Do Something Big!
Meet Bryan
Bryan has left some BIG footsteps for future iD Tech Camps students to follow. He started out as an iD Tech Camps student at our California summer camps held at Stanford University, returned as an iD instructor in video game design and now works for Electronic Arts™, one of the largest gaming companies in the world! He credits iD Tech Camps with building the foundation for his career in visual effects and allowing him to explore many different avenues on the way to becoming an After Effects Editor at EA. He encourages future campers to keep an open mind and try as many different classes as they can while at camp. Read more about Bryan’s experiences and his suggestions for those who want a career in the video game industry and technology.
iD: How many seasons were you a student at iD Tech Camps?
Bryan: I discovered iD Tech Camps too late and was only able to attend for ONE season due to my age. But after my week at the Stanford summer camp, I was asked to return as an instructor.
iD: What courses have you taught over the years?
B: I was an instructor for Adventures in Game Design. I also taught what was then known as Video Effects – the current course is called Video Editing and Special Effects.
iD: What are your favorite things about our summer computer camp?
B: My favorite things about iD Tech Camps were the courses, locations, and instructors. Stanford is a beautiful campus and you feel privileged to attend a summer computer class there – especially for a young student who might only have started to think about their college career. The instructors were fun-loving, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable, which separates iD Tech Camps from the “ho-hum” feel of traditional summer camps/schools.
iD: Did coming to iD Tech Camps help you improve in other aspects of your life besides technology?
B: When I attended iD Tech Camps, my eyes opened up to the world of visual effects. At that time, I’d only seen commercials and movies and wondered “how?” But to go to iD Tech Camps and have an instructor with industry experience revealing the secrets behind those effects really inspired me to pursue a career in the field.
iD: Is iD a good place to make friends? Why?
B: iD Tech Camps is different from other summer camps. Instead of a collection of students from varying backgrounds, at iD everyone has a common interest – we all love technology. That really makes it easier to break the ice with each other because all you have to do is mention something you’re interested in and you’ll find a whole group of people who share your same tastes. Also, the counselors were always good at discovering specific interests of students and getting them to mingle with each other during lunch activities, etc.
iD: What college did you attend? What was your major?
B: I have attended multiple colleges, but the one I identify with the most is the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. During my three years there, I majored in Compositing and Visual Effects for Film. I graduated this past spring, getting recruited by EA just shy of a week before graduating.
iD: What are your goals? How has iD Tech Camps impacted these goals?
B: iD Tech Camps was the catalyst for my eventual career in visual effects. Before iD, I was experimenting with visual effects on my own, spending time in a studio that a mentor of mine let me use – but I had no direction. I pretty much just wanted to create light sabers from Star Wars® and that was about it. It wasn’t until my time at iD Tech Camps that I was shown the endless possibilities for visual effects and properly learned how to use the software I had been struggling to teach myself.
At an early age, I knew I wanted to work in the film industry. It started in middle school when I learned how to do simple animations on HyperStudio® then video editing in iMovie® and then finally learning how to combine the animations I created with my edited footage. iD Tech Camps inspired me and confirmed my beliefs that it was possible to find a spot for myself in this mysterious “behind the scenes” industry of film.
iD: What’s your favorite tech gadget?
B: Of all time? It would have to be the iPod®. I had an iPod before everyone thought it was cool. I have an aunt who works at Apple® and I was one of the first to get an iPod when they first broke the scene.
Currently though, it would have to be my DROID Incredible smart phone. That thing is amazing.
iD: What’s your favorite video game?
B: You can’t ask an avid gamer what his favorite video game is…It’s too hard of a question to answer when there are so many amazing games, both past and present, that each have their own awesome aspects.
iD: What’s the #1 way you communicate with your friends?
B: Facebook® or Xbox LIVE®.
iD: Any advice for future iD Tech Camps students?
B: For those future campers I say this: Don’t be afraid to try something different. Take different classes each time you attend camp. Keep an open mind when working in technology. It spans many spectrums and if you can learn a bit about everything, you’ll be that much more useful and successful when you get out into the real world, pushing the trends of technology forward.
iD: What is it like to have a career in the video game field with EA?
B: Working for EA is awesome. That’s the least I can say about it. The campus is beautiful and I’m surrounded by passionate, talented artists – I’ve even met a few of my video game developer heroes at EA. And best of all, we’re all geeky and love to just wallow in our geeky ways! We have parties on various days of the week to mingle and play each other’s games. It’s very satisfying to know you’re working on something that will be seen by millions of people.
Currently I’m working on the highly anticipated horror genre game Dead Space™ 2.
iD: Anything else you want to share with us?
B: I never imagined working in the video game industry. It actually never crossed my mind. I wanted to work in film, and I ended up pursuing that, getting a degree in it and ultimately working on a couple of feature length films in the process. But as I said in my advice to our future iD campers, you must have an open mind when working in technology. I did and my goals have steadily evolved over time. As mentioned, I first started out with animation with HyperStudio. Then I began editing film on iMovie and later more professionally with Final Cut Pro®. Later I combined the two and I knew I wanted to become a compositor. I pursued compositing, but it lacked a certain creativity. Compositing is more of creative problem solving, not creative direction, and I missed that from my work.
So I ended up branching out into motion graphics, pursuing it more during my last two years in college. I had a knack for it, and ended up winning an award for one of my projects (http://www.vimeo.com/6873158). This, along with the impression I made on my instructors helped me get my job at EA doing motion graphic work.
Check out some of the cool courses Bryan mentioned. Register early and do something big with iD this summer!
