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Could you please start off by introducing yourself and giving us a little background information pertaining to your current job/role, and your background in the industry?
I sure can. My name is Jeff Virgen and I am a young and passionate person that is right to kick the door down for the film & gaming industry. I attended a technical school to receive my Associates in Multimedia and a Bachelor in Digital Game Design. As of right now I am involved and responsible for several roles in the “multimedia” industry. I started out as an intern for Zillion Media, and after proving myself as a responsible, dedicated and creative I quickly moved up the ranks as Jr. Partner. At the same time I was moving proving myself, I was working at a high school in Ceres as a Paraprofessional and web master for Argus High School & Endeavor High. I continued my path in the multimedia industry to gain more knowledge and experience. I quickly found a web designer position with the Stockton Record. A leading newspaper with cutting edge news online, I quickly build my friends ship with the three other internet department that I consider as my best friends. There I would continue expanding my knowledge as I learned internet standards put on by Dow Jones and Yahoo. I also provided web support for several clients and designed and developed multiple websites. I am always continuing to work hard to reach my ultimate goal as an animator for any major film studio company, particularly Pixar Studios and/or ILM.When did you decide to go after a career in the cg industry? After high school, college, or earlier?
Since I was in 3rd grade, I always knew that I wanted to work as an animator or artist for Walt Disney. But the movie that changed everything was Jurassic Park. When I saw those life-like dinosaurs moving around on the screen, it just blew my mind away. One night I saw how they brought the dinosaurs to life, I knew that is exactly what I wanted to do. But this was only for CG and Visual Effects. What made me decide on 3D animation was Pixar’s Toy Story. That movie captured the child inside me and reminded me of how fun life can be.Did college prepare you to enter into the industry?
Yes and No. I was very disappointed with the school after quickly finding out that everything that my rep told me wasn’t true. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me from getting ready for my career. I knew exactly what I wanted and if that meant for me to teach myself a lot of things that the school couldn’t provide then I would. But after looking back, I did realize that the school did teach me a couple of things. They taught me how to overcome obstacles. The world is sometimes a strange place and you should always expect some time of obstacle to stand in your way of achieving your goals. They also taught me to never expected answers. That sometimes we have to look deep inside of ourselves to find answer that we seek. Only then can we answer the many questions in our lives and our careers.Why do you think it was important to get a degree for your field of choice, why not just jump into your field?
Well not only are you creating the network that will help get your name out there in the industry but I am a true believe of expanding your education, the better chance you have at being noticed. Lets face it, a lot of companies are looking at those that have a Bachelor degree or higher. I see the degree as a paper that will help draw attention to your resume. But what it truly comes down to it is your portfolio and what you can actually do.What do you like the most about the school you went to?
The first thing was the teachers. They did an awesome job at challenging ourselves and helping us figure out if this is truly what we want to do. They supported us in every way and encouraged us to always reach our goals. They were aware of those that were advanced and allowed us the freedom to push forward, instead of holding us back from our true potential. For what they go through, they should be awarded for all their hard work.Now that you are done with school, what sort of lessons did you learn?
Like I mentioned before, we cannot expect someone to always give us the answer we need. We have to find the answers our selves. I also learned that we all have our limitations and in order for us to be successful we have to control and organize our time, so that we can meet our deadlines.How did you get your "foot' in the door? How did you get started in the industry?
I was able to seek out a company from Stockton, Zillion Media, Inc., and offered to intern. I started out with simply capturing footage into the editing system. Then I moved to applying transitions and lower 3rd tags for a self defense video. After that I worked on my first project by myself for a fall of fame video and editing a commercial for the San Joaquin Fair. This commercial included a spot for the Winner’s Circle for the Kentucky Derby. From there I took off and got involved with other areas of the industry. From designs to 3D animations.What type of projects were you involved in as an intern?
As an intern I captured and edited two hall of fame videos, four commercial spots for the San Joaquin Fair, a Winner’s circle commercial, and designed a couple of creative advertisement packages for Nascar and Zillion Media. I was also involved with creating a documentary to help stop growth in Stockton California.Are you working on anything now?
