Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/297945
26 Post • April 2014 www.postmagazine.com human, the Torson Humanoid, for the health and fitness industry. He was used to demon- strate physical fitness routines and the mus- cular skeletal system down to the millimeter. I cut my teeth in in that job. We cranked out models and motion under the briefing of physiotherapists and personal trainers. Not the greatest height of creativity, but a chal- lenge all the same. From there, I worked a variety of teach- ing and digital content creation jobs, and did some film work at cgCharacter in the Adelaide Hills. That sharpened my skills enough for a role at Rising Sun Pictures. I star ted as a technical director in 2005 on Charlotte's Web. They must have been happy with what I did, because it is now 2014 and I am still here. Evan MangiaMElE Sound Designer/Mixer Heard City new York City www.heardcity.com I started playing music at an early age, tak- ing piano lessons from when I was five, and then moving to a drum set, classical percus- sion and guitar. I always enjoyed playing music, but I found the production of music particularly fascinating. I remember when I heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for the first time; I knew conceptually that music was recorded somehow, but the realization that it was someone's (Butch Vig and Andy Wallace) job to engineer and mix music is what really intrigued me. My first audio-related jobs were in college. I interned at the beautiful, but now closed, Allaire Studios in Shokan, NY, and also worked as an assistant to the chief engineer for the SUNY Fredonia sound recording studios, Greg Snow. I also worked various freelance live sound gigs, in addition to doing live sound for our campus live sound club, Sound Services. Working in live sound was so important for me; nothing teaches you how to troubleshoot faster than live sound. After I graduated from SUNY Fredonia with my BS in Sound Recording technology, I started an internship at Sound Lounge, which eventually led to a machine room position. In joining Heard City, I had the oppor tu- nity to be a par t of a new company with a group of people whom I have immense respect for and confidence in. The thing I like most about Heard City is the collaborative environment — ever yone has unique strengths and we routinely work together on projects that present distinct challenges. You don't see this kind of behavior very often in our industry. My most rewarding and challenging projects thus far have been with several of Apple's product launch vid- eos, with the amazing team in Cuper tino. Apple has a high level of attention to detail and polish that goes into their product design, and that's also evident within their marketing effor ts. Starting as his assistant for about three- and-a-half years, Phil Loeb (Heard City's president/partner) has made a huge impact on me. I am extremely grateful to him. He's been a huge advocate and mentor to me throughout my career. I could not have pre- dicted my career trajectory to this point, but I'm happy that the path I've been on has taken me to Heard. TrEnT JoHnSon Colorist Colorworks Culver City, Ca www.sonypicturesstu- dios.com As a child, I had many favorite television shows. I remember thinking that I was prob- ably watching too much television, and that somehow I should turn this interest into a career. When I was 14, I bought a Super 8 camera and began making my own movies. In college, I studied film and television. I gradu- ated in 1982 and moved to Los Angeles, and got my first job at Complete Post, a video post production facility. Like many others, I started in the tape library. It was an opportunity to observe and learn. I liked the editorial process quite a bit, but was also intrigued by the telecine bay we had. I started helping out, threading the Rank and the mag machine for the colorist, Chris Devlin. He let me train on the gear and gave me some sage advice: "Make it look good." We did a lot of dailies for TV shows, anima- tion, commercials and movie transfers. Then the company opened a second telecine bay and hired a second colorist. One day he called in sick, and they let me do a transfer. That was the start. Pretty soon I was working the night shift. Less than a year later, I was working days, color- ing the dailies for Fame. When I look back, I realize that Complete Post was a special place. It was owned by a group of millionaires who started it to do the editorial for Hee Haw. It began with two edit bays and grew fast. The company was making money, but the owners didn't want the profit, they wanted a tax write off, so every dollar was rolled into new equipment. It became a large, diverse company with a talented crew. A typical day would begin at six in the morning. You would work on the dailies for your show until 10am or 11am, and then you'd flip over and do something completely different — maybe a cartoon, or a movie, or a music video. The animation I worked on (Disney, Hanna-Barbera, Marvel) was very important for my skills, where I learned how to balance color consistently. I did quite a bit of editing too. Every day was a different combination. Today, I'm at Colorworks on the lot in Culver City, where I continue to work on interesting projects including, recently, Think Like a Man Too, Deliver Us From Evil and Mil- lion Ways to Die. As I look back, I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to work on so many different things. An audio suite at Heard, where Evan Mangiamele is a mixer. Getting Started