We do Motion Design, Animation and Post Production
for Digital Agencies, Production Companies and Corporations.

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"Our true nature is deeply expressed through our creativity and collaboration."

Ron Serna

Riding into the Canadian music industry in the 1980’s, a fresh-faced Ron Serna cut his teeth studio engineering for local bands in Edmonton Alberta. Ron was simultaneously studying in the Science Faculty at the University of Alberta specializing in laboratory medicine. Putting aside his medical aspirations, Ron went feral in 1996, adopting a hippie lifestyle in the remote wilds of Northern British Columbia. He grew a beard and sired several children (with his wife).

Eventually he abandoned the commune (but not the family) and decamped to Concordia University in Montreal to study digital arts technology. In 2000, armed with a full-blown grounding in contemporary design, Ron became one of the first commercial “motion designers” and an expert videographer. An early adopter of After Effects, Ron had found his dreamed-of toolkit.

After moving his young posse to Vancouver, Ron began a long tenure at THEmedia, a boutique specializing in corporate branding and communications. Here, he helped build their digital production pipeline and participated in all aspects of creative development from concept and storyboard to visualizations and installations.

A highly-skilled compositor as well as a visionary in text and moving image manipulation, he distinguished himself with his hip, leading-edge aesthetic combined with polished execution. Customizing his approach to embrace each client's needs, Ron and THEmedia team helped a wide variety of organizations deliver their messages with clarity and panache. Collaboration and teamwork were key ingredients.

While working at THE, Ron began teaching Motion Design at the Vancouver Film School. Finally, taking a sabbatical from the production floor, he departed THE to become a full-time instructor at VFS, doing free-lance digital graphics on the side (he had sired more offspring and the cost of diapers!). At VFS Ron significantly created the Motion Infographic Series which innovated a collaborative learning context for animation students.

In 2009, Ron joined forces with Bun Lee, a fellow VFS instructor and digital professional to create Motion Soup Studio. The two instructors found that it was their time to re-enter the digital arena and they set out to create a company that had no boundaries. They really did not know what they wanted to do they just wanted to do something cool.

Ron has a solid aesthetic background in music and fine arts combined with industrial-strength computer and technical skills. He is fascinated by complex visual narratives wherein the integration of CG, animation and text elements weave with sound to generate an evocative point of view. He just digs doing this stuff.

Ron sometimes still emits a beard. He lives on Bowen Island with wife Leah and eight year-old Jayden.

(Unmentioned for brevity's sake, are Ron's formidable musical and performing arts talents. Before he grew a beard and spawned children he was a dancer in a troupe which toured internationally. He often wears a tattered costume vest that dates from that golden age. Ron is also a burgeoning mycologist (mushroom expert) and killer on guitar. For more on the latter, bring an instrument along to your next meeting at Motion Soup.



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"We need a good understanding of up-to-date science and technology, together with our creativity to create the environment that we want to work and live in."

Bun Lee

Bun Lee's career in media began as a teenager on the intense electronic music scene of his native Hong Kong where he twice placed in the Mixing Championship Finals at the famous DMC (Disco Mix Club). His fascination with audio continued after his family moved to Vancouver in 1989. He studied sound engineering in the Analog/Digital Recording program at the Columbia Academy in Vancouver, B.C. And developed a keen interest in and aptitude for new technologies.

Finances dictated that Bun would work for several years in the Lee family clothing business, selling suits, ordering fabrics, bookkeeping, whatever was required. From this he learned key business skills which led to several entrepreneurial ventures.

Finally, in 2000, Bun was able to continue his media education. Accepted into the New Media Program at the Vancouver Film School he focussed on sound design, video editing, compositing and motion design; skills that came to inform his dedication to moving image manipulation as his medium for communicating as a digital artist. As a student, Bun caught the attention of the faculty members, noting both his exceptional media work and his easy collaborative style.

After completing his Certificate in the New Media Program at VFS, Bun gained experience freelancing in various roles in digital production environments for a couple of years. Then VFS invited him to return to the school as an instructor in the Interactive Media, Foundation of Art, Game Design, and Digital Design programs. Bun was a respected faculty member.

In 2006, while still teaching full-time, Bun began his involvement with the Real Ideas Studio student filmmaking program as a mentor and one of its founding board members. Created by software biggie Adobe, Real Ideas Studio supports young digital artists through its film-making programs at the Cannes, Sundance, and Slamdance Film Festivals. Film-making boot-camps.

In 2009, feeling the need for more creative scope, Bun partnered with fellow Vancouver Film School instructor Ron Serna to create Motion Soup Studio in 2009. Leaving VFS a year later, Bun's declared mission is to pair the aesthetic punch of youthful VJ beats and imagery with the creation of client-friendly communications.

Along with exercising his technical and creative talents Bun also functions as the comptroller for this small but prolific digital production house. He sees the business is done right.

Bun still sometimes lives with his parents but might also be found sleeping on the couch at Motion Soup Studio after pulling an all-nighter to get the client what he needed in the morning.

Trustworthy, funny and capable.