Yes and I am very excited to say that I am working on designing several websites. One is my own website. The second is a website for my oldest brother for his portfolio. I am also working on redesigning a website for a dermatology client. I am still working with Zillion Media as we venture into the world of HD and CG compositing. But the most exciting one by far is that I am currently working with a celebrity DJ from Toronto, Canada. I’ve always been a huge fan of DJ Danny D from the Z103.5 radio station (http://www.z1035.com). I have contacted him several times as a fan. But one day after he launched his Myspace Profile (http://www.myspace.com/djdannydonline), I emailed him, offering to design his profile for him. He agreed and the rest is history. Now that his profile is done, we are working on other projects, which at this time we both agreed to not say much in public. But what I can say is that we will be working on designing and developing a website for his record label. As soon as we can, we will be announcing our projects.Obviously you are doing a lot of projects. So that means you must know a lot of programs?
Through the years I have gotten to know a lot of programs. Because of all my interests and career choice I needed to know all the programs that are out there that are being used as an industry standard. I learned how to use: Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, Photoshop, Illustrator, Compression Master, Soundtrack, Maya, 3DS Max, MotionBuilder, Shake, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premier, After Effects, LiveType, Motion, SoundTrack, and the list goes on and on. I think it is important to familarize yourself with as much software as you can, because if you only focus on one program or one area of the industry, you narrow your chance at other opportunities. This only limits you from other success. If you think about it, by expanding your knowledge it will only benefit yourself, because you open up other paths of career choices.If someone wants to follow a similar path, or is trying to figure out what they need to know as far as software goes, what would you recommend? Hardware?
Well like I mentioned before, it's always good to extend your horizon expanding your knowledge. If you want to get into web design, first of all you need to understand the coding of HTML and CSS. Once you have that down, you want to use Dreamweaver to help you in designing and developing your website. And if you want to extend that further, you want to learn Flash to bring dynamic and interactive elements to your site.Any graphic designs, whether it is for print, web, texturing, film or gaming, Photoshop or Illustrator is commonly used.
If you are interested in CG for film or gamin, you should get to know 3DS Max, Maya, MotionBuilder, and XSI. For particle & dynamics, RealFlow and Endorphin.
With CG compositing, the industry uses programs such as Shake (Only available for Macs), Inferno, Flame, Combustion, and even Smoke.
If you could pick which job you would like to do, what would it be?
At first I wouldn’t hesitate to tell you that I would love to have a position as an animator. But since I’ve been involved with CG compositing and vfx, I would also be interested in composting scenes together. So I wouldn’t mind working in either the animation department or the compositing/vfx department.Your Instructors all brought up that you were one of the very few that was advanced as a student, passionate at what you do, and stood out the most. Do you agree with them?
Because I am very confident in myself, I would have to agree. But it is important to be able to stand out the most. No matter what type of industry you are working in, you will always have tons of people going after the same position. It is a very competitive world out their and if you can stand out from a group or a bundle of resumes, then you will have a better chance at getting hired. Remember there will always be someone out their that is just as skilled if not better skilled then you are, but if you stand out as person, you will still have a better chance at being noticed.If you could give a piece of advice to the next generation of visionaries, what would it be?
Well if you are just starting out, you have to understand that in order for you to reach your goals, you have to expect to make a lot of sacrifices. You will be spending a lot of nights working on projects to help you achieve your dreams. And most importantly, don’t just focus on one area of your field. You will only limit your opportunity at a various range of success.
Is there anything else you would like to say?
I just want to thank everyone that has helped and supported me through my journey to reach my dreams. I can not thank my parents enough for all the sacrifices they made for me to have a chance at success with my education and for life. My teachers were awesome and I want to thank them for the freedom and support they gave me through the endless years at my school. Also a thank you for Rob Solari for being both mentor in life and a class A friend. And last but diffently not least, I want to thank DJ Danny D for giving me a chance to work with him and prove my skills, experience and talents that is being successful for him.