"BEST. CHRISTMAS. EVER."

This image is a still frame from “Best. Christmas. Ever.”, a Christmas movie that I directed for Netflix in 2023, starring Heather Graham, Brandy Norwood, Matt Cedeno and Jason Biggs. The film has a scene that involves Heather and Brandy flying through the night sky in a solar powered hot air balloon. Various mishaps occur which result in an airborne Heather climbing down a rope ladder to act as Santa in a sleigh. The actors were filmed against a green screen on a stage in the basket of a hot air balloon and the actual balloon and parts of the background were imagined by me in pre-production and created digitally, by illustrators and animators in post production. I designed the sequence with the help of a storyboard artist and worked closely with VFX artists to create the final images. This is a frame from a sequence that was several minutes long and included different backgrounds, close ups of the actors etc. 

My training at RISD as an illustrator and animator many years ago was the BEGINNING of the knowledge and experience that I needed in order to convince the producers that this scene was achievable. When working with visual effects I always draw on the skills I learned at RISD as an illustrator, painter, and animator. Equally important is the confidence that comes from my ability to pre visualize and to trust my instincts which is also something that I learned at RISD.

Specifically, Storyboards, Previsualization, and Conceptual Drawings of machines, creatures, places and events that don’t exist in reality have been an important part of my career as a director, allowing me to communicate with the different Heads of Department on my film crew.

"Best. Christmas. Ever." is a Netflix movie (you can stream it.) Many talented hardworking people contribute to the making of a film and it’s always impossible to thank everyone. That’s why there are credits at the end of a movie.