Alumna Mandee Youse, UCF Class of ’14, earned a spot on the visual effects team on the new Warner Bros. /DC movie “Aquaman.”
“Working on ‘Aquaman’ has been an amazing experience,” Youse said.
Currently, Youse is still working post production with the visual effects department until October. She has been working as assistant coordinator, which she is responsible for coordinating all the submissions from the vendors and sending the shots to the editorial team to cut into the reels to review with the director, James Wan.
“Working VFX on a movie like ‘Aquaman’ is really amazing to see,” Youse said. “Watching the raw footage and seeing Jason Mamoa acting against nothing but a blue screen, to the early stages of rendered models to the final product of what all of you will see on the big screen, it’s incredible!”
The new movie ‘Aquaman’, starring Mamoa, is 99 percent visual effects (VFX) which isn’t typical of most movies. Youse works on the movie in the Warner Bros. in Los Angeles. She had the opportunity to learn about VFX from watching the process on creating the world of Atlantis.
“This is probably one of the biggest VFX based movies of our generation and I am really proud to be a part of it,” Youse said.
Youse earned her bachelor’s degree in radio-television with a track in production and a minor in film. While in the Nicholson School of Communication and Media, she had the opportunity to work on Knightly News as a camera operator and worked her way up to director. She was also a part of the first generation of eKnights and earned her first legit producer credit on a human interest piece about a local couple and their yoga studio, which Public Broadcasting Service aired.
After graduating from UCF, Youse moved to Los Angeles and began working on “Vanderpump Rules” as an intern. After the internship, she worked as a clearance coordinator on the second season of “Botched,” an E! reality TV show, on the second season. Then she started working at Warner Bros. on various projects, “The Fosters,” “Will and Grace” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”
The first movie Youse was hired to work on was “Bright,” starring Will Smith. She worked with the art direction department as a production assistant, but finished the rest of the movie with the visual effects department. “Bright” was the first movie she earned VFX credit as “On Set Visual Effects Production Assistant.” After finishing the movie, she had the opportunity to work on a few more films until landing “Aquaman.”
After finishing “Aquaman,” Youse plans to expand her network and work on more movies in the VFX department and slowly work her way up to producer.
“My end goal has always been to direct and produce my own documentary,” Youse said. “So before I die, I am going to make that happen.”