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Mark Horrobin

Colorist Chat: Creative Outpost’s Mark Horrobin Talks Path and Light

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Growing up on a farm in the large, open spaces of the Australian Outback has had a big influence on Creative Outpost’s new senior colorist, Mark Horrobin. It not only gives him inspiration in his work, but it drives the types of grading he likes to work on. “I like wide-open spaces, mountain views and vast skies,” he confirms. “The things I like to grade the most are big, epic genres like car commercials, where they’ve shot automobiles driving around in crazy, beautiful landscapes. And I find inspiration from being outside with nature, seeing untouched, natural and beautiful things.”

Mark Horrobin

Mark Horrobin

Horrobin didn’t grow up dreaming of being a colorist. In fact, he wanted to be a journalist, but a year into university, he realized it wasn’t for him. After finishing his degree and a spot of mining (don’t ask), he packed his bag and headed off to discover the world, ending up in London. Calling the only English guy he knew, who just happened to work at a post company, he managed to land himself a job there.

“I knew nothing about post production,” he says. “Literally zero. But, as fate would have it, a runner had resigned the day before, and they gave me the job. And, suddenly, this whole new world opened up in front of me.”

That post company was MPC, and that’s where he met Quentin “Q” Olszewski and Danny Etherington, Creative Outpost’s co-founders. “They were in the class of runners before me. They’d just been promoted to videotape assistants as I started running. I worked hard, got promoted and then met the person who made me realize what path I wanted to take.”

Mark Horrobin

Range Rover, directed by Bugsy Steel

While working in the machine room, Horrobin was asked to do a screening for a visitor, who then handed him a tape to play. “I put it in, lights down, volume up and what I saw blew my mind. I had no idea you could make pictures look as arty and beautiful as that. It was at that point that I knew I wanted to learn from this guy. His name is Jean-Clément Soret, and I later learned they were trying to recruit him as a colorist. Luckily for me, he took the job.”

Horrobin became Soret’s assistant. The work started coming in, and Soret started grading some of the top projects in London. “So I grew up with this exposure to his French way of working, which was a bit revolutionary on the London scene, and I got to spend a lot of hours looking at high-end, beautiful work. I made a point of learning as much as I possibly could from him, and that’s how I learned my craft.”

The 14-Year Itch
After 14 years at MPC, Horrobin moved to Smoke & Mirrors (now Tag Arts Collective), where he spent another 14 years setting up and running the grading department. “I guess I get the 14-year itch, which is why I decided to make my recent move to Creative Outpost with Danny and Q. When they told me they were looking to get serious about the grading side of the business, it seemed like a great opportunity to work with people I know and build something meaningful,” he says.

Fosters, directed by James Rouse

“Q and I did some real pioneering on remote grading workflows over a mobile phone network in 2010, long before remote work was a thing.  Creative Outpost puts remote work front and center, which suits my particular situation perfectly.  I’m very much looking forward to fine-tuning this side of things.” 

When it comes to Horrobin’s approach to a piece of work, it’s the storytelling and the light that drives and guides him. “I didn’t have any kind of creative background, yet there’s something about taking a picture, layering certain things into it and improving it to tell a story that really floats my boat,” he says. “I love that part of the process.”

Looking at the Light
“For me, the best work is where you’re following and respecting the light. I play around and just feel where the light wants to be,” he says. “When you start to work with something, there’s an intuitive direction that you feel the material wants to head toward. And, within that parameter, you still have options. You can start to play around with levels of contrast, darkening certain areas and highlighting others. And you can start to add a little bit of what you think is going to pull the attention into the right areas of the images.

Mark Horrobin

Vashi

“What is tricky is when the direction of the brief changes because when you start pulling away from the light or pushing against the light, you’ve got to dig deep to keep it looking stylish and to give it some integrity.”

Evolution of Color
A lot has changed in the grading craft since Horrobin started out, and he still misses some of the old-school solutions. “It’s unrecognizable to when I started,” he explains. “The transition from analog to digital has been huge. It’s had a massive effect on how everything is made, and it’s also somehow democratized the process. Before, there was a little bit of voodoo, and it was a very bespoke discipline.”

He misses the loss of discipline. “Because it’s all-digital now, you can just make copies and get another take. Whereas previously, decisions had to be made. They were very thoughtful decisions,” he says. “They weren’t made lightly, and once they were made, people stuck by them. There was a serious discipline to the whole process.”

Range Rover

He points to LUTs that will take you to a particular look. “I do find with a lot of the younger generation coming through, that’s their go-to,” he says. “They add one of those and then work around that, whereas the old-school solution is to work with the light, understand the material that you’re working with and build a solid foundation, and then everything else will fall into place. That approach is just as pertinent when I was working on film as it is today.”

Horrobin says his approach won’t change at Creative Outpost, and he’s looking forward to growing the opportunities for the grading department. “I’ll be using the same tools, and every picture has its singular creative opportunities. I really want to build a respected grading department that hopefully contributes both to growing all other areas of picture creation and to securing high-end work.  With that work will come a greater creative outlet.”

A Good Fit
The culture and ethos at Creative Outpost also played an important part in Horrobin’s decision to make the move, as did the opportunity to manage, motivate and mentor its young talent. “One of the things I am most proud of throughout my career is how much young talent I have mentored. The hours are challenging, but the key to morale on my team has always been transparency and availability.  When things are tough, you need to be at the center of it with everyone else. I’m always available for training and advice, and I find it becomes a two-way street — when I need something out of the ordinary, people are happy to oblige.”

Main Image: Vashi

MPC Creates 896 VFX Shots for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

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Paramount’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, directed by Steven Caple Jr., transports audiences to a world where Optimus Prime and the Autobots take on their biggest challenge yet. When a new threat capable of destroying the entire planet emerges, they must team up with a powerful faction of Transformers known as the Maximals to save Earth.

Visual effects studio MPC was called on to help tell that story. Over 1,000 artists and production crew collaborating across MPC’s studios in London, Montreal, Bangalore, LA, Toronto and Adelaide delivered 896 shots, including 18 of the movie’s characters, such as Arcee, Bumblebee, Mirage, Optimus Primal, Optimus Prime, Rhinox, Scourge and the planet-eating character Unicron.

Major sequences included the start of the story in New York and the abandoned warehouse scene, where the film’s heroes meet the Autobots; the Ellis Island battle; the Switchback mountain chase; and the pivotal sequence where the Autobots meet the Maximals.

The film’s overall VFX supervisor, Gary Brozenich, worked with MPC VFX supervisors Richard Little and Carlos Caballero Valdés and MPC VFX producers Cindy Deringer and Nicholas Vodicka.

