Robin Lamontagne is a VFX supervisor at Outpost VFX, which has four studios spread across the UK, Montreal and Mumbai. They work on film and episodics, including Napoleon, Silo, The Wheel of Time and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
Based in Montreal, Lamontagne has almost a decade in the industry, amassing multiple VES Award nominations along the way. He was previously at Rodeo FX, Method and Atomic Fiction, among other studios.
He has contributed to shows such as Ad Astra, Extraction and For All Mankind but is maybe best known for his work on Season 2 of The Witcher, where he oversaw a numbe of technically challenging CG sequences. These included the fight scene between Geralt and the full-CG Myriapod, a huge centipede-like creature with a mammalian head, multiple arms and slimy tentacles, all of which had to interact seamlessly with talent.
Let’s find out more…
What does your role as a VFX supervisor entail?
The VFX supervisor on the vendor side is the person in charge of making sure the digital effects for a project hit the mark. They collaborate with clients, hash out the budget details, and then lead a team of digital artists to get the job done.
The Little Mermaid
They handle the technical side, ensure the client’s vision is met, and oversee the team as they create the visual magic that ends up on screen. Whether it’s crafting epic battle scenes or bringing fantastical creatures to life, the VFX supervisor at a VFX studio is the one steering the ship to make it all happen.
What would surprise people the most about what falls under that title?
There are a number of soft skills a VFX supervisor needs to keep the team motivated and working in the same creative direction, not only so they can follow the client’s vision, but so they can also bring their own ideas and creativity to the project.
I think it all mostly comes down to having a sense of ownership over the work. The more we can communicate notes and guidelines in a way that allows the team to feel comfortable sharing ideas, or trying something out rather than placing this pixel on that dot, the better. And I believe it’s up to the VFX supervisor to nurture and encourage that mentality.
How long have you been working in VFX, and in what kind of roles?
I’ve touched a wide variety of departments across my VFX career. I started almost 10 years ago as a data wrangler, then quickly moved to editorial doing modeling tasks after-hours to help push the show forward and help myself transition to an artist position. I then went on to be a CG generalist, assets lead, CG supervisor and finally VFX supervisor.
How has the VFX industry changed in the time you’ve been working? What’s been good? What’s been bad?
The VFX scene has been a real rollercoaster since I got into it. On the upside, we’ve gotten crazy good at making movie magic. Seriously, sometimes even I can’t tell what’s real and what we’ve cooked up in post, which is amazing.
On the flip side, we’ve been seeing a few more films downplaying the VFX work in their marketing campaigns; VFX teams are creating epic visuals that support the filmmaking process, and it’s sometimes made to sound as though everything was done in-camera. We should all be shouting from the rooftops about the cool stuff we’re doing, not hiding it in my opinion.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
So it’s been a journey. We’ve upped our game big time, but there’s still the challenge of having our work recognized for the integral part of filmmaking that it now is.
Did a particular film inspire you along this path in entertainment?
I couldn’t name one film in particular, but I always really liked the cool-looking stuff. And VFX became my way of contributing to the coolest stuff I could ever imagine.
Did you go to film school?
I did not! I went to a couple of CG schools, which gave me the base I needed, and I made up the rest practicing on my own time and absorbing as much as I could from the people I worked with.
What’s your favorite part of the job?
There’s quite a few. I love when a show starts and you get to discover the plates, establish workflows and plan out the show. There’s also something incredibly thrilling about sending the last few shots; it brings an adrenaline rush that is hard to replicate.
If you didn’t have this job, what would you be doing instead?
That’s an interesting question. Had streaming been as big as it is now when I was younger, I might’ve ended up doing that. Otherwise, probably videogames or something completely different like woodworking.
Can you name some recent work?
I recently wrapped on Monarch: Legacy of Monsters while at Outpost VFX and previously worked on Black Adam, The Little Mermaid and The Witcher Season 2.
What tools do you use day to day?
ShotGrid, RV, Maya and Nuke are my daily drivers.
Where do you find inspiration now?
It varies a lot depending on the show. If my kids are the target audience age, I will push myself to create something I know they would enjoy, because the thought of watching it with them is really the only inspiration I need. Otherwise to me, it’s all about making cool things, looking for the “ohhh” moment. That’s what keeps me inspired and pushing forward.
What do you do to de-stress from it all?
Running around with the kids definitely helps forget about the day’s stress, and when that doesn’t work, I’ll hop back on the computer a little bit to play some videogames with my brother.
