John Hughes, VFX Pioneer, founder of Rhythm & Hues, President of John Hughes Institute & Tau Films interview with Vanessa Chong on Bella, NTV7 recently. John spoke about the availability of talent in Asia for Animation and Visual Effects work. John added that The John Hughes Institute is currently working with HKVFX to conduct high-quality production training to cater for the local and international entertainment industry.

The John Hughes Institute (Los Angeles) and HKVFX (Malaysia) will be conducting Modeling and Animation workshops in April and May respectively. For more info on the upcoming events please visit HKVFX or email info@visualeffectstraining.my.

KRE8TIF! CONFERENCE 2014

The Kre8tif! Conference 2014 is a mind-broadening two-day sharing session for passionate practitioners of the creative scene. It gathers the leading bright minds in the digital content, arts and entertainment industry for a weekend of know-how sharing, interaction, and inspiration!

Among the speakers is Mr John Hughes. John Hughes the founder of Rhythm and Hues and led the studio for 26 years, earning 3 Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects ("Babe," "The Golden Compass," and "Life of Pi,") as well as 5 technical Academy Awards for achievements in science and engineering, including in 2014 for their animation program. A hands-on artist for much of his career, Hughes's production career spans over 30 years, including 10 years at the pioneering visual effects company Robert Abel and Associates.

Mr Hughes will be talking about the global VFX industry, his training institute, The John Hughes Institute and the collaboration with their local partners, HKVFX.  The partnership will be a synergy in providing a two-way high quality Animation and VFX  learning to the entertainment industry in Malaysia. Training sessions will be hosted in Malaysia and Los Angeles with various types of workshops. 

The John Hughes Institute (JHI), established in 2013 in Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the world, specializes in computer animation and visual effects (VFX) training for creative technologies and the entertainment sector (feature films, commercials, and themed entertainment). Headed by VFX pioneer and founder of Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H), John Hughes, the faculty and subject matter experts (SME’s) of JHI have award-winning credentials in VFX for feature films, commercials, and themed entertainment. Many of the faculty contributed towards the award-winning feature film, Life of Pi, which won an OSCAR for the best VFX in 2013.

HKVFX Visual Effects Training, founded in 2013, is The Foundry, NUKE Authorised Training Centre and an Adobe Authorised Training Centre. HKVFX Training provides application- and technique-based training for high-quality Film, Animation, Commercial or Broadcast content using high end applications such as, Nuke, Maya & Adobe Production Suite. The training center is headed by former R&H Educator, Hussin Khan. 


Our global learning goals in Malaysia is to establish synergistic links with the academic community to create a comprehensive resource for visual arts and creativity.

If you have the skill, you can open your own business too. Hussin Khan is the Visual Effects Trainer who is credited in movies like Life of Pi, The Hunger Games and Mr Popper’s Penguins whilst he was working for Rhythm and Hues. He now owns the first Certified Nuke Training Centre in South East Asia focuses in Visual Effects training.

In the interview Hussin spoke about the skill-set development for the Visual Effects industry in Malaysia. He is currently in talks with a Hollywood based studio to do a two-way up-skill/re-skill development to take the VFX industry in Malaysia to the next level.

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I was given the chance to talk about Creativity, the VFX Industry and VFX Career path in Malaysia by the number one radio station in Malaysia, BFM, The Business Station. Among the topics covered were, my role in the industry, the perception of creative people being less smart and often thought of as a secondary vocation, the impact of creativity in our lives today, school system downplaying the importance of creativity in learning, lack of specialized talent and  paths to how one can get into the industry even if they are underprivileged. I also spoke about Government grants that are available for the masses. Listen to the podcast which will be available in August, 2013.