OLEG KUZNETSOV

CO-PRODUCER

Oleg Kuznetsov immigrated to Canada from Russia in the early 2000s. Having had a background in traditional art, he started learning CGI as a hobby and soon pursued a career in the field of 3D animation. After 3 years of working for a variety of animation companies, in 2010 Oleg founded his own studio called 3D Epix Inc., and has been producing 3D animations for the oil and gas sector, home-builders and the aerospace industry. But Oleg always had something else in mind.

Back when he was 8 years old, Oleg became fascinated with prehistoric life - not an uncommon thing for a kid, but unlike most other young dinosaur enthusiasts, Oleg’s fascination never faded. When he was a student in the faculty of Fine Arts he cooperated with the Paleontological Institute and Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences, producing a number of illustrations for its publications. The Institute ultimately organized an exhibition of Oleg’s drawings and paintings on the theme of prehistoric life. In 2000 the Paleontological institute invited Oleg to a premiere screening of the BBC’s “Walking with Dinosaurs” in Russia, and this is when he realized how powerful and visually impressive 3D animation could be in resurrecting prehistoric worlds.

When Oleg moved to Canada and became proficient in 3D animation he started to think of creating his own CGI series. In 2017, after years of reading specialized literature on paleontology and studying paleoart, he was ready to begin. Having worked with Gerry Asmus from Brainwave Productions on a number of corporate projects, the two decided to produce their first documentary series together. It was to be called “Ancient Planet”, and it would tell the story of Earth and life on it during the first three geological eons.

GERRY ASMUS

CO-PRODUCER

Gerry Asmus was born in England and moved to Canada at an early age. As a child, there was nothing he enjoyed more than an audience, so he acted in school plays, and entered multiple speech contests. But he always knew that he really wanted to be a rock star. He built his own recording studio at the age of 19 and learned the art of audio engineering, mixing and mastering.

In 2004, after getting into videography and completing a marketing course at Toronto’s Schulich School of Business, Gerry had the opportunity to produce a couple of low budget sales videos. He realized he had the right set of skills to start a video productions company which he named Brainwave Productions. Over the years he has produced and narrated a wide variety of corporate videos, TV commercials and radio ads.

But Gerry never lost track of his first love, and to this day is still an independent Christian Recording artist.

In 2011, Gerry needed to produce a 3D animated video for an aerospace client and got in touch with Oleg at 3D Epix. Their first job together was a success, and the two soon became good friends. After working together on numerous projects, it became clear that their similar interests and complimentary skillsets were a perfect match for making documentaries. In 2017, Oleg and Gerry started working on a 3D animated series called “Ancient Planet” – a spectacular science based 3D animated documentary that would transport viewers back in time to the earliest days of Earth.