Christophe Gwynne
Summary:
President, Rooster Founder and Big Bird. It was during a 2003 photo-documentary trip to Bangkok that the idea of creating Rooster took seed in Chris’ mind. Impressed by the production quality of the commercials he saw in the Asian market, Chris felt he could elevate the art form by bringing in creative talent from Hollywood and letting their imagination run wild in a new environment.
With over 17 years of experience in post-production, he’s worked for some of the most respected names in the industry, representing some the world’s biggest brands, in many different capacities, from technical director, to project management, to creative direction and live action director.
With dual American and Swiss citizenship, Chris was born in Greece and grew up in Latin America, Europe and Japan, before moving to the New York area for high school. Chris is the quintessential “citizen of the world.” A Boston University Film School graduate with a degree in Communications concentrating in film, photography and art history he's been a computer graphics fanatic since discovering Space Invaders in Tokyo in 1979. If he wasn’t running his own post-production design studio, he’d be shooting photos for National Geographic.
Chris has been a CG Supervisor in Los Angeles since the TV series South Park in 1997 and has gone on to work on features such as Matrix Revolutions, Hellboy, Elektra, Superman Returns and Ironman as well as participate in ground breaking commercial work as a designer/animator at studios such as Imaginary Forces, Logan, Buck, Stardust, Picture Mill and Prologue Films. He previously ran Light Intertainment with a staff of 35 servicing clients such as Disney, MGM, Paramount and Universal.
Work Experience:
Rooster Creative 2006 - current VFX/CG Supervisor • Axe - Choclate • Mazda - 3 • Iron Man • Lincoln MKZ - Ramp • Lincoln Navigator - Road • Sony - Bravia • Hollowman 2
Logan Jul. 06 - Aug. 06 - Lead FX TD • Electronic Arts: NFS, Pontiac
13323 Washington Blvd., Suite 304, Los Angeles, CA 90066 310-788-3918 M. 310-293-8718 F. 310-788-3415 http://www.d-a-a.com Fulltank Jun. 06 - Jul.. 06 - CG Sup
Prologue!!!! Apr. 06 - Jun. 06 FX Animator/Designer • Superman Returns
Rooster Creative Nov. 05 - Jan. 06 - CG Supervisor • Hollowman 2 (Roto and Paint Sup)
Fuel Oct. 05 - Dec. 05 - VFX Supervisor • Barbie :30 x 3 greenscreen shoot
Ocean Monsters Aug. 05 – Sept. 05 - Designer, FX Animator
Logan May 05 - June-05 - Lead FX TD • Marks and Spencer Campaign
Studio Rollercoaster Mar. 05 - Apr. 05 - CG Supervisor • National Geographic
Bang Bang Feb. 05 - Mar. 05 - CG Supervisor • Hershey’s Take :30 x 3
Logan Dec. 04 – Jan. 05- Lead TD • BBC Campaign
Pixel Magic Nov. 04 – Dec. 04- Lead TD • Cloth Simulation - “Elektra”
Studio Rollercoaster July. 04 – Nov. 04 CG Supervisor • Unilever Asian campaign
Modern Video Film Apr. 04 – Jun. 04 Lead TD
13323 Washington Blvd., Suite 304, Los Angeles, CA 90066 310-788-3918 M. 310-293-8718 F. 310-788-3415 http://www.d-a-a.com The Orphanage Jan.04 - Mar. 04 Effects TD • fluid & fire simulation Hellboy
Picture Mill Nov 03 - Dec. 03 3D Designer, animator • Cinemax broadcast graphics package
The Orphanage Oct. 03 CG Supervisor • 3 Commercial Spots “Playstation 2: Ratchet & Clank”
Tippet Studios Jul. 03 - Sept. 03 Effects TD • Matrix Revolutions
Grey Matter FX Jul.03 CG Supervisor/animator/Dynamics and particle animation • “The Italian Job” Volumetric lighting and FX for “Pancho Villa”
Imaginary Forces May.03 CG Supervisor/Animator • Crocodile Hunter promo for Animal Planet
Uncharted Territory Mar.03 - Apr. 03 CG Supervisor/Animator/Pre-vis • two :30 spots for Sony with director Claudio Faeh (Coronado)
Digital Kitchen Dec. 02 ~ Jan. 03 CG Supervisor/Animator • Oribitz.com :30 spot
Imaginary Forces, Sept.02 - Dec 02 CG Supervisor/Animator/Designer • Contributed and developed ideas for pitches on ABC, Microsoft, and Kohls commercial campaigns. All projects were awarded.Merryl Lynch :30 spot, The District episodic series title sequence and opening.
