Team Bio’s
Director, Sheldon Callahan (26) is an independent filmmaker, musician, martial artist, and all around renaissance man with an ardent almost obsessive need to create. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area and already developing a unique style creating video game worlds, he moved to Colorado to receive his early formal training at Westwood College of Technology for Graphic Design and New Media . Sheldon was bitten by the cinema bug when he set out to produce his first film Symphony of the Fallen which has spawned his latest incarnation and prequel to the film entitled ORIGIN. Nothing short of ambitious was his decision to move back to San Francisco to build his new media entertainment and company Ideal Concepts America, which was responsible for releases of artists like Flight 27 available on iTunes, Rhapsody, CD Baby, His education at of Art University in San Francisco has giving him a firm grasp on computer graphics and a team of dedicated CGI artist.
Callahan’s approach to the computer hacking, dark cyber punk, and ass kicking kung fu comes off strikingly different from the cliché, genre with his film ORIGIN. He set out to change the way people approach independent films and the limitations of the genre. It is not often that anyone does action films with out a budget and if they do they lack style and story� says Sheldon. Not only using is kung fu prowess but his background in visual effects and the ability to build and army of like minded people has boasted his inde action film to a level that most independents dream of.
Producer, Takeshi Hiraoka (29) is an independent filmmaker and musician. He came to San Francisco with a dream of being involved in the videogame and animation industry but soon came to realize that it was film that he was truly passionate about. He soon changed paths from animation to pre-visualization and dove head first into the world of Preproduction. He attended the Academy of Art University, graduating In May of 2004. While at the Academy, Hiraoka produced a short entitled the Serum. Soon after, he met Callahan and saw the Symphony of the Fallen. The similarities in the 2 films were uncanny for 2 films produced in 2 completely different places by people who’ve never met. Hiraoka knew immediately that he would one day be working with Callahan. This was how ORIGIN came to being. The Academy was also where he met a good majority of the great artists working on the ORIGIN project including Visual Effects Director, Kevin Hoppe.
Hiraoka also plays for a band called 9 Red Sun. They play about 2 or 3 times a month in the greater San Francisco Bay Area as well as cities across the West and Midwest and have played at various music festivals. Their music is available on iTunes, Rhapsody, CD Baby, and other outlets.
Director of Photography, Pete Smith has lead Visionsmith Entertainment as a respected expert in specialized cinematography. With a long track record shooting high quality video for businesses including SBC, SGI, OKI Data, Clorox, and other fortune 500 companies, Pete is their first call. His rounded expertise and in-depth knowledge of advanced technology
and ability to customize lighting and camera mounts is what gains the trust of the largest companies with their corporate image, and their most important motion picture projects. Pete’s abilities make a difficult process look easy and the results look superb. A formal education in Motion Picture Production at NYU and USC, combined with over 18 years of
professional film and television experience make Pete stand out as an excellent choice for any film or video project.
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