Do you find yourself saying “that’s a cool special effect” while watching a movie, TV show or commercial? If yes, then the VFX team has not done their job well. The best visual effects are the ones that cannot be separated from the live action shot.
Wide networks of people are involved in creating spellbinding visual effects. In this post, we will discuss some of the job profiles in the visual effects industry.
VFX director
The VFX director has the overall responsibility to manage the project schedule. The VFX director will monitor the activities of the production team over the entire duration of the project. They will take into account the expenses, employee management and the marketing of the project.
Roto artists
If you’ve ever tried to crop and put the head of a celebrity on someone else’s body, you will understand the job of a roto artist. They are given the painstaking but important task of looking at the film frame by frame, carefully tracing and/ or cropping out the hair of a character so that an actor of object can be placed behind the character. This is slow work, and is usually outsourced. Becoming a roto artist is a great way to make your way in to the VFX industry.
Production assistant
Production assistants multitask. They are entrusted with all kinds of jobs in the studio. Being a non-technical area, production assistance involves coordinating between different departments and making sure that all required material is available and work happens as per schedule.
Matchmove artists
As the name suggests, matchmove artists are responsible for seamlessly matching visual effects with live shots. It is their responsibility to make sure that the audience cannot distinguish between a CG effect and real actions.
Render wrangler
Although the name sounds funny, this is possibly one of the most critical job roles in the entire visual effects pipeline. They monitor and control the rendering process. They may work with a small team and a few computers or may be responsible for an entire rendering farm with hundreds of machines. It is their responsibility to prioritise rendering work as per the final output.
