Foundation In Design

James Wan is an Australian film producer, screenwriter and film director from Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. He is widely known for directing Saw and creating Billy The Puppet. James is also known for producing the latest horror film Annabelle.

As of August 2014, he is direct the next biggest movie Fast & Furious 7, which is due to release on 2015.

James Wan with the cast of Fast & Furious 7

To me, he made such an impact to the society of filming because it shows us that even though you're from somewhere which is not really recognized internationally you can still make it and chase your dream. Because of his works, it makes me think that anything is possible.

Some Questions to be Ask

1. What made you want to work in the filming industry?

2. What did it felt like when your first feature length film "Stygian" won "Best Guerrilla" Films at Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) in 2000?

3. What if one of the films you directed or produced did not receive any positive feedbacks or comments from the society but instead you keep getting negative feedbacks and probably even get bash by the society. Would you just give up on filming?

4. What did it felt like when "The Conjuring" won the "Fangoria Chainsaw Awards"?

5. If you have never entered the filming industry, where do you think you will be and what do you think you'll be doing?

On our first week of Contextual Studies, Mr. Charles gave briefly explained to us what is contextual studies about and then told us all to talk about our favourite artist in the Art Industry. To me, Gilles Beloeil is the one that I like the most. He is a Illustrator, Concept Artist and a Digital Matte Painter. He was born in Montreal, Canada. He began his career in 2002 with 4-Elements Studios and worked on several tv commercials and advertising then slowly expanded himself to film and computer gaming industries.

He captured my attention because he works with a game company called Ubisoft which is widely known for Assassin's Creed. He did a lot of illustration to digital matte painting for the Asssassin's Creed series from the first ever Assassin's Creed to the current one which will be releasing in two months times Assassin's Creed: Unity. Not only that, he did cinematics for Assassin's Creed, Far Cry 2 and the Ubisoft Short Film : Assassin's Creed: Lineage.

I admire his concept arts for Assassin's Creed. The way he does it makes me feel calm and it also looks realistic. Here are some examples of his works : 

• Pinocchio 3000 (Lighting Team Lead, 2003)
• La dernière incarnation (3D All-rounder, 2004)
• Alone in the Dark (Lead Lighting, 2004)
• Charlie Jade (Digital Matte Painter, 2004) - TV series
• Final Destination 3 (Sequence Lead Lighting, 2005)
• Fantastic 4 (Lighting TD and Sequence Lead Lighting, 2005)
• Happy Feet (Lighter/Compositor, 2006)
• Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D (Sequence Lead Lighting and Concept Artist, 2007)
• Assassin's Creed: Lineage (2008–2009) - Ubisoft

Here is a link to his website: http://gillesbeloeil.viewbook.com/

There you can find some more of his work and more about him.

At the end of the class, Mr. Charles said that we all did some good researches but research doesn't always mean finding the positive stuff about them. He said that we should look into their failures as well so that when it comes into an interview with them, we can ask about how they felt when they failed during this moment and what kept them going.