Resume

Joel is a creative director currently bringing amazing projects to life in Eugene, OR.

Some of the amazing Brands, Clients and Agencies he’s worked with:


RECOMMENDATIONS

Michael Tang
Assistant Director of Programming, PBS

I brought Joel in to develop and implement a highly stylized video project for a high profile premiere event. From the get go, he was communicative, detail oriented, and creatively invigorating. Your project or campaign will be well-served by his intuition and ability to execute.

Conor Fitzgerald
Senior Designer, Adidas

Joel is hands down one of the most driven people I've worked with. He always sets the bar high, and never fails to deliver. Joel is a perfect fit in any studio that has high standards and short timelines.

Jordan Travaux
Professional Programmer

Joel is a brilliant and gifted Creative Director who really understands how to get the best out of his team. I had the pleasure of working with Joel for just over a year and in that short time, he definitely helped me reach my full potential as a developer.

Cobalt Cox
Director of AR/VR,
Fishermen Labs

Joel is a very talented and driven individual with a great passion and attitude about work and life. Always produces grade A work and went above and beyond. Fantastic addition to any production team with ambitious goals!

Cher Cornett
Founder & President,
Create Appalachia

Joel is an amazing person who has talent, skills and a maturity and professionalism that is way beyond his years.

 

Saskia Fletcher
Director of Digital Marketing,
Cappelli Miles

In everything he does, Joel brings his imaginative visions to reality. One of Joel's many skills is storytelling, which is evident in all his work. Clients are thrilled and enthusiastic about Joel's work because he expertly captures both large and small details while subtly and memorably conveying the central message.

Eric Shamlin
EVP Global Head of Entertainment

Joel is one of those rare finds -- an incredible talent, a great team leader and someone you'll just enjoy hanging out with. He brings a lot to the table. …Hire this guy, put him in charge of something complicated and creative.

H Haden Hammond
Visual Effects Supervisor

Joel is a completely positive and motivated individual with a passion for his work and for life in general. Ambitious and determined to pull off whatever is asked of him, he's got a genuine interest in all things technical, visual, and musical. He's a great motivator and a fantastic creative thinker to have on any team.

Jordan Wilder
Graphic Designer, Cappelli Miles

Joel is brilliantly creative and puts his heart into each project he works on. His ability to execute his visions from conception of the idea to end product in an engaging and effective manner, while never losing sight of the larger picture is remarkable.

More recommendations available on LinkedIn


RESUME


RECENT EXPERIENCE


Fishermen Labs, Remote — Freelance Creative Director

OCTOBER 2022 - JANUARY 2023

  • Provided creative and technical direction for an unreleased AR lens produced for iHeart Radio and Charlie Puth running live in a concert arena.

  • Oversaw a team of 3D artists and designers, ensuring the final release matched the creative vision and mockups outlined in the original pitch deck.


WARP.Game, Remote — Creative Director

NOVEMBER 2021 - NOVEMBER 2022

  • Launched a project campaign that brought in over $1,000,000 in sales over the course of a year, organically increasing Twitter followers from 1,200 to 35k+.

  • Led a team of 17 international developers, marketers, and artists to design, build, deploy, and market a Web3-based game experience.

  • Created the underlying visual graphics for each game experience, identifiying key points of optimization and providing creative direction to product launch.


Cappelli Miles, Eugene OR — Creative Director

FEBRUARY 2018 - DECEMBER 2022

  • Pitched, scripted, directed, and produced dozens of unique award-winning TV, radio, and digital advertising campaigns for a wide variety of brands.

  • Directed and inspired a team of designers, artists, copywriters, and motion graphic artists, holding total responsibility as a trusted advisor and lead.

  • Identified and interpreted client’s intended messaging, refining and developing their brand consistency, envisioning a unique and standout approach to achieve the core needs of the campaign.


Studio229, Los Angeles, CA — Co-Founder, Creative Director

AUGUST 2012 - NOVEMBER 2017

  • Produced and directed over 15 interactive and non-interactive film, VR, and commercial projects for major commercial brands and production companies.

  • Managed and directed technical and creative artists, working under limited time and budget to achieve results consistent with a much larger production company, delivering quality that exceeded typical Los Angeles-based studios.

  • Directed and consulted on film sets and soundstages, operating in a leadership role during production shoots, offering direction that resulted in time and cost saving measures in post-production.

  • Ran core business operations such as writing freelancer work contracts, overseeing budgets and cash flow, in addition to trademark evaluations, daily business logistics, and ensuring compliance with tax laws.


Luma Pictures, Santa Monica, CA — Compositor 

JANUARY 2011 - AUGUST 2012

  • Technical & creative artist on movies such as Thor, The Avengers, Captain America, Xmen: First Class and more.

  • Learned best practices for post-production workflows and gained profound experience and training for industry-leading VFX practices.

  • Trained new employees in the company pipeline and helped foster a creative community.

QUALIFICATIONS

Experienced creative director and project manager with strong aptitude for solving complex problems while remaining on-time and within budget.

Well-rounded leader, with experience working in the Hollywood film industry, for advertising agencies, Web3 technology companies, game studios, and more as a director, artist, and client.

Bold and effective communicator, creating briefs, decks, and production documents to win over brands, clients, upper management, and team leaders.

Multidisciplinary approach, with experience as an artist, technical & creative director, team manager, and business owner, mixing creative, analytical, and managerial skillsets.

Passionate and pioneering attitude, quick to embrace and understand new technologies while smoothly integrating existing pipelines and workflows.

 

ADDITIONAL SKILLSETS

Entrepreneur - launched three different companies, including a board game entertainment product released during the COVID-19 pandemic, strong familiarization with writing and drafting legal documents, budgets, investor reports, websites, and branding guides.

Digital media storyteller - extremely adept at telling stories for a variety of mediums, audiences, and ages, from social media marketing to TV and radio advertising, perfectly matching the campaign strategy to the target audience.

Versatile film production background - versed and comfortable with numerous varieties of camera platforms, proficient in modern film techniques such as lighting, greenscreen, virtual stages, and filmmaking inside of a game engine.

Profound software fluency - expert knowledge of all Adobe Creative Suite products, deeply comfortable with VFX and production pipelines, excellent understanding of Google Work apps; easily adaptable to all kinds of task management software; Blender3D evangelist.


EDUCATION

East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN — Bachelors of Science

AUG 2008 - DEC 2010
Specialized in digital media video production, with an emphasis on VFX, post-production, and advertising media. Was the youngest graduate of the progam at age 20, completing a bachelors degree in under three years.

Joel is fully licensed, insured, and operating as an independent creative director through a registered company, Oregon business Tophat Creative, LLC.


All content copyright 2022 Joel Gerlach & Tophat Creative unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.