The “I Am VFX/PDX” series launches with Randy Wakerlin, a long time Portlander who’s as talented as they come.  And many talents at that – Director, Animator, Compositor, Supervisor, Teacher, and let’s not skip Dad and avid Biker.  I’m very excited to be catching up with Randy…   and make no mistake, he is hard to catch!  

VFX/PDX:  Where to start — how about “the beginning?”  Some of us get bitten early, you know, maybe in high school there was some equipment to play with – or maybe before that? Maybe a certain toy under the Xmas tree? The Etch-a-sketch Animator? The Fisher Price Pixelvision? The Little Orphan Annie Jr stop motion kit?  Ha ha – you’ll animate your eye out, kid!

For me it was a tablet and an Atari 800XL (64k RAM!) cartridge called “Atari Artist” that got it going.  I think I was 9.  How did you get bitten by the film & video bug? And more specifically, the experimental video/animation bug?

Portrait of the artist as a young filmmaker/astronaut

Randy:  Back in middle school I played around with my dad’s video camera shooting silly skits with friends. He also had a Super-8 camera that I coveted because it had an intervalometer and it could shoot single frame. When I was about 12 I started playing around with object and clay animation with an obsessive fervor that has yet to mellow.

I can remember the first time a piece of experimental animation really grabbed me. It was my first year at Hampshire College and we watched “Allegretto” by Oskar Fischinger (click to view).  It was a beautiful film with colorful geometric shapes moving to fast paced jazz music. That film was a huge inspiration to me. His films reminded me of daydreams I had as a child while listening to music, I used to see colors and patterns choreographed to the music when I closed my eyes. The connection between music and experimental film has a long and rich history, and Fischinger turned me on to all forms of experimental film after that.

VFX/PDX:  Ok, and knowing you’re a serious academic, I have to get this one out of the way. Talking all time here – who is your favorite visual artist?

Norman McLaren is my all time favorite. His films are a perfect balance of technical and poetic. I love how “Begone Dull Care” links jazz music and his direct animation techniques, simultaneously loose and precise, so amazing.


VFX/PDX:  Wow, now I see where Kyle Cooper was inspired to scratch the titles directly into the film “Se7en!”  With these types of interests, the Portland animation scene seems like such a perfect match. When did you arrive here, and what attracted you to Portland?

In 2002 I was on summer break from CalArts. I knew that I wanted to get out of LA for the summer and had an old college friend living up in Portland with a little room to rent for $200/month but you had to walk through a bathroom to get to it. Animation was in a lull in Portland and I didn’t think I could find a short term animation job anyway so I ended up waiting tables at Nicholas’ Restaurant serving Lebanese food to make some money. I met this cute girl at a dive bar called The Gypsy on NW 21st and we fell in love. For my 2 remaining years at CalArts I found myself working through the summers up in Portland and visiting whenever I could, mostly because of the girl (who I eventually married) but partially because Portland was the first city that really resonated with me. The art, culture, cycling, public transportation, proximity to nature, and overall vibe was really attractive, and I knew that stop-motion animation was happening up here, I just had to find it. (continued on next page)