Brozenich met with the filmmakers in 2021 to meticulously plan how to bring the director’s vision of a new Transformers film to life. MPC’s on-set crew traveled to Montreal, New York and Peru to gather data from the shoot for the VFX work. Meanwhile, in LA, MPC’s visualization team, supervised by Abel Salazar, worked alongside the director and VFX supervisor to help craft the previz for many of the film’s sequences. They then helped to ensure a smooth transition into VFX by providing postviz for shots. Salazar and a team of artists continued into post, delivering over 2,000 postviz shots that helped provide a solid foundation for MPC’s VFX teams to build upon.

Character development began with concept art created by the production’s art department. Over the course of production, MPC’s art department worked further on some of the designs. MPC art director Leandre Lagrange and a team of six artists worked on concepts for volcano environments, details of Unicron’s design, Arcee’s face design, Optimus Prime’s weapon and various holograms, including Arcee’s scan hologram. For the transformations, MPC developed a new proprietary tool that allowed animators to slice, separate and transform geometry on a model in any given shot on any asset. The transformations were a joint effort between multiple departments including R&D, animation mechanic TDs and CG lighters.

MPC’s environments team built multiple large-scale, full-CG and digital set extensions, from jungle environments to mountains to cities. One of largest tasks was to change the present-day New York skyline back to 1994. “It was really interesting to see how much Manhattan has changed over the last 30 years,” says MPC’s Little.

“We created a huge CG build of Manhattan based on images from photography and footage gathered from the early ‘90s. We had some incredible images of the skyline given to me by New Yorkers I worked closely with on the shoot in Manhattan. Some of these images came from their family’s personal photography collections. The Williamsburg Bridge, which is heavily featured in the sequence when Noah meets the Autobots, was scanned and photographed to help our environments team with the build. We were very fortunate that the Manhattan authorities were so helpful in allowing us to collect the photography we needed.”

“From asset creation and design to the creation of highly complex, full-screen environments, the [MPC] teams nailed the brief with flair,” reports Brozenich. “The robots were exceptionally crafted and animated. I was pleased to uphold the legacy of the franchise with them.”

In addition to its own tools, MPC called on Maya, Houdini, RenderMan, Katana, ZBrush, Unreal and Nuke.

MPC Provides 800 VFX Shots for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

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Lead by VFX supervisors Malte Sarnes and Axel Bonami, the visual effects work for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was a collaborative effort between MPC’s Adelaide, Montreal, Bangalore and LA teams. They used the latest tools and techniques to create the film’s visuals, with over 1,000 artists delivering more than 800 shots.

MPC’s Concept Art teams in Adelaide (under the supervision of art director Nicholas Pill) and LA (led by art director Leandre Lagrange), were tasked with designing the background for a specific location in the Quantum Realm — Guerilla Village. To visualize this environment, the team researched microscopic, subatomic and neural network references as well as artists such as Gerard van Smirren. Since Guerilla Village is a hideout, the team’s designs conveyed a sense of protection and secrecy.

MPC Montreal’s artists worked on two large-scale, full-CG environments, the Guerilla Village and Chronopolis. Both sequences involved two large-scale battle sequences featuring CG crowds, an army of battle ants and hundreds of FX elements to seamlessly integrate into the plate. They were also tasked with creating the character Veb, voiced by actor David Dastmalchian. MPC’s modeling and texture artists researched creatures including jellyfish to create Veb’s translucent skin, while animators tackled the challenge of how to convey the character’s emotion.

MPC Adelaide worked on multiple sequences within the Quantum Realm, including Hank and M.O.D.O.K’s aerial fight, Cassie’s transmission, Janet’s homestead, the observation deck sequence and Blight approach. The FX department created a variety of simulations including explosions, energy effects, laser beams and refractive energy.

To create the homestead environment, MPC’s assets department built a library of detailed CG foliage and vegetation to distribute throughout the environment, adding depth with multiple layers. The Quantum Realm environments built by MPC spanned over 40 kilometers in diameter and included 20 kilometers of Quantum skies. These skies include numerous effects, such as slow-moving portals, stars, noise waves and clouds.

The most challenging work was Blight, which involved large scale environment destruction, as well as the Blight retraction and its reversed environmental effects.

Another major task for MPC was Kang’s transformations, the look development for his mask and powers including force fields and laser beams. MPC also created various creatures including snail-like horses named Snorses, digital doubles, vehicles and variations of Ants — armored ants carrying objects on their backs and repairing Hank’s ship using welding tools.

“MPC Adelaide was given the daunting task of presenting the first sequence of images in our film,” says production VFX supervisor Jesse J. Chisholm. “This was our first look at the newly designed Quantum Realm. If our audience didn’t buy it as a real place, we knew our movie would fall on its face. The next undertaking was to create Kang’s suit transformation and his ship, the Timesphere. Malte and his team once again perfectly integrated the plate-based photography and CGI to give our audience something tactile to bite into. The last piece of the puzzle was the creation of the Blighted Core and the following sequence on the observation deck. The observation deck scene required heavy storytelling in making our world feel dangerous, but also great restraint in world-building allowing Scott and Cassie a moment of emotional connection.”

Some of the tools used by MPC included Autodesk Maya, Foundry Nuke, ZBrush and RenderMan.

 

 

Combining Wildlife Footage and VFX for Apple’s Prehistoric Planet

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The Apple TV+ docuseries Prehistoric Planet takes viewers back in time to when dinosaurs roamed the earth, seas and skies. Narrated by David Attenborough, Prehistoric Planet combines wildlife filmmaking, newly found paleontology research and state-of-the-art technology to show how these creatures lived thanks to photoreal visual effects by MPC.

Adam Valdez

Prehistoric Planet was helmed by Oscar-winning animation directors Adam Valdez and Andy Jones (The Jungle Book), who worked with executive producers Mike Gunton and Jon Favreau and BBC Studios Natural History Unit (Planet Earth). We reached out to Valdez to talk about how they animated realistic dinosaurs on top of wildlife footage shot by BBC’s Natural History Unit.

How did you and Andy divvy up the work of directing?
One of us would pair with a producer-writer from the BBC who was in charge of that episode and its content, stories and facts. The structure is basically like TV directing — they write it, and then we dramatize it, shoot it and provide a director’s cut. BBC then has editorial control.

What is a bit different is that Andy and I are both also animation supervisors. We would receive rough storyboards or art panels and the intended narration alongside a whole raft of scientific research. I loved learning all these incredible things and then puzzling through the process of dramatizing the ideas in ways that were engaging but also informative. This was an exercise in relatively pure visual storytelling with no character dialogue.

The narration backs you up, but the moments need to speak for themselves. Mike and Jon were watching the series’ overall tonal balance and range of interest, so we often would rework scenes a few times before going out for the live-action background photography.

Can you walk us through your process? How did it begin?
Andy and I would receive the brief and design the moments, beginning with scenic layout and animation on the computer. Andy was based in LA, and I was based in London. The MPC previz teams in LA and London had to move quickly and be inventive, as often we had to try a few ideas out before we found the right answer.

