Dave is a highly regarded Senior Visual Effects Supervisor with a 25-year career and credits on over 40 features.
The Australian native got his start as a Flame Artist, advancing as a Compositor for a decade before co-founding Fuel VFX in Sydney, Australia. He spent more than 12 years at the studio building its reputation for excellence and leading teams as a VFX Supervisor on more than a dozen features including Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, Captain America: The First Avenger, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and more. After Fuel was acquired by Animal Logic in 2012, Dave carried on in his role as VFX Supervisor on the film Unbroken.
In 2015 Dave made the move to Vancouver, Canada in order to join Image Engine in the roll of VFX Supervisor on projects such as Point Break, Power Rangers, Thor: Ragnarok, and Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom. After completing those projects, Dave went onto the Lionsgate’s feature Kin as the show’s Overall Production VFX Supervisor.
Dave made the shift to Method studios in 2018 where he delivered over 600 shots on James Mangold’s Ford V. Ferrari for Twentieth Century Fox and The Kitchen for New Line Cinema. Dave finished the year 2020 as the show’s Production VFX Supervisor on Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer’s film Thunder Force, for Netflix.
In January 2021, Dave set off to join Crafty Apes Vancouver as their new Head of Studio and Senior Visual Effects Supervisor.
Dave is a member of the Visual Effects Society and was formerly a Board Member of its Australian chapter.
Tara got her start in the film industry in 2003, joining Rainmaker’s Post Production team as a Scanner Assistant, and quickly jumped into the role of VFX Coordinator. After 4 years in the VFX industry she rose through the ranks becoming a VFX Producer at Zoic Studios before making the move out East to join the team at Rodeo FX. While she had started in 2009 as the sole Producer with a team of only 15 people, by the time of her departure the once small local French company, had become a world class facility, with offices in Montreal, Quebec City, and Los Angeles and over 300 employees. Tara had the opportunity to work on such blockbuster shows such as Game Of Thrones, Pacific Rim, and Immortals. In 2016 Tara returned home to the West Coast, after being head-hunted by Image Engine. She joined their team in the role of Senior Visual Effects Producer, and over the course of three years was credited on shows such as Spiderman Far From Home, John Wick 3, Thor, and Jurassic World. Tara joined CVD VFX in July 2019 in the role of Head Of Production. She brings with her a proven track record in leadership, and strong relationships she has built within the industry. Her calm and personable approach has been a great addition in guiding our team as we formed the Vancouver footprint of Crafty Apes.
Mark Bortolotto is a VFX Supervisor and the Head of 2D at the Crafty Apes Vancouver office. His VFX career has spanned 18 years across roles in Australia, the UK, and Canada, and he has racked up 50+ feature and TV credits.
Starting in Melbourne, Mark earned a degree in Multimedia Design and honed his skills in local film and television. In London, he joined top-tier VFX house DNEG, taking on a pivotal compositing role for VFX-heavy feature films. In Vancouver, Mark further established himself by working with industry leaders like MPC and Method Studios before stepping into his current role at Crafty Apes. He supports the highly-talented Crafty Vancouver team of artists, oversees feature and episodic visual effects work across a number of genres, and always brings his creative and energetic perspective to movie-making with clients, both on-set and through post.
Vladislava Mitic-Govednik, from Serbia in Eastern Europe, kickstarted her career as an Audio Visual Engineer in Theatre and Music Production. Driven by unwavering determination and an insatiable curiosity, she explored various disciplines in multimedia arts. Her wide-ranging expertise spans audio recording and editing, video editing, set lighting design, set management, and theatre production.
Upon relocating to Vancouver, Canada, Vladia further honed her skills by earning a Compositing in VFX diploma, which opened doors to her entry into the VFX industry at Method Studios. It didn’t take long for her to discover that VFX production was her true calling, perfectly blending her passion for ever-evolving technology with an artistically collaborative environment. As a VFX Coordinator, she lent her talents to notable projects such as “Many Saints of Newark,” “New Mutants,” and “Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting.”
After taking a well-deserved break to embrace the joys of motherhood and welcome her lovely daughter Nika, Vladia resumed her professional journey as a Senior Coordinator at Digital Domain. She played a pivotal role in the production of “Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness” and swiftly earned recognition for her exceptional capabilities and remarkable work ethic, resulting in a promotion to Production Manager for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
Presently, Vladia thrives as a VFX Producer at Crafty Apes, where she channels her extensive expertise with immense passion into various projects.
In her spare time, Vladia finds solace in leisurely walks along the picturesque False Creek. She also enjoys delightful dinners and drinks on the patio, relishing the company of like-minded individuals who share her passion for life’s simple pleasures.
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Raised in a small town – Ranchi (India), Neh was artistically inclined since childhood. After school, her travel to Venezuela, introduced her to the world of Graphics & Animation. She brought her love for CG, travel & people back home and started work as a Production Coord at Rhythm & Hues studios in 2008. Training prod teams in Malaysia & working on films like Night at the Museum, Life of Pi, Snow White to name a few. In 2014, she moved to Singapore to join DNEG as a Line Producer working on film franchises that she had grown up watching – James Bond, Mission Impossible, Ant-Man.
With more exposure she refined her skills, and realized that producing amazing visuals & scheduling was her jam! Shortly after, she was head-hunted by ILM where she stepped into the role of an Associate Production Manager; on The Great Wall & Ready Player One.
In 2017 she relocated to Vancouver for a short term project at MPC. Then re-joined DNEG on shows like Men In Black, Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
At present she has found the perfect work-life balance at Crafty Apes. She believes that “Happy artists produce stunning visuals”.
When Neh isn’t working, she loves to take her daughter, Nessa, for ice-cream (& wine for herself) !
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Tanya is Vancouver-born, but her VFX career has been international. She started as a runner and quickly worked her way up to coordinating on Fox’s The Watch and Iron Man 3. She then landed a line producing job in London at Framestore in the Integrated Advertising department, and spent 4 years working on multiple commercials, animated series, title sequences for James Bond, and VR projects for Kia and Game of Thrones. This role often took her on set, through post, and all the way to sound and DI.
In 2016 she moved back to Canada and on to a new role at Digital Domain, where she worked on Beauty and the Beast and Spider-Man: Homecoming. She joined Crafty Apes in 2021 as a VFX Producer and has enjoyed working on projects like The Continental, Gran Turismo, and Dungeons & Dragons.
Outside of work, she stays active in the mountains near Squamish, where she climbs, hikes, horseback rides, snowboards, and sometimes slows down to spend time with family.
Born and raised in Vancouver, Rebecca got her foot in the door as a Runner at MPC in 2014. She quickly escalated into the role of VFX Coordinator on Furious 7 – a dream come true as Fast & Furious has always been her favorite action franchise. She joined ILM as Senior Coordinator on Star Wars: The Last Jedi and then subsequently made the move over to Method Studios as Production Manager on multiple features and episodics including The Boys, Raising Dion and The New Mutants. She was then recruited by Digital Domain to manage multiple episodes on WandaVision before joining the Vancouver Crafty Apes team as VFX Producer. In her spare time, Rebecca loves running the seawall and hitting up the best cocktails at happy hour – usually in that order.
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