Industry Professionals
Questions:
​
1. What inspired you to get into the VFX industry?
​
2. How did you get your first job in the VFX industry?
​
3. What does a normal work day look like for you? What are some of your key responsibilities?
​
4. What software do you use for work?
​
5. What project have you enjoyed working on the most?
​
6. What advice would you give to someone interested in starting to work in the VFX industry?
Senior compositor/VFX Supervisor at Big Dog VFX: Gavin Digby
Senior compositor: Daniel Miller
1. I as already interested in Special Effects and enjoyed the "Making of Star Wars features you'd get on the TV in the 80's, I did various things, and a general media degree but when I found I could do VFX using software I was hooked.
2. I was living in Italy, teaching English, working as a camera operator editor for events and news type stuff while learning VFX techniques using fxPhd. Anyway I saw a job hiring compositors in Milan and I sent over my (pretty terrible) reel and they hired me. When I moved back to London I had a film credit such as it was so was a little easier to get a foot in the door.
3. I'm a compositing lead at Lola Post which is a small company so I have a lot of meetings - with clients, pipeline, bidding, dailies reviews with my comp teams... But I still make sure I am on teh box doing comp work since that 's what I love. Recently I have been going on set which has a very different dynamic.
4. Foundry Nuke is my main tool for all comp work. Shotgrid is where we are managing our projects and where I will review artists work. I use RV for watching and reviewing my own renders as it's got better playback than Nuke itself (you can exposure/gamma up/down, zoom in /out, flip and flop the render without recaching).
5. It's a toss up between Matteo Garrone's "Pinocchio" at One of Us and Alex Garland's "Men" at Framestore. Both films had amazing cg and really weird artistic vision - but most importantly amazing teams.
6. First of all, "Don't be a dick". It's a small industry so word gets around. Secondly I would make sure that your primary focus is on developing your eye - fine art or design skills and photography skills are vitally important and they are a constant. Software changes pretty fast, especially in 3d (though Nuke has dominated comp for a long time). Third I would review all your own work with a critical eye and step back from your work when receiving feedback - it's not personal and VFX is an iterative process. Having said that you shouldn't need to be given the same note twice as that's a sign you're being sloppy or inattentive.
VFX Compositor Haluk Tarcan
1. What inspired you to get into the VFX industry?
I think it was all the corny 90s blockbusters. I watched them as if I was watching magic tricks and I was always curious about how they were creating all those dinosaurs, collapsing buildings, sharks, time travel effects etc. As I grew up, I kept reading and researching about how they were made. I started making very simple effects and animations on my first computer. I wasn't even dreaming that one day I was going to be one of the people actually working on these cool projects but I kept learning just for the fun of it.
2. How did you get your first job in the VFX industry?
Mine wasn't a very straight path. I graduated from Uni (studied cinema) thinking of becoming a cinematographer but all those tinkering with effects as a hobby helped me find jobs in post production. After a while I had the courage to move to the UK for becoming a VFX artist. It wasn't as simple as that of course. I applied to countless jobs, never hearing back, but I didn't give up and used that time to take courses and following tutorials at home until a small company finally gave me a chance.
3. What does a normal work day look like for you?
What are some of your key responsibilities? I am a compositor. My job is to bring all elements together to make the shot "work". That involves combining different images or renders from 3D department and making them look like they were filmed with a camera instead of being created digitally. In a normal day I check if there are new renders available from the 3D department, and attending "dailies" meetings to get feedback on my work.
4. What software do you use for work?
The Foundry's Nuke is the industry standard for compositing. Depending on the company and the pipeline it may be handy to know a bit of Silhouette, Photoshop and PTGui. Knowing a bit of 3D softwares like Maya, Blender, Houdini might help you understand what the other departments are doing but I wouldn't say anything other than Nuke is essential for a compositor these days.
5. What project have you enjoyed working on the most?
The one I enjoyed the most was working on The Wheel of Time tv series. It's mostly because it's based on my favourite fantasy book series. Seeing it all come to life and being a part of it was an amazing experience. Apart from that, I always try to engage with available material for the project as much as I can. If it's a sequel, I watch the previous films, if it's a tv series, I watch the previous seasons. For me, that makes the work more interesting.
6. What advice would you give to someone interested in starting to work in the VFX industry?
It can be hard to find your first job. Don't be discouraged by that. If you keep trying and put effort into improving your skills, you will get there eventually.
Freelance Director, Motion Designer, Nuke Compositor: Enrico Lambiase
1. It was a gradual process. I started on a filming crew when I was teenage and done my first feature film on set when I was 18. I've always done editing as well and from there I transitioned into motion design and VFX
2. I knew someone that needed some VFX for a music video for MTV. Than I sent my CV and showreel around and I've got my first gig for a feature film
3. Depends of the project. I normally start the day looking and design/VFX feeds. The actual work task may vary as I work on different tasks, sometimes stand alone task and sometimes leading other people, having meeting and discussing the right approach.
4. Mainly Nuke, Cinema 4D, After Effects
5. Many, for different reasons. I tend to enjoy the ones where I can direct or look dev and give a creative input
6. There are many areas, some are more technical and some more creative, try them all and see the type of work you enjoy the most. The learning process will never ends as tools and techniques are constantly evolving.
