Meet the Team
We’re a team of passionate filmmakers, designers, animators, and scientific storytellers with extensive expertise in our fields. Our team has a wide range of education and experience—masters’ degrees in film/directing, years of design and animation work, a molecular biology PhD—that make us uniquely suited to craft your scientific content. Our insatiable curiosity and excitement about new technologies, coupled with our backgrounds and experience, make DCA the ideal production partner for any scientific communication, education, or marketing project.
Our fearless leader
DCA’s Founder and Creative Director, Tyler Kay, has assembled a team that works together with fantastic synergy. Many of us have worked with him—and each other—since the early 2000s. Tyler is in charge of sales, business development, relationship-building, overall creative vision, and keeping all of us on our toes.
FUN FACT: Tyler also has the most extensive collection of completely random, hilarious stories out of all of us. We think they’re all true.
Finding the story
Alia (pronounced like Malia without the M) is DCA’s Senior Writer and Associate Creative Director. She has a Ph.D. in molecular biology and a passion for scientific communication that has driven her career. She can often be found consulting with the design team to get a scientific drawing just right or with an editor to decide what part of a video draft can be cut.
FUN FACT: Alia has a few dozen fruit trees in her yard. If you encounter her when plums are in season, expect to be given more than you know what to do with (since she didn’t know what to do with them either).
Let me fix it!
Vince, our Senior Producer, is one of your main points of contact during your project. He’ll coordinate communications, organize content and other assets, and generally keep things moving along. He has a masters’ in film/directing (check out his film Gordo on YouTube sometime!) and will happily jump in to fill any role needed on a video shoot.
FUN FACT: Vince collects Funko Pops, which decorate every corner of the office. And we mean EVERY CORNER!
Making it happen, ALWAYS
DCA’s Producer and Project Manager, Theresa (“TK”), keeps projects organized and balances our workload, while keeping an eye on deadlines. You’ll be in touch with her a lot. She also has a film degree and takes care of most of the logistical details before and during video shoots.
FUN FACT: TK knows nearly everything there is to know about whales— but don't send her any more whale-themed coffee mugs; she has plenty.
Lights, camera, RENDER!
Luis, also known as Otavio, is our Lead Animator and Motion Designer. He has over 20 years of experience in editing, post-production, and motion graphics and started working with Tyler in 2007. The beautiful 3D renders and animations of your products and their mechanisms of action are his work. We’re amazed every single time we see a new one.
FUN FACTS: Luis and Otavio are, in fact, the same person. (Don’t worry, we were confused once too.) As a kid at camp he once was so hungry that he ate an entire tube of toothpaste. These two items may or may not be related.
Make it so
With more than 15 years in video production, Ben is DCA’s human Swiss army knife. He takes our storyboards and brings them to incredible 2D animated life, integrating text, imagery, and characters with voice over and music. He also works in 3D, combining CAD designs with custom creations in a wide range of visual styles.
FUN FACT: We’re not sure Ben owns full length pants. He typically sports cargo shorts and sandals well into the 40ºF range.
PIXEL perfect
Our Art Director, Nate, has a film degree, 20 years’ experience in video editing, and a special talent for visual design. He’s responsible for drawing our 2D animated elements, infographics, and more. Nate makes sure all of our animations are brand compliant, and that nothing is off by even a pixel— but also has a knack for finding creative ways to visually convey complex scientific concepts.
FUN FACT: Nate spends many of his summer weekends camping and coaching youth baseball in North Dakota. We’re not sure whether we’re jealous or not.
Fix it in post
Wynn is an amazing video editor who got his start interning at a film studio owned by former Raiders coach John Madden. Along the way, he has gained a ton of knowledge and experience in all aspects of film production. That means that along with editing, he does a little of everything—including being essential on shoots for setup, additional direction/camera work, monitoring, and more.
FUN FACT: Wynn likes classic cars, but we wonder how he fits in some of them. He’s very tall.
Keeping focus
Our Director of Photography (DP), Joseph, is most often found behind a camera. He’s excellent at lighting and angles and generally making you look great when you’re on screen! He’s also a fantastic visual storyteller; weaving together interview segments and footage to convey the most complex topics clearly and beautifully.
FUN FACT: Joseph seems to know all of the pedicab drivers in San Francisco. We’re not sure we want to know why.
Teamwork makes the dream work!
At DCA, we work very hard but also have a lot of fun. We always pitch in to help each other and collaborate to make your science content the best it can be. We also tell each other a lot of terrible dad jokes (life’s about balance).
Now that you know us a bit better, let us know how we can help you with your next project by emailing us at dca@dcasf.com. And watch this space for more in-depth team member profiles in the future. See you next time!