Growing up in Coquitlam and Burnaby, Farhez Rayani loved to combine art with computer graphics.
After graduating from Burnaby North secondary, Rayani studied computer science at Simon Fraser University but later transferred to Emily Carr University of Art + Design to get his bachelor of fine arts.
Then, he said, there was no formal training in Vancouver to pursue the field he wanted to be in.
But, in 1995, he saw the vision of his career unfold before his eyes when he watched the animated movie Toy Story. "I knew right away that this was doing the sorts of things that I loved to do," he said.
Rayani worked around the world in the industry and, less than decade later, he was a still photographer on a short drama called Yellow Bird and the visual effects technical director for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (both released in 2005).
That got the ball rolling for the lighting wizard who, in subsequent years, was involved in visual effects for The Wild, Superman Returns, Happy Feet, The Golden Compass, The Incredible Hulk and Aliens in the Attic.
Five years ago, Rayani landed his dream job as lighting technical director with Pixar Animation Studios, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company. He was part of lighting Up, Toy Story 3, Mater's Tall Tales, Cars 2, La Luna and Brave.
And last month, Rayani saw the release of the short The Blue Umbrella that preceded the mega-hit Monsters University. For both films, Rayani helped to introduce a new technology for Pixar called Global Illumination, which for The Blue Umbrella gave it a "magic" photo-realistic look and, with Monsters U., provided a more stylized visual.
Rayani said he's especially proud of his "eight months of intense work" on The Blue Umbrella, a 6.5-minute film that took about 100 people two years to make. The short is set in a rainy city and follows the journey of a blue umbrella that gets lost. As the lighting lead, his job was to evoke the mood - in 3D animation - of the blustery night where the sidewalks are full of pedestrians holding black umbrellas.
The lighting "is the thing that has the most impact in terms of look from before and after," he said. As well, with the new software, "a lot of people thought we shot that [with cameras] then animated on top of that but it was completely virtual."
For Monsters U. - a prequel to Monsters Inc. that features the voices of Billy Crystal (Mike) and John Goodman (Sullivan) - Rayani said the sophisticated technology makes the look "very, very different" from the original flick. He worked with the tech team for almost two years to bring the Global Illumination software up to speed then teach it to the Pixar crew.
Currently, Rayani is working on a 30-minute movie special called Toy Story of Terror that includes the same characters as Toy Story (Woody, Buzz Lightyear, etc.) but has an independent narrative.
Rayani said his Hollywood success is because of his early learning years at the Port Coquitlam schools Viscount Alexander elementary and Hastings junior secondary. "I knew what I wanted to do even at elementary school," he said, crediting his teachers who piqued his interest in the arts.
