about me

Welcome

Welcome to my online portfolio, on this page will find details of the work that I have done as a film and animation director, an art director, a VFX artist, a writer, a digital marketer and a social media expert.

The page is designed to show both a wide range of versatile skills and an in-depth expert knowledge of these areas.  Click on any of the images below to access the media. 

Please treat the information here with the strictest confidentiality and avoid sharing it outside of your organisation.  Copyrights belong to their respective owners, examples are used herein are for illustration purposes only. 

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Career Highlights

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Farhan – The Film and Animation Director

One of my great passions is to direct film and animation.  I am a subject matter expert in film and animation production, I have worked in every capacity from writer to distributor in this medium.  I have worked on every budget scale from zero budget to multi-million pound projects.  I have led teams of concept artists, designers, animators, lighters, VFX artists, sound and music designers. 

As a writer I have formally trained at the Raindance Film School and the Hollywood Film Institute in script writing, film production and film direction.  I specialise in communicating messages to audiences using film and animation and know all the production methods involved in achieving this effectively, to a budget and to a schedule. 

I have executed strategies for both traditional and digital forms of distribution of film and animation.  I know all the considerations of any decision made at a high level and its knock on effect on the production and its successful implementation.  I have directly advised many film directors of the implications involved in their decision making and have devised strategies to best deliver on the creative needs of a project to the given resources available. 

Below are a couple of films I have produced and directed on a zero budget working with teams of filmmakers and digital artists. 

NItro Dust

Digitopia: Discover Me 


Digitopia:Discover Me edit 35c from Farhan Qureshi on Vimeo.

Be Me
Be Me from Farhan Qureshi on Vimeo.

Be Me: Making of
Be Me - making of from Farhan Qureshi on Vimeo.

Boxing Day
Boxing Day from Farhan Qureshi on Vimeo.

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Farhan - The Art Director

Working as an Art Director is a perfect bridge between my role as a film/animation director and as a VFX artist.  I am able to base exact costs and timeframes with achieving a certain look. 

As an Art Director I am able to

• establish a look for a piece that fits in with its theme
• communicate through art style guides that a team of artists and designers can follow
• give feedback to artists so that an in-house style is maintained

Here are some examples of art style guides that I have written

Digitopia - feature film in pre-production


Concept Art

Digitopia: Concept Art - directed by Farhan Qureshi, artwork by Stephen Trumble http://www.stephentrumble.com/

Digitopia: Concept Art - directed by Farhan Qureshi, artwork by Rob Richardson,  http://www.fatrobot.co.uk/

Digitopia: Concept Art - directed by Farhan Qureshi, artwork by Craig Smith, http://www.craigsmithanimation.com/

Character Reference Boards

 

 

 
Character reference boards - designed and developed by Farhan Qureshi

Corporal Punishment - feature animation

Concept Art

Corporal Punishment, art direction by Farhan Qureshi, artwork by Kelvin Johnson http://www.kelvinjohnson-conceptart.blogspot.co.uk/

8Bit Love Story

8 Bit Love Story - art direction by Farhan Qureshi, artwork by The Design Studio For Film, http://tdsff.com/

I developed and lead art directed and lead a pitch to Aardman Animation and Sony Imageworks for a feature film proposal.  I directed concept artists and storyboard artists to produce a pitch packet which was left for the executive directors at the conclusion of the pitch.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/d2l3su2lz0wayml/8bitpresentation%20Final%2026th%20sep.pdf (note you will have to allow popups in your browser to display the pdf)

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Farhan the VFX artist

As a CG and VFX Artist I have worked on major Hollywood movies including

• Batman Begins, 
• Harry Potter 3, 4 and 5, 
• The Pirates! 
• Poseidon 
• Riddick
• Kingdom of Heaven and 
• Alien vs Predator

for full IMDB credit list is here http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1629604/

I have worked at both the highest budgets and the lowest budgets projects, I know the animation and VFX pipeline in such detail that I can bid and plan projects with a high degree of accuracy.  I have led teams of designers, artists, animators and musicians to deliver film, game and TV slots.  I have worked with many private clients ensuring that any VFX/animation for the projects is carefully considered and executed to precision. 

my VFX work on Barman Begins was short-listed for an Oscar nomination

The work I did on Batman Begins was shortlisted for a VFX Oscar nomination (see 1 min 14 secs on the showreel video directly below)

Please have a look at my VFX reel here 

Farhan Qureshi - showreel June 2012 from Farhan Qureshi on Vimeo.

I have worked on AAA games and on live events including the London 2012 Olympics (both opening and closing ceremonies, corporate sponsor movies, in-stadium graphics).


London 2012 - Logo animation and lighting: jumbtrons from Farhan Qureshi on Vimeo.



London 2012 - Logo animation and lighting: lighting: mental ray for maya from Farhan Qureshi on Vimeo.



London 2012 - Corporate Sponsor movie: water sims from Farhan Qureshi on Vimeo.



London 2012 - Corporate Sponsor movie: Cloth Sims from Farhan Qureshi on Vimeo.



London 2012 - Post Event Graphics Design and Animation:  Distortions Effects from Farhan Qureshi on Vimeo.

I have worked on a series of AAA games for the XBox360 and the Playstation3 as a lead Artist on Brink, Operation Flashpoint II: Dragon Rising and Fable (see images below)

I was lead artist on Brink - http://www.brinkthegame.com

I was senior artist on Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising, http://www.codemasters.com/uk/ofdr-uk/pc/

My full IMDB credit list is here http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1629604/

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Farhan the digital marketer

In February 2013 I wrote a book entitled VFX and CG Survival Guide for Producers and Filmmakers which I published on Amazon.  I planned and executed all the digital marketing strategies and within forty eight hours I had managed to get the book to number one best seller on all the relevant Amazon categories for the book. A workflow that I used to market the book included

• Designed the cover to make it stand out on the Amazon website
• Identified a gap in the market and made sure the product met the needs of its audience
• Identified the price that would sell the most copies
• Determined the best place to sell the book making it accessible to the audience
• Identified the core audience, finding out where they frequent on the internet and how to directly market to them
• Made use of various social media channels to reach the target audience
• Planned and executed an hour by hour book launch which resulted in the book going to number one on Amazon within 48 hours of its launch. 
• Used web analytics tools to establish effectiveness of the launch tools, which channels were providing better returns and where then to focus time and resources.  I was able to measure user engagement and track sources of referrals. 

The screengrabs below show the book as a number 1 best seller in all relevant categories.

screengrabs of 'VFX and CG Survival Guide for Producers and Filmmakers' bestseller ranks, Feb 2013

Prelaunch I studied extensively digital marketing strategies, how to define and find my core audience and how to reach and engage with them.  I executed the whole strategy for zero expenditure.  Through the use of analytics I managed to track the effectiveness of my various platform launches and adjust the launch day strategies accordingly and track engagement in realtime. 

For a more in-depth look at the exact strategy please see my related blog post here

http://digitopiafilm.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/launching-vfx-book-to-number-1-best.html

If there is any further information you need please contact me at farhan@digitopiafilm.com

Follow @farhanq_uk

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