HOW VISUAL EFFECTS HAVE MADE MOVIES AMAZING!
FEATURE FILMS ARE VERY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT THEY WERE TWO DECADES AGO, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHICH RELY HEAVILY ON VISUAL EFFECTS AS WELL AS ANIMATION. THIS IS BECAUSE COMPUTERS ARE BEING USED IN THE ART OF MAKING MOVIES WHICH HAS HAD A GREAT IMPACT ON VISUALIZATION. HOWEVER WHAT WE SEE ON THE SCREENS IS THE RESULT OF SHEER HARD WORK DONE BY HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE IN DIFFERENT CAPACITIES.
Our Very Own Talent
Though few in number, but talented Pakistanis certainly did not lag behind and have been successful in making a name for themselves in Hollywood. Many a times you might have been completely mesmerized by a visual effect or animation, yet you may not have been aware that our very own people were responsible for it….
Well following you can find out who they are:
Muqeem Khan
He was the first Pakistani who got the opportunity to work in Hollywood’s Visual Effects business. He began his career as a Computer Graphics artist at the Walt Disney company from 1996-98, and has to his credit movies such as Flubber, George of the Jungle, Deep Rising & Armageddon.
Then he worked as a Visual Effects (VFX) artist at the Square from 1998-2001, the by-product of which was Final Fantasy- the Spirits Within (this was the first photo-realistic digitally animated feature film as well as the most costly computer game spin-off to be made).
Background
He belongs to a family with a deep affiliation with Art, Calligraphy, Designing and Poetry, which is why from a very early age he had been involved in all these, specifically Art (when he was just in ninth grade, his oil painting was among the ten that were chosen for the Red Cross World Poster Competition, held in Switzerland).
Then around that time he got the chance to experiment with visual graphics in BASIC language; that is when he discovered another mode through which he could express i.e. through computers.
Education
- Initially he studied ‘architecture’ at NCA for a year, but then he shifted to the USA.
- In 1994 he got his Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from Ohio State University, followed by a Masters from the Advanced Computing Centre for Arts & Design at the same university in 1996, specializing in computer graphics and animation.
Career as a Teacher
However he is much more than just a computer graphics designer and animator. Since he wanted to enthuse, creativity and hope in the hearts and minds of the younger generation, he became an educator, and has a rich 14 year experience in teaching and served as:
- Assistant Professor of Digital Design at the American University in Sharjah from (2000-04).
- Assistant Professor of Graphics & Interior Design at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar from (2005-10).
- Associate Professor of Communication and taught at the Northwestern University in Qatar from (June 2010-July 2014).
His subjects range from 2D & 3D Animation, Motion Graphics, Interior Graphics to Interactive Design, Interior Design Studio, Digital Media in Design and many more.
Contribution to Pakistani Institutes
During these years he also conducted numerous workshops and seminars for our own students at institutes such as COMSATS, Karachi University, LUMS, UET, Iqra University etc, in major cities like Karachi, Lahore & Peshawar. Furthermore he introduced the field of ‘Computer Graphics’ in various schools in Karachi as well.
Research & Publications
He has done a great deal of research, which he has presented in different conferences around the world, and also has many publications to his name. He has also acted as a juror in a number of international competitions.
At the moment, he is doing his Doctorate from the University of New South Wales, Australia in a very interesting combination of topics i.e. Emerging Technologies and Unani Medicinal System in Pakistan within the framework of Digital Intangible Heritage, which is expected to be completed by 2016.
Other Artistic Endeavors
He has also remained true to his roots; for he is an artist, calligrapher, poet and a musician with a great flair for playing the tabla, and has not only performed with great singers such as Habib Wali Muhammad and Tina Sani in small gatherings in Los Angeles, but also played it as part of the background music for the Pakistani documentary ‘Kingdom of Women’(which was screened at Cannes Film Festival, 2012).
Mir Zafar Ali
He was the first Pakistani ever to receive an Oscar, which he got in 2008 for Best Achievement in Visual Effects for ‘The Golden Compass’. The he received an Oscar, a BAFTA and a VES (Visual Effects Society) award in 2013 for Best Achievement in Visual Effects for ‘Life of Pi’. Last but not least he received his third Oscar in 2014, for Best Animated Feature for the smashing ‘Frozen’.
