Media Design School Film ‘Prickly Jam’ To Screen At Comic-Con International: San Diego

Prickly Jam, a film made in collaboration with students at Media Design School, Auckland has received the accolade of being screened at the world-famous Comic-Con International: San Diego on Saturday 23 July.

Associate Dean at Media Design School, Steve Dorner said to see the capstone project made in the students’ final year of their Bachelor of Art and Design studies at Media Design School screened at Comic-Con this year was exciting.

“This is the fourth Media Design School film shown at the Comic-Con conference and we feel immensely honoured each year when our films are selected.

“Comic-Con is such an incredible showcase for international talent and is just amazing to see the collaborative work produced by our faculty and students acknowledged by the Comic-Con judges,” said Mr Dorner.

“Prickly Jam has also been selected for over 17 worldwide festivals, picking up awards at the NZ Show Me Shorts and the South Dakota Film Festival, among others, which is testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in this project,” said Mr Dorner.

Media Design School graduate, Darcy Black who worked on Prickly Jam and now works at a Digital Artist at Blockhead, said doing a short film in his third year of studies really emulated a studio environment and was great experience for getting into the industry.

“Learning how to work properly as a team in that production environment was a great moment for me,” said Mr Black.

Anastasiia Diachuk, another MDS alumni now working at Wētā Digital (as a Motion Tracker) was similarly proud of the deserved recognition the film is receiving from across the globe.

“I wouldn’t be where I am right now if it hadn’t been for Prickly Jam. I’m grateful to have Pricky Jam on my showreel and truly happy that after two years, Pricky Jam keeps finding its recognition on the biggest screens like Comic-Con. I couldn't be prouder of our team!” said Ms Diachuk.

Antony Thomas, who worked on the film with Black and who is also working at Wētā Digital as an Assets Pipeline Technical Director said it was great to see people’s reactions to Prickly Jam.

“It’s awesome to see the stuff that you’ve sweated away at in a dark room for so long to finally be unveiled and see what you’ve worked on come to life,” said Mr Thomas.

Other graduates who contributed to the VFX in Prickly Jam have also gone on to launch their careers in the industry at studios including Luma Pictures (Australia), Cause and Effects and Pixel Soft with an additional three employed at Wētā Digital, and three more working at Blockhead VFX.

James Cunningham, director of Prickly Jam, amongst many other Media Design School productions, will be attending the expo this week, kicking off in San Diego from Thursday 21 July – Sunday 24th July (PDT).

About Media Design School
Media Design School was established in 1998 and is the New Zealand’s highest ranked school of animation. It is distinguished by its close relationships to industry, and the first school in New Zealand to offer a dedicated programme of study in 3D Animation and VFX. In 2022 it ranked #2 in animation schools across Australasia and #10 in the world. *

*Animation Career Review, 2022

About Comic-Con International: San Diego
Comic-Con International: San Diego is a non-profit educational corporation dedicated to creating awareness of, and appreciation for, comics and related popular art forms. The Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival (CCI-IFF), is a four-day event that highlights the best in genre-related filmmaking. Some CCI-IFF films have gone on to greater glory with distribution and creative deals at major studios for the films and filmmakers. For information go to: https://www.comic-con.org/cci/film-festival

Since its inception in 1970, Comic-Con International has developed into one of the biggest pop culture events in the world, with hundreds of thousands of visitors expected at the San Diego Convention Centre this weekend for the first in-person festival since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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