The VFX Festival 2019

Thursday was an interesting day for new and old students, returning back to Escape Studios' 'VFX Festival' for emerging talent at Southbank Centre, London.
It day was packed full of exciting opportunities, showcases and talks by a range of practitioners/company representatives currently active within the industry! Some bigger names included Rebecca Melander (head of assets) and Damien Guimoneau (modeller and concept artist) of MPC discussing their involvement with monsters in popular franchise, and the challenges involved with their pipeline.

Additionally we had ETC talk about the creation of Virgin's 'Depart The Everyday', and the challenges of accommodating both client and directors vision for filmic advertising.

Depart the Everyday - Virgin Atlantic Making Of from diego oliveira on Vimeo.

Other interesting talks included the use of RealTime in FX, as a new technology that could potentially transform our current means of modelling/designing and animating.
Michael Zaman (Realtime Supervisor) stands on behalf of 'Axis Studios' to explain their specific work in VR, in their new upcoming game 'Bond'.
Ultimately this form technology is argued as a potential tool for visualisation, iteration, render replacement, live data capture, pre-vis etc. and is now present not just in games, but also trailers, AR, VR and film.
There are many examples in contemporary VFX;  'Avenger: Infinity War' (2018) saw Thanos, whose character model was driven by actor Josh Brolin through motion capture equipment by Weta Digital and Digital Domain, Andy Serkis performance as translated to 3D using '3Lateral's' Meta Human Framework volumetric capture, and 'Unreal Engine' rendering (2018), and 'Siren' (2018), an example of a high-level real-time digital character as driven by Bingjie Jiang and created by Epic Games, 3Lateral, Cubic Motion, Tencent and Vicon (see below).

Example of real-time in 'Siren' (2018)

Similarly we see 'Blue Zoo' talk on the subject of 'Realtime' as potentially a means of enforcing the animation process (without breaking creators from the 'flow' of animation, as we often see when having to render a sequence/image for over 10 minutes), and changing the typical way companies function (individuals working separately and coming back together with a group meeting) to something more akin to traditional film making. Here, we see the possibility of VR as a space wherein practitioners can make/create in the world they're animating in (with directors coming in to look through the eyes of individual of 'camera men', and adjusting work appropriately). This brings up some questions to the degree of control directors can have over the work individuals create, but also bridges the gap of understanding- particularly for concept artists who are trying to explain their designs in a way that allows others to really understand the workings of it (Quill and Medium in Oculus).

Screenshot from 'Bond' (2018)

There's an argument here to be made to converge Autodesk technology and Real-time technology, beyond Arnold Rendering, as a potential goal for development.

 A demonstration of  'Real-Time Ray Tracing' in creating realistic lighting (2018)

Tom Box talked about Blue Zoo's newest project uses real-time rendering to encourage creative storytelling.

The first mention of Realtime (an niche that some argue has little discussion or exploration) was punctuated with a panel discussion on careers and recruitment; specifically what current employers are looking for in their respective fields. Generalisation is argued as 'better', with employees in smaller companies are expected to inhabit multiple roles. Some argued this was a rarity in a world of specialists.
Others suggested instead its better to know exactly where you're heading initially, and keep an open mind of different routes into the industry.

An important point was to think laterally, rather than hierarchical. Often people think of this industry as something you must 'progress in' by going to 'higher' positions within the workplace. The truth is the industry functions less like this, and it's possible to find other areas that work alongside.

Ways in include the obvious, a 'runner', which gives individuals the opportunity to meet artists and worm your way into the company. Alternatively less conventional ways include non-artistic routes(secretary or a PA) that get your foot in the door- particularly if it helps you understand the workings of the company.
Additionally after 3 years of pushing for it, internships and apprenticeships are becoming a potential means of crossing the boundary between graduates and the actual work place.

But where does the old student come into this? For someone who perhaps haven't got a job immediately, or have had other commitments and are returning years later... there's a definite gap of potential talent being lost and overlooked by current companies.
There's talk of return programs for later comers- but in the meantime employers recommend these individuals to show a continuing drive to learn (whether returning to, or continuing your studies, or attending meet-ups and events that show an active interest within the subject).

 

With technology moving so fast, perhaps the main thing to look for is a particular mind-set, rather than existing skills in programs (though this is a bonus).
Guest compositors for 'Union VFX' and MPC show an increasing emphasis/reliance on 3D technology to 'fix' errors of real-life. The latter see's 'M&S' advertisement of Elton John, and the challenges involved with creating the image of a 'younger' Elton John using actors, facial prosthetics, facial replacement technology and tips/tricks used to push the image past the 'uncanny valley' into a realm of believability.
Truthfully I could note the differences- but for someone outside of this work perhaps, distinguishing the true Elton from the fake ones might be harder.

The future for VFX, for the actual creators is an exciting prospect, and this event was an incredibly informed and interesting glimpse into the potential for modern technology! If you ever get the chance to visit, definitely do consider this!

Additional References if you're interested:
'Access VFX' (2019), 'About', [Online]. Available at: http://www.accessvfx.org/blog/about [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
'AXIS Studios' (2019), 'About', [Online]. Available at: http://www.axisanimation.com/story/about/ [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
'Blue Zoo' (2019), 'Studio', [Online]. Available at: https://www.blue-zoo.co.uk/studio/ [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
'diego oliveira' (2018), 'Depart the Everyday - Virgin Atlantic Making Of', [Online]. Available at: https://vimeo.com/294550665 [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
'DNEG' (2019), 'About', [Online]. Available at: https://www.dneg.com/ [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
'ETC' (2019), 'About Us', [Online]. Available at: https://www.etcconnect.com/About/ [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
Fujita, Goro (2018), 'Working in Quill', [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SMuD7yx8Hg [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
'Milk VFX' (2019), 'About Us', [Online]. Available at: http://www.milk-vfx.com/about-us/ [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
'MPC Advertising' (2019), 'What We Do', [Online]. Available at: https://www.moving-picture.com/advertising/what-we-do/ [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
'MPC' (2019), 'VFX breakdown part 1: John Lewis & Partners 'The Boy And The Piano', [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1zvyqCSqNw [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
'MPC' (2019), 'VFX breakdown part 2: John Lewis & Partners 'The Boy And The Piano', [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O30EZDuQFfU [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
'Pearson College London' (2019), 'Escape Studios', [Online]. Available at: https://www.pearsoncollegelondon.ac.uk/escape-studios.html [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
'SlashFilm', (2018), 'How Thanos Was Created in Avengers: Infinity War', [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7pWHQX9QqA [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
'The Mill' (2019), 'The Mill', [Online]. Available at: http://www.themill.com/home [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
'Union VFX' (2019), 'About', [Online]. Available at: http://www.unionvfx.com/about/ [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
'Unreal Engine' (2018), 'Epic Games and 3Lateral Introduce Digital Andy Serkis', [Online]. Available at: https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/epic-games-and-3lateral-introduce-digital-andy-serkis [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
'UnrealEngine' (2018), 'Reflection Real-Time Ray Tracing Demo | Project Spotlight | Unreal Engine', [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3ue35ago3Y [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
'UnrealEngine' (2018), 'Siren Real-Time Performance | Project Spotlight | Unreal Engine', [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9owTAISsvwk [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].
'Weta Digital' (2019), 'Home', [Online]. Available at: https://www.wetafx.co.nz/ [Accessed Date: 09/02/2019].