Lautaro Monardo is a third-year visual effects student from Bahía Blanca, Argentina. In addition to being a full-time student, he is also a member of SCAD Atlanta’s men’s tennis team.
The Connector: What motivated you to study visual effects?
Monardo: I was watching the ET movie once and there’s this scene with visual effects where he flies through the moon. That moment always stuck in my head and it blew my mind how they got to create it. I’m passionate about stories and I get the feeling that with visual effects I can take it to the next level.
The Connector: How does a busy day with both class and practice look like?
Monardo: I wake up at 5:30am, head to the gym at 6:15 a.m. and train at 8:00 a.m. at the Bitsy Grant Tennis Center. After tennis practice, I head back to SCAD for my 11:00 a.m. class. Our tennis season runs through the winter and spring quarters — 90% of the weekends we have a match.
The Connector: What has been your biggest achievement while on the tennis team?
Monardo: At the end of the year, we celebrate the acheivements of the whole Athletics Department. One particular award is the Athletics Director’s Choice award and I was the athletic director’s recipient my sophomore year.
The Connector: Name one of your favorite memories from being at the tennis team.
Monardo: During spring break of my first year, I went with the team to New Orleans and we hung around town. We also ate typical New Orleans food, it was great.
The Connector: There must be times where you get overwhelmed having to balance both SCAD’s workload and the pressure of being an athlete. What made you want to follow this path?
Monardo: I knew what I was getting myself into and when I do something I always give my 100%. No one forced me, I decided I was going to take care of it.
The Connector: Talk about one of your best visual effects projects.
Monardo: We had to choose a scene from any movie, an interior without any actors in it, take a screenshot of it and recreate it. I chose this “Rogue One: Star Wars” and reconstructed it with the Maya program where I can animate and build things from scratch.
