Schedules and budgets for these multi-year projects demand simultaneous production by multiple facilities around the world. Ancillary media such as games and spin-offs developed in parallel make these projects even more demanding. Some even require a

Embracing the Humungous: The Rise of the Mega-Franchises
Several interviewees have worked with the recent phenomenon of mega-franchises such as: Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Harry Potter and Star Wars. Often the scope of the work for these requires a “supervisor team” in which camera-oriented and digital-oriented supervisors are paired.

Schedules and budgets for these multi-year projects demand simultaneous production by multiple facilities around the world. Ancillary media such as games and spin-offs developed in parallel make these projects even more demanding. Some even require a supervisor to supervise the supervisors. According to Gaeta, “If you are the top guy, you are absolutely reliant on a support infrastructure that is doing the logistical management and oversight while you are doing shot administration and design with the directors.”

Moreover, visual effects supervisors are becoming increasingly expected to develop complex international production pipelines in order to deliver shows on schedule. Sometimes this means creating production facilities from the ground up or beefing up existing facilities. “There’s a great responsibility to organize a huge machine that operates internationally, in parallel across multiple time zones,” adds Gaeta, “You have to have a production nucleus which operates on a digitally sophisticated level — that means coming up with global strategies for 24/7 asset management, digital dailies and creative communication.”

Getting into the Game: Visual Effects and Interactive
Visual effects supervisors and other visual effects professionals are being courted by large interactive companies, such as Electronic Arts. According to some supervisors, the financial deals offered are rivaling those of the top film studios. Gaeta, for one, who is currently making the transition to interactive media, predicts a “massive exodus” from the visual effects industry when the specs for the next generation of gaming platforms are made public.

For Gaeta, the interactive industry will inherit the innovative drive once dominated by the visual effects industry. “Try to maintain the sprit that birthed the visual effects industry in the first place, by creating places people cannot go unless they take the trip through the artistry of these creatives. In my opinion, this spirit, this new frontier, is games.” Other supervisors interviewed suggested that movies might someday become the ancillary media for a major release in another media, such as gaming.

Loni Peristere (left) of Zoic Studios (Serenity) and Erik Nash, visual effects supervisor on I, Robot. Peristere photo credit: photos by Raoul Bolognini.

Pipelines `R’ Us: The Role of Pipeline Development
In fact, some supervisors suggest that visual effects production pipelines for mega franchises (with robust 24/7 asset management and creative feedback mechanisms) may become the de-facto production models even for smaller non-effects-driven productions. Technical development no longer stops at the authoring tools it needs be addressed throughout a production. According to Peristere, “The better your asset management system, the more revisions you can put in front of the director for feedback.”

Such pipelines may also help visual effects facilities maintain their hold on high-end CG work in the face of experienced digital project development behemoths like Electronic Arts. Another by-product, strong digital asset management systems, will be developed for licensable asset libraries. Peristere predicts: “Libraries of environments, characters and performances will be important resources for visual effects supervisors in the future.”

The pipelines that supervisors create extend out of the facility and into the core of production and post-production. This extra attention to editorial means less time is available for supervisors to manage day-to-day production. According to Nash: “Since so much of the visual effects supervisors time is spent in editorial, you have to rely on your digital effects supervisor, CG supervisor and composite supervisor to handle decisions that once fell to the visual effects supervisor.” Some supervisors are experiencing that a significant portion of the show really begins in editorial. “A lot of creative design and redesign happens when the footage is cut together,” says Stokdyk, “so the editorial department has a much bigger hand in the design of visual effects shots than ever before.”