Ben Cowell – 3D Animator / Filmmaker

London
ben@>>removethis<<rethinkfx.com
http://www.rethinkfx.com

Born 27th October 1974
British passport holder

Career Objective

Continue to learn and grow as an animator and short filmmaker, ultimately gaining more experience writing and directing both short and long form projects.

Employment History

January 2004 - Senior 3D Animator,
Condor Post Production
London.

May 2002 – September 2003 : Senior 3D Animator,
Ambience Entertainment,
Sydney, Australia.

I then returned to Ambience and took a more senior role including writing and directing a number of short commercials, and working as Lead Animator / Animation Director on projects such as a 4 minute fully animated Japanese Music Video and Scion Transformer produced at film resolution for the US.

November 2001 – April 2002 : 3D Animator / Designer

’Show & Tell’

Working with fellow animator Darren Price in a small studio set up for the duration of the project, we created ‘Show & Tell’ for Director Mark Gravas of Kapow Pictures. Within 4 months, the two of us produced over 4 minutes of HDTV res animation, from planning stages, through to modelling and key framing.
The film has since gone on to win the International 3D Festival Awards 2003 as well as being nominated at LEAF 2002, Australian Film Industry awards 2002 and shown at SIGGRAPH 2003 Electronic Theatre and Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2003.

November 2000 – November 2001 : 3D Animator,
Ambience Entertainment,
Sydney, Australia.

Working on various large broadcast and commercial projects including: Arena TV package, Paddle Pops TVC, Movie Network TV Package.

1998 – 2000 : Lecturer in Animation and Special Effects at Temasek Polytechnic Singapore

I set up, wrote and taught the 3D animation and effects course at the Polytechnic. This involved teaching 3D Studio MAX, SoftImage|3D, Flint* and Aftereffects to an advanced level.

I was also programming director for the Singapore Animation Fiesta for which I was responsible for putting together the programme, sourcing speakers and films as well as finding sponsorship and other administrative duties.

Besides my teaching duties I completed a number of professional projects for outside clients including directing and animating a 3 minute advert for Philips (Singapore).

1994 - 1998 (part time) : Technical Support Officer at UEC Industries Ltd (UK)

Purchasing and maintaining PC's, developing Visual Basic programmes for monitoring sales and job tracking. Design and updating of company website.

1992 - 1994 (part time) : Graphic Designer at Mersey Business Magazine (UK)

DTP layout, illustration and cover art.

Academic Qualifications

1994 – 1997 : BA(hons) Computer Animation and Visualisation, Bournemouth University (Dorset, UK)

1993 – 1994 : BTEC National Diploma in Art and Design, Blacon College of Art and Design (Cheshire, UK)

1992 – 1993 : Whitby High School (South Wirral, UK)
A-Level Art (grade A)
A-Level Computer Studies (grade B)
A-Level English Literature (grade B)
A-Level General Studies (grade C)

1986 – 1992 : Whitby High School (South Wirral, UK)
9 GCSE's

Personal Skills

- Highly motivated and passionate animator (completing a number of short personal projects each year plus developing scripts for larger projects).
- Strong interpersonal and leadership skills.
- Quoting, budgeting and scheduling 3D projects.
- On set supervision for both Motion Control and Compositing projects.

Technical Skills

- Primary 3D package : Alias|Wavefront Maya (2 years experience),
- Plus : 3D Studio MAX (6 years experience) & Softimage|3D (3 years experience).
- I am also experienced with most compositing and editing systems including AVID MC Express and Flint*.
- I have a sound understanding of programming concepts and some practice using MEL, C and some C++. I am also technically proficient with MS-DOS, Windows and UNIX.

Testimonials

I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Ben while directing a launch commercial for the new vehicle SCION.

The project involved complex 3D design and Animation. Coming from a live action background, I wanted to retain many of the visual styles/ artefacts found with this realm.

Potentially, this could have been a nightmare. Ben in his role as Animation Director jumped at the challenge. His eagerness, generous spirit and undoubted talent were instrumental in the success of the project.

From day one, I found Ben to be a fantastic partner, a great sounding board and the perfect guide (with a brilliant dry sense of humour) through the complex world of polygons, bit maps and textures. Apart from his abilities as a fantastic team leader, a willingness to think ‘outside the square’ was truly refreshing.

Given the added complexities of HD and a tight deadline , Ben was able to handle enormous pressure and still deliver beyond my expectations.

The only regret I have was that we were unable to continue working together after the project was completed. Hopefully I can rectify that soon!

Rob Dupear

DIRECTOR