VFX Workshops and Industry Insights

Karla Rodgers and I have been on a brief tour of the country with another series of New Zealand Film Commission sponsored workshops. This time the workshops were visual effects (VFX) oriented, with Charlie McClellan running them.

Charlie is in recovery after six years of working on Spartacus. I don’t mean recovery in a derogatory sense, but those of you who have worked on long-format drama series will understand my meaning. Personally, I would need recovery time after a week in a green-screen studio. Spartacus was shot entirely in-studio over a six-year period with the only shots to be taken outdoors being plate shots.

To quote from our publicity for this series of workshops:

‘With 20 years’ experience in visual effects, Charlie McClellan’s most recent work has been as visual effects supervisor on the hit TV-series Spartacus: War of the Damned, which featured an unprecedented 935 visual effects shots in the epic 1-hour series finale, 4,350 VFX shots in the final season and a mind-numbing 13,255 VFX shots in the 4-season series! Charlie has also worked as visual effects producer and/or supervisor on: The Frighteners, The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, Whale Rider, Perfect Creature, 30 Days of Night, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Legend of the Seeker and Under the Mountain. Additionally Charlie comes with the experience of having been a post-production supervisor with Miramax Films in NYC and producing a feature in New Zealand (Fracture, 2004), knowledge that is broad and invaluable to the original inception of a project through pre-production to the final delivery.’

The workshops were well attended by both Techos’ Guild members and non-members. Members of course had free entry whereas non-members had to pay for the privilege. There were 35 people at the Auckland workshop, 45 in Queenstown and 27 in Wellington. It was great to have a mix of people with all levels of experience attending. This variety made for interesting discussions at all workshops.

There was lively debate in Queenstown about the often-heard line, ‘fix it in post’. Although this is often said in jest unfortunately it is also often said in earnest when the person saying it doesn’t actually have the knowledge or information to be sure that it can be fixed in post without involving considerable time and cost. Best to make sure those with the appropriate knowledge, such as the special effects supervisor, are involved in any such decision.

I believe we all came away with an enhanced knowledge of how to work with the VFX team on any production. I know I learned a lot from being able to attend and contribute to these workshops over the three days. For instance, I had no idea of the pressure many post-production facilities are under or even that VFX companies in the USA have been going bust and being bought by Indian effects houses.

My enhanced knowledge of this area may turn out to be an advantage not just to myself but also to the students at Southern Institute of Technology in Invercargill where I’m currently filling a gap while they look for a new media studies tutor. This year’s third year class is in the process of finishing a rather ambitious project which combines live action with computer-generated work. Only once you sit down at a computer to do some rotoscoping do you begin to realise the size and intricacy of the task at hand. And rotoscoping is usually just the beginning of the task, the thin edge of the wedge, so to speak. Like so much in our industry, planning is the key to getting things done efficiently and cost effectively.

On another note entirely, though planning will surely be a key to getting it right, Auckland must go up, not out. With a population of a million people (and growing) transport will become an impossible problem if the city continues to spread and sprawl across the countryside. Over 40% of this country’s greenhouse gas emissions come from our small vehicle fleet, cars and vans and small trucks, yet this Government seems to think it okay to continue to expand the city’s footprint, making it more and more difficult to sort the city’s transport issues. Good luck I say. Future generations will be cursing us when we’re in our graves.

Albol