Alexey Marfin | Cities in Cinema: Visual Effects and Virtual Reality
Seminar
Alexey Marfin, a British film director and VFX supervisor who works internationally and makes his films between Los Angeles and Hong Kong, will discuss compositing and VFX in film.
01 Dec 2023
1 pm - 2 pm
Screening Theatre (M1052), L1, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre
Free admission. This lecture is by invitation only. No prior registration is required. Seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
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Lecture Abstract
Think of Los Angeles, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong - somebody going there for the first time is never really an outsider, because they've already visited these places through movies and TV. The cultural identity of cities in our collective consciousness is defined by how we see them in fiction - through the lens of scripts, production design, and visual effects. As a simple example - why do we think of Paris as the city of love, or Tokyo as the city of the future? But how do we go beyond stereotypes and truly harness the storytelling potential of cities in cinema? This is an exploration of the role of worldbuilding, visual effects, and virtual reality to tell critically and culturally relevant stories.
Biography
Alexey Marfin (1990) is a British film director and VFX supervisor, making films between Los Angeles and Hong Kong. He is known for his visually rich portrayals of life in cities, often working with visual effects, VR, and virtual production. His work tells the vernacular stories of urban life, looking at the transformations of cities and communities.
Alexey has created films, digital content, and experiences for brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Nike, the Royal Opera House, and Asia Society Hong Kong – and for artists such as CL (2NE1), Rich Brian, and Jackson Wang. His narrative films have screened worldwide; at the Busan Film Festival, Kaohsiung VR Film Lab, Brooklyn Film Festival, and many more. His VR film ‘Kowloon Forest’ won ‘Best Live Action VR’ at the Vancouver Film Festival, and he has been acclaimed in both Western and Asian media, including features in VICE, NOWNESS, Ming Pao Weekly, City Magazine HK, RTHK, Time Out, and others.
Born in the USSR, Alexey emigrated to the UK with his family at the age of five, where he grew up. He studied at the Architectural Association in London under Tobias Klein and Liam Young, where he became interested in designing worlds for films. Alexey began his filmmaking career as a visual effects artist at the BAFTA-award-winning studio Factory Fifteen, before directing his own work.
Alexey’s work in the entertainment industry is supported by his academic research. He has taught and lectured internationally; including MIT, UCLA, City University of Hong Kong, NCTU, Tsinghua University, and the Royal College of Art. He now teaches on the Fiction & Entertainment postgraduate program at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles.