David E. Duncan
Director, Art Director, Illustrator, Story Consultant
Directors Guild of America (DGA)
Art Directors Guild, Local 800 (ADG)
Nearly 30 years as director, art director, visual effects supervisor, storyboard artist and illustrator for major studio motion pictures, network and cable television, and independent documentaries.
​
When people ask me what is it that I actually do, I sum it up with, "...I storyboard and construct animatic sequences for the big studio tentpole features, but in between those projects, I direct Discovery, History, and Travel Channel re-creation shows..." A little art direction and illustrating, some directing, some shooting... I like to wear many hats...
​
Specializing in:
-
Storyboarding and designing action & visual effects sequences for features, television, commercials, and ride-show attractions, including animating and editing storyboard animatics and supervising 3D pre-vis. Examples: "Spider-Man: Homecoming," "Iron-Man 1&2," "Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."
-
2nd Unit Directing / VFX Supervising for features and television. Examples: "Space: Above and Beyond" Fox, "Dark Skies," NBC
-
Directing "re-cre" segments, both live-action and CG, for various Discovery, History and Travel Channel productions. "Dinosaur Revolution" Discovery Channel, "Got Home Alive," Travel Channel
-
"Pitch-Vis"​ creator: have worked with name producers to design, shoot and edit promotional trailers from scripts and treatments, often involving fully rendered animations and live action photography.
-
Working as a "one-man-band"​ production unit (Director, DP and Art Dir.) for various documentaries and independent/corporate productions.
-
Creative Consultant:
​
The past half dozen years have seen me working primarily as a Creative Consultant, helping to develop clients'​ ideas and plot elements into structured treatments and scripts, create presentation visuals (key frame illustrations and "sizzle reels"), and advise on production logistics for their potential feature, television and internet projects.
​
STORY CONSULTANT: Although I have never sold myself as a "writer," per se, I have often been called on to help shape and edit scripts for other writers, helping them with structure, character development, and various other problems that have kept the scripts from moving forward. This level of consulting has ranged from structuring and co-writing 4 1-hour episodes of a Holocaust documentary for ITV/NatGeo, to re-structuring and rewriting the ending of an already-edited horror-thriller in post production, so that it tested better with preview audiences. Most recently for a romantic/fantasy feature, I suggested new character backstories and gave a number of scenes more logical motivations, taking the script from "mid" reader reviews, to Black List status.
​
Though I always enjoy working as a artist or animator on large studio projects, I feel I'm most useful when I can combine several of my skills into a single supervisory position for smaller projects that have limited crew resources, and need one creative vision to pull together several disciplines. Ride show media and 2nd units are perfect examples of where combining my directing, writing, art directing, visual effects, and animatic editing experience into a single position can benefit a small-to-medium-sized production. Helping develop story elements and visuals of the sci-fi, fantasy, historical, and action genres are my forte, as so much of my career has involved creating worlds and environments that don't exist...
​
​