, MIT Head of AI Antonio Torralba and Film Finances president Gregory Trattner. In this Podcast, Allan McKay interviews Co-Founder and CEO of Wonder Dynamics Nikola Todorovic about the launch of the company, its Advisory Board that includes Steven Spielberg, the AI tools that the startup is building – and how all of this machine learning tech is helping filmmakers with their storytelling. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/403.

Move.ai develops patented AAA quality marker-less motion capture technology powered by computer vision and deep learning. Their software runs off any mobile device or camera, can capture any relative volume size and can be deployed in any environment on the planet.  It’s been tested to be directly comparable to existing suit/optical based systems and generates standard data formats that can be exported to any game engine in real time. The company’s mission is to enable millions of animators and content creators globally to have access to the same level of motion capture as the AAA studios! In this Podcast, Co-Founder of Move.ai Anthony Ganjou talks to Allan McKay about his company – a AAA quality marker-less motion capture technology – its target audience, the diversity of its consumer, and the implication of the current AI Moment in human history. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/402.  

The intense drama and riveting action in the newest primetime CBS hit series FIRE COUNTRY is accompanied by spectacular firestorms: The work of visual effects leaders CBS VFX which was selected by producers to create the namesake infernos and deliver other critical visual effects for the most watched new network series of the season. Led by VFX Supervisor Colin Strause, whose career includes such big-screen blockbusters as RAMPAGE, SAN ANDREAS and THE AVENGERS, CBS VFX brings together a visual effects crew of more than 100 people to deliver as many as 135 effects shots in every episode of the series from Jerry Bruckheimer Productions and CBS Studios. To make fire into a palpable antagonist in the series and to showcase the many different and terrifying forms that fire can take, the work from CBS VFX incorporates multiple elements, sometimes including actual pyrotechnics that were filmed on set in highly controlled circumstances. Although the series is set in Northern California, it is shot in British Columbia where extremely dry conditions mostly prevent the large-scale use of physical fire. FIRE COUNTRY is the largest in an impressive range of recent projects for CBS VFX, which have also included the acclaimed series ONE PERFECT SHOT for HBO Max and ARRAY Filmworks; and innovative virtual production solution to COVID-relateds challenges for THE DREW BARRYMORE SHOW; and special productions for the 2021 MTV Movie Awards and NCAA Final Four.  CBS VFX has developed groundbreaking technology and created visual effects for multiple series across many networks, including Apple TV’s ROAR, THE OFFER for Paramount +, THIS IS US on NBC, Netflix’s DEAD TO ME, and BIG SHOT on Disney +. Brothers Colin and Greg Strause have charted a meteoric rise from self-taught artists working on local cable commercials in the suburbs of Chicago, to renowned visual effects gurus. Their careers began on the original run of THE X-FILES television show before working their way onto early CG-driven features, THE NUTTY PROFESSOR, VOLCANO, and the iceberg sequence of James Cameron's TITANIC. Founding their own VFX house, Hydraulx in 2002, the brothers have worked on visionary sequences for over ninety feature films including AVATAR, THE AVENGERS, SKYFALL, 300, CAPTAIN AMERICA, 2012, IRON MAN 2, BATTLE: LOS ANGELES and THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. Their work on the latter brought Greg a BAFTA for Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects. In this Podcast, Allan McKay interviews the VFX Supervisor, Director and Producer Colin Strause about his start in VFX – from launching his own company Hydraulx to directing feature films – his learning on the job and working on the challenging fire sequences on FIRE COUNTRY on CBS. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/401.

Ash Thorp is a graphic designer, illustrator, artist, and creative director for a multitude of media, including feature films, commercial enterprises, and print. Most recently, Ash worked on the concept for the Batmobile and the Batcycle, for the 2022 film The Batman directed by Matt Reeves.  Previously, Ash has worked on graphics for Ender’s Game and Total Recall, as well as contributed to the design concepts for Spectre, Prometheus, X-Men First Class, Call of Duty and others. His first directorial debut started with the assembly of an international team for his Ghost in the Shell tribute, as well as the main title for OFFF Barcelona 2014. In 2015, he was requested to assemble an international team of designers and create the title sequence for FITC Tokyo. Later that year, Ash co-directed “Ares — Our Greatest Adventure”, a promotional trailer for the feature film The Martian. Allan McKay is an Emmy Award winning VFX Supervisor and Technical Director. He is responsible for many visual effects sequences including on hit titles like God of War: Ragnarok, Avengers: Endgame, Game of Thrones, Marvel’s Runaways, Bloodshot, Transformers, Blade, The Last Airbender, Star Trek, Superman, Flight, The Equalizer, and dozens of others; as well as many of the top video games worldwide: Halo, Destiny, Call of Duty, Bioshock, Prototype, Half-Life, and Team Fortress 2.  Allan has over two decades of experience working in the visual effects industry for many leading studios such as ILM, Pixomondo, Blur Studio, Sony, Paramount Picture, Atomic Fiction, Prime Focus, Ubisoft, Activision and dozens of others. In addition to his VFX work, Allan runs many online courses, as well as a mentorship. Throughout the past two decades, he has appeared as a speaker at events in over 15 different cities including Paris, Sydney, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Singapore, Helsinki. He has taught master classes at SIGGRAPH and IAMAG, and has spoken at events with Nvidia Google. His hit Podcast is rated in the top 200 podcasts on iTunes where he interviews many award winning VFX Artists, Supervisors and Film Directors, focusing on both creativity and drive, as well as on how to boost your career and achieve success as a creative. In this Podcast Ash Thorp interviews Allan McKay about his outlook on failure and how to move past it, AI and other technological disruptions, following one’s calling, as well as the importance of gratitude and always moving forward. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/400.

