WARNING: Shameless kvelling ahead. Apologies in advance, so no flaming, please.
As some of you know I’ve been a long time poster here (since 2003) and once every few years I give an update on my S2 as a way of showing it is not all hopeless for film majors. He graduated from Ohio University (not USC, not NYU, not any of the other big names) in 2009 with a major in Media Arts/Video Production and a minor in business. His passion was visual effects. The first film he worked on (vfx) was a small independent production that won an award at Cannes, then went on to Toronto, Berlin, Telluride, etc film festivals. It was a lucky start. He then went on to work on small films and big blockbusters like Iron Man 3, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Maleficent, and many others. At least four of the films he worked on (with large teams) were nominated for Academy Awards for Visual Effects and several times, “his” scenes were used as the clips shown. He has worked on commercials and music videos. In 2013, he and a very small group did a music video for “Safe and Sound” by Capital Cities. That video won the 2013 MTV VMA award for Best Visual Effects in a Music Video, and was one of the five nominees for a 2014 Grammy (it lost out to Justin Timberlake).
It is a lot of fun for my wife and I to go to the theater and wait for my S’s name to be in the credits. This is one big advantage to your kid successfully working in the industry: you get to see his or her work up on the big screen.
But he made a major leap with his latest. He was one of the “Lead Artists” for the new movie Deadpool. It was nice to see his name early in the post-production credits, up with the big guns, rather than in the list of dozens and dozens of vfx artists. Deadpool (definitely not a film for everyone, but I liked it) has smashed opening box-office records for an R-rated film, for an X-Men film, for a 20th Century Fox film, and on and on. Its opening weekend in Russia even beat out Star Wars, the Force Awakens. It’s incredible knowing that he had an impact of the look of that film.
Makes me think back to the day when he was in high school and decided he wanted to be a film major and I thought, “Well, I hope he goes somewhere with this…”
I love this story! Thanks for sharing your experiences. My S will graduate in May with a cinema major and we are very concerned about his job prospects. This gives us hope!
Thanks so much, y’all, for the very kind comments. One thing to keep in mind is that we supported him for a few months after college until he got his first gig. From that point on, he was able to move to LA and support himself. Another thing that I think was EXTREMELY important was that by going to a financial safety, he was able to graduate without student loans.
@Mamelot - As you know the “order” of the credits are: Above-the-line people first (major actors, director, producer, etc), then the whole cast, then all the people involved with production, even including caterers, THEN the post-production people. When the credits get to post-production, his name will come up fast. You will see “Visual Effects by Digital Domain,” then his name will be (with others) the first one directly (front and center) under the title “Artist Leads.” (first name)=WESLEY
@Mamelot - Two parents who have seen the movie with their teenage kids wished they had not. It is VERY R-rated, including language, very graphic violence, sex, and lots of masturbation jokes. Fair warning.
@digmedia the college and college bound kids have already seen or are just about to see it. My 14 year old is holding out hope but it’s not looking good for him LOL. ALL of them feel it’s a bit too much for their mom and have advised me against it. But I want to know what all the fuss is about.
My 18 year old (almost 19) Fine Arts/Cinema/stay tuned future Univ. of Penn student wants to see it-not crazy about that. I will pass on it. But that is so incredibly exciting for you and your wife, @digmedia! Congratulations to all of you!!
What exactly was his role as lead visual? If I were to see the movie, I would say, “He did _" or, "He helped with _”. Enlighten me on the movie world roles, please!
@sbjdorlo - His speciality is working as a Digital Compositor. Compositors are responsible for constructing the final image you see on the screen. They work at the very end of the whole production process.combining layers of previously-created material. They receive material from various sources including rendered computer animation, special effects, graphics, animation, and live action footage. They creatively combine all the elements into the final image, ensuring that the established style of the project is respected and continuity is maintained. To achieve this they enhance the lighting, match blacks and other color levels, add grain where required, add motion blur where required, and create convincing shadows. They make sure levels combine together seamlessly, keying, rotoscoping and creating mattes where necessary. Compositors need a thorough understanding of the computer-generated animation process combined with relevant artistic skills. They work closely with Lighters and need to have technical knowledge of how 3D lighting works in order to understand the ‘multi passes’ that the Lighters create. They also work closely with Render Wranglers to progress work through the department. Since they are the end process and not everyone gets their stuff to them in time, and since the release date of the movie is set in stone, sometimes the schedule becomes, as my son describes it, “soul crushing.” In addition, he also provides some of the actual visual effects elements that become part of the compositing. So, to sum up, the “look and feel” of what you see on the screen is the result of compositors. As a Lead Artist, he oversaw a crew of about 20 compositors, making sure they got that work done with a consistent artistic “vision” the film must portray.
More than you wanted to know? In short, a compositor is responsible for the final image you see on the screen. A lead artist makes sure that the compositors get the work done and have an artistic consistency across all their individual work pieces.