John began his film career at the age of eight, with an 8mm camera given to him from his grandfather, John animated small clay figures moving across his bedroom floor. John continued to make short films and study the art of filmmaking throughout  high school. After studying animation at The Rochester Institute of Technology, he graduated from Monroe Community College with an associate’s degree in Liberal Arts. John attended Brooklyn College for one year in the Motion Picture Production School and then began to work professionally in the motion picture industry. He started as a production assistant and soon elevated to higher positions, working in virtually every department in the business. John’s first screen credit appears on the low budget horror film The Refrigerator as part of the special effects crew. Since then, he has worked on a score of feature films and countless commercials and industrial films.

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In 1989, John directed and animated a clay animated television spot at Animatus Studio in Rochester, New York, for the well known music store called The House of Guitars. It has been running every year at Christmas time, making it one of the longest running television ads in United States history.

 

In 1991, John moved from the east coast to Los Angeles and began working for David Allen Productions. David Allen was the creator of miniature and stop-motion animation effects. There John worked on low budget horror and science fiction movies like Freaked (a cult favorite), and Full Moon productions such as Robot Wars, Doctor Mordrid and Prehysteria.

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Following his stint in California, John moved back to his home town of Rochester and founded Philrose Productions. He has since headed up art departments on productions in the upstate New York area. John was the effects supervisor After Image, starring John Mellencamp and Louise Fletcher, and Tommy Hilfiger Entertainment’s Proud, starring Ossie Davis. John also served as Art Director on Proud and Producer/Director of Photography on the feature film 3.14.

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Recently John directed and was cinematographer on the feature film Hero of the Underworld with Quinton Aaron, Catherine Mary Stewart and Nicole Fox. John also served as one of the producers. He returned to R.I.T. as a visiting lecturer, teaching live action production, performance, stop motion, animation history, principles of animation, and production design.