Latest Demo Reel

1.) "Illusion" Acting/Musical Test
2.) "G-Force" Selected Shots
3.) "Dr Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!" Selected Shots
4.) "Appointment" Acting/Dialogue Test

Click here for QuickTime Version

POPS!

Here's a Corn Pops commercial I worked on earlier this summer. It was made by a NYC studio called Panda Panther. My shot is the one where the dragon launches from the rainbow slide, flies around a bit, falls in love with a corn pop bubble and then scoots down a milk waterfall.

The comments below the youtube video are funny.

The Silver

I got 2nd place for the July 11 Second Club competition! 1st place would have been better (free eCritique!) but hey....I'm happy.

View the entries here ...

Virgin Media Commercial

Here's the Virgin Media commercial I worked on earlier this year.

Return to AnimationMentor

I am now an alumni "Peer Buddy" in AM! What's a Peer Buddy? Basically we go around "campus" and be more active in the community. But perhaps more importantly, we provide support to those who may need help, such as comments on their assignments, etc.

It feels great to be back: a lot has changed since my program ended in Fall of 2006. There are a lot more students now and the climate of the community seems to be more hyper and more free with their opinions and thoughts, which is great!

And so many great students.

Learning Composition with the Horton Hears a Who Trailer

An animator named Virgilio Vasconcelos wrote up this very interesting blog a while ago and I think it's fascinating. It struck me once again how important and critical composition is to every single shot in a film, and how it all needs to flow among sequences of shots as well.

Learning Composition with the Horton Hears a Who Trailer

Puzzle Pieces

It's New Year's Eve and so I was going to write up and reflect on a very interesting year (animation careerwise). However, instead of looking back on the year as a whole, I find that the events of the past several months basically sums up all that was interesting for the entire year. 2007 can be summed up with just two words: Blue Sky.

OK, so to those who actually know me, you may be sick of hearing it. And since my time there ended a week ago, I should stop talking about it. It's like having a friend who just gave birth to her first child: you are happy for her but the baby is ALL she talks about and soon it drives you nuts! I know that getting a first film animation job is nothing compared to giving birth. And since I don't have kids, and I don't have a uterus, try to hear me out anyway.

I remember this post way back in December 2005, already two years ago: So Close, Yet So Far. Here is what I wrote in the end:

On Christmas 2002 I thought, by this time next year, I would be knee deep in learning animation at the Academy of Art. Well that never happened. A year later, I was still rendering figures in charcoal.

On Christmas 2003 I thought, by this time next year, I will be starting a job or an internship, because by then I would have really learned animation. Well that never happened.

On Christmas 2004 I thought, by this time next year, there is no way I won't be working as an animator. I'm finishing up my classes at AAU and I'm getting all A's, which may indicate that I have a good chance at getting a job. It's Christmas 2005 now and I'm standing here filing away other people's Christmas cards.

But even though I may sound like I'm feeling sorry for myself, I still don't regret anything. There is something that is very invigorating to the spirit when one actively pursues a creative passion. One will not stop. One will not accept reality. One will continue to keep learning without school, without teachers, without money. One becomes blind to reality. There is just nothing else. As long as I have sight, hands and health, this will be what I will always be pursuing.

For now.

Holy crap what a self-pitying whiny bastard I was! I feel that was the lowest point in my animation career/studies. I am shocked at how much hope I still had. Well, I really had no choice BUT to hope, since I gave up everything to pursue this animation thing. I truly believe that if you convince yourself that there is no other alternative, then you subconsciously bring out events and circumstances that support your goal. Like what Obi-Wan told Han Solo in Star Wars, "In my experience, there is no such thing as luck." I think that's what he said.

So in June 2007 it finally happened. I was called in to start my very first film animation job. I was armed with the usual warnings: it's dog-eat-dog in those kind of studios, you are only good as your last shot, it's a crazy schedule, etc. But hey, it's one of my dream studios and the crazyiness is what I craved. I enjoy the pressure, the competition: bring it on.

And on the second day when I attended the first Dailies, I started to pee in my shorts.

I still remember our temp leader/mentor, Pete Paquette, telling us something like, "We are throwing you into the fire."