Once we had animated scenes — usually large chunks of action as long as one minute — we “shot” the camera coverage. Both of us used iPad-based tools, which give an operating feel. I could mount the iPad on a fluid head for long-lens shots or scale my input massively to create helicopter shots. This yielded a lot of coverage, which the BBC Natural History editors said was very similar to the coverage they get from real shoots.

By generating large pieces of animation and covering them in a semitraditional pattern, the editorial process can also feel semitraditional. This is where we had to apply certain rules. For example, if the BBC are out in the field, they might follow an animal for several weeks, yielding a lot of angles of their everyday behaviors.

For a big kill moment or a rare moment of action, they often only have one camera, as those moments are so rare. So we had to follow those rules to a degree. Often a big moment is covered from one camera, and the shot just hangs there, usually with a bit of slo-mo in order to appreciate what’s happening. Most of the time, we would do two or three rounds of this kind of previz until the story worked for everyone — camera, story, science. We were meticulous, and the goal was to then film those shots as precisely as possible.

These dinos are based on scientific research. Did that help or did it make it harder because you had to be super-accurate?
All shows need to know what they are and what they aren’t, and there are limits to defining that. Here, scientific accuracy was just one of those limits. Every moment, every action and every physical mechanic you see on screen was vetted by scientists and the BBC Natural History team … down to how wings move on flying reptiles, how feet take weight, and how an animal’s neck might bend. The series is a record of our best understanding of these animals on the planet for so many millions of years.

What were some of the challenges of mixing the CG creatures and real wildlife footage?
There were so many sequences based in so many locations, all during pandemic shooting variables, so it was really hard to attain shot-by-shot accuracy to our plan.  Then we had the added constraint that locations needed to match our period of Earth ecology as closely as possible. The BBC teams are used to going to the literal ends of the Earth, and we had locations all over.

In the end, sometimes the background plates weren’t precisely what we needed, so they required some digital surgery. We had planned things down to the point when we revealed dinosaur interaction with the environment because the natural history style often frames feet out, saving VFX work. After that, the challenges were matching lighting precisely and the overall photographic range, color and tonal response. Natural history has an immaculate and medium contrast feeling that we matched.

Prehistoric PlanetWhat about working with MPC on the VFX? Who was your main point of contact, and how did that relationship work?
The VFX supervisor at MPC is Elliot Newman. BBC VFX supervisor Lindsay McFarlane managed the overall progress of work. And Andy Jones, the other series director, provided overall animation supervisor duties, wearing his other hat. I personally was not as involved in the visual effects as those guys.

How were you viewing the shots? Remotely?
The project started pre-lockdown and was delivered in 2022, so pandemic issues constrained the entire project. Video conference calls are how we moved through everything. We started work at the MPC offices, making our previz, but within a couple of months, we were all working from home, and Technicolor had to scramble brand-new solutions for remote networking. So I ended up at home shooting all the previz on an iPad connected to a local PC.

Was one of thePrehistoric Planet dinos more difficult to do than the others? If so, why?
Pterosaurs – flying reptiles – are among the trickiest.  Their forms defy our initial sensibilities about what can fly.  Some are tiny, but some are 20 feet tall, and it’s just hard to believe they were real things when you see them. The mechanics of how their wings worked is intricate and backed by analysis of the fossil record and biomechanics.  Lastly, the animation itself had to be perfect because they don’t fly exactly like modern birds, which we know and understand.

So for a modern audience, all of these things had to come together perfectly so that when you see a 15-foot-tall flying reptile launch from the beach in our final moment of the series, you believe it. So the point is that the audience will accept they are seeing something they’ve never seen before — these incredible animals that actually lived real lives – and lean in to how incredible it is to witness.

The young T. rex…can you discuss that one?
Young T. rex doesn’t look just like a tiny adult T. rex, even though they are already the size of some fully grown dinosaur species. Like many animals, their youthful morphology is only partially formed, and they are fluffy, similar to what we see today in young birds. The point of having them was also to show a parenting relationship. In the opening scene, the father T. rex follows the scent of a dead animal. The young ones follow their predatory instincts and hunt baby turtles on that beach. The story highlights how the T. rex would instinctively hunt and knew how to use its size to claim dead carcasses, an easier and less risky source of food.

What about the always challenging water effects, snow, hair, etc.? 
VFX for the physical phenomenon is always hard. We all see it every day. It’s something you take for granted in a show when it’s done well, and it can bump you out of the show when it’s done badly. Plus, the artists who work on it are rare and highly skilled, so for a series with so many instances of animals in environments, it was a massive challenge. I think MPC did a great job here, and most of the time, it’s not even clear where they have added this work.

The eyes are gorgeous. Can you discuss that process?
An audience will naturally look to the eyes first when a cut takes place. Dinosaur eyes are not expressive like ours, and there were precisely zero attempts to give them human attributes.

But stillness, blinks and energy level can say a lot.  A mother who has just lost a baby is still staring, blinks slowly, and feels sad. We project onto that. It’s controversial scientifically to determine other animals’ experiences, but it seems obvious to this nonscientist that they have some sort of experience we can relate to. So the pressure is also on how the eyes look for us to connect.

A lot of work goes on in the visual effects asset-building team to make eyes with complex structures that refract and reflect light accurately, that have depth and that set inside the skin surrounding them. The articulation of the complex tiny muscles around the eyes is also key, and there are several super-duper close-ups that are all about featuring the eyes in all their glory.

What tools were used? Hardware and software?
Previz was made on Linux boxes in Autodesk Maya then in the Unity and Unreal game engines. I believe we also used tools like Foundry Nuke, SideFX Houdini, RenderMan, etc. for composting, simulation and rendering, respectively.

Jon Favreau has worked on many VFX-heavy films. How did his understanding of the process help?
I think of Jon as a perennial student of the medium, even though he’s a master of writing, directing and acting. He’s curious and experimental, and that means we were constantly pushing something new in terms of techniques and finding the next “magic trick” for how a piece engages the audience. For this project, making photography seem hand-made instead of computer-perfect was something we had already been working on, and it became essential to achieving the documentary feel.

Also, Jon isn’t intimidated by the high complexity involved with mounting and finishing large VFX projects, which gave everyone the confidence that we were making good decisions step by step.

Colorist James Bamford

Colorist James Bamford Joins Rascal Post as Creative Director 

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London-based Rascal Post has added colorist James Bamford to its team as creative director. Bamford joins after an 18-year tenure at The Mill London, where he had been named head of color in 2020. Blending his creative experience with technical skills, Bamford has worked with many directors over the years, including Matthew Vaughn, Oscar Hudson, Taika Waititi and Nicolai Fuglsig.

His reel includes Volvo’s The Epic Split; John Lewis’ The Man on the Moon; Coca-Cola’s 2020 Christmas spot, The Letter; Guinness’ The Purse; and Carlsberg’s The Lake. He’s collaborated with brands such as PlayStation, Amazon, Guinness and Sipsmith and on music videos for the likes of Little Mix, Metronomy, Khruangbin and Hozier.

