Nickson Fong

Nickson Fong
Born Nickson Fong
1969 (age 46–47)
Singapore
Residence Los Angeles and Taipei
Nationality Singapore
Other names "Egg"[1]
Citizenship Singaporean
Alma mater
Occupation Filmmaker, Director, VFX Supervisor
Years active 1993–present
Employer

Centropolis (CFX)

ESC Entertainment (The Matrix movie VFX production company)
Organization
  • Egg Story Creative Production (now defunct)
  • incorporated Egg Story Studios
  • (formerly Egg Story Digital Arts Academy; sold and rebranded to ArtFusion Media School)
Co-founded Re'al Sandbox
Known for
Notable work "Pose Space Deformation" animation technique
Awards 1 Academy Award

Nickson Fong (born 1969)[2] is a Singaporean Computer Graphics Artist and the first local to receive an Academy Award.[3]

Early life

Sent by his father for art lessons since three,[2] Fong studied at the Savannah College of Art and Design after getting a diploma at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts; he graduated from the college in 1994.[3] Prior to him obtaining his master's degree in computer art at Savannah,[4] Fong studied at St Andrew's Secondary School. There, he was a "school dropout who flunked his exams every year."[3] His school's principal was quoted as telling Fong's mother:

Your son is useless. If he can find a job in McDonald's earning $1 an hour, please find him a job[3]

Early career in Japan

His first animation job was at Future Pirates in 1993,[1] a Japanese game developer based in Tokyo, where he worked in the computer graphics department[5] for a year.[1]

Early Short Films

Nickson's early films are heavily influenced by HR Giger and Hayao Miyazaki. In early 90s Nickson directed and produced "Screamscape" a CGI animated short film in collaboration with Dr. Seah Hock Soon (Professor School of Computer Engineering Nanyang Technological University) Special Thanks to Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. In 1994, Nickson started working on his graduation project "Dreamaker"[6] a CGI animated Short at Savannah College of Art and Design it was accepted at the Siggraph'96 Electronic Theater - Nickson Fong was the first student at Savannah College of Art Design to have an animated short film accepted at the Siggraph'96 Electronic Theater[7] competing with professional in the animation industry.

Hollywood career

An animated short film by Fong caught the attention of DreamWorks Animation when it was showcased at SIGGRAPH 1996,[3] an annual animation conference, and shortly after, he landed a job at DreamWorks.[1] From then on, he was based in Los Angeles, California.[2]

Now based in Taipei Republic of China,[8] and Los Angeles. Fong is known for co-inventing and publishing,[9] along with two others, in 2000,[8] an animating technique known as the "Pose Space Deformation",[10] which makes animated characters' features more lifelike.[11] This algorithm has been used widely in films, such as Spider-Man (2002)[3] and Avatar (2009).[8] and many other Hollywood films.[12] Fong was awarded with an Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Awards on February 9,[13][14] at the Academy of Sci-Tech Awards presentation.[8] Among many other films, Fong worked as Senior Technical Director for The Matrix Reloaded (2003),[15] as well as Starship Troopers (1997), Stuart Little (1999)[16] and Shrek (2001)[17] returned to Singapore and founded production company Egg Story Creative Production in 2004;[18] Fong decided to focus on content development and pre-production in 2009 and he established another production company, Egg Story Studios and Re'al Sandbox.[19]

He also founded Egg Story Digital Arts Academy [20] in July 2007;[21] it was sold in 2010 at its peak of 250 students and rebranded to ArtFusion Media.[22] One of Nickson's ongoing projects is Kung Fu Gecko (working title). An action romantic comedy set a millennium ago in China, it had a budget of roughly US$20[1]/30[18] million; a trailer being released in 2005,.[18]

Recognition and personal life

Fong has received the 2003 "Outstanding Alumni" award from the Savannah College of Arts and Design.[4]

At the National Day Rally 2004,[23] Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong praised Fong for his efforts.[24]

He has said that filmmaker Ray Harryhausen influenced him and ignited his interest in animation.[25]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Nickson Fong: Animation Maestro". Best Denki. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Lin, Rouwen (March 20, 2011). "A world with no sun". Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tai, Janice (January 24, 2013). "From school dropout to Academy Award winner". The Straits Times. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  4. 1 2 "SCAD honors Founders, alumni". Savannah Morning News. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Mentors - Nickson Fong". X Media Lab. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  6. ↑ http://www.singaporeupdate.com/previous2004/091104_animationcomesaliveatanimaxtion04_more.htm
  7. ↑ http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=253971
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Singaporean animator wins Academy Award". AsiaOne. January 21, 2013. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
  9. ↑ Ellingson, Annlee (January 4, 2013). "Academy names nine sci-tech awards". L.A. Biz. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
  10. ↑ J. P. Lewis; Matt Cordner; Nickson Fong. "Pose Space Deformation: A Unified Approach to Shape Interpolation and Skeleton-Driven Deformation" (PDF). Idiom. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
  11. ↑ Sperling, Nicole (January 3, 2013). "Academy to honor nine sci-tech film achievements at annual gala". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
  12. ↑ http://www.fxguide.com/featured/sci-tech-oscars-technical-coolness/
  13. ↑ Zahed, Ramin. "Academy Announces 9 Tech/Science Honorees". Animation.
  14. ↑ Giardina, Carolyn (January 3, 2013). "Lens Maker Cooke to Receive Sci-Tech Oscar". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
  15. ↑ GameAxis Unwired. 19. March 2005. p. 4. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. ↑ "Singapore Library Week at NLB: Get Inspired And Achieve More!". Singapore Libraries Bulletin Blog. January 9, 2008. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  17. ↑ Biblio Asia. 3. Singapore: National Library.
  18. 1 2 3 Frater, Patrick (January 7, 2011). "Two animation firms close in Singapore". Film Business Asia. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
  19. ↑ http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/12/prweb4886614.htm
  20. ↑ http://www.designsingapore.org/who_we_are/media_centre/media_releases/07-04-09/egg_story_launches_digital_art_academy.aspx
  21. ↑ "More from Organiser - Artfusion Media School". The Graduate Network. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
  22. ↑ http://www.emailwire.com/release/74925-ArtFusion-Media-School-Partners-with-Gonzo-Studio-to-Offer-Japanese-Animation-Training-in-Singapore.html
  23. ↑ "Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally Speech 2004 - Our Future of Opportunity and Promise". Retrieved February 1, 2013.
  24. ↑ "Interview with Nickson Fong". Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  25. ↑ Tan, Jeanine (May 23, 2007). "First to Hollywood, then to school". Channel News Asia. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
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