New media students look to space

trevor.kenney — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 17:50:26 +0000

Faculty of Fine Arts New Media majors, Jeff Heaney and Jena Murray, have accepted offers to do their internships with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in Montreal starting in January 2011.

The pair is the latest group of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students to receive a prestigious internship appointment with the Canadian Space Agency. They are the fifth and sixth students from the new media program to be offered internships with the CSA since summer 2007.

Jeff Heaney and Jena Murray have earned internships with the Canadian Space Agency.

The students were understandably thrilled with the news they would be working in such a unique and challenging setting.

"I'm so excited," says Murray, who is from Lomond, Alta. "This is a great opportunity to experience something new. I'm eager to learn as much as possible and advance my skill set as far as I can. I'm very grateful for the chance to work at the Canadian Space Agency and know it's going to be life changing."

The Canadian Space Agency internship is a program that is interested in 3D modelling and simulation for the purpose of tracking and developing things like satellite simulations and creating works in 3D to be used by the engineers and scientists working there.

"I originally heard about the program through our New Media Internship professor, Anna Pickering," says Heaney, who is from Water Valley, Alta. "Over the course of October, I worked with her on developing my portfolio and resumé to apply to the position. Apparently they found my skills and Jena's to be very complementary, so we both were accepted, me for my experience in simulation and physics, and her for her skill in modelling in a 3D environment."

Heaney says he never envisioned such an opportunity was available when he began his undergraduate studies.

"When I first came to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ to work on my new media degree, I never could have guessed that it would end with me getting a position with the Canadian Space Agency."

It is a big move from Lethbridge to Montreal, and having two students go at the same time will help them both adjust to life in the 'big' city.

"Leaving behind much of my life to move to Montreal is a bit daunting, but incredibly exciting at the same time," says Heaney.

Murray agrees, adding that it's not just a matter of being comfortable in a new city, but having a familiar face with a similar background will likely help with their studies as well.

"I'm so glad that Jeff will be experiencing this with me," she says. "It'll be nice that we'll have one another to lean on during our time in Montreal."

BFA New Media students have the option to choose an internship or participate in an Advanced Studio class in their final year of study.

"The internship enables students to make connections in the industries where they want to pursue a career," explains Anna Pickering, the internship co-ordinator. "It also provides the opportunity to experience challenging and relevant work related to their school studies, and quite often leads to future employment opportunities."

For a look at the full issue of the December Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

New media degree has Mass Effect on Kinley

trevor.kenney — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:51:58 +0000

Brad Kinley's (BFA '04) career path came down to a couple key decisions – one that was well researched and another that was off the cuff. Now, the U of L alumnus is one of the key cogs behind the mass appeal of Mass Effect 2, one of the most popular and highly rated games ever made for the Xbox platform.

"I had an interest in games forever. It started with an Atari 2600 when I was a kid, and from then on I was hooked," he says. "I've always been a gamer so to be able to develop games now as a character animator is amazing."

Kinley, 27, works for the Canadian-based company BioWare, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts, one of the world's largest developers and distributors of video games. His path to BioWare began in the U of L's new media program.

Calgary born, Kinley visited the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ before applying. He spoke with professors, sat in on a few classes and was impressed. While friends of his opted to pursue certificates or diplomas from schools and colleges, Kinley liked the security promised by a university degree.

"It was a very new program and I guess I was taking a bit of a chance but the U of L is a well recognized institution," he says. "It was much less risky than going with a lot of the other schools at that time that are now closed. I had friends going into one-year programs for highly technical things, but I thought the BFA would always be useful and applicable regardless of what I ended up doing."

That decision was well thought out, while the one that really set his path was more of an after-thought.

"The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ brings in really great guest speakers and John Carr from Pixar came in to talk and I remember telling a friend who'd missed the talk that it was life-changing," says Kinley. "Seeing what he does and his approach to the whole process of character animation kind of crystallized what I wanted to do. It might sound cheesy but that's exactly what I wanted to do."

With a goal in mind, Kinley worked with the new media professors to specialize his interests. He retook an animation class he'd enjoyed and focused his studies on applications that would relate to animation.

"All my other classes I would work to relate it back to animation because that was my key interest," he says. "I received a lot of support once I decided what I wanted to do. James (Graham), (Dr. Will Smith) and all the professors that were here worked really hard to make sure I had access to opportunities I wouldn't have had otherwise."

Before long, the work he was doing in class was translating into the real world. He worked one summer at WhiteIron Digital, a leading visual effect and design company for the broadcast community, eventually completing his U of L internship there.

"All the graphics and designs they were working with at the time were all 2D and I came with a 3D background and I knew how to render and composite and animate," Kinley says.

He made his way into BioWare after completing post-graduate work at Sheridan College in Ontario. It brought him back to his native Alberta and gave Kinley the opportunity for which he'd been preparing.

"There are things you learn in ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ that you think are not applicable at all, until you go out working and you realize they are," he says. "It can happen on that first day or even two years later when you say, 'I'm sure glad I took that sculpture class because all of a sudden it's hugely applicable and I now have a basis for moving on and learning more about it'."

Kinley returned to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in January and gave a presentation to another generation of new media students.

"I know how influential my exposure was to somebody actually working in the business," he says. "If I can lend a little knowledge or inspiration to someone else, hopefully it will help them the way it helped me."

GET THE FACTS

• Kinley is currently working on the development of Mass Effect 3.

• Mass Effect 2 was given a 96 per cent approval rating by the website Metacritic, tied for second all-time. Only Grand Theft Auto IV, at 98 per cent, rates higher.

• Kinley admits he rarely gets a chance to play games. "A lot of it is a time thing but I still like to see what other games look like. The unfortunate thing is I get critical with them when I try and play, I'm always looking at what I would change or think I could do better."

• One of Kinley's earliest jobs was with Nintendo, as a game promoter.

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New media students look to space

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New media degree has Mass Effect on Kinley

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