WHEN Jason Barrows saw the first Avatar movie as a 12-year-old, his comment to his family was: “Imagine working for the company that made that”.
Well, Jason is now living his dream, working as an animator for that company, an internationally renowned special effects studio in Melbourne and being part of some of the biggest movie blockbusters in recent cinematic history.
From the age of two, when he was captivated by the original Toy Story movie, Jason always knew what he wanted to do in life and he has worked towards his goal ever since.
He started gaming as a five-year-old, his parents not particularly worried by his passion of spending hours in front of a screen and working out how things moved. His real interest was working out the designs and getting into the back end of games he played and changing how things looked on screen, a process known as “modding”.
This passion for animation continued through his teenage years. He studied mainly maths and physics at Hume Anglican Grammar, and his early years of education were spent at Willowmavin Primary School. Jason lived locally until starting his degree in Animation and Design at RMIT, specialising in 3D.
His aptitude for animation soon became evident, much of his time spent assisting his university classmates around the complicated world of making magic on-screen. He would spend many hours in his own time perfecting his craft because, in his own words “If I’m not doing this, then someone, somewhere, will be and I need to be the best at what I do”.
His third-year student film, a retro-themed space cartoon, is still used by RMIT as an example of a great student film. Jason has been a guest speaker at RMIT, sharing his experiences and advice about his animation journey.
Just after Jason graduated, COVID hit, making his job-search very challenging. He took some part-time work at a small Melbourne studio and within a few weeks he was a full-timer, and on his way.
When he heard that the studio that he dreamed of working for all those years ago was opening in Melbourne, he leapt at the chance to show his work to their recruiters.
Within two weeks, he had a position and was off to Wellington, New Zealand, to work on Avatar: The Way of Water. Despite being classed as a junior at that time, Jason’s work is front and centre of some of the most memorable scenes. The movie won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects – not bad to have on your CV at the age of 25.
Jason moved from Wellington to the Melbourne studio on completion of Avatar: The Way of Water.
He has since worked on Better Man (the Robbie Willliams biopic), and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, on loan to the specialist Facial Team. Both were Oscar nominated for visual effects.
Avatar: Fire and Ash was the next huge challenge for Jason and the team. This won Oscar and BAFTA awards for best visual effects. In March, one of the team from New Zealand visited the Melbourne Studio and brought the awards with him for the team here to share in the success.
Jason is a great example of if you work hard and are passionate about what you do, then dreams really can come true.
