Nickson Fong

Nickson Fong (born 1969)[2] is a Singaporean computer graphics artist and the first Singaporean to receive an Academy Award.[3]

Nickson Fong
Born
Nickson Fong

(1969-11-01) November 1, 1969
Singapore
NationalitySingapore
Other names"Egg"[1]
CitizenshipSingaporean
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Filmmaker, Director, VFX Supervisor
Years active1993–present
Employers

Centropolis (CFX)

ESC Entertainment (The Matrix movie VFX production company)
Known for
Notable work"Pose Space Deformation" animation technique
Awards1 Academy Award

Early life

Sent by his father for art lessons since three,[2] Fong studied at the Savannah College of Art and Design after getting a diploma at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts; he graduated from the college in 1994.[3] Prior to him obtaining his master's degree in computer art at Savannah,[4] Fong studied at Saint Andrew's Secondary School. There, he was a "school dropout who flunked his exams every year."[3] His school's principal was quoted as telling Fong's mother:

Your son is useless. If he can find a job in McDonald's earning $1 an hour, please find him a job[3]

Career

Early career in Japan

Fong's first animation job was at Future Pirates in 1993,[1] a Japanese game developer based in Tokyo, where he worked in the computer graphics department[5] for a year.[1]

Early short films

Fong's early films are heavily influenced by HR Giger and Hayao Miyazaki. In early 90s Nickson directed and produced "Screamscape" a CGI animated short film in collaboration with Dr. Seah Hock Soon (Professor School of Computer Engineering Nanyang Technological University) Special Thanks to Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. In 1994, Fong started working on his graduation project "Dreamaker"[6] a CGI animated Short at Savannah College of Art and Design it was accepted at the Siggraph'96 Electronic Theater - Nickson Fong was the first student at Savannah College of Art Design to have an animated short film accepted at the Siggraph'96 Electronic Theater[7] competing with professional in the animation industry.

Hollywood career

An animated short film by Fong caught the attention of DreamWorks Animation when it was showcased at SIGGRAPH 1996,[3] an annual animation conference, and shortly after, he landed a job at DreamWorks.[1] From then on, he was based in Los Angeles, California.[2]

Now based in Taipei Republic of China,[8] and Los Angeles. Fong is known for co-inventing and publishing,[9] along with two others, in 2000,[8] an animating technique known as the "Pose Space Deformation",[10] which makes animated characters' features more lifelike.[11] This algorithm has been used widely in films, such as Spider-Man (2002)[3] and Avatar (2009).[8] and many other Hollywood films.[12] Fong was awarded with an Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Awards on February 9,[13][14] at the Academy of Sci-Tech Awards presentation.[8] Among many other films, Fong worked as Senior Technical Director for The Matrix Reloaded (2003),[15] as well as Starship Troopers (1997), Stuart Little (1999)[16] and Shrek (2001)[17] returned to Singapore and founded production company Egg Story Creative Production in 2004;[18] Fong decided to focus on content development and pre-production in 2009 and he established another production company, Egg Story Studios and Re'al Sandbox.[19]

Fong also founded Egg Story Digital Arts Academy [20] in July 2007;[21] it was sold in 2010 at its peak of 250 students and rebranded to ArtFusion Media.[22] One of Fong's ongoing projects is Kung Fu Gecko (working title). An action romantic comedy set a millennium ago in China, it had a budget of roughly US$20[1]/30[18] million; a trailer being released in 2005,.[18]

In 2018, he began directing the horror movie Bashira,[23] which was released on 2021


Current works

Nickson has partnered with TectonicTales and has revived Kung Fu Gecko. Kung Fu Gecko is in works to be one of the first Hollywood animations to be released as an NFT. Fong is opening up the creative aspects; story telling, art and animation as a part of the NFT's utility.

