Kickstart Spotlight: Shea Oracheski
This month we’re shining the Kickstart Spotlight on our AFX Artist - Shea Oracheski!
Tell us a little bit about yourself!
Howdy my name's Shea and I'm an AFX Artist at Kickstart! (I've never said howdy before in my entire life, let’s see if it sticks)
I have 3 siblings, I LOVE music, and one time I accidentally peed on my pants in an extremely busy bathroom during an intermission at a university improv show and had no option but to run out of the building as fast as possible. My parents are both Canadian, but I grew up outside of Canada for my whole childhood-- in Kuwait, the United States, Thailand, and Bangladesh. So I moved here after high school because it was supposedly 'home' and I've popped between Edmonton, Toronto, and Vancouver since then.
I went to Humber College and UBC for film production, then worked in the film industry as a grip/lamp-op, as well as in post-production doing VFX. Then I found Kickstart and the animation industry has been my home since 2019.
How did you get started with Kickstart Entertainment?
I actually applied almost exclusively because I wanted to see what the inside of an animation studio looked like. Turns out it's pretty cool.
Tell us about a personal project. What sparked the idea for this project?
One of my pandemic goals was to dive into the 3D animation world which I had been avoiding for years cause it seemed very daunting. So a personal project that I'm quite proud of is a video that was sparked by the desire to try integrating my own rendered 3D elements into live action footage. I made a few physics simulations in a blender of clumps of orbs/balls floating around, and then composited them into various shots of my neighbourhood at the time.
There's plenty of room for improvement, but for a first try I was pretty happy with how it turned out technically. I never knew that a bunch of floating orbs could be so expressive, so the added bonus was that it came out feeling like a very truthful expression. It was very gratifying to be able to learn a new skill/technique and at the same time let out some #feelings.
What’s your favourite 2-3 colour combination?
A nice waluigi™ purple, with a side of grimace™ purple, and a bit of tinky winky™ purple sprinkled on top.
Can you think of a particular moment when you realized you wanted to be an AFX Artist
I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up-- but I very vividly remember the moment that made me want to download After Effects, which turns out was kind of a life-defining moment.
I found a filmmaking Youtube channel called 'Film Riot', and according to a 13 year old me, they were not only the funniest thing on the planet, they were also the coolest because they had VFX tutorials. So every Thursday night (which was our 'Friday night' in Bangladesh because the weekend was friday/saturday) I would watch the new Film Riot episode. That led me to finding Freddiew, Corridor Digital, Finalcut King, and a bunch of other Youtube channels that pushed me into the After Effects rabbit hole. I have yet to come out.
What piece of advice do you wish you had been given when you first started working in this industry?
The people are quite nice, you don't have to be afraid to talk to them.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
I directed a music video earlier this year that I was/am incredibly proud of. Music is objectively the coolest thing-- but I am unfortunately extremely incapable of creating it. So in order to stay close to music almost all of my work outside of Kickstart is in music videos or creating stage visuals for musical acts, but usually in the role of the VFX artist or animator.
For this project however, I was creatively and technically responsible for the concept/execution, which was a change and challenge for me, but it was a highlight for a few reasons.
a) I proved to myself that I could direct a music video-- which was a goal of mine for 2023
b) It's one of the first times that my grand ideas of what I envisioned is actually how it turned out looking in the end
c) The content/theme of the song REALLY resonated with me, and I was proud to be a part of it
What are you trying to improve in your work?
My brain naturally operates in 15-30 second chunks when thinking of visual ideas, and I'm trying my best to work on fleshing those out a bit more to be able to create longer form projects.
What’s your idea of the perfect Sunday?
I'm 83 years old. I've lived a happy and fulfilling life. My smart house has set all the windows to display a Hawaiian beach. I feel no guilt for laying down all day and doing absolutely nothing but watching TV. I reach over the arm of the couch and turn on the synthesizer my grandkids got me for my birthday-- I'm the 'cool grandpa'. After waiting 2.5 minutes I have an ice cream cone freshly synthesized. I fall asleep on my couch with a cone in my hand and the taste of salted caramel on my lips.
What is your most memorable non-animation job? What good habit(s) did you take from it?
I had a job at a gift shop in Stanley Park called 'Legends of the Moon'. I loved everyone I worked with, having a parking pass for Stanley Park was a massive perk, and getting to spend my days in the park was refreshing.
The best habit I took from my time there was learning the value of spending your lunch break outdoors whenever possible-- and simultaneously learning the value of being aware of seagulls when you're eating said lunch outside. Stanley Park seagulls don't back down, and I do.
You’re stuck on a desert island with a laptop and a USB stick containing the entirety of one cartoon - what show is it?
I'm assuming in this scenario I'm in the future and I already have 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' on a chip medically implanted in my skull that's connected directly to my optic nerve. Since we can rule that out, I guess I'll go for 'The Simpsons', it'll last me the longest.
Pick 3 cartoon characters that describe your personality(ies)
Ed, Edd n Eddy
What have you enjoyed lately that inspired you to create - podcast, tv, movie, music?
Weirdly enough, the show Taskmaster. It's hilarious, but also the perfect mix of problem solving and playful creativity that really got my brain moving.
What’s on your work playlist?
Short answer-- I've been listening to 'Dubble Bubble' by Zack Villere on repeat for the last 3.5 hours.
Long answer- - Spill Tab, R.A.P., Ferreira/Milo, Brockhampton, Injury Reserve, Dijon, Aries, Sen Morimoto, Dominic Fike, Rise Against, Obongjayar, Remi Wolf, Sam Tudor, Jean Dawson, Just Friends, Colin Stetson, Loyle Carner...
I could go on for days, music is truly the greatest thing that exists.
Do you have a website or social media to showcase your artwork?
We're in the digital age babyyy, of course I do.
Check out more of Shea with the links below!
Instagram: @soracheski
Website: sheaoracheski.com