Zac Cavalieros short film, The Frank Job,' showcasing the cinematographers skills as a character animator was Reel 13s voters choice this week, earning it a slot on national broadcast television on Thirteen-WNETs Saturday evening line up. The films storyline is a new twist on the classic tale of Frankenstein, with the lead character, an inept yet determined mad scientist, artfully crafted by Cavaliero into an animated character with features befitting his eccentric personality.
The scientists erratic, off-kilter personality is personified by exaggerated facial articulation - with Zac's innovate use of perspective and camera angles bringing dimension and visual interest to the film. The story unfolds in an elaborately detailed and propped laboratory environment where the protagonist, despite his best efforts, unsuccessfully attempts to bring his creation to life.
A graduate of Ringling College of Art and Design with a BFA in Computer Animation, and awarded Best of Ringling Honors, Zac Cavaliero created the short film in 2011 as his Senior Year Thesis.
Cavaliero developed the concept and put the original storyboard in animatic form, to create rough timing story beats. He did the character design, animation, modeling, texturing and rigging, and well as the environment modeling and texturing, nCloth Simulations, effects and lighting. After fine-tuning all of the 3D assets and environments in Maya, he worked on developing dynamic camera angles to improve upon the original animatic and tweaked the articulation and details.
Manhattan born and raised, he made the move to Los Angeles to pursue his career just weeks after graduating. An urbanite, totally unprepared for the realities of West Coast life - or its mass transit system - Zacs first time behind the wheel of a car was with a driving instructor in West Hollywood. Six lessons later he got his license and the next day he bought a used beater and drove to an interview.
Currently a layout artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, he just finished working on their newest animated feature, Big Hero 6, slated to be release this November. Cavaliero came to the position at the Oscar award-winning studio after being selected as one of three applicants offered a place in its coveted Apprentice Artist Program in November of 2013.
A multi-disciplined talent with a mastery of a wide range of skills, he soon discovered his passion for camera layout, shot choreography, and cinematography. His strengths in this area led to a succession of work on big budget feature films: He was recruited to work on Fast & Furious 7 (2015, Universal Picture) in June of 2013 as a Previz shot creator, animator and FX artist, working on location with director James Wan. During late 2012 and 2013. he was brought onboard at The Third Floor Inc./LA as a Previz artist to work on a number of feature films, including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, (Twentieth Century Fox,) Men In Black 3, (Columbia Pictures,) and Jack And The Giant Slayer, (New Line Cinema.)
I really enjoy being part of the pre-production phase of a film, choreographing the action of a scene, laying it out and getting in on camera, says Cavaliero. Helping develop the blueprint for a scene and following the vision through to the live action shoot where its brought to life, gives me an opportunity to use a mix of my skills, while learning more about the production side of things at the same time.
Cavalieros talents as Previz shot creator and animator were tapped by the gaming industry for Bungie/Activisions new video game, Destiny, which recently premiered to rave reviews at this years annual E3 Conference. He also did character animation on FX-driven iPhone Apps for feature films, such as Sony Animations Arthur Christmas and a storybook App titled Mikas Adventure (Zulka Inc. /LA.)
The computer animation department at Ringling was an amazing training ground, says Cavaliero There was a lot of emphasis on creativity and developing my voice as an artist. I not only learned to be proficient on a wide range of equipment, but also how to think out of the box and push the technology as a tool for innovative creative problem solving. It was a grueling curriculum that I didnt fully appreciate until I was in a professional environment, where I discovered that I was able to perform with a level of confidence that freed me to focus on raising the creative bar, rather then getting up to speed.
A true generalists, his in depth knowledge and innovative use of a wide range of equipment, (including Autodesk Maya, Pixars Renderman, V-Ray and Mental Ray, to name a few,) continues to attract work for a high profile and diverse mix of projects.
Straight out of Ringling, Zac cut his teeth on a number of national commercials and short form content for the award-winning studio Mirada/LA, before broadening his scope and breaking into feature films and other arenas. His early spot work also included lead character designer and lead modeler/texture and rigger for the POGO Online Games Ad, and Previz, animation and modeling for the Playstation Video Game commercial, F1 All-Stars - both out of Create Advertising/LA.
Cavaliero continues to seek out a variety of work that expands his scope of experience and gives him an opportunity to pursue his passion for his craft.
It was exciting just to learn that over 1100 viewer saw my animated senior thesis - and the fact that they voted for The Frank Job, and it will air on national broadcast television is amazing, says Cavaliero. For me its all about storytelling - learning all I can about every facet of filmmaking, creating visual stories that exceed every clients expectations - and coming up with fresh, innovative creative solution that push the envelope and break some rules.
To learn more about Zac Cavaliero and his work visit http://linkedin.com/pub/zac-cavaliero/24/7
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Zac Cavalieros short film, The Frank Job,' showcasing the cinematographers skills as a character animator was Reel 13s voters choice this week, earning it a slot on national broadcast television on Thirteen-WNETs Saturday evening line up. The films storyline is a new twist on the classic tale of Frankenstein, with the lead character, an inept yet determined mad scientist, artfully crafted by Cavaliero into an animated character with features befitting his eccentric personality. 
