Quick Summary
Creative Director of FonCo services Fon Davis, and Steve Waskul discuss model making, visual effects, and visualization in the film making industry.
Interview Highlights
The interview begins with Steve asking Fon what made him pursue a career in such a creative field. Fascinated with film making, Davis explains that he’s always been very creative and enjoys making things with his hands. “The behind the scenes stuff amazed me. Then I realized I could make a career out of this”.
Next, the men look at different technologies that have impacted model making in the film industry. The conversation here covers CNC machines, laser cutters and 3D printing.
As the conversation progresses, the men consider the film and visual effects business, budgeting and potential avenues for growth along with current services being offered by FonCo.
Looking to the future, Mr. Waskul asks Fon if and when he thinks we’ll get to the point where today’s visualization will become good enough to be the final product or at least a secondary product. Perhaps the content could become for example assets integrated into experiences that are apart from the final film. We’re moving into some of that now, answers Fon. It’s hard for him to imagine a world now where we would not do at least do some post work but he is enthusiastically looking forward to the future as he embraces the latest advances that are available today.
As the interview concludes, Fon reflects on his many years in the film business. I’ve been doing this for a long time, says Davis. We just keep adapting to what’s current. The thing I love about the industry and what makes it so difficult is it’s constantly changing and moving in different directions. Steve agrees.
About Fon Davis
In his two decade career, Fon Davis he has worked on over 30 feature films. As a alumnus of the Industrial Light and Magic Model Shop, Fon has worked on Starship Troopers, Galaxy Quest, Pearl Harbor feature films, as well as the Star Wars, Matrix, Terminator, Mission Impossible, and Jurassic Park franchises. In addition to his work in visual effects, Fon has also worked in Disney’s art departments as a concept designer/model maker, and on several stop motion projects including The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Coraline.
More recently, Fon worked on Interstellar, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium. Fon is currently a creative director at Fonco, a celebrity judge on ABC’s BattleBots, an instructor at the Stan Winston School, a guest host on nerd shows and a content creator, frequently using his broad knowledge in entertainment and visual story telling.
About Fonco
Fonco is located in Vanaheim Studios, Los Angeles. Fonco was founded in 1997 in San Francisco by Fon Davis as a design and fabrication studio specializing in miniatures. Over the nearly 2 decades in business, Fonco has been joined by an amazingly creative and motivated group of artists, many of whom have worked for companies like Lucasfilm, Industrial Light and Magic, and Disney. In addition to Fonco’s incredible talent, Fonco has grown into a 16,000 sqare foot facility that includes production, art department, set/prop fabrication, model shop, costume, wardrobe, combat training & choreography and 2 stages. Fonco services part or full productions from early design and story development, through post production, always with a focus on visual story telling.
To learn more about Fonco and the creative services they offer, visit their website
