People, Pixels and Production

… is to mark your territory.

The days on a movie shoot are long. VFX sequences take time to set up and are usually over very quickly. As a VFX supervisor you have to be prepared to wait for hours before you get thrown in the action when the assistant director calls for a VFX shot. So when you move around from location to location, your first goal is to quickly get a table, a chair and somewhere you can plug your laptop.

Your best friend here is the locations manager, who takes care of everyone’s needs on a movie set. The power crew is a close second, they can hand you a cord, some lighting and electricity. Also a good thing, find people to share your working space with; it’s a lot easier to ask for a table for 3.

In this shooting I’m presently on, I’ve spent days in:

• A deserted hardware store;
• An abandoned mine;
• A cavern carved in rock at the end of a 300-foot long tunnel;
• The basement of a University;
• A closed down supermarket.

Here are some samples of my on-the-road VFX department: