Trinity Animation Society: Ronan McMeel Guest Lecture

Hi all!

In addition to the stop-motion workshop I'm hosting with the Trinity Animation Society, we are organising guest lectures with animation professionals.

Tonight we were treated to a presentation on visual effects and compositing by Ronan McMeel, who has worked on commercials and film in his numerous capacities as an art director, character designer and compositor/VFX wizard.

He spoke at length about the processes involved in creating most animation and live-action film work, touching on how home grown studios like Windmill Lane and Screen Scene work on international projects as well as taking through the stages involved in putting together a scene in After Effects.

Here is the VFX showreel he produced in 2009 while studying at Bournemouth College:

And finally, below are some photos from the class:

Screening a number of VFX breakdown reels, featuring background substitution and VFX work, and examining their process

Using a commercial he worked on as an example, Ronan showed the process involved in background tracking and removal.
Below is the finished commercial:

Some of the Trinity Animation Society members in attendance

Ronan getting heated talking about fractals and noise, and their applications in compositing.

You can find some of Ronan's commercial work on the Team D.A.D.D.Y. website: http://www.teamdaddy.com/
Andmapsandplans is producing the short film which Ronan is currently working on, beautiful stuff on their site here: http://www.andmapsandplans.com/

Enjoy!

Eimhin