Note
From Viviana:
"Ya know, its really hard to write about yourself, specially
when you are going through a career limbo. But here is the best
I can do about my background and where I think I may be headed."
Viviana
Palacios got her first taste of computers back in High School.
She attended a magnet program called CMA ( center for the media
arts) at South Miami Sr. High. Here, she created computer graphics
on programs such as Targa, Tips, Lumena, and ProLumena. During
her senior year in her AP CMA class, she applied to 3 colleges:
Pratt in NY, Otis/Parsons in LA, and Ringling School of Art and
Design in Fl. She was accepted to all 3, and after visiting all
3 colleges, she decided to stay in Fl and attend Ringling.
At
Ringling she majored in computer animation, and minored in photography.
She graduated with honors, and was given various awards for her
animations and photographs. After her 4th year at RSAD, she was
recruited by VIFX, and moved to LA to kick-off her career in the
world of visual effects.
Her
stay at VIFX took her through 2 feature films as a 3D technical
Director: Jingle All the Way, and Volcano. After
VIFX, she went on to work at fledgling f/x house: Sony Imageworks,
as a 3D Technical Director and worked on Contact.
Her
contract with Imageworks was up with the release of Contact.
At the time, a dark cloud of uncertainty had settled over visual
effects, and she was out of work for about 7 months. It was during
this long period, when Viviana had gathered the information from
dozens of companies: contact names, phone numbers and urls - that
were used to launch Ask Dr. Clam.
Landing
a job at South Park as a character animator, she decided
to continue to build upon Ask Dr. Clam. At the time, Ask Dr. Clam
was just a database of company listings with contact names, addresses,
and phone numbers. It wasnt, until a few months later that Lance
Powell, encouraged Viviana to expand on the site, and Ask
Dr. Clam soon became The Job Squad.
The
Site was a hit.
" I was so excited to get emails from so many people asking
me about my experiences and thanking me for the site. I really
got addicted to wanting to help my fellow peers, and make the
site even better!".
After
South Park, Viviana found herself at Rhythm & Hues Studios,
here she freelances on and off for over 4 years working on titles
like: Babe 2: Pig in the city, Mystery Men, Stuart
Little 1 & 2 , MIB 2, Xmen 2, Garfield and a
few others. Still her home away from home, Rhythm & Hues provided
to be her first love, yet the call to exert more creative control
took over.
Magnet
Interactive beckoned her call for creative freedom. She was given
the chance to exert her creative skills as a designer and a flash
animator. At Magnet, she was the lead designer for the Nissan
and Infiniti website, both which won awards for best user experience.
While
at Magnet, Lance and Viviana again felt that they should take
The Job Squad to the next level. After many months of research,
arguing and debate: The ScratchPost was born.
After
a few more years of returning back to FX, and at the end of her
contract at R&H on Garfield, Deutsch LA called. They
offered Viviana an Art Director position, to work with high profle
clients such as: TGI Fridays, Coors, Mitsubishi, Real California
Cheese and Mexicali.
With
such a great opportunity, she is currently a freelancing artist
at Deutsch, until the next creative opportunity comes knocking
at her door.
Viviana's
thoughts on production:
Production is not easy, if you want to get ahead, keep in mind
you have to pay your dues. It's common to work 7 days a week for
2 months straight in the fx world. So if you would like to have
a social life, i suggest you find a different field. You do, however
get a chance to work with some of the most inspiring minds in
the field, and THAT is definitelly worth the time spent in the
office.
I consider myself lucky, that I have been able to go between fx
and web, and along the way I have met some of the most creative,
fun, brilliant people, i would like to call family.