Bamford joins the Rascal team as it opens a third studio in Old Street — alongside offices in Kings Cross and Stockholm — to service its growing list of clients. Bamford will be grading full-time on a FilmLight Baselight system in addition to his creative director duties.

“Having worked closely with James for over 20 years, I know he’s going to slot right in and be a true asset to the team,” says Gareth Brannan, co-founder/managing director at Rascal. “Our focus has always been on fostering close, progressive relationships with our clients, and James exemplifies the personal service we want to offer. He’s got a fantastic work ethic and attention to detail, and his ambitious approach to the craft means he’ll no doubt fulfill the needs of the high-caliber names we’ve been working with since Rascal launched. I’m excited to see what the future has in store.”

 

VFX Supervisor Adrien Servadio

VFX Supervisor Adrien Servadio joins MPC

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MPC has VFX supervisor Adrien Servadio to its creative team in Los Angeles. He brings with him over a decade’s worth of experience that combines the artistic and the technical. With his hands-on experience in post production, he’ll play a key part in guiding directors, agencies and brand partners, and provide both technical and creative solutions for the team at large.

As a VFX artist, Servadio has worked with best filmmakers and photographers such as Nicolas Winding Refn, Laurence Dunmore, Peter Lindberg, Thierry Poiraud and Dario Piana. And he has worked on projects from brands like Lancome, Dior, Cadillac and Coca-Cola.

“We’ve admired Adrien’s work as a Flame artist, VFX supervisor, photographer and filmmaker for quite some time and we’re lucky to have him,” says MPC LA creative director Morten Vinther. “Adrien is coming onboard at a time when the LA studio is seeing a huge uptick in demand for its creative talent. He will play a crucial role in building on that momentum.”

MPC is a Technicolor Creative Studios company.

 

 

 

 

Technicolor Launches Creative Hubs

Technicolor Launches Creative Hubs for VFX and Production

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Technicolor Creative Studios is launching a global network of interconnected Creative Hubs that will host multiple VFX and production studios under one roof, giving brands and filmmakers access to the company’s creative production talent in one location.

Technicolor Creative Studios — home to The Mill, The Moving Picture Company (MPC), Mikros Animation and more — already has successful, co-located hubs in Paris and Bangalore. Over the coming months, new hubs will open across the UK and US.

Advertising studios MPC and The Mill will share studio space in London and New York, bringing the brands closer together under the joint leadership of Mark Benson (CEO, MPC) and Josh Mandel (CEO, The Mill). The full suite of Technicolor Creative Studios brands across advertising and entertainment will share a Creative Hub and Innovation Center in Culver City, California. Each studio will retain its own unique brand identity and creative talent while enjoying the benefits of a co-located studio environment and world-class facilities.

Technicolor Creative Hubs are the next step in the growth and evolution of Technicolor Creative Studios following the brand’s launch earlier this year. Technicolor provides VFX and creative production services to the global entertainment, brand experience and advertising sectors. Developing new co-located hubs for the studio’s brands will make it easier to expand across the USA, Europe and Asia, where the company is exploring its footprint in new markets.

Mirroring the studio’s top clients across the entertainment, technology and advertising industries, multiple TCS  brands will be hosted under one roof, sitting under the Technicolor Creative Studios umbrella.

“From the adoption of new technologies to interconnected infrastructure and talent, the formation of our new Creative Hubs is a progressive step designed to further improve the client experience. This will drive more collaboration and innovation at scale and pace,” says Christian Roberton, president of Technicolor Creative Studios. “As we continue to partner with the world’s most ambitious agencies, brands and film studios, we can now offer even easier access to [our] talent and creative production facilities across the world.”

 

 

 

 

 

MPC Creates Digital Clones for Artist Eliza Douglas and Balenciaga

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Fashion designer Balenciaga and its creative director Demna Gvasalia called on Moving Picture Company (MPC) to solve a creative challenge: to “clone” artist Eliza Douglas so she was wearing every look for Balenciaga’s SP22 launch. Rather than adopting a one size fits all solution for the film, MPC used multiple techniques divided among its global team of artists.Creative director Marcus Dryden and producer Jaz Rongokea led the team tasked with creating the clones — the methods used ranged from deep fakes via AI/machine learning, a real-time games engine and traditional VFX.

Projects like these, says Dryden, “where you can collaborate directly with your clients at the beginning seem to be aptly challenging the traditional perceptions of post being involved at the end of the process.

“In pre-production,” he continues, “we were able to plan the whole show. We used a game engine (Unreal) to previsualize which looks could be body doubles vs. which needed to be the real Eliza. Also, the previz defined the scale of the set for the art department and allowed production to choose the best lens, angles and positions needed to run the multiple cameras in sync whilst on location.”

During the shoot, MPC on-set supervisors Carsten Keller and Damien Canameras captured photogrammetry of Eliza’s face and oversaw a variety of in-situ plates to extract her face and transpose it onto the body doubles shot on the catwalk.

“We also used a CG scan of Eliza’s head and on set photo reference to build a proxy Eliza head to help visualize the face replacements,” says Dryden. “This allowed our compositing team, lead by David Filipe and Guy Lubin, to study and analyze each shot and each face to define the best process to achieve the highest-quality clone.”

To create face replacements, the team used planar tracking via BorisFX Mocha and Foundry Nuke, rotoscope animation was done with Maya, Keen Tools, inside of Nuke, was used for 3D tracking and modelling and machine learning was used for the AI/deep fake work.

“Once we began attaching Eliza’s faces, we matched light, textures and motion artefacts using compositing,” explains Dryden. “Using the references and the scan of the head, we made sure each clone’s face was as pixel-accurate to Eliza’s face as possible while still retaining the nuance of the specific Balenciaga design aesthetic.”

The final Balenciaga film shows all the “clones” with Eliza’s photogrammetry-captured and CG-scanned face as they march down a minimalist runway to a sci-fi-inspired soundtrack composed by BFRND, which includes an AI voice narrating the lyrics of La Vie En Rose.

This project marks MPC’s third collaboration with Balenciaga following the Summer 21 Pre-collection video directed by Walter Stern, and the Winter 20 collection video which saw MPC create colossal cinematic visuals for the brand’s Paris Fashion Week show.

 

Behind the Title: MPC Senior VFX Supervisor Kamen Markov

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Industry veteran Kamen Markov is senior visual effects supervisor at MPC in London, a global creative studio providing visual effects and production services. In his role, Markov is tasked with “making creative and aesthetic choices for visual effects to achieve the creative aims of the director,” he says, adding, “I lead and direct the team of 2D artists, work directly with the director, advertising agency and our producers to predict the timing and cost of a project.”

