Jalloo Guest Speakers
Erika Evans
Head of Production Ericka Evans is an award-winning producer and partner at Phantom Compass Inc, with over 15 years of experience in the Canadian media industry. She is passionate about entrepreneurship, over-sharing and getting stuff done. A graduate with honours from Sheridan College’s Media Arts Program, Ericka worked as a writer, director and producer with TVOntario for over six years. She was recognized in 2006 with a Gemini Award for her preschool show, “Gisèle’s Big Backyard”. In 2007, Ericka decided to shake things up and made the jump to video games. She worked as a Producer for a console game developer in St. Catharines, Ontario and also took on the new title "Mommy" later that same year. In 2011, Ericka was welcomed into the spunky indie game development team at Phantom Compass. As a partner and Head of Production, she combines her previous TV and game production experience with her new superpower of audit preparedness to help make happy clients and produce award-winning games like "Rollers of the Realm." Luke Conrad
CEO / Owner Luke started out as a basic animator but back in 2003 he started renovating an old farmhouse a half hour outside of Halifax and started up Cartoon Conrad - The Animation Farm. Winning battles against squirrels and raccoons he claimed the building and created an award winning animation studio that has recently started to make the move from service-styled work and into production of their own original IP. Tara Audibert
Owner Tara Audibert is a renaissance woman and has been creating art since she was old enough to steal the permanent marker she used to draw windows on her pink puppy wallpaper, which much to her parents dismay was the age of 2. Continuing this destructive period, Tara continued to create art in all forms including animating for over a decade on TV shows for WB and Teletoon (Johnny Test, Delilah & Julius, Olliver’s Adventures, Zoom) and written & illustrated the children’s book Matthew Loses His Laugh. She has illustrated several comics concerning Aboriginal Issues (River Run, Lost Innocence, A Pre-Historic Race, Making it Right). Her love of art has led her to continue her education throughout her career, moving from animation, to learning fine art at NSCAD, and continuing on to her Certificate in Adult Education, instructing in Animation and Graphic Design and becoming an Animation Producer/Director and starting her own independent animation and comic studio: Moxy Fox Studio. Tara is currently in production of her indie short animated film entitled The Importance of Dreaming, which is inspired by the Abanaki legend of the same name and based on actual events from her life concerning forbidden love, children of mixed race and Alzheimer’s. The Importance of Dreaming will be completed in 2016. You can find links to Tara’s works via moXyFoX.wordpress.com. Alex Branch
Character Builds Supervisor Alex is currently lead builds artist at Copernicus Studios and an NBCC alumni. Although Alex has only been working in the animation industry for 2 years he has dabbled in course ware/ website design and managed to find multiple ways of preparing a character for animation in many different programs which led him to work on the Disney television show Pickle and Peanut. What lies ahead for this enthusiast of the craft? no one knows for sure but he intends to find out Rod Butler
Policy Analyst As the Policy Analyst at the Canada Media Fund, Rod is responsible for developing CMF program guidelines and policies and analysing legal and regulatory issues that impact the CMF. Prior to joining the CMF, Rod worked at the Writers Guild of Canada, eOne and, in another life, was an insurance defence lawyer. Lauren Cruikshank
Professor Media Arts and Culture Lauren Cruikshank is a professor from the Media Arts and Cultures program in the Department of Culture and Language Studies at the University of New Brunswick- Fredericton. She has been doing research in the academic field of game studies for over a decade, with a specific focus on avatars and aspects of virtual embodiment. She has developed courses on games and gameplay, digital culture, social media, gender and media, television and popular culture in the Media Arts and Cultures program at UNB. She is also is in the process of developing a game studies research group and an interactive media laboratory on the UNB campus to further advance the academic study of games here in Atlantic Canada. Ron Doucet
Animation Director Ron has been an animation director for 15 years. He began at Collideacope Digital in Halifax in 1999, working on one of the first shows ever to use Flash for television animation. Since then he’s supervised various animated series for Warner Brothers, Nickelodeon, YTV, and Telethon for shows including Johnny Test, Wild Grinders, Delilah & Julius, Speed Racer, Busytown Mysteries, and most recently he’s just begun supervising season 4 of Cartoon Networks’ #1 show: Teen Titans Go. Ben Durrell
Animation Supervisor Ben Durrell has been working in the animation industry of Nova Scotia for 9 years, gaining experience in both Flash and Harmony pipelines. Previous shows include Delilah and Julius, Speed Racer, Garth and Bev, Wildgrinders, Bravoman, Teen Titans Go, and most recently supervising animation on Disney's Pickle and Peanut. Jon Festinger QC
