In this interview, MPC VFX Supervisor Adam Valdez joins Steve Waskul at FMX 2016.
Adam has been working on major films for over 25 years. Mr. Valdez is one of MPC’s most experienced and talented visual effects artists. Adam joined MPC (Moving Picture Company) when there were about 200 people working there. Today there are closer to over 2,500 individuals working on a range of projects at MPC.
During the interview Adam recalls the early days at Weta Digital. The opportunity to join Weta came to him during the early days on Lord of the Rings. Adam describes it as one of “those opportunities that come along in your career where you’re up for the challenge, someone’s doing something ambitious, the’re backing their bet and going large on the bet”. Certainly we agree that it did gather some great minds together with amazing results.
Mr. Valdez also talks in detail about the technologies that are being utilized at MPC to empower the artists. “Now there is a lot more emphasis on interactive graphics and having a lot of high-complexity graphics at the workstation he explains”. “We have to use slightly differently configured workstations and software combinations” for each department. Animators would need one configuration of workstation where someone like an effects TD would need a different configuration. At MPC he enthuses that they use thousands of HP Z Workstations to bring a more real-time fluid experience to their artists along with NVIDIA Quadro GPUs. “We’re always pushing the machines to the limit” he explains.
About Adam Valdez
Adam began his career with eight years at Tippett Studio where he worked as an Animator on Spielberg’s iconic Jurassic Park, Miniatures Fabricator on Robocop 2, Animator on Dragonheart and Lead Character Animator on Starship Troopers. After two years at Pacific Data Images’ re-launched visual effects group, Adam moved to Weta Digital where he became Animation Supervisor on The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
Adam joined MPC in 2003 as feature film VFX Supervisor and Animation Director, leading teams on high profile movies including AVP: Alien Vs Predator, 10,000BC, The Wolfman, The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, World War Z and Maleficent. For the last 2 years Adam has been working with Director Jon Favreau and Production VFX Supervisor Rob Legato, bringing Disney’s live-action remake of The Jungle Book to life.
About MPC
MPC has been one of the global leaders in VFX for over 25 years and counting, with industry-leading facilities in London, Vancouver, Montréal, Los Angeles, New York, Amsterdam, Paris, Bangalore, Shanghai and Mexico City.
MPC is known for adding visual wonder and creative expertise to the advertising, film and entertainment industries. Some of the companies better known projects include blockbuster movies such as Godzilla, the Harry Potter franchise, X-Men, Prometheus and Life of Pi, and famous advertising campaigns for brands such as Samsung, Coca Cola, Sony, Three Mobile and Channel 4.
MPC offers customers a broad range of skill-sets that provide a multitude of creative solutions, including concept design, pre-viz, shoot supervision, 2D compositing, 3D/CG effects, animation, motion design, software development, digital & experiential production, colour grading for advertising and any combination of these services.
To learn more about MPC, visit their website.