Markov has been working in visual effects since 1998, becoming a visual effects supervisor in 2002. He joined MPC in 2011 and was promoted to senior VFX supervisor this year. With a background in fine art, watercolor painting and even acting, Markov is also experienced Flame artist, who works regularly with top directors such as Traktor, Jonathan Glazer and Frederic Planchon.

Cats With Thumbs

Let’s find out more…

What would surprise people about the role of visual effects supervisor?
I think people outside of the business will find it hard to believe the sheer amount of time, effort and costs that sometimes go into what we call “invisible effects.” Dozens of artists can be working for days and weeks on visual effects that, if successfully executed, no one will suspect were ever done.

You’ve been doing this a while. How has the industry changed in the time you’ve been working? The good and the bad.
From my perspective there are aspects of the industry that are unrecognizable compared to 15-20 years ago, but also many that have stayed very much the same. Luckily, the industry still attracts amazing people — talented, driven and smart.

The amount and quality of information and learning opportunities online simply didn’t exist back in the day. The technology has moved on massively, and it’s been fascinating to witness the progress. Not only the everyday toolsets, but also the way we shoot, prepare the projects, manage teams and communicate with the clients. However, I do sometimes miss the days when clients and directors spent time with us in the suite and we could be part of the crafting process together.

The Boy and Piano

In terms of negatives, due to the advancement of technology I have found that, on occasion, schedules and budgets have been challenged. Sometimes this is at the expense of the artistic execution and the artist’s satisfaction. However, the love for great images is still very strong, and we are an adaptable bunch. Some of the visually stunning masterpieces have arrived on our screen precisely because of these changes to the industry.

Why do you like being on set for shots?
Shoot sets are pure magic. This is the place where the vision, the script and the concept become tangible and real. There are so many little tweaks, solutions and simple-yet-brilliant ideas that a VFX set supervisor can bring to shape the final image right there when the camera is capturing the action. This is when the canvas is created for your team, and as a VFX supervisor I feel I have the responsibility to provide them with the best I can get. The exchange of ideas and bonding with the creative leads of a project is invaluable too. Last, but not least, the people you meet, the knowledge you gain and the locations you visit are a fantastic bonus.

Did a particular film inspire you along this path?
The one and only Lawrence of Arabia by David Lean. I doubt there was a single piece of visual effects in this movie, but the visuals were so captivating, the interwinding of story and picture so magnificent, I cannot help but still be inspired by it.

Argos’ Ready for Take Off

Did you go to film school?
Back in the day I really wish I did. I come from a small place and the opportunities simply didn’t exist there. However, self-learning does provide some great advantages. It is more often than not based on real-world problems and solutions, grounded by the combined knowledge of many artists and their wisdom and technical or artistic creativity you encounter along the way. It really provokes very proactive thinking both technically and as a motivation.

I find the latter extremely important because once you reach this approach, it never leaves you. I don’t think I would feel as comfortable in my position if I had received my knowledge any other way. But it is important to recognize the benefits of the film schools. They provide a great path for young talent, and without a doubt bring to the ranks some very talented people.

What’s your favorite part of the job?
Working closely with a talented and committed director, crew, agency and artists, plus smart and supportive producers. Solving technical problems with creative solutions, of course, the immense power of the tools we have at our disposal.

What’s your least favorite?
Staring at a spreadsheet.

If you didn’t have this job, what would you be doing instead?

I think it would have been a similar combination of relying on a logical and technical approach and some form of art. I find it a perfect way to spend your time. If one fails, you can lean on the other and vice versa. Industrial design, architecture and maybe even some form of working with wood would have been nice.

The Boy and Piano

What is the project that you are most proud of?
In no particular order that would be one of the first ads I did in London, which made me believe I could succeed in the UK Market — Cravendale’s Cats With Thumbs with Ulf Johanson. Also, the Vodafone’s Kiss with Frederic Planchon, Audi’s The Ring with Jonathan Glazer and John Lewis department store’s The Boy and Piano with Seb Edwards. Also, my work with Traktor and Daniel Kleinman.

What tools do you use day to day?
Autodesk Flame is my everlasting love, Foundry Nuke, Ftrack and all the proprietary managing tools the smart people at MPC have developed.

Where do you find inspiration?
Inspiration is everywhere, isn’t it? From the work of others, to the real world around you. I have a little trick too… in difficult moments I ask myself what a young me would of do, what effort and what lengths he would go to make things happen bigger and better. Then I simply try to keep up.

How do you de-stress from it all?
I don’t nearly enough! I just try to relax and take my mind to a different place. Daydreaming I guess, it takes you nowhere but produces just the right mix of chemicals your brain needs.

Colorist Ricky Gausis Helps Set Look for Showtime Comedy Moonbase 8

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MPC colorist Ricky Gausis worked with director Jonathan Krisel (Portlandia, Baskets) and DP Carl Herse (Black Monday, Kroll Show) to set the look on the Showtime comedy Moonbase 8, starring Fred Armisen, Tim Heidecker and John C. Reilly.

The new six-part A24 comedy series follows three subpar astronauts living at NASA’s Moon Base Simulator with high hopes of being chosen to travel to the moon. A series of unexpected circumstances forces the astronauts to question their own sanity and trust in each other and whether or not they’re cut out for space travel after all.

Gausis graded the entire series (working on FilmLight Baselight), working closely with Herse, with whom he collaborated on Showtime’s Black Monday. Commenting on the inspiration behind the look of the show, Gausis says, “Carl sent me references for Rinko Kawauchi for the interior set ups and Joel Sternfeld for the show exteriors. In the case of Rinko’s photography, it served more as feeling for us, with her softer contrast and more ethereal cool tones, while the exteriors played into the warm, barren and vast landscape world of Joel Sternfeld’s photography.”

Gausis says that combining the two different styles helped to break up the two worlds and clearly remind the viewers that the characters aren’t on the moon when they do venture out of the base. “Using Joel Sternfeld as a reference meant that we were unmistakably grounded in reality for the exteriors to play off the slightly slicker and more sci-fi tones inside the base.”

“It’s always incredibly smooth collaborating with Carl and artistically satisfying. I’m really proud of the look of the show we’ve crafted along with director Jonathan Krisel.”

 

 

MPC Creates VFX for Shawn Levy-Directed Dick’s Sporting Goods Spots

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MPC once again provided visual effects for agency Anomaly, Pacific Rim Films’ director Shawn Levy and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Last year’s campaign gave viewers a look at what goes on at Dick’s after the store closes for the night — a group of clothing and sporting goods come to life. This year, the group escapes from a Dick’s Sporting Goods distribution center, commandeers a delivery truck and drives to a young boy’s family home to deliver the presents themselves.

The visual effects work was led by MPC’s New York studio with support from other MPC studios, including those in LA, Bangalore and London. The MPC Film team handled the previs. Led by MPC’s animation director Chris Bernier and creative director Anthony Bloor, the team worked closely with Anomaly and Shawn Levy in a collaboration process that started well before the shoot.

