Barrier Breakers with Animation Alum Marlon Rivas

This Military Vet Turned His Animation Degree into Compositing for Major Studio Productions

Originally from El Salvador, Marlon Rivas immigrated to the US when he was a kid and grew up in Los Angeles. Rivas first became interested in the film industry during his military service deployment. In our latest interview with Rivas, he explains how they had a lot of downtime and would watch movies to pass the time between official military duties. Movies fascinated Rivas enough to make him want to pursue filmmaking after serving in the military. “Once I got out of the military, I realized that I had all of the backing and support I needed to go to college, and I started looking at The L.A. Film School,” said Rivas in his interview with Animation Program Director, Joffrey Black.

Marlon Rivas currently works as a generalist, which is a combination of disciplines in the visualization world. Rivas takes a shot from beginning to end and brings it to life through tracking, animating, lighting, and eventually compositing. This process of building a shot together is one of the core disciplines of post-visualization work. Rivas has earned countless credits on major productions for post visualization and compositing work. From Stranger Things Season 4 to the highly anticipated release of Avatar: The Way of Water, Marlon Rivas has made a name for himself in the animation industry. Watch our full interview with Marlon Rivas in our latest Barrier Breakers video series.