Studio RollerCoaster Oc.02~ Nov.02 CG Supervisor/Animator/Designer • Opening title sequence “Midsummer Night’s Rave”
Threshold Entertainment Jan.02 - May. 02
13323 Washington Blvd., Suite 304, Los Angeles, CA 90066 310-788-3918 M. 310-293-8718 F. 310-788-3415 http://www.d-a-a.com Director Feature development for Fox Animation • Created character and environment design including show bible and animation tests for Fox Animation script “Party Animals”.
Studio RollerCoaster Sept.02 - Jan.02 Director / Producer Developed • Shot and edited TV series episodic pitch and pilot for Jet Set, a DJ culture and world travel series.
Click 3x Nov.01 - Aug.01 CG Supervisor • Supervised and created twelve spots for commercial director Markus Nispell
Pixel Liberation Front Oct. 00 CG Supervisor • Analysis, FX breakdown, and CG FX bidding for Newline Pictures feature script.
Gallium Digital Jun.99 - Jun 06 CG Supervisor • Supervised Los Angeles construction of sculpted character maquettes and digital scanning for BBD&O’s M&M’s characters campaign. Supervised live action shoot and animated bee swarm sequences in Maya and Renderman for Paramount’s season finale of “Now and Again.”.
Rainmaker Digital Jun.99 CG Supervisor/Senior TD • Created 4k Maya and Renderman stereo CG plates to composite with live-action cheetah for IMAX feature.
Curious Pictures, !!!!Apr. 99 CG Supervisor • Created pipeline, hired talent and managed all aspects of the first season’s CG production, including: script breakdown, shot breakdown, library construction, live-action supervision, animation, rendering and tracking for 26 thirty minute episodes of HBO’s TV series “A Little Curious” Created methodology and pipeline for Nickelodeon promos.
Imagination Plantation / WildBrainl Mar.98 CG Supervisor/Animator • Managed animation and rendering as well as creating animation on DDB Needham’s thirty second spot for “Hershey’s Kisses.” This was the first CG spot for Hershey’s after nineteen years of stop motion.
Threshold Entertainment Dec.97
13323 Washington Blvd., Suite 304, Los Angeles, CA 90066 310-788-3918 M. 310-293-8718 F. 310-788-3415 http://www.d-a-a.com • "Instinct" development test for Sony Pictures Managed particle animation and particle replacement sequence of shots Animated and tracked 16000 ants in Power Animator
"SouthPark" / Comedy Central 97 CG Supervisor • Created initial CG animation test to see if CG was viable alternative to Stop Motion Created production methodology and pipeline Designed workstation, network, rendering farm and output solutions and implemented them Built character and environment library; Hired and trained CG production team Developed distributed rendering farm code; Developed shot tracking system Trouble shooting for all aspects of production; Animated Character and FX sequences
Light Intertainment 96-99 Director / Digital FX Supervisor / Co-Founder Paramount (5555 Communications) • “Star Trek: First Contact” Paramount Records: Star Trek: First Contact ECD Soundtrack; Star Trek 30th Anniversary ECD Disney: 1997 Calendar year contract, all movies FOX: “The X Files”Threshold Entertainment: “Mortal Kombat “Netter Digital: “Babylon 5
DirectNet Communications 95-96 Director / Digital FX Supervisor / Co-Founder Paramount (5555 Communications) • The Arrival”; Netter Digital : “Babylon 5”Threshold Entertainment: “Mortal Kombat”; Paramount Digital: Home Video Writers Guild of America; Capitol Records; House of Blues
Silicon Studios / SGI / Alias / Wavefront 95 Production Instructor CG Production / Alias PowerAnimator software instructor
G*Design / Propaganda Films 95 Technical Director
Moving Pixels 94 Technical Director
Lightspan Entertainment 94 Technical Director
NovoCom/GRFX 94 Technical Director
Unitel Video 93 Technical Director
13323 Washington Blvd., Suite 304, Los Angeles, CA 90066 310-788-3918 M. 310-293-8718 F. 310-788-3415 http://www.d-a-a.com Set and Directing experience :
- Live Action Director Sept - Nov 1999 Directed 2nd camera unit for live-action documentary interview for “Mumia Abu Jamar” Directed 2nd camera unit for live-action documentary “Return of a Shaolin Hero” in two-week shoot in China. - CG Director January 1999 Directed CG component of national thirty second Fisher Price spot for Young & Rubicam at Curious Pictures
Education:
Parsons School of Design / Otis , New York, NY 1987 Photography
New School for Social Research New York, NY, 1987 Political Science, Philosophy
Boston Unversity, College of Communications Boston, MA 1987-1991 Film School, Photography, Art History (Bachelor of Science degree in Communications)
USC Los Angeles, CA, 1992 Computer Science
SMC, Santa Monica, CA, 2000 Anthropology
UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 2001 Project Management
13323 Washington Blvd., Suite 304, Los Angeles, CA 90066 310-788-3918 M. 310-293-8718 F. 310-788-3415 http://www.d-a-a.com