Dr Karsten Schneider

Art Director, VFX Artist, Biologist

Filmography

BurningFish Productions

2002 - Present

I founded BurningFish Productions in 2002 as a studio to pursue my freelancing career. Since 2011 it has become my main endeavour. We have had contracts with domestic and international clients in a wide variety of fields. I list here some of the clients we were lucky enough to work with during my time at BurningFish Productions:

  • 5to9 Productions
  • Animation Research (ARL)
  • BMW
  • Christchurch City Council
  • China TV (CCTV)
  • CWA New Media
  • Discovery Channel
  • Dunedin City Council
  • Elwin Productions
  • GBH
  • Geissendoerfer Film- und Fernsehproduktion (GFF)
  • Great Southern TV
  • Ignite Channel, Hollywood
  • Moving Pixel
  • National Geographic
  • National Radio NZ (RNZ)
  • Natural History NZ (NHNZ)
  • Otago Regional Council
  • Otago University
  • Rock Wallaby Production
  • Salient Film
  • Science Photo Library (SPL)
  • South Pacific Pictures
  • Toitu Settlers Museum

Peekavu

2013 - 2019

I am co-founder of Peekavu, a Dunedin based startup company that specialised in developing an augmented reality (AR) browser that was easy to use and made augmented content readily available to the general public. Peekavu was mothballed in 2019 because the big boys like Apple and Google were starting to dominate the AR market and our server costs were beginning to outstrip the money we made from it. If the right project came along we’d be very happy to revive Peekavu.

NHNZ


1999 - 2011

During my employment at NHNZ I was able to develop a thorough understanding of all the aspects of television production. I  worked there in development (pitching, scripts, research, design), production (research, director, camera) and post-production as producer, editor, art director and VFX supervisor and -artist. I list here some of the clients I was lucky enough to work with during my time at NHNZ:

  • Animal Planet
  • China TV (CCTV)
  • NDR
  • Discovery Channel
  • Geissendoerfer Film- und Fernsehproduktion (GFF)
  • National Geographic
  • NHK
  • Pixeldust Studios
  • The Learning Channel (TLC)
  • Travel Channel
  • TVNZ
  • WNET
  • ZDF

 

Education

1999

PhD. Marine Science, Unversity of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

1989

MSC. Zoology, Free University Berlin, Germany

VFX Skills

Cinema 4D
After Effects
Photoshop
3DS Max
Illustrator
Premiere
Maya
Unity
Unreal Engine
Vue
ZBrush
Substance Painter
Final Cut Pro

About Me

My specialty is the visualization of scientific facts, theories and models for the general public, fusing science with art. My work experience and expertise in visual arts combined with my thorough scientific training gives me a rare and valuable skill set in this field. I communicate as a peer with scientists from a wide range of scientific fields and see myself as a naturalist/zoologist with an acutely artistic sense for visualizing concepts. An organized, competent and realistic person, I am able to integrate my various skills and those of others, making me well suited for project management of productions from concept to completion.

Contact

Donald Ferns

VFX Supervisor

Craig Meade

Executive Producer
Wildbear

Mark Strickson

Producer, Director
5to9 Productions

markstrickson@5to9productions.com

Sally Williams

Producer, Director
Salient Film

saljwilliams@gmail.com