The studio called on Substance Painter, Autodesk Maya and SideFX Houdini along with some proprietary tools they built for a thin fur layer on the hoodie and rigging tools for the characters. Compositing was done in Foundry Nuke with some additional Flame work.

“This year we were all focused on bringing even more character into the whole story,” says Bernier. “Anomaly, Pacific Rim Films and MPC worked together to come up with ideas during the edit so our animators could include as much action as possible to make the characters likable and fun, including kick flips, rail slides, fun runs and football kicks.”

MPC’s 2D lead David Piombino adds, “The main challenge in recreating something in CG that also exists practically is that you need to be incredibly accurate. In the shoot, we were mindful of this and shot elements of the actual products as stand-ins. The director, agency and set crew were very understanding of our process and this gave us a wonderful reference to match with and guide us to our final result.”

The team revived many of the characters from last year’s Dick’s holiday spot to serve as supporting members of the group. The main cast for this year’s spot includes updated versions of the hoodie, skateboard and ping pong paddles from last year’s spot, as well as new characters such as the gym weights and football.

MPC put a lot of effort into making sure the VFX and animation allowed these characters to express emotion without the use of human-like facial features or expressions. “Every character — original and new — was updated so that their performance was pushed even further this year. There was more emphasis on trying to get more emotional read and humor, so each character had to hit very specific poses for us to master the emotional connection,” says Bloor. “Technically, that meant building new animation rigs or finding new ways to simulate the cloth in instances like the hoodie, where we also used our fur system to recreate the fibers of the material to give it a realistic cloth effect.”

“The key challenge with an animated campaign like this is finding the very fine balance of a believable photoreal product that also has a fun, likeable character,” explains Bernier. “We lean on the traditional animation principles like squash and stretch to build character and fluid movement, but we have to make sure we don’t push it too far into a cartoon feel. The lighting, texturing, shading and simulation of the characters goes a long way to introducing believability, but ensuring a fun performance to avoid the risk of feeling hollow or lifeless.”

One key difference in creating this year’s campaign was working remotely across the teams. A physical shoot took place in person with socially distant safety protocols while MPC interacted with Anomaly and Levy remotely to go through the animated shots together via collaborative review sessions. They used Microsoft Teams, along with RV and some custom review Ftrack sessions. The color grade was over Clear-View. Although different, the process was smooth, and communication was seamless throughout.

“Nothing is quite as easy as being in the room together, but we were still able to have good collaborative review sessions with Anomaly and Levy, where I ran the timeline and we went through shot by shot together. Creating many of the characters last year gave the team a head start on what we were trying to achieve and to what level of finish, so that was a huge help,” concludes Bernier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

MPC creates Arm & Hammer spot during shutdown

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When Arm & Hammer wanted to showcase its AbsorbX kitty litter made from desert dry minerals, it needed a spot that demonstrated its benefits in a fun way and highlighted the product’s origins — the desert.

The spot, from The VIA Agency and directed by MPC’s Michael Gregory, features a host of photoreal cat cowboys and cowgirls congregating in a desert saloon.

MPC completed the spot during the shutdown, so the entire process took place remotely.

“Doing everything remotely was a whole new experience for me as a director,” says Gregory. “From casting and wardrobe to SFX, tech scouts and callbacks on Zoom — it all took a little getting used to at first, but we quickly adapted and made it work.”

The shoot took place in an existing two-story saloon in Bulgaria with a limited crew and Gregory directing remotely. “We were able to work with a scan of the location prior to the shoot, which enabled us to do an extremely accurate previz, and we had the ARRI Alexa camera and Cooke lenses on the location scout, which was a huge help in blocking out the action and working out the framing prior to the shoot.”

In addition to the production, MPC handled the animation and VFX remotely, led by animation lead David Bryan, 2D lead Vanessa duQuesnay and CG lead Kiril Mirkov. MPC’s Ricky Gausis graded the campaign, enhancing the western feel to the footage and the set.

The animation team seamlessly blended CG cat heads with human bodies. All of the cats in the spot were based on real cats, which were used as references on set for lighting and modeling. These references were then handed to the animation team to build out the characters. “I was really keen to cast a believable, authentic mid-19th century saloon bar scene. The actors were cast to match their cat characters, and this approach really helped the animation because we leaned on actors’ performances throughout,” comments Gregory.

“Michael was open to our creative input during the look development phase, which made the process a lot more enjoyable and collaborative. However, our main priority was of course to stay as close as possible to his initial vision,” Mirkov adds. “At MPC, we’ve worked on quite a few furry animals over the years, including small and big cats. Vanessa was a great addition to the team, having worked previously on The Lion King at MPC Film. That made it very special.”

Bryan explains how the team handled the challenges of animating animals that need to look realistic but also have human qualities. “To keep the lip sync feeling animalistic, we sacrificed some of the ‘ooo’ and ‘w’ mouth shapes that start to make the face look too human, and instead we focused on a solid sync for the jaw movement, exaggerating the closed-mouth shapes and using the head to gesture the more animated phrases. This technique enabled us to make a talking cat feel convincing while preserving the cat-like features and expressions.”

What were the challenges of creating this spot during lockdown? Director Gregory says that “within visual effects and animation, we had adapted to a working-from-home environment pretty quickly. VFX is very much suited to artists working at home, and the pipeline is really efficient, so it was a small step. Live-action filming, on the other hand, is all about being there together. Not being part of the crew on the ground is very different, as film sets are a place where everyone is working in unison to make the story. So it was a challenge to adapt so quickly.

Not seeing a location with your own eyes and not being among the general chatter is a totally different feeling — discussing shots with all departments in said space is something I took for granted before. Being able to problem-solve, work out shots or dial in performance notes is no longer the same, and I had to approach it in a different way. The B2Y production team really went the extra mile on set, and so did the DoP, Krum Rodriguez – the framing and lighting was spot-on. I owe them one, that’s for sure.”

Tools used included Side Effects Houdini for groom, FX, look development, lighting and rendering (via Arnold); Maya for animation, previz, rigging and modelling; Foundry Nuke for compositing; Nuke Studio for editorial management; Zbrush for sculpting, modelling and shape sculpting; Foundry Mari for texturing; Adobe Premiere for editorial; and  Flame for finishing and delivery.

Behind the Title: MPC’s CD Morten Vinther

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This creative director/director still jumps on the Flame and also edits from time to time. “I love mixing it up and doing different things,” he says.

NAME: Morten Vinther

COMPANY: Moving Picture Company, Los Angeles

CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR COMPANY?
From original ideas all the way through to finished production, we are an eclectic mix of hard-working and passionate artists, technologists and creatives who push the boundaries of what’s possible for our clients. We aim to move the audience through our work.