(It is important to mention here that each member of the team associated with the category receiving the Oscar can lay claim on winning the Oscar. While in case of animated feature films, every member of the entire film crew gets credit of winning an Oscar)
Movie Credits
From (2004-2014) he has worked on many hit movies in position of effects animator, visual effects technical director and digital/visual effects artist. These include ‘The Day After Tomorrow’, ‘Open Season’, ‘Ghost Rider’ ‘Monster House’, ‘Surf’s Up’, ‘Spider Man 3’, ‘The Incredible Hulk’, ‘The Mummy 3’, ‘X-Men: First Class’, ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ & ‘Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters’ and Disney’s latest blockbuster ‘Big Hero 6’.
His specialty is to reconstruct natural elements and events like fire, water, snow, storms, floods, tsunamis as well as effects associated with particles, sound, debris & destruction.
Education & Career
He got his Bachelor’s degree in software engineering from FAST-NU, Karachi in 1997, but it was in his final year that he discovered a side of computer-science that was closely related to Art (which had been his prime interest) i.e. Graphics and Animation, so he took up classes in AutoCAD and 3D Studio Max.
- For two years he worked in top local visual effects companies such as Sharp Image, Nucleus Studios and Carrot designing numerous commercials.
- Then in 1999 he enrolled in BFA program at the Savannah College of Art and Design, in Georgia, USA, specializing in 3D Animation & Visual FX.
- He got his first job in 2003, at Digital Domain (an academy award winning digital production and visual effects company).
- In 2005, he joined SONY Pictures Imageworks.
- In 2007, he began working at the Rhythm & Hues Studios.
Currently he is working at Walt Disney Animation Studios as Senior FX Artist, and his latest project is the upcoming Frozen short-film i.e. ‘Frozen Fever’ which will be released this spring.
Novaira Masood
She is the first Pakistani female to work in the animation and visual effects industry. Her forte is the technical aspect i.e. developing software tools used for computer graphics, simulation and visual effects such as performance capture (to record the facial expressions and body movements of human actors and to map that onto the digital character models so they look as human as possible), simulation of hair, muscle systems, lighting etc.
Career
- In 2007, she got a job at Microsoft as Software Development Engineer.
- In 2008 she joined ImageMovers Digital as Technical Director and worked on A Christmas Carol.
- In 2010, she joined Digital Domain as Pipeline Technical Director and worked onTron: Legacy, Thor, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Jack the Giant Slayer and Maleficent (She was involved in the facial animation of the fairies as well creating their curly hair).
Educational Background
She got her bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering from FAST-NU, Islamabad in 2004 on a National Scholarship from the Ministry of Science and Technology. However, it was during her last year that she developed an interest in Computer Graphics, and so she acquired a Masters degree in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota in 2007, specializing in Computer graphics & Computer vision.
At Present…
She is taking a break from the film industry and is pursuing graphics development in the software industry which is really thriving at the moment. She is working at Microsoft again as senior Software Engineer on the Xbox team, in Seattle, USA.
So time and time again it has been proven, that diversity and creativity is the cornerstone of Pakistani individuals in whatever they do, wherever they are in the world…
10 things Pakistanis hate to hear
One of the biggest disadvantages of living in a nation as homogeneous as ours is that it is very seldom that you get to hear alternative narratives on history, religion, culture and society in general. People who try and present narratives that are different from the main stream are labelled as agents, heretics or even worse, traitors.
Here I have made a list of ten things that average Pakistanis just don’t want to hear.
1. America and Israel cannot be blamed for all the miseries of the Muslim world in general and Pakistan in particular. For a country that was hand in gloves with the Americans just until the early nineties, our youth has an amazing tendency to blame all national problems on American polices. Right winged politicians are always busy in concocting this feel good account that we are perfect, peace loving people who are being pushed to the brink of collapse by Zionist and Kaffirs (infidels).
2. We live in an amazing country in which supposedly educated people like Aamir Liaquat preach in their honey laden voice that Islam is the most peaceful religion in the world and then go on making hate speeches against Ahmadis. If you really want people to respect Islam, remove discriminatory and archaic laws like the blasphemy and Hudood Ordinance. Learned scholars like Ghamidi have elaborated numerous times that blasphemy law has no relevance in true Islamic jurisprudence (of course now he is hiding in Malaysia, scared for his life ─ a fantastic indicator of how we deal with diverse opinions).
