We were lucky to catch up with Giancarlo Brajdic recently and have shared our conversation below.

Giancarlo, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I own a company called Skull Asylum SFX Studio in Fayetteville Ga. We predominantly create special makeup fx , props, human reproduction, Architectual reproductions, and medical devises, etc. Our studio has been opened in Georgia for 5 years and have worked on numerous feature films, television series, subscription series and films. When I moved here from Florida 5 years ago, I came on a dream and hope that I to would be part of the film industry in the booming Georgia market. My initial focus was to create the sfx department and curriculum for the Georgia Film Academy. Actually, it was the reason I moved to Georgia in the first place.

After only 2 months of being in the state, I was given an incredible opportunity as I connected with MUFX legend Robert Kurtzman. Our studio went on to subcontract for such film and series as: The Haunting of Hill House, Jay and Silent Bob Re=boot, MA, Doctor Sleep and many more. So now I was working on films, writing a curriculum and developing a department. But on top of all that the medical industry was reaching out to us to create hyper realistic prototypes and devises. Let’s just say were got slammed! Most of the crew is used to 16-hour days so at the initiation of everything I was wearing 1000000 hats.

However, something inside of me really turned my attention to the medical field as I researched the offers in the industry. In my research what we encountered was this industry was in desperate need of our services as we specialize in the human body reproduction as well as trauma injuries. Our job 99 percent of the time is to study ACTUAL medical cases and reproduce for screen. So we were ahead of the game in that aspect as most of us at the studio had 30 years doing so. Did I mention I moved here with no job and bought a house on the internet without ever seeing it? That was my wife’s doing . lolo

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started my creative venture it appears on that first breath of life. lolo I grew up in a house of intellects and musicians. At a young age I picked up the guitar and MUFX and became somewhat of a prodigy to my crafts. When everyone was going out in school for parties and such, I was home practicing my instrument and art. Everyone thought I was going to become a famous guitar player, but life gave me the direction it wanted me to have. I was given a opportunity to work in the commercial advertisement industry at the age of 17. Well needleless to say I was in shock that I was chosen to do so and focused 100 of this creative aspect of production. I ended up going to Miami Lakes Technical Education Center for Film and Television production.

I relocated to St. Petersburg Florida at the age of 21. My goal was to subcontract to the studio in Orlando and open a studio in St. Petersburg. Not really a far drive to and from and the cost of living was much better in St. Pete. At the age of 23 I open Creative Anatomy SFX studio. We worked for the likes of Universal Studios, Disney Studios, Warner Brother Studios, just to name a few. This went on for a couple years with great success. I had incredible talents in the stable and we all worked very well together. BUT like everything it came to an end faster than I could imagine. One of our investors passed away and 2 of the artists that we part of the crew moved away. Creative Anatomy was finished.

Frustrated by the turn of events, I went on to work in restaurants to make a living. I come from a huge European family on my father’s side. I had been cooking since I was a small child and knew my way around the kitchen very well. A couple years passed, and I ended up opening and developing restaurants for 10 years. 40 to be exact. Was incredibly fortunate enough to learn the industry from incredible mentors and teacher. BUT THIS DID NOT TAKE AWAY MY FOCUS AND LOVE FOR THE ARTS! I was still taking on art jobs on the side as my passion for creating was always consuming me and my dreams. It was a hard hard road to travel but I took it and realized the work of a professional artist is a brutal one.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

During the pandemic productions were all but dead in this state and around the world. I had numerous pro artist friends and craftsmen in the film industry losing their homes, cars, and lively hoods due to know work and opportunities. I had no interest in being a causality, so our company went after the medical industry full force and created Applied Synthetics. This would become and is our new medical branch of Skull Asylum SFX Studio. We landed numerous jobs right out the gate. I had my very good friend and master MUFX artist Greg McDougal join me on our new venture moving forward.

It gave me great pleasure and satisfaction to be able to assist and hire some of the incredible artists that were affected by the pandemic at that time. We now suddenly have more medical jobs than film. As a mufx artist you learn and acquire multiple skill sets that can be used in numerous fields such as sculpting, molding, hair and dental work, and soooooo much more. You would be a fool not to explore addition platforms that could utilize your skills and offerings.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

A reputation is always being fine turned and improved in any market it seems. But in our case, it most likely would be our speed and efficiency. If you know we personally you would know I am very aggressive but fair when it comes to times line, customer service, and quality of work. 99 percent of the time I am in the studio creating side by side with my fellow artists. Also, are communication being razor with everyone we work with as we strive to put out products and services that truly shows what Applied Synthetics and Skull Asylum SFX Studio stand for. I am the first one in and last one out on any project we create. At the end of the day my name is on the final product and that means the world to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.appliedsynthetics.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SKULLASYLUMFX/
• Other: Our mufx studio website is www.skullasylumsfxstudio.com