Broadcast Beat Magazine 2017 BroadcastAsia Special Edition | Page 50

Q&A: BRETT INESON PRESIDENT OF ANIMATRIK The president and CTO of performance capture studio Animatrik discusses work on the largest scale virtual production effort ever undertaken – Warcraft How did you first get involved in the perfor- mance capture industry? I’ve been passionate about animation since I was ten- years-old. My parents were eager to expose me to cool areas of life that they thought would interest me, so they sent me to an art summer camp in Toronto. I found my way into the animation and TV broadcast track, where we drew flipbooks and used 8mm cameras for stop motion – experimenting with live people and drawings. Passionate about both animation and computer sci- ence, my mum and dad really helped expose me to the industry. I had a high school level programming education long before I ever went to high school! After I graduated University I went off to Vancouver Film School for their 3D programme. I graduated and landed my first job at Mainframe Entertainment, working on the world’s first ever 3D animated TV show Reboot. Moving up to the role of Senior Technical Director, Mainframe soon landed a show for Sony Entertainment called Heavy Gear. One of the main requirements for the show was motion capture. Through this, I became one of the first people immersed in the technology. I fell in love with it. Why did you start Animatrik? In a past I was working for a manufacturer of motion 50 • Broadcast Beat Magazine • www.broadcastbeat.com