3. Minorities are persecuted in the bastion of Islam that our mullahs have created. Somehow, we as a nation are steadfast in the belief that the state of Pakistan is benevolent towards its minorities. Talk about the persecution that these minorities face starting from the constitution to the school textbooks and people will label you as anti Pakistan.
4. Women can date and marry according to their own will and this includes your female relatives (the last part infuriates them like anything). Somehow the 20-something on a date does not believe that his sister has the same rights as him. And this logic extends to family elders as well because in their patriarchal minds, killing their daughter would not shame the family name in the same way as if the same daughter went out on a date or married according to her choice.
5. The army is as much to blame, if not more, as the politicians for the ills of the country. Although recent years have seen a slight change in the national mindset with the army getting a bit of stick as well but still, for a common man, the army is all about national honour and so on and so forth.
6. Honour definitely comes after nutrition on the list of necessities. We are a nation so obsessed with national honour and pride that we are blinded to the simple fact that countries dependent on foreign aid for their economic survival cannot show much spine despite their nuclear arsenal and Zaid Hamids.
7. Hate Zardari all you want but we are a corrupt nation to our core. Somehow in the perfect world created by Ansar Abbasi and Shahid Masood, we are so happy to externalise all of our flaws onto a single person and party, that we never want to face up to the bitter reality. We were corrupt a long time before Zardari and we will be corrupt a long time after him.
8. Our culture and traditions have much more in common with India, especially the northern India, than to the puritanical strain of Islam that has influenced us deeply for the last three decades. For some strange reason people are much happier in telling how their ancestors were Arabs rather than admitting that their forefathers never left the subcontinent and converted to Islam from some local religion. The ‘Allah Hafizians’ take particular exception to this.
9. Every individual and institution that talks about plurality, regional peace, women rights and secularism is not funded by the United States and does not have an ulterior motive. People like Marvi Sirmed and Dr Hoodbhoy are a classic example of this: despite of their intellectual soundness and rational arguments they are conspicuous punching bags for the defenders of national honour who incessantly label them as foreign spies and agents.
10. Theocracy is nothing but a tyrannical rule of the clergy and the only system of governance for modern nation states is democracy, superiority of constitution and dichotomy of power amongst various pillars of the state. This again irritates the ‘Allah Hafizians’, Napoleon Guls and Ali Azmats who want to rid the world of democratic evils and establish an international caliphate.
TUESDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2015
Some Rare & Amazing Info. About Pakistani Cricketers
Some Rare & Amazing Info. About Pakistani Cricketers
The fragrance of victory against India and Bangladesh is in the air.
Although we lost the Asia Cup 2014, still, every Pakistani is flaunting the green laurels with pride, yelling out the winning spirit to neighbors. Without a doubt, the accolades are credited to our champions of the game that thrives in every Pakistani’s blood.
Yes, the Pakistani cricket team has surely spiced up the wait for ICC Twenty 20 World Cup 2014. In this hyped up waves, we thought of giving our readers a snack of thought that would surely make the wait even more spicy and interesting.
We have gathered some of the facts that would definitely fuzz up your love for our sporty heroes.
DID YOU KNOW?
Mohammad Yousuf: The Pride of Performance winner of 2012, couldn't afford a bat, as his dad worked at a railway station, so he used to whack his brother's taped tennis ball offerings with wooden planks of various dimensions on surfaces.
Shahid Afridi: The king of boundaries, considers himself a better bowler than batsman!
Umar Gul: Umar Gul’s house was once raided on the charge of hiding a wanted militant! However, later it was realized that was a false alarm, and the commandos had to apologize to Meeraj, Gul’s brother.
Misbah Ul Haq:The mastermind captain of Pakistan cricket team, gets his management expertise from his Professional Degree of MBA from University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Punjab.
Saeed Ajmal: The pioneer of ‘Doosra’, burnt his entire cricketing kit in 1997 after getting depressed due to a wrist injury that he incurred while flying a kite.
Fawad Alam: The blooming Pakistani batsman, has his father (Tariq Alam), and father in law ( Mansoor Akhtar) both belonging to his profession i.e. cricket.
Moin Khan: The legendary wicket keeper and current coach of Pakistan cricket team, unofficially contracted to coach two teams of the now defunct Indian Cricket league, before being appointed as the Coach of Pakistani cricket team.