Week 7|Production Manager, VFX Producer, Animator, Effects TD

Production Manager

Alias: Line producer, VFX line producer, VFX production manager, Scheduler

Production management department

Entry requirements: experience in runners, production coordinators in studio, relevant study in business, film, media.

Production managers ensure that VFX prouction run reliably and efficiently. They follow the decisions that have been made by the VFX producer, plann and organise project schedules, assess project and resource requirements and look after the budget.

They supervise and oversee the work of the production coordinator, re-negotiate timescales or schedules as necessary. They might also be involved in casting or hiring people for different departments and drafting contracts.

Production managers are responsible for liaising with the VFX artists and technical directors (TDs) from all parts of the VFX pipeline to make sure that work is completed on time. They are also important in communicating with the producer of company shooting the live-action footage and producing the film or TV programme.

VFX Producer

Alias: Executive VFX producer, Show producer, Bidding producer

Production management department

Entry requirements: sufficient experience in VFX studio such as runners, production coordinators, production manager; relevant study in business, film, media.

VFX producers manage the whole process of creating the VFX for film or TV, they lead their VFX teams and ensure that the projects gets completed on time and on budget. Also, they work closely with the live-action production crew and the post-production editor to make sure the project reach the expectation because their goal is to make the client come back for next project. In this case, it requires them to have great communication and management skills to be a producer.

VFX producers write the bid; the document through which they persuade the film or TV series’ producer to take their VFX studio on to do VFX work on a project. For example, if any requests come in that are out of the original scope awarded, VFX producer will provide client production with a bid for what the additional work would cost.

VFX producers put together the team of VFX artists and other technical staff. They are the overall decision makers. They set the schedules for the work and they manage the budget. Their job plan is an ongoing process throughout the whole project, due to client changes or studio needs changing.

In larger companies, they hand over the day-to-day management of the prject to a manager. In smaller companies, they do the project management themselves.

A day in the life of a VFX producer

Let us watch how a VFX producer introduces their team’s project:

Animator

Alias: CG animator, 3D animatormanager

Computer-generated (CG) department

Entry requirements: proficiency in using VFX software, particularly Maya, V-Ray and 3ds Max.

In VFX industry, animation refers to moving images in computer-generated imagery. There are two types of computer animation: 2D and 3D. However, 3D computer graphics has been widely used to generate two-dimensional animation in recent years. 3D animation allows the creator to add on and modify the movable elements which are not available for shotting in live-action site, it can be a dancing character or a spinning electric fan. Their motion will be displayed frame by frame on computer monitors, usually 24, 25, or 30 frames per second.

For 2D figure animations, separate objects and separate transparent layers are used with or without that virtual skeleton. Then different parts of the figure are moved by the animator on key frames. The deformation are calculated by the computer in a process known as tweening or morphing. Finally, the animation is rendered.

For 3D animations, models are built and textured in 3D software packages such as Maya and are rigged with a virtual skeleton. Different parts of the figure are linked with associated bones and joints, stimulating the relationship between skin and skeleton in reality. Animator can make the body move by controlling the skeleton.

However, making a realistic motion is not an easy task, as people’s eyes are sensitive to such human-like movement. In VFX industry, people are using motion capture techniques to record actors’ movement by setting loads of motion trackers on their skin-tight suits, so that the movement and expression of their performance can be captured digitally and translated into a different-looking character animation model.

There is one of the most challenging fields in CGI which is called facial animation, which requires a lot of data to process in computer. Since facial expression refers to a type of detailed art, especially on realistic characters, any artifacts will be exaggerated on the screen.

Animators in the VFX industry usually produce work to be integrated into the live-action footage of a film or TV programme. They animate 3D objects as dictated by background film plates, which means that there is footage and a set camera position that they must work to. They need to match their animation to the reference footage.

Important skills for animators

Effects technical director (FX TD)

Alias: Technical producer

Technical department

Entry requirements: Knowledge of scripting languages such as Python and C++ and software such Maya or Houdini, some years’ experience working in VFX

The creation of effects like explosions, billowing smoke and rushing water are fully supported by effects technical directors. All TDs are problem-solvers. They helped the visual effect artists to put expected effects in shots, they are also stay up-to-date with the latest research and techniques and develop software technological boundaries.

It is the FX TD’s responsibility to make sure the physics-based digital effects that they create look believable and are also consistent with the style of animation, to ensure that they blend in seamlessly with the live action components of the film or TV programme. They aim to meet the Director’s vision in terms of digital effects, using the resources available to them.

FX TD is both an artistic and technical role in VFX studio. As a senior role, a FX TD is responsible for providing guidance to more junior Artists, giving face-to-face technical help to all Animation and Lighting Artists, as well as keeping communicating with other departments.