Meni Tsirbas
http://www.menithings.com/
By Paul*PabloGrca*Hutchens
Aristomenis Tsirbas started his renowned career in film and television. His first major project was working as a visual effects artist on "Titanic" as well as national advertising spots for Nike, 7up, and Coca Cola. Working as Digital Effects Supervisor he worked on such projects as "A Wrinkle in Time", "Star Trek- Deep Space Nine" to name a few. In 2000 Mr. Tsirbas Started “MeniThings along with Producer/manager Dane Smith. Working as writer/director he’s had a highly successful string of short films including SIGGRAPH'S "Ray Tracey in Full Tilt" Microsoft's "Mech Warrior: Vengeance", Fox Searchlab's "Terra", along with acclaimed "The Freak", are the recipients of over a dozen international awards.
SQ – First off, please tell us a little about yourself? Hey, I’m Meni Tsirbas, a Greek Canadian who moved to Los Angeles in 1996 to take his film-making aspirations to the next level. I first got intrigued by 3D way back in ‘77 by the brief wireframe animation seen in the original Star Wars film. It gets laughs now but at the time was quite breathtaking. I developed a parallel obsession with film and computers which is still very much alive today.SQ – When and how did you become involved in 3D?
I started doing 3D in 1990 on an amazing computer called Amiga using the programs “Imagine 3D” and “LightWave 3D”, the latter of which I still use to this day.
SQ – Where do you work at the moment and what’s your position there?
I work for my own production company called MeniThings Productions (www.menithigs.com). Get it? I know, bad pun. Under the name I’ve directed several short films including “The Freak”, visual effects jobs, music videos, and a now my feature film directorial debut called “Terra”.
SQ – I should mention that MeniThings is not a one man production company that you and Dane Smith are the minds behind it. How did you and Dane meet and ultimately start MeniThings?
I met Dane through a mutual friend. He was initially hired as an assistant, but quickly proved himself as an invaluable for running the business side of things. After I completed producing and directing “The Freak”, Dane did a brilliant job getting the short programmed into dozens of international film festivals. His skills at handling the responsibility and workload of the festival submissions, along with a knack for creative problem solving made Dane a natural choice to take the next step into producing. First for visual effects and ultimately for feature films.
SQ – What was the first professional project you worked on? My first commercial project involved directing, designing and doing most of the digital art for a commercial spot in Canada. It was 30 seconds of full CGI and involved a futuristic car being built in a robot-run factory. The most thrilling feature of the job was that it played theatrically before feature films in the Montreal area.
SQ – What are you working on now or what are some projects that you have worked on recently?
“Terra” (www.terra-movie.com) was my last completed project and is currently touring the international film festival circuit. It’s a full CGI animated science fiction film and to my relief it’s being received very well. I’m now ramping up production on my second feature which will include live-action and a considerable amount of photoreal CGI.
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