Cinematics Director – Animation Insider

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What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Ben McSweeney, and I’m currently a Senior Artist (Cinematics Director) at Vigil Games (THQ).

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Used to set up Moon Bounces at parties, that was kinda wacky (part teamster, part carnie). Driving a Range Rover for a live zoo tour would probably be next weirdest.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Red vs Blue Animated was a high point, I got to draw lots of fun gun-action and aliens, and it was nice to work on an established IP like the Halo series. And of course there’s Darksiders II, which is coming out this August.

How did you become interested in animation?
It’s always been something I’ve enjoyed watching, and when I Continue reading

What is your name and your current occupation?Â

My name is Martin McBain and I’m a Cinematics Director. I’ve most recently worked at Pinewood Studios on a super huge movie, having previously spent 13 years working in the games industry as both a Lead Gameplay and Lead Cinematics Animator/Director.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?Â

My first job involved site surveys; either I’d be working on technical drawings or else I’d grab my hard hat and theodolite to visit sites around the UK. Fortunately, I got into animation not long after!

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?

Whilst there are many projects that I loved being part of, being a huge gamer, and a massive fan of Rare’s GoldenEye, it was an enormous honour to be working on the re-imagining of GoldenEye. We spent a huge amount of time looking at what made the original so great and, as GoldenEye fans ourselves, what we would want to see in the game. Our goal was to bring this classic into the modern gaming era, and my task, in particular, was to create a more contemporary, bolder, cinematic experience for the player. As fate would have it, after Eurcocom closed its doors, Rare immediately offered me a position – I was absolutely thrilled to bring my industry experience to a studio that, as a massive fan of their games, I grew up admiring.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?

I’m originally from Greenock, Scotland. Whilst playing games was a huge part of my childhood, despite the calls from my dad to ‘stop playing those games, they will get you nowhere!’, a job in gaming wasn’t really a career option, being more of a niche undeveloped industry. Â As a result, I opted to pursue a career in Architecture. Now don’t get me wrong, I love calculating heat loss and thermal conductivity as much as the next guy, but this wasn’t quite what I’d had in mind – creating great visuals and designs turned out to be a tiny part of the job. Â Then it all changed, one day, when flicking through a creative arts magazine, there it was: an advert, a glorious full page spread showcasing 3d Studio release 3 – the original dos version ( thats non-Windows, to all the kids ) – before they brought out Max. Now, as I say, this changed everything for me. I rushed out and purchased the software and manual, Inside 3d Studio R3, and read that cover to cover. I then stared creating visuals, mainly based around architecture and product design, but I soon started to introduce characters and animation – bringing life to my renders. The guys at Eurocom saw my work and offered me a position as Senior Animator; this changed the direction of my career and led me to do what I love for a living.