Tom Dernulc Answers Five Questions with SCREEN

What do the Avengers, baby back ribs, and… the return of Alf have in common? They are all center stage today as VFX Artist Tom Dernulc from The Colonie dives head first into an entertaining round of Five Questions with SCREEN, let’s get to it!

SCREEN: You’re a VFX artist so we gotta ask, what is your favorite VFX scene ever?

TOM: My daughter is into Marvel so of course all the Marvel movies blow me away, but honestly the spot that stopped me in my tracks and had me watching over and over recently was the Nike split screen spot “You Can’t Stop Sport.” The planning, editing and of course the VFX artists stitching it all together impressed the hell out of me. As a judge for AICP this past year, I was able to watch the VFX breakdown and my admiration only grew. I understand that it’s not the final war in Avengers: Endgame but the challenge the VFX artists were given and how they pulled it off was just so impressive to me.

Here’s Tom’s pick, the Nike spot “You Can’t Stop Sport”…

SCREEN: Best birthday present ever?

TOM: When I was a kid (and actually still today) I LOVED ketchup. When I was 3 or 4 my parents – er, I mean Santa – got me a Ketchup Mobile. I big plastic ketchup bottle with wheels that I could ride around my neighborhood. It was the happiest day of my life.

SCREEN: Celebrity crush?

TOM: Alf.

SCREEN: Can you cook? What’s your go-to dish?

TOM: I am not a good cook. I can make you a well done hamburger that I’m pretty proud of but honestly there’s only one thing I do well enough to list here, and that is smoke a slab of baby back ribs. Damn they’re good… I may do that this weekend. 

SCREEN: If you could fix one thing, what would you fix?

TOM: Seems like an easy one right now with everything that is going on in the world… I would fix that creaky second step leading to my family room. That thing bugs the hell out of me.

BONUS QUESTIONS!

SCREEN: Your go-to karaoke song?

TOM: I don’t really do Karaoke but I enjoy a night at a Karaoke bar watching the good the bad and the ugly have at it.  If I did do a song, I would go with anything by Dean Martin so I could keep the drink in my hand and call it a prop.

SCREEN: The worst decision I made in college?

TOM: We don’t have enough time to list them all. It’s an absolute miracle I made it through unscathed, but climbing a downspout to get on the roof of a three-story building when we made it the NCAA Sweet 16 comes to mind.

For more from Tom and the VFX team at The Colonie, click right here.