MPC Hires VFX Supervisor Evan Schoonmaker & Animator Grae Revell
MPC is making a splash this summer with two industry-leading hires, VFX supervisor Evan Schoonmaker and lead animator Grae Revell. Both talents will operate out of MPC’s New York studio.
“Evan and Grae perfectly complement our existing team while adding their own unique skillsets,” noted MPC NY MD Justin Lane. “Evan, whose strength is in visual effects, is an expert in `the big project’ and will seamlessly take to our tradition of crafting big, beautiful composites on high-end spot work. Grae is a great collaborator who can make literally anything come to life, from dinosaurs to warriors, and we look forward to challenging him to produce his best work yet.”
Schoonmaker operates across the visual effects production spectrum, from VFX shot design and execution to finishing. Just months into his time with the studio, MPC has already seen the colossal impact Schoonmaker’s talents can have on a project. He recently jumped right in on an ambitious campaign for Nike +, collaborating with the lead team in the LA studio who were spearheading the project, to bring director Adam Berg’s elaborate vision to life. A specialist in the commercial production world, Schoonmaker’s portfolio includes spots for major brands such as Verizon, DIRECTV and GEICO, with a new four spot campaign slated to wrap at the end of the summer. He joins MPC after spending time at Brand New School, Psyop, Mass Market and The Mill.
“MPC has done some pretty elite work over the years, and when I heard they were opening a New York office, I was very interested to meet them and see if there might be a match,” stated Schoonmaker. “I’m always excited by intense projects and giant composites, and I felt that I would certainly have those kind of opportunities here – the opportunities to do really wild things: I want to make whales swim in the sky; I want to fake a Mars landing. I’ve already hit the ground running by working with MPC’s LA and London studios to help turn a daily run into a epic computer game.”
Revell has more than a decade of experience animating characters and creatures for film, TV, documentaries, games and webisodes. He has done animation and VFX work for a long list of feature films, including Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Outside the feature film space, Revell has handled character animation for Coca-Cola, Listerine and LEGO.
On his new role at MPC, Revell noted, “MPC has the sort of talented, hard-working people that artists in any medium seek out. I work well at a place like MPC because I have a solid understanding of my place in the production pipeline. My job is to create and contribute to a visual aesthetic that fits within the boundaries of the concept and art direction. It sounds restrictive, but with the collaborative environment that MPC has set up, it actually helps to focus and distill the creativity.”