WHAT’S YOUR JOB TITLE?
Creative Director and Director

WHAT DOES THAT ENTAIL?
I guide our clients through challenging shoots and post. I try to keep us honest in terms of making sure that our casting is right and the team is looked after and has the appropriate resources available for the tasks ahead, while ensuring that we go above and beyond on quality and experience. In addition to this, I direct projects, pitch on new business and develop methodology for visual effects.

American Horror Story

WHAT WOULD SURPRISE PEOPLE THE MOST ABOUT WHAT FALLS UNDER THAT TITLE?
I still occasionally jump on Flame and comp a job — right now I’m editing a commercial. I love mixing it up and doing different things.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE JOB?
Writing treatments. The moments where everything is crystal clear in your head and great ideas and concepts are rushing onto paper like an unstoppable torrent.

WHAT’S YOUR LEAST FAVORITE?
Writing treatments. Staring at a blank page, writing something and realizing how contrived it sounds before angrily deleting everything.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST PRODUCTIVE TIME OF THE DAY?
Early mornings. A good night’s sleep and freshly ground coffee creates a fertile breeding ground for pure clarity, ideas and opportunities.

IF YOU DIDN’T HAVE THIS JOB, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING INSTEAD?
I would be carefully malting barley for my next small batch of artisan whisky somewhere on the Scottish west coast.

Adidas Creators

HOW EARLY ON DID YOU KNOW THIS WOULD BE YOUR PATH?
I remember making a spoof commercial at my school when I was about 13 years old. I became obsessed with operating cameras and editing, and I began to study filmmakers like Scorsese and Kubrick. After a failed career as a shopkeeper, a documentary production company in Copenhagen took mercy on me, and I started as an assistant editor.

CAN YOU NAME SOME RECENT PROJECTS YOU HAVE WORKED ON?
American Horror Story, Apple Unlock, directed by Dougal Wilson, and Adidas Creators, directed by Stacy Wall.

WHAT IS THE PROJECT THAT YOU ARE MOST PROUD OF?
If I had to single one out, it would probably be Apple’s Unlock commercial. The spot looks amazing, and the team was incredibly creative on this one. We enjoyed a great collaboration between several of our offices, and it was a lot of fun putting it together.

Apple’s Unlock

NAME THREE PIECES OF TECHNOLOGY YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT.
My phone, laptop and PlayStation.

WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS DO YOU FOLLOW?
Some say social media rots your brains. That’s probably why I’m an Instagram addict.

CARE TO SHARE YOUR FAVORITE MUSIC TO WORK TO?
Odesza, SBTRKT, Little Dragon, Disclosure and classic reggae.

WHAT DO YOU DO TO DE-STRESS FROM IT ALL?
I recently bought a motorbike, and I spin around LA and Southern California most weekends. Concentrating on how to survive the next turn is a great way for me to clear the mind.

Color grading Empire State Building’s immersive exhibits

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As immersive and experiential projects are being mounted in more and more settings — and as display technology allows for larger and more high-resolution screens to be integrated into these installations —colorists are being called on to grade video and film content that’s meant to be viewed in vastly different settings than in the past. No longer are they grading for content that will live on a 50-inch flat screen TV or a 9-inch tablet —they’re grading for wall-sized screens that dominate museum exhibits or public spaces.

James Tillett

A recent example is when the Manhattan office of Squint /Opera, a London-based digital design studio, tapped Moving Picture Company colorist James Tillett to grade content that has taken over floor-to-ceiling screens in the new Second Floor Experience in the iconic Empire State Building. Comprising nine interactive and immersive galleries that recreate everything from the building’s construction to its encounter with its most famous visitor and unofficial mascot, King Kong, the 10,000-square-foot space is part of the building’s multimillion dollar renovation.

Here, Tillett discusses what went into grading for such a large-scale experiential project such as this.

How did this project come about?
Alvin Cruz, one of our creative directors here in New York, has a designer colleague who put us in contact with the Squint/Opera team. We met with them and they quickly realized they’d be able to do everything on this project except the color grade. That’s where we came in.

How did this project differ from the more traditional color grading work you usually do?
You have to work in a different color space if the final product will be shown in a theater versus, say, broadcast TV or online. The same thinking goes here, but as every experiential project is different, you have to evaluate based on the design of the space and the type of screen or projection system being used, and then make an educated guess on how the footage will respond.

What were the steps you took to tackle this kind of project?
The first thing we did when we got the footage from Squint/Opera was to bring it into the suite and view it in that environment. Then my executive producer, Ed Koenig, and I jumped on the Q train and went into the space at the Empire State Building to see how the same footage looked in the various gallery settings. This helped us to get a feel for how it will ultimately be seen. I also wanted to see how those spaces differed visually from our grading suite. That informed my process going forward.

What sections of the Experience required extra consideration?
The “Construction Area” gallery, which documents the construction of the building, has very large screens. This meant paying close attention to the visual details within each of the films. For example, zooming in close to certain parts of the image and keeping an eye on noise and grain structure.

The “Site Survey” gallery gives the visitor a sense of what it would be like on the ground as the building surveyors are taking their measurements. Visitors are able to look through various replica surveying devices and see different scenes unfolding. During the grade (I use FilmLight Baselight), we had a prototype device in the suite that Squint/Opera created with a 3D printer. This allowed us to preview the grade through the same type of special mirrored screen that’s used in the actual replica surveying devices in the exhibit. In fact, we actually ended up setting the calibration of these screens as part of the grading process and then transferred those settings over to the actual units at the ESB.

In the “King Kong” gallery, even though the video content is in black and white, it was important that the image on the screens was consistent with the model of King Kong’s hand that reaches into the physical space, which has a slightly reddish tone to it. We started off just trying to make the footage feel more like a vintage black and white film print, but realized we needed to introduce some color to make it sit better in the space. This meant experimenting with different levels of red/sepia tint to the black and white and exporting different versions, with a final decision then made on-site.

Were you able to replicate what the viewing conditions would be for these films while working in the color suite? And did this influence the grade?
What’s important about grading for experiential projects like this is that, while you can’t replicate the exact conditions, you still have to give the footage a grade that supports the theme or focus of the film’s content. You also have to fully understand and appreciate where it’s going to be seen and keep that top of mind throughout the entire process.

 

 

 

 

Behind the Title: MPC Senior Compositor Ruairi Twohig

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After studying hand-drawn animation, this artist found his way to visual effects.

NAME: NYC-based Ruairi Twohig

COMPANY: Moving Picture Company (MPC)

CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR COMPANY?
MPC is a global creative and visual effects studio with locations in London, Los Angeles, New York, Shanghai, Paris, Bangalore and Amsterdam. We work with clients and brands across a range of different industries, handling everything from original ideas through to finished production.

WHAT’S YOUR JOB TITLE?
I work as a 2D lead/senior compositor.