Adjunct Professor of Law "Video Game Law" - Jon Festinger, Q.C. (LL.B., B.C.L. 1980 McGill University) is a Vancouver, British Columbia based counsel and educator. He is an SFU Professor of Professional Practice and a faculty member of the Centre for Digital Media (http://thecdm.ca). Jon has taught media, entertainment and communications law topics at the UBC Faculty of Law for over two decades, as well as teaching at various times at the UBC Graduate School of Journalism, the Thompson Rivers University Faculty of Law and the University of Victoria Faculty of Law. He is the author of the first edition of “Video Game Law” published by LexisNexis in 2005, co-author of the 2nd Edition published in 2012 (http://www.lexisnexis.com/store/ca/catalog/booktemplate/productdetail.jsp?prodId=prd-cad-01004), “Guest Editor” and author of “Introductory Essay: Digital Media, Video Games, and the Law” a special issue of the University of British Columbia Law Review at (2013) 46:3 UBC L Rev 615, and the author of “Mapping the Electronic Highway: A Survey of Domestic and International Law Issues” at (1995) 29:2 UBC L Rev 199. Shaun Mahoney
Game Developer Shaun Mahoney is the founder of Hard Chill Games. He is a Software Engineer with a career that has spanned several industries and continents, including over 9 years as a professional game developer. After working with EA in Vancouver and HB Studios in Lunenburg, Shaun founded Hard Chill Games in 2014 to develop his vision of what video games can be. Jeff Mundee
Game Designer Jeff Mundee has worked in the video game industry for over ten years starting in Vancouver with Factory1 Games, learning the ropes of game design and environment modelling as an intern. He then worked with Electronic Arts for three years as a motion capture specialist, and was involved in the production of animation for many EA games. Most notably, Fight Night Round 3, FIFA, Dragon Age, Skate, Dead Space, and Need For Speed. He then became a mission designer at United Front Games where he worked on Sleeping Dogs for Activision, later published by Square Enix. For five years he taught many game design courses at Art Institute of Vancouver. This involved mentoring of hundreds of students in various disciplines, many of whom are now professionals in the industry themselves. While teaching, he worked on several independent projects including Red Rolling Hood with Holy Mountain Games. He continues to teach several game design courses for UNB's MAAC program and is the Game Design Director at Cold Furnace Studios. Kirsten Tomlinson
President/CEO Kirsten began her media career 14 years ago as a freelance production assistant on hectic live action television and movie sets. Not satisfied with the real world drama of the movie business and craving the sort of creative absurdity one could only find amongst unwashed animators, she made the move to become a production coordinator at Collideascope Digital Productions in Halifax. In the animation world she had the opportunity to work on numerous award winning and critically acclaimed series as she scaled the monkey bars upwards earning more responsibility as an associate producer, and eventually as a producer. Loved by her crew, and integral to the successful planning and execution of tight budgets and schedules, Kirsten learned a lot about the artistic process and how to organize large teams of creative individuals towards a common goal by building stable productions and fostering an atmosphere of respect, teamwork, and productivity. Always up for a new challenge, Kirsten decided to leave the industry she loved to take on a new role as a video game Producer for HB Studios in Lunenburg. She accepted the challenge of learning an entirely different production model in a new technology sector, quickly rising to the role of Senior Project Manager. During her time with HB Kirsten successfully produced a number of world-class console games with top clients from around the gaming world, and helped the company expand their business while managing numerous productions at two separate facilities. After experiencing work-life in a large gaming facility, Kirsten decided to make a sideways swing into a smaller boutique gaming and e-learning environment. Acting as Senior Production Manager for Raised Media, she has immersed herself in the world of education based games and online branding, all the while learning how to make a smaller company perform like a well oiled multi-national brand. Kirsten’s in depth and rounded work experience in media, television, feature films and games gives her a stunning array of skills and attributes any client will find indispensable. She has evolved her career towards serving the interests of her clients and her craft, and she represents the missing link between left-brain artistic creatives and goal-focused executives. Kirsten’s professional, positive attitude and her infectious humour make her a joy to work with, and we are proud and fortunate to have her as Fourth Monkey’s top banana. Mark Wheeler
CEO Arrive Violently. Mark Wheeler, CEO of Cold Furnace Studios, is a currently serving member of the Canadian Armed Forces. With his background in military leadership, as well as combat experience, Mark has thrown himself out of a few airplanes, and smashed his lips off the ground. Mark has been deployed in several international conflicts, including multiple tours to Afghanistan as well as the Balkans. He runs a tight ship, seeks realism, and quality in video games. He uses his experience to deliver amazing games, and run an amazing team, Cold Furnace Studios. |
So how do YOU Jalloo?
© 2016 Jalloo Foundation
© 2016 Jalloo Foundation