Vfx Compositor at DupeVFX: Andrea Tomas
1. So I have always been a cinephile. I have always been interested in how the films were made and media in general. I have always liked to edit videos but I knew I needed to find my speciality. At first I wasn't really planning getting into VFX as I didn't know much about it, but once I discovered it (I was doing research for a college project too) I knew this was exactly what I wanted to do.
2. I found my first job on LinkedIn actually, I started by doing what I assume you're now doing now on my last year of uni. Networking, building a profile, website, portfolio, attending vfx events, etc. This really helped to get noticed by recruiters so I was contacted by one who offered me a job.
3. My job is hybrid, so it depends on the day. Days at home are really relaxed, a few meetings and just working on the shots assigned. Office days are a bit more hectic as there is the commute, in person meetings and more socialising. I am a compositor so I get briefed on my list of shots in the morning so I know exactly what to do for the day, then at some point we have dailies where we discuss and review our progress and ask any questions.
4. I use Nuke, but you may need to know Silhouette as well if you get a roto prep job (this if you are 2D VFX)
5. I really enjoyed working on School for Good and Evil as it was so creative and fun! The final look was so cool too.
6. My advice would be focus on networking and meeting as many people in the industry as possible as most of the jobs available aren't even posted online. Make your showreel, CV and website stand out because this is what got me the job too. Give small companies a chance too, everyone is going for the big ones and you don't get much creativity freedom or learning possibilities sometimes as it's super busy. You will go and fail a few interviews but you only need one to go right to start your career.
Junior Compositor at Gorilla VFX: Kai Davies
1: What inspired you to get into the VFX industry?
Well a couple of things to be honest, I have always been into film and TV since I was young, my dad got me into a bunch of old sci-fi shows and films and watching these got me curious in thinking how these things were actually made. Going into college I knew I wanted to pursue this more so I ended up doing a Creative Media Production (Film & TV) course, and its here I definitely found my calling within post production, I really enjoyed editing and I took a huge interest in learning After Effects and I ended up being the one who helped everyone out with the VFX side of things which then encouraged me to actually study VFX at university. I am still massively into film and TV and love cinematography and just pretty looking shots, and this was one of the main thing that inspired me to get into compositing to be honest, I really enjoy being the person responsible for bringing a final image together and making pretty pictures for people to see.
2: How did you get your first job in the VFX industry?
This is actually a bit of a funny story, as I left university I did the usual thing of sending my showreel around to studios hoping to get some traction, and it was a bit of struggle if I'm honest as a lot of places at the time were remote and a bit hesitant of taking on juniors remotely. I ended up meeting a couple of guys in Cardiff who worked in animation completely randomly in a pub and they mentioned that there was a company called Bumpybox working on an upcoming animated feature film called Kensuke's Kingdom and they took a heavy interest in hiring juniors and graduates as that was one of the criterias of the funding for the project. I reached out to them and ended up having an interview with the Lead Compositor and Producer who were both really nice and wanted to get me involved and I ended up being there for 11 months fully remotely.
3: What does a normal work day look like for you? What are some of your key responsibilites?
So I am now working at a company called Gorilla VFX (formerly Bait Studio) in Cardiff, on the second season of the Netflix series Heartstopper as well as the BBC show Casualty, also working in studio for this one, but I do have the option of working remote should I wish. My general responsibilites as a junior do vary a bit but generally I am quite involved as the studios I have worked at are relatively small teams. At the moment working with live action, I handle a variety of comp tasks such as clean ups, sky replacements, keying and supporting the more senior artists shots with roto tasks. At Bumpybox working with animation, I started out taking on some easier shots, mainly building simple 2D background DMPs and integrating character renders, before taking a lot more responsibility towards the end working solely on some big shots and sequences working with more CG, particles, projections etc, its all about trust really and proving to your supervisor you are ready for bigger and better stuff.
4: What software do you use for work?
I pretty much exclusively use Nuke for all compositing and roto tasks. I do also use plugin's such as Mocha (tracking) and NeatVideo (denoising) and a whole variety of other Nuke gizmos and tools.
5: What project have you enjoyed working on the most?
Well I havent really worked on a huge amount of stuff yet, and the stuff that I have worked on is very different from eachother. I absolutely loved working on Kensuke's Kingdom, I never thought I would be working on an animated film when I left university but it was such a cool experience and I got to work on some really beautiful shots which I am super proud of and cant wait to see on a cinema screen, so if I had to pick I would probably choose this one so far, but I am currently really enjoying working on live action also!
6: What advice would you give to someone interested in starting to work in the VFX industry?
Apart from the usual stuff like make the best showreel you can out of your personal and uni work and send it around to recruiters and supervisors, I think there is one thing that overrides all of that.
Just be a nice guy, if people like you as a person they are going to want to work with you more and they will remember you in the future, especially early on when you haven't got a whole lot of experience and work behind you, they just want to know that you are willing to learn, and definitely make sure to ask questions, there are times I regret so much where I have just sat infront of a shot stuck, just for a supervisor to check in and help you solve it instantly.
You just need to remember that supervisors and senior artists started out where you are and they do understand your situation and they will not expect you to know everything, and most of them like helping junior artists improve.
I'd also say definitely look into smaller studios as you start out, whilst it would be really cool to say you worked on a big film at a big company early on, those jobs aren't going anywhere and you need to be really lucky to get in at a studio like that so early on in your career, and the competition is crazy, smaller studios give you the opportunity to grow so much faster in my opinion.