Name: Ben Snow

Company: Industrial Light and Magic - ILM

URL: www.ilm.com

What responsibilities does your job title hold?
As a visual effects supervisor I lead the team of artists who create the visual effects for a film. Depending on the project this can be anything from compositing an actor over a different background to creating a CG character such as Yoda to creating a sandstorm to creating a whole battle sequence where the environment, vehicles, soldiers and destruction are all created with visual effects. As well as computer graphics artists I work with traditional model-makers, motion control camera crews, pyrotechnics teams and other traditional film artists. If the project requires a lot of character animation, I usually work alongside an animation director who is responsible for creating the acting and bringing the creature to life. My team then makes the creature look real, integrates it into the background, and surrounds it with any necessary phenomena, from a dust hit to a tornado or crashing plane.

Often my job starts before a script is even written. Film-makers will come to ILM for a discussion on what the state of the art is with visual effects and to get an idea of what is possible, (and what is affordable - "if I write this, will we be able to make it?").

Once on a project, I start working with the director, art director, practical effects and makeup effects teams to work out how we're going to create the images the director wants, what material we'll need to shoot for background plates and effects elements, and to work out what its going to take to get this all done.

During photography, I work on set with the director, DOP and other team to ensure the material we film will be suitable for our visual effects needs, and to brainstorm on solutions to any problems that arise. Back at ILM, I work with Computer graphics and traditional modelmakers, painters and other artists in creating the objects and more abstract effects, computerised and otherwise, we'll need for the film, working to make sure they fit what the director is after.
When we get into shot production, I work with the different technical directors and compositors to create the final shots.

What training/experience do you have?
I studied computing and film at the University of Canberra, and then worked as a programmer for a few years. I actually started in the business as a runner for a small computer graphics company called Amazing Array in London, working after hours to learn the animation software and graphics techniques. Luckily I had enthusiastic support and help from the animators and software people.

Do you work on other projects out of work hours?
I'm doing what I love, and I find the work both exhilerating and creatively demanding. So while I have ideas for outside projects, I rarely have the energy to work on stuff in my own time. I always think - "one day I'll get to this" but it hasn't happened so far.

On Star Wars Episode 2, roughly how many minutes was created at ILM and
how long did that take to create?
We did over 2000 shots on Episode 2, basically we touched very shot in the film, including creating 69 minutes of animation. ILM shot projection went for around 14 months, but there were miniatures and CG models as well as R&D projects being created for months before shot projection started.

How many artists were involved in this project?
ILM had around 550 credits on Episode II, the vast majority of which were for artists.

Do you spend any time on location overseeing filming?
Not on Episode 2, but on my other projects I typically spend time on location. On Pearl Harbor this included being helicoptered out to an active aircraft carrier in the Pacific to shoot vintage planes taking off; on The Mummy, I went to the massive sets they built in the UK at Shepperton studios.

Do you use off the shelf products such as Maya and Softimage or build your own specifically for a job?
At ILM we use a combination of off the shelf products and proprietary software. We typically use Softimage for animation, Maya for modelling, technical animation and tool building, and Renderman for rendering. We use proprietary tools for setting up lighting, and for compositing and rendering particles. We also have a comprehensive in-house facial animation tool and a bunch of other software. We have a software team constantly developing new tools for in-house projects.

What other studios work do you see as high quality?
ILM typically has several projects going on at once, and it's always great to keep an eye on the latest work coming through here. In terms of outside work, I like the commercial and TV work done by Framestore CFC, and work by Duran Duboi company in France. In terms of Visual Effects for film, I've admired BUF compagnie's work on several films, and am delighted at the success of WETA in New Zealand (even 'though they beat me and the Pearl Harbor team out at the Oscar's last year). I'm also a fan of PDI's work in both effects and feature animation.

Do you see this industry as one that is continuing to grow in population and in work load?
I definitely see this as a growing industry. Episode 2: Attack of the clones really showed some of the potential for our industry - we created so much of the film and some of the characters through visual effects. It takes a lot of work by a big team to create all these environments, sets, vehicles and creatures, and while we get faster all the time it is kind of like when you get a pay increase - your spending goes up as well! So our increased speed and efficiency seems to just feed film-maker's appetites for bigger and more spectacular effects!

At the same time, I think we're changing how films can be made and providing spectacle to smaller, less mainstream films that previously couldn't afford special effects.

Your suggestions for colleges/education around the world?
We get graduates mainly from animation schools and computer graphics programs. CalArts in Southern California, Sheridan college in Canada, and Texas A&M are a few that spring to mind in North America. We've also had some very fine artists out of Bournemouth Institute in the UK. There used to be (and probably still is) a good course at Swinburne in Victoria, Australia. I've also been very impressed by the student work coming out of Supinfocom and the other big school in France. The main thing to remember is that it is the creative tools and CG principles (and problem solving for the more technical jobs) that you need to learn, rather than necessarily be on top of the latest and greatest piece of software. The powers of observation you pick up in terms of motion and look are the most important.

Thanks Ben!