“My teachers were inspiring, Academy-award winners and nominees. They challenged me and were always very helpful.”
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a young Marjolaine Tremblay got hooked on special effects after seeing Star Wars, and turned to Concordia to study film animation.
A few courses shy of completing her BFA, having won awards for her commercial work, Tremblay was recruited by George Lucas’s company, Industrial Light and Magic.
Barely 21, Tremblay became “the youngest animator and the first Quebecer on staff.” Today, Tremblay’s IMDB profile counts more than 80 credits spanning some of Hollywood’s most recognizable movie franchises, including Episode I of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
Creative director and bidding producer at Rodeo FX since 2010, and currently its executive producer, Tremblay participates in business development, scouts projects, fosters relationships with clients and studios and partners with in-house technicians, supervisors and other creatives types with “the goal of making the impossible possible.”
Partial credit list
“Men in Black, Game of Thrones, Birdman, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Trek,Chaos Walking.”
Proudest moment
“Seeing my first motion picture movie on the big screen – Jumanji.”
Career hurdles
“Being a woman. For the longest time, I could count the VFX women supervisors in the world on two hands. Now the industry is way more inclusive and I’m happy to see it happen. But it wasn’t fun when I faced it.”
The Concordia effect
“My teachers were inspiring, Academy-award winners and nominees. They challenged me and were always very helpful.”
Educational challenge
“In my first year, academic advisors told me to go into animation. I applied to film studies and didn’t get in. So I took my second choice, geography, following in my father’s footsteps. The next year, I took animation. I was my own worst enemy!”
Industry projection
“Virtual sets. Actors might not be in front of actual elements, but in front of real-time rendering projected footage.”
Best career advice
“If you want to work on films like Stars Wars, learn computer graphics. So I did. That charged my career forward.”
Volunteering
“Giving back through education, lecturing and teaching at the Producers Guild of America, the Visual Effects Society and film festivals.”