Introduction
For this brief, I have to produce an Industry