Cadillac

WHAT DOES THAT ENTAIL?
The tasks and responsibilities can vary depending on the project. My involvement with a project can begin before there’s even a script or storyboard, and we need to estimate how much VFX will be involved and how long it will take. As the project develops and the direction becomes clearer, with scripts and storyboards and concept art, we refine this estimate and schedule and work with our clients to plan the shoot and make sure we have all the information and assets we need.

Once the commercial is shot and we have an edit, the bulk of the post work begins. This can involve anything from compositing fully CG environments, dragons or spaceships to beauty and product/pack-shot touch-ups or rig removal. So, my role involves a combination of overall project management and planning. But I also get into the detailed shot work and ultimately delivering the final picture. But the majority of the work I do can require a large team of people with different specializations, and those are usually the projects I find the most fun and rewarding due to the collaborative nature of the work.

WHAT WOULD SURPRISE PEOPLE THE MOST ABOUT WHAT FALLS UNDER THAT TITLE?
I think the variety of the work would surprise most people unfamiliar with the industry. In a single day, I could be working on two or three completely different commercials with completely different challenges while also bidding future projects or reviewing prep work in the early stages of a current project.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING IN VFX?
I’ve been working in the industry for over 10 years.

HOW HAS THE VFX INDUSTRY CHANGED IN THE TIME YOU’VE BEEN WORKING?
The VFX industry is always changing. I find it exciting to see how quickly the technology is advancing and becoming more widely accessible, cost-effective and faster.

I still find it hard to comprehend the idea of using optical printers for VFX back in the day … before my time. Some of the most interesting areas for me at the moment are the developments in realtime rendering from engines such as Unreal and Unity, and the implementation of AI/machine learning tools that might be able to automate some of the more time-consuming tasks in the future.

DID A PARTICULAR FILM INSPIRE YOU ALONG THIS PATH IN ENTERTAINMENT?
I remember when I was 13, my older brother — who was studying architecture at the time — introduced me to 3ds Max, and I started playing around with some very simple modeling and rendering.

I would buy these monthly magazines like 3D World, which came with demo discs for different software and some CG animation compilations. One of the issues included the short CG film Fallen Art by Tomek Baginski. At the time I was mostly familiar with Pixar’s feature animation work like Toy Story and A Bug’s Life, so watching this short film created using similar techniques but with such a dark, mature tone and story really blew me away. It was this film that inspired me to pursue animation and, ultimately, visual effects.

DID YOU GO TO FILM SCHOOL?
I studied traditional hand-drawn animation at the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Dublin. This was a really fun course in which we spent the first two years focusing on the craft of animation and the fundamental principles of art and design, followed by another two years in which we had a lot of freedom to make our own films. It was during these final two years of experimentation that I started to move away from traditional animation and focus more on learning CG and VFX.

I really owe a lot to my tutors, who were really supportive during that time. I also had the opportunity to learn from visiting animation masters such as Andreas Deja, Eric Goldberg and John Canemaker. Although on the surface the work I do as a compositor is very different to animation, understanding those fundamental principles has really helped my compositing work; any additional disciplines or skills you develop in your career that require an eye for detail and aesthetics will always make you a better overall artist.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE JOB?
Even after 10 years in the industry, I still get satisfaction from the problem-solving aspect of the job, even on the smaller tasks. I love getting involved on the more creative projects, where I have the freedom to develop the “look” of the commercial/film. But, day to day, it’s really the team-based nature of the work that keeps me going. Working with other artists, producers, directors and clients to make a project look great is what I find really enjoyable.

WHAT’S YOUR LEAST FAVORITE?
Sometimes even if everything is planned and scheduled accordingly, a little hiccup along the way can easily impact a project, especially on jobs where you might only have a limited amount of time to get the work done. So it’s always important to work in such a way that allows you to adapt to sudden changes.

IF YOU DIDN’T HAVE THIS JOB, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING INSTEAD?
I used to draw all day, every day as a kid. I still sketch occasionally, but maybe I would have pursued a more traditional fine art or illustration career if I hadn’t found VFX.

Tiffany & Co.

CAN YOU NAME SOME RECENT PROJECTS YOU HAVE WORKED ON?
Over the past year, I’ve worked on projects for clients such as Facebook, Adidas, Samsung and Verizon. I also worked on the Tiffany & Co. campaign “Believe in Dreams” directed by Francis Lawrence, as well as the company’s holiday campaign directed by Mark Romanek.

I also worked on Cadillac’s “Rise Above” campaign for the 2019 Oscars, which was challenging since we had to deliver four spots within a short timeframe. But it was a fun project. There was also the Michelob Ultra Robots Super Bowl spot earlier this year. That was an interesting project, as the work was completed between our LA, New York and London studios.

WHAT IS THE PROJECT THAT YOU ARE MOST PROUD OF?
Last year, I had the chance to work with my friend and director Sofia Astrom on the music video for the song “Bone Dry” by Eels. It was an interesting project since I’d never done visual effects for a stop-motion animation before. This had its own challenges, and the style of the piece was very different compared to what I’m used to working on day to day. It had a much more handmade feel to it, and the visual effects design had to reflect that, which was such a change to the work I usually do in commercials, which generally leans more toward photorealistic visual effects work.

WHAT TOOLS DO YOU USE DAY TO DAY?
I mostly work with Foundry Nuke for shot compositing. When leading a job that requires a broad overview of the project and timeline management/editorial tasks, I use Nuke Studio or
Autodesk Flame, depending on the requirements of the project. I also use ftrack daily for project management.

WHERE DO YOU FIND INSPIRATION NOW?
I follow a lot of incredibly talented concept artists and photographers/filmmakers on Instagram. Viewing these images/videos on a tiny phone doesn’t always do justice to the work, but the platform is so active that it’s a great resource for inspiration and finding new artists.

WHAT DO YOU DO TO DE-STRESS FROM IT ALL?
I like to run and cycle around the city when I can. During the week it can be easy to get stuck in a routine of sitting in front of a screen, so getting out and about is a much-needed break for me.

Yoomin Lee joins MPC London as senior colorist

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Yoomin Lee has joined Moving Picture Company’s color team in London. Lee got her start working for some of Australia’s top post houses including Frame Set & Match, The Lab and Cutting Edge, before joining Jogger Studios London in 2016.

While at Jogger, she worked on many campaigns, including those for Google, Valentino, FIFA and Samsung. A collaboration with director Anton Corbijn has seen her grade projects for Depeche Mode and U2, including the visuals for the latter’s The Joshua Tree Tour in 2017, which played across the world’s largest concert screen.

When asked what brings her inspiration, Lee says, “I get inspired by any visual art form, and often from nature, especially for light. I become more observant of how things are lit. Color grading is such a unique art form and technology, and it’s all about details and finesse. I find it very inspiring when I collaborate with creative people who are always eager to push the boundaries to achieve their craft.”

Lee will be working on FilmLight’s Baselight.

You can check out her work here.