William Faucher is a 3D Artist, Unreal Engine Educator, CG Spectrum Mentor and a successful YouTuber. He is a deaf 3D Generalist who’s been working in the entertainment industry for the past 14 years. Some of his titles include VFX / CGI shots in Marvel's Black Panther and HBO's Watchmen.  He created his YouTube Channel over 2 years ago and it currently has over 165K subscribers.  In this Podcast, 3D Artist, YouTuber and Unreal Engine Educator William Faucher talks about his journey of in VFX and Unreal, as well as gives advice to artists about the importance of being a generalist, learning new skills, embracing one’s soft skills, and knowing how to take criticism. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/399.

Pindar Van Arman is an award-winning AI Artist who builds, codes and experiments with robots that paint in a variety of styles. Pindar was a winner of the Robot Art Competition for his home-made robots that use AI to paint artworks. He is best known for his robotic art project Cloud Painter, a sophisticated robot painter highlighted in videos below. Van Arman’s exploration into robot art began by following his curiosity, attempting to answer the question: Where does creativity come from? To try to understand this universal question, he dissects his own artistic process and teaches robots to paint. Van Arman’s impressive and award-winning works include CloudPainter, an autonomous robot that anyone with an Internet connection can control to produce artworks. He has been featured in many interviews, TV episodes, and conferences.  In this Podcast, AI Artist Pindar Van Arman talks about his journey into AI art, the disruption of AI, singularity and the future of AI, the definition of “art” and where AI art and NFT’s fit into that, as well as answers the most urgent question of 2023: Will AI take our jobs? For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/398.

When it comes to job interviews, the number one thing to think about is putting yourself in the interviewer’s shoes. The more you can think like them – the pain points they may have, their wants and needs – the more you are in tune with what they’re thinking. It’s all about understanding their needs and alignment. By understanding what they want, you’re able to be the best fit. Going for an interview is a chance to stand out, beyond your reel. A great interview is when you’re moving into the rates and start dates. It’s a chance for you to excel above everyone else. The interviewer will have a preconceived idea of who you are. They will look at your social media as well. So you can use this as an opportunity to put out more pictures of yourself at work. One of the things that artists mishandle is asking good questions. If you blend in, you become forgettable. Figure out a way to be yourself but also how to stand out. What is your angle? What do you want to be remembered for? Also, think about speaking to them like their equal. Ask about the project or the client they’re working on. This way, you’re sounding like someone working with them. By asking questions, you can extract information that’s laser focused.  Take the initiative to lead the conversation. That takes knowing exactly what you want. And if you know what you want – you can negotiate that naturally and in your favor. The more you’re clear about what you want, the more you’re able to express that naturally. It’s part of being a successful negotiator. So get clear about what you want:  Do you want more cool stuff for your reel?  Do you want a good salary?  Do you want to work with great people? The key to getting what you want – is to give them what they want first. Negotiating is about both people making sacrifices. But it all comes back to asking the right questions. In the interview, try to move the conversation along beyond the interview. When you start discussing the problems on a project, you’re starting to think as part of their team. You’re signaling that you’re working together. Another tactic is treating your interviewer as an equal. If you treat them as a friend rather than your boss, you may feel more relaxed during the interview.  In this Podcast, Allan talks about how to stand out in a job interview, how to ask productive questions, how to be an active listener, how to communicate with the interviewer as an equal – the crucial skill of putting yourself into your interviewer’s shoes – and how to negotiate in your favor. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/397.

Important Looking Pirates (ILP) is a visual effects and digital animation studio located in central Stockholm founded in 2007 by Niklas Jacobson, Yafei Wu, Carl Hermelin and Eric Hermelin. The studio has more than 200 artists and have worked on big titles like Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker; and series like Westworld, The Mandalorian, Stranger Things, Lost in Space. ILP was nominated for a number of Emmys for their work on Stranger Things and Lost in Space. In this Episode, Co-Founder of Important Looking Pirates Niklas Jacobson talks about the origins of ILP (and its title), their work on Star Wars, Lost in Space and Stranger Things; as well as gives advice on how to stand out as an artist or a company, mindset of a studio owner, and the most important asset of a VFX studio. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/396.