When Optimus Prime transforms from a Daimler Truck in ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction,’ one is completely awestruck by the visual treat before them. While you’ve most certainly watched and enjoyed films like ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’, ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’ and ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, we are certain that you didn’t know that the man behind those breathtaking effects is a Goan boy from Colva. Sheldon Serrao from Colva is the Effects Technical Director for these films and has previously worked on films like ‘Pacific Rim’, ‘The Lone Ranger’, ‘The Avengers’, ‘The Adventures of Tintin’, ‘Megamind’, ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ and ‘Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa’.
Sheldon’s parents, Lourenco and Maria Serrao, live in Colva while
Sheldon is currently based in San Francisco. “Sheldon was born and brought up
in Dubai. A student of Indian High School, Dubai, he spent a year at Manipal
University studying Computer Science but was certain that Fine Art in Computer
Science was the route for him. We encouraged our children to follow their
dreams. Sheldon researched about the different courses and got himself enrolled
in the Academy of Art University (San Francisco) to complete his Bachelors of
Fine Art in Computer Science. Soon after his course, he started his internship
projects,” says Lourenco, who is proud of his son achieving a nomination for a
prestigious award in the US.
Sheldon’s first major project as an intern was ‘Wall- E’, the film that
won the Academy Award for Best Animation Feature. “Sheldon has been living in
San Francisco, California for the past six years but we receive a call from him
every day. He is constantly chatting with us over Skype and keeps telling us
about the films he is working on. We watch these films at home with our
daughter Samantha, a doctor,” adds Lourenco. Sheldon’s upcoming projects are
‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, ‘Jurassic World’ and ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’.
Sheldon who is presently working with
Industrial Light and Magic, San Francisco (USA) as Effects Technical
Director has been nominated for Outstanding Effects Simulations in a
Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture at the Visual Effects Society
Awards for ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’. He was working with a group
of four members including Dan Pearson, Jose Burgos and Eric Jennings. The award
will take place on February 4, 2015.
“I feel proud that Sheldon is the only Goan who has been nominated for
this award and I would like to encourage our Goan youth to explore different
fields. There are various job opportunities that pay well. Sheldon researched
about the university to study at and made a move directly from Manipal to the
US, without coming back to Dubai. He was very sure about what he wanted to do
in the IT industry,” says Lourenco about Sheldon, who is a fitness and
technology enthusiast.