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Awesome Dude!
Ian Hubert Gets a Fangirl of his Own
At a Glance:
Occupation: Being awesome (that should be a real job), Professional Editing
Age: 16
REVELATIONS title: Special Effects, Animation, Graphics
Preferred software: Bryce, After Effects
Website: Renderosity Gallery
(Editor's Note: Yes, you read that right. He's 16. It's a good thing he's charming as well as talented, otherwise Madam Editor would be figuring out how to Force-choke him through the Internet for making her feel like a wizened old hag. Plus she really, really likes his TIE hanger. Shut up. Madam Editor is entitled to her opinions.)
RTOF: How did you hear about REVELATIONS?
IAN: I heard about REVELATIONS through the TFN fan film boards. I'd seen it being mentioned and finally decided to check it out. I was totally blown away. Like, to the utmost degree of blownawayness. At this point, all they had was their teaser out, and after a couple months, when I saw they had put up their trailer, I totally freaked out. I was yelling at the computer to download faster. (If you know me, this is not that rare of an occurrence, but still!). So I watch it, and it was awesome.
I regarded anyone who worked on REVELATIONS as someone to be respected. I was creepy. Well, one day, Häkan "Zap" Andersson, (if he had a T-Shirt with his name on it, I would buy one. He's that awesome) posted this message on TFN about how they needed more effects dudes and stuff like that. It suddenly occured to me, "Hey, I might be able to help out with REVELATIONS! I can do CG and stuff! Yeaho!" So I sent an email to Zap, he sent it to Shane, and I was approved by the next morning, providing I sent in this letter thing (artist's release), which I did that same day.
RTOF: What's your background? How did you get involved with computer
graphics?
IAN: Well, actually, my main hobby is filmmaking (if you're a film purist, don't
rage on me, cause actually I make videos, but filmmaking sounds so much better. And I HAVE used film in the past, so, I dunno, am I authorized to say that now?). I enjoy filmmaking because I enjoy any medium that can be used to tell a story. I started out with writing stories, then drawing them out, then drawing comics, then making flipbooks (I still find them lying around the house. I must have used up 900 trees) and finally I used this old beat up camera. And I made movies.
Well, since I'm a dude who likes sci-fi, I obviously wanted to make sci-fi movies, and after a couple years of stapling the paper plates together and covering them with tinfoil to form UFO's (seriously, how many of you never did that?), I decided CG might be easier. I now have a CG gallery online and actually have a (small) "fan base". Which blows my mind totally. So that's pretty much it. Yup.
RTOF: So how does working on REVELATIONS differ from your own projects?
IAN: I'm not
Director/Writer/Producer/DOP/Gaffer/Grip/Caterer/Continuity/Effects/Music/etc!
I'm just the "Effects Lad". As in, I just do effects. Which is cool. Cause I don't have to worry about anything else, but doing effects, and not going too crazy. It's also a much more collaborative thing. I mean, with most of my friends, I start talking to them about grayscale bitmaps and stuff, they are
like, "Oh, okay, now let's talk about something else", which leaves me with most of the effects work by myself.
RTOF: What is it about REVELATIONS that appeals to you?
IAN: Actually, not the fact that it's Star Wars. Weird eh? I mean, I'm guessing almost everyone says that, but that's not it for me. I'm doin' it cause I think it's awesome, and I love all the people working on it too, and it's a chance to work on something larger than I ever could. Mostly it's for the people, yeah. Oh! And a cool story!
Because of my CG gallery, I often have people ask for help with fan films, and generally I say yes, because they never make them, so I don't have to do the effects, and I still look like a nice guy, after never even TALKING to the person. The day Shane got my letter of whatever it was in the mail, he called me up and welcomed up aboard. THAT was cool, I mean, how many effects guys get calls from the
director? That was awesome. That was what really sold me that this entire experience was going to be great, cause he called me. I love talking to people. I really do.
RTOF: How much of your time does REVELATIONS take?
IAN: Shane, read this part:
All of my free time.
Everyone else:
Ehh, not THAT much. I mean, I've got a lot goin' on! (yeah, I know, you're probably pissed cause I'm only in high school, and if you think I'm busy NOW, I should just wait till I'm in YOUR shoes. You're probably right) But I probably give about half an hour a day to REVELATIONS. Give or take 8 hours.
Actually, I guess you can only take half an hour, cause otherwise it'd be negative time, and I don't really know how that would work. Would REVELATIONS be giving ME time? Or would I just be working backword? Perhaps undoing effects? I dunno.
RTOF: What tools/capability do you wish you had for REVELATIONS?
IAN: A billion dollars, a faster computer, 3dsmax, and a good understanding of it. Cause, I mean, great as Bryce is, it's only a 50 dollar program, whereas 3dsmax is about 60 times that much (maybe. I could be totally wrong. I don't know how much it costs. I'm assuming 3000. And don't you DARE tell me what they say about assuming. If you have no idea what I'm talking about,
consider yourself lucky. Trust me.) I also wish I had a free plane, so I could fly to the premier! But I don't,
which is sad.
RTOF: Who or what has been your greatest influence in pursuing the
effects field?
IAN: Uhhhh.... just wanting to put effects in movies. Yup. I'd say that's it. I know for older people it's probably Star Wars. I mean, seriously, that's what it is for almost everyone over 30. They're all like, "...and then the Star Destroyer flew overhead, and it was HUGE! We had never seen anything like that before!" (I've heard that story about 20 times).
Oh! And Rochr! He works with Bryce as well, and is AMAZING! Look him up. Just type in "Rochr" in some search engine, and you'll see his stuff. Cool guy, amazing work.
RTOF: Where do you get your inspiration?
IAN: Gnomes. They come to me at night and give it to me. It comes in a little red box with a warning label on it.
No, actually, I steal it. Haha! Just kidding! Actually, I get my inspiration from other members on the team. I see them doing some amazing stuff, and I'm like, I get to be a part of this amazing team, and that just gets me pumped.
And then I start to rotoscope lightsabers, and the feeling leaves.
RTOF: What is the greatest challenge you've faced as a visual effects
artist?
IAN: What? Challenge? Do you mean like, social challenge, or, "I can't get my simulated water dynamics to turn out right" challenges? (No, Bryce cannot actually do water dynamics. However, it makes a mean sphere).
I haven't really had any challenges except for it competing for my time with other stuff, but that's true with everyone. I think.
RTOF: What's been your worst moment on this project?
IAN: Well, I was on the diving board, and I dove in head first, when I came up, I saw, floating 10 feet away, my swimsu- Oh! On this project!
I made this commercial for use on a TV in the background of the Corellian Bar, of me sitting in a spaceship, drinking Corellian Ale, and getting drunk, and crashing into an asteroid as a public service announcement, "Don't Drink Corellian Ale and Drive a Hypersonic Vehicle". But yeah. It was awesome. Too awesome. I mean, seriously. It was kinda distracting, having this screaming dude in the background of a shot. So yeah. But I'm gonna keep it for my own private use. Cause I think it's funny. Of course, I
think EVERYTHING is funny. Except hurting kittens or babies. That's not cool, man. Seriously. (Whoa. Where'd that come from?)
RTOF: What's your best?
IAN: Probably impersonating Shane in the weekly update thing. Seriously. I mean, I made a pretty cool TIE hanger image, and stuff like that, but that's just part of the movie, that's not really a best moment. Hmm... I'm not sure really. Yeah. I think it's impersonating Shane. That's definitely it.
RTOF: So, if you knew back then, going into the project, what you
know now... would you still do it?
IAN: Cha! Yeah! I mean, this is just getting more awesome every day. I'm getting to work with awesome people, and be awesome.
RTOF: What advice would you offer someone looking to do this type of
work?
IAN: Run away! Our eyes are going to get ruined from staring at the screen, we're gonna get carpel tunnel syndrome! We're gonna DIE! Save your self while you can! Run from here!
No, actually, just keep at it, be true to your instincts, and just express what you feel. Oh wait, that's if you're a singer. Yeah, keep at it. It helps to know people. Like, now I know a bunch of people from working on this project, so... I dunno. Just ignore me. If you follow my advice for anything you'd end up at the bottom of a hole in a dark, locked room. Which could be bad.
RTOF: What do you hope to take away from the whole experience?
IAN: A million dollars, a really cool nickname, and... hmm... more friendships between people. ACK! That sounds really weird and cheesy! I'm a teenage GUY for crying out loud! I think I need sleep. I haven't slept in 2 days, I think. I can't remember. Uh oh. That's bad. I like how my answers keep getting shorter and shorter to the questions.
(Okay, this is just sad. Madam Editor, who is strong in the face of babies, puppies, and lollipops, is helpless here. She's plotting ways to chain him up and force him to render Bryce spheres for her amusement. And work out some sort of negative reinforcement every time he mentions "older people" "over 30", possibly teamed with some sort of probably illegal positive reinforcement involving the word "awesome". She has to get her kicks somewhere, people.)
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