We are thrilled and proud to announce that 22 DAVE School graduates have worked on projects nominated for the 95th Annual Academy Awards. The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, are considered the most prestigious awards in the film industry, and we are honored to have our graduates recognized for their contributions to these outstanding films.
In the Academy Awards category of Best Visual Effects, we had graduates on four of the five feature films nominated.
The first film is “Avatar: The Way of Water”, directed by James Cameron. 9 DAVE School graduates who worked on this film include David Rohloff, a lab artist at Lightstorm Entertainment, Dean Lewandowski, an environment supervisor at Weta FX, Daniel Burrows, an environment artist, Dustin Hayes, an element QC lead, Cody Hernandez, another lab artist at Lightstorm Entertainment, Motoki Nishii, another environment supervisor at Weta FX, Justin Stockton, a lead layout TD at Weta FX, Aine Graham, an animator, and Yael Majors, a compositing supervisor.
The second film in the Academy Awards category of Best Visual Effects is “The Batman”, directed by Matt Reeves. This film received six nominations in total and our graduates who worked on it include Daniel Kaczkowski, a compositor, Kristin Turnipseed, a lead visualization artist, Andrea Jamiel, a visual effects artist, Robert Tobin, a visualization artist, Duncan Key, another compositor, and Tyler Usie, yet another compositor.
The third film is “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, directed by Ryan Coogler, which was nominated for its visual effects. Our grad Selena Farkas, a compositor, was part of the visual effects team for the film.
The fourth film nominated in the Academy Awards category of Best Visual Effects is “Top Gun: Maverick”, directed by Joseph Kosinski. This film had 3 of our graduates who worked on it, including Ric Atkinson, a lead rotoscope and paint artist, Jimi Clark, a visual effects producer, and Jaime Riveros, a lead visualization artist.
In the category of Best Animated Feature Film, we had graduates on two of the feature films nominated for Academy Awards.
The first film is “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”, directed by Chris Miller. Our graduates who worked on this film include Peyton Glover and Wes Chilton, both visual effects artists.
The second film is “Turning Red”, directed by Domee Shi, which was nominated for its animation. Our graduate Katie Hamberger, a stereoscopic technical director, was part of the animation team for the film.
We are incredibly proud of our graduates for their hard work and dedication to these amazing projects. Their contributions have helped to bring these films to life and have made them stand out in the highly competitive film industry. We look forward to seeing our graduates continue to make a name for themselves in the industry and to be recognized for their talents.
Congratulations to all the nominees and we wish their projects the best of luck at the Academy Awards ceremony.
About the OSCARS
The Oscars, also known as the Academy Awards, is an annual awards ceremony honoring outstanding achievements in the film industry.
Visual Effects Production Diploma Program
The Visual Effects Production program gives students a broad range of skills that allow them to pursue jobs in the computer graphics industry, including feature film and television effects, game art, print advertising, architectural visualization, and military simulation.
About The DAVE School
The DAVE School was founded on June 8, 2000, by two Industry executives looking to create #CareerReady artists with a practical animation school. Today, The DAVE School offers specialized training in Visual Effects and Game Production with extensive practice under industry-level supervision.
Located on the backlot of Universal Studios Florida®, The DAVE School has an 18,000 square foot facility that includes learning and interactive labs, a dedicated Virtual and Real-Time production stage, a Vicon motion capture system, 3D printing, and VR/AR labs, and secure student access 7 days a week.
NUC University (NUC) is an accredited institution and a member of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) www.msche.org. NUC’s NUC University – IBC Technical Division (NUC-IBC), NUC University – Florida Technical College (NUC-FTC), and The Digital Animation & Visual Effects School (The DAVE School) is included in this accreditation. NUC’s accreditation status is Accreditation Reaffirmed. The Commission’s most recent action on the institution’s accreditation status on 2019 was to reaffirm accreditation. MSCHE is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)