The shots I saw being done were mind boggling. The bid days seem extremely short. The work done by the temps who were here before seemed flawless. I really thought, am I really ready for this? Did they make a mistake? I know there are at least 2 other Jeff Kims working in animation: they must have called the wrong one.

The rigs were the most complicated I've ever touched.

The style of animation was so much more complicated and more fun that anything on my demo reel.

I'm working with some of the best animators now. How can I keep up?

Evolve or Die.

And all of us evolved eventually, more quickly than we thought we could. There's nothing like working in a job you love, actually doing what you love. Adapting came naturally.

Working at Blue Sky made me realize 2 things: it solidyfied why I want to be in film, yet it made me realize that film isn't everything, as long as I'm doing my part in the story. Sounds contradicting?

At this time it is the medium of film that delivers the best packaged story that resonate to as many people as possible. And it is film that allows the animator the time to make his/her work the best possible. However, film is not the only storytelling medium: there's tv, games, even commercials. An animator's job is to make the character come to life within the context of the overall story: the puzzle piece that fits into the whole.

By this time next year, I hope I have the same attitude and feeling I have now. Careerwise, I'm so optimistic, more than I have ever been the past several years. I can only hope that 2008 will be as eventful, challenging and rewarding.

Sims 2 Castaway TV Ad

I was watching TV late at night before dozing off to sleep when I caught this ad on TV and saw one of my animation on it! Check it out!



Ah, and I just found this trailer as well. I did the chimp.

Blue Sky

Just before the last week of my apprenticeship at Rhythm and Hues, I got a call from a studio I've been wanting to work for since 1998 (which was way before I got very serious about animation). For years I would pass by the building (no, no I was not stalking....they were on my way to work!), and would think, someday.

I grew up in Westchester county since the age of 3. At the age of 27 I moved to San Francisco to persue an education and a career in animation. And now I find myself back here in Westchester, full circle.

But when I got the call, in all honesty, I was confused. The timing was just so wierd! Even though I didn't get an offer yet to extend my job at Rhythm & Hues as an actual animator, Blue Sky was calling to officially offer me something. My apprenticeship contract at Rhythm was up in a week. My family is still here in Westchester, who I miss terribly. Plus, it's Horton, one of my favorite stories of all time. So I made my decision. It was certainly not an easy one, since I loved the challenge and the talent at Rhythm. However, a chance to "come home" during this tiny window of opportunity seemed too juicy to pass up.

I start in 2 weeks!

Rhythm & Hues

What a strangely exciting, Santa Monica Pier-rollercoaster of a month June was!

In mid-May I got a call from Rhythm and Hues Studios for the Animation Apprenticeship program. Of course I said YES: my first experience in film at last! The timing was perfect, since I planned to move out of my apartment regardless of my job status. My temp contract at EA ended in mid-June, but we finished kinda early and strongly, so it was good for me to leave 2 weeks early for RH.

Before the move, I packed as much as I could in 2 suitcases and a backpack. I ended up throwing away almost half of my things (some of which I regret throwing out, like a fleece hoodie). So with 2 suitcases, a backpack and a deflated aero-mattress on my back, I flew out to LA on June 2 to begin a new chapter of my drifter lifestyle. I checked into the corporate housing and from then on it was non stop humbling animation education. But LA sucked.

Imagine starting over from scratch, and everyone...I mean EVERYONE there is better than you are. It's a bit intimidating, daunting, yet so exciting because you know there's no where else to go but up: and it's an amazing feeling to know that you are there to learn, absorb and improve, all while getting paid to do it! Those first few days were constant whiffs of optimism, because I finally felt I was learning something about animation every single minute I was there. Every dailies were filled with information and advice: imagine going to dailies every day for years! Every day you animation gets critiqued: you can't help but to grow.

The most lasting thing I will take with me are the friendships I've made. A couple of my fellow apprentices were: Rob Barros, Zach Parrish. I'd like to specifically point out my magnificent mentor at RH, Beth Slevin, who taught me so much and went out of her way to be helpful.

I intended to stay on to hopefully be offered an extension, but family and another opportunity called from the East ....