Recognition and personal life

Fong has received the 2003 "Outstanding Alumni" award from the Savannah College of Arts and Design.[4]

At the National Day Rally 2004,[24] Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong praised Fong for his efforts.[25]

He has said that filmmaker Ray Harryhausen influenced him and ignited his interest in animation.[26]

Nov 13, 2021 - “Bashira” received the distinguished Golden Stake Award ahead of its screening at North America’s Shockfest Film Festival.

Nov 16, 2021 - “Bashira” Best Picture Winner At Bleedingham Horror Film Festival.

Nov 30, 2021- “Bashira” won Best Original Soundtrack at the Terror Molins International Film Festival.

Dec 11, 2021 - “Bashira” nominated for Best Feature at North America’s Shockfest Film Festival.

Dec 24, 2021 - “Bashira” Won Best Visual Effects Award At Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre Horror Film Festival

References
  1. "Nickson Fong: Animation Maestro". Best Denki. Archived from the original on June 12, 2013. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  2. Lin, Rouwen (March 20, 2011). "A world with no sun". Archived from the original on September 10, 2013. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  3. Tai, Janice (January 24, 2013). "From school dropout to Academy Award winner". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 2013-01-27. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  4. "SCAD honors Founders, alumni". Savannah Morning News. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
  5. "Mentors - Nickson Fong". X Media Lab. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  6. "AnimaXtion 04 - Featuring AnimaXtion Fair & AnimaXtion Symposium". www.getforme.com. Archived from the original on 2006-05-22. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
  7. Ming, Wei; Fong, Nickson (1 January 1996). "Dreamaker". ACM SIGGRAPH 96 Visual Proceedings: The art and interdisciplinary programs of SIGGRAPH '96 on - SIGGRAPH '96. ACM. pp. 178. doi:10.1145/253607.253971. ISBN 978-0897917841 – via dl.acm.org.
  8. "Singaporean animator wins Academy Award". AsiaOne. January 21, 2013. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
  9. Ellingson, Annlee (January 4, 2013). "Academy names nine sci-tech awards". L.A. Biz. Archived from the original on 2013-11-11. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
  10. J. P. Lewis; Matt Cordner; Nickson Fong. "Pose Space Deformation: A Unified Approach to Shape Interpolation and Skeleton-Driven Deformation" (PDF). Idiom. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-01-08. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
  11. Sperling, Nicole (January 3, 2013). "Academy to honor nine sci-tech film achievements at annual gala". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2013-01-20. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
  12. "Sci-Tech Oscars: technical coolness". 5 February 2013. Archived from the original on 2018-08-03. Retrieved 2018-09-26.
  13. Zahed, Ramin. "Academy Announces 9 Tech/Science Honorees". Animation. Archived from the original on 2013-01-09. Retrieved 2013-01-28.
  14. Giardina, Carolyn (January 3, 2013). "Lens Maker Cooke to Receive Sci-Tech Oscar". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2013-01-20. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
  15. "There ARE creative people around!". GameAxis Unwired. Vol. 19. March 2005. p. 4.
  16. "Singapore Library Week at NLB: Get Inspired And Achieve More!". Singapore Libraries Bulletin Blog. January 9, 2008. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  17. Biblio Asia. Vol. 3. Singapore: National Library.
  18. Frater, Patrick (January 7, 2011). "Two animation firms close in Singapore". Film Business Asia. Archived from the original on 2013-08-26. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
  19. "Fuzeinc Partners with Asia for International Co-productions". Archived from the original on 2013-11-09. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
  20. "Egg Story Digital Arts Academy". Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
  21. "More from Organiser - Artfusion Media School". The Graduate Network. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
  22. "ArtFusion Media School Partners with Gonzo Studio to Offer Japanese Animation Training in Singapore". Archived from the original on 2013-10-03. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
  23. "Horror film 'Bashira' shooting in Buffalo, creating local jobs". News WBFO. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  24. "Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally Speech 2004 - Our Future of Opportunity and Promise". Retrieved February 1, 2013.
  25. "Interview with Nickson Fong". Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  26. Tan, Jeanine (May 23, 2007). "First to Hollywood, then to school". Channel News Asia. Archived from the original on 2008-05-15. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
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