Grant is a New Zealander and has been in the film, commercials and event industries there for 25 years, the last 16 of these as production designer.
Grant Major was nominated for four Academy Awards and four British Academy of Film Awards (BAFTA) for his work as a production designer on The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong.
Major won an American Film Institute award for The Fellowship of the Ring as well as an Art Director’s Guild Award for The Two Towers and again for The Return of the King. Major finally claimed his Academy Award and a Los Angeles Film Critics Society Award on the third installment of the trilogy The Return of the King. He was nominated by International Press Association for a Satellite Award in 2003 for both The Return of the King and his work as production designer on Whale Rider, winning for The Return of the King.

Digital Design Down Under. New Tools for the Film Production Designer in Australasia

Production Designer Grant Major will discuss how, with the advent of digital technologies, the process of designing for the cinema has been revolutionized over recent years and how these trends will shape the future of this process.
His work on films such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong with the adoption of new technologies including CG conceptual work, the designing of 3D space, lighting and textures, rapid prototyping and pre-visualization has both sped up and changed the parameters of Production Design. He will cover design pipelines for digital post production, virtual environments and set extensions and how the cinematic world has opened up through the imagination of the artists and designers using these tools.