Giant Studios is playing it political this year with their creation of Swifty the Donkey. This animated version of the democratic mascot got airplay in this year’s Democratic National Convention. Designed for distribution across multiple media platforms from broadcast to the web, Swifty graced everything from the Staples Center video screens to individual computer monitors across the world as the ambassador for the Democratic Party’s message. He’s going to be a busy guy, with a highly charged 2000 election already underway. Swifty assisted with the daily roll call, entertained the crowd on the floor between events and acted as virtual host on the Convention web site as well as appearing on the Democratic Convention Network.
Beyond politics, Giant Studio’s offices are changing with the addition of four new Digital Artists/Developers. Giant’s Chief Technology Officer, William Schultz hopes that their acquisition “will contribute to [Giant Studio’s] goal of creating the complete integration of motion control, motion capture, CG imagery, and practical philosophy with real time feedback and first unit friendly.” Sean Pollack has been appointed CGI Supervisor for the animation department and will work closely with Effects Supervisor, Rudy Poat. Formerly Technical Director at DreamWorks/Pacific Data Images, Pollack worked in the animated feature division on “Antz,” “Shrek,” and “Forces of Nature” as Technical Director-Lighting, Effects and Layout. He also worked in the commercial division of campaigns for Sega Dreamcast, Coke, and Best Buy as a Lead Layout and Technical Director. Blake Holland joins as Senior Research Engineer. Holland comes to Giant from Entertainment Design Workshop where he was a Technical Director, Virtual Set for Disney’s “Winnie the Pooh” TV Pilot. Prior to that, he was a Visualization Supervisor and Production Tools Developer at Mass Illusion working on motion control tool sets. His credits include: “Starship Troopers,” “Secrets of the Luxor,” and tests for “The Matrix” and “What Dreams May Come.” Barry Dempsey is Giant’s new Research Engineer. Dempsey’s experience has been in 3D, including animation, lighting, and shader writing for feature film visual effects, commercials, and real time rendering techniques for PC games. He was VP of Production and Technology at Xatrix Interactive which released games including Cyberia and Red Neck Rampage. He worked at Digital Domain as Character Animation Technical Director on the soon-to-be-released Coen Brothers film “Brother Where Art Thou” as well as for Sony Imageworks writing lighting and shader tools for “Hollow Man.” Rich Suchevits moves to Giant as Senior Compositor. He has provided film effects and composting for Cinesite, Rainmaker, Pinnacle Studios, Mass Illusion and Warner Bros. and worked on numerous films including: “Waterworld,” “Fantasia 2000,” “SpaceJam,” and “Starship Troopers.”