I was born in Ferrara (Italy) in 1967.
Since I was a boy, as a
sci-fi and horror movie fan, I’ve always been very interested
in the making of special effects for the movie industry.
In
1987 I met Carlo Rambaldi, who was as well born in Ferrara, having the
big opportunity to show him some of my illustrations of a fantastic
creature and some sketches showing how to animate the creature arm
mechanically. Rambaldi appreciated these art works, giving me the
chance to display them at the Carlo Rambaldi and the Special Effects
exhibition, which was held in Ferrara. He also told me he was looking
for fundings in order to build a big park in our town, involving people
with special effects skills in his project.
Unfortunately,
Rambaldi couldn’t set up the park so, after my degree at ISIA
(School of Publishing Design in Urbino) in 1992, I started to work as a
freelance graphic designer, buying my first computer in 1997.
I started thinking my passion for special effects would always remain
just a passion, when, in 1998, a friend of mine, Ivan Zuccon, asked me
to create some special make up effects for a digital short movie,
inspired by some H. P. Lovecraft writings, called L'Altrove. I
wasn’t experienced, but having read magazines and books on
special effects I accepted. I was just waiting for the right
opportunity to step into the field.
So I started dealing with
special effects and make up, using very simple materials and
techniques, and teaming up with Ivan until 2002. We’ve made
four digital short movies (Degenerazione, L’Albero Capovolto,
Neve, L’Ultima Cena) and three digital feature movies (The
Darkness Beyond, Unknown Beyond and The Shunned House, now available in
some countries, having an international home video distribution)
together. In 2001 I also worked on other make up effects for a Super8
movie called Era fatto di Verde (Green Days), directed by a
couple of friends who live in Vicenza (Italy).
During the
post production of The Shunned House I started going in for visual
effects, using some software tools made for graphic design, such as
Photoshop or Commotion, which is used for rotoscoping and compositing
tasks. I quickly became enthusiastic about 3D modeling and animation
with Maya and video compositing with Combustion, giving up completely
with make up and special effects in 2005. During the production of the
fourth Ivan Zuccon movie, called Bad Brains, I've been involved in
modeling, texturing, rigging, animating and compositing a digital moth
and several flies which should interact with real actors. This recent
experience made me realize how big is the artistic and technical
potential of these new software technologies. I have absolutely no
regrets about having abandoned the special make up effects.
Now, even if I'm still working as a freelance graphic designer, I keep
studying, practicing and self-training with Photoshop, Maya, Combustion
(and recently with Pixologic ZBrush as well), and especially on visual
effects applications through books, magazines, free web tutorials and
purchased trainings like those you can get from Digital Tutors and
Gnomon Workshop, just to mention some.
I’ve got a
Manfrotto 303SPH rotator for multirow panoramic photography for QTVR
and 3D application, and I have some stitching software like Realviz
Stitcher Express and Cubic Converter by ClickHereDesign for QTVR
handling. As hardware, I’ve got an Apple G5 Dual 2.3 Ghz and
an Apple G4 PowerBook 15", 1.25 Ghz and a Nikon D70 digital camera.
Being aware of the high level of knowledge and skills needed and of the more
and more increasing competition due to the recent larger diffusion of
new technologies, but also excited by the awsome 3Dartists quality
level all over the world, I still trust my passion to keep on studying
in order to gain more experience, and hope to reach more ambitious and
professionally gratifying projects.
One day a friend of mine,
who works as a graphic designer, told me: << Magi
(that's my nickname) you're a 3d monk >> , ironically
referring to my devotion to study as a sort of religious devotion.
Thank you Robi! I guess you’re right, and I hope this name is
going to be a good omen.
Massimo “Magi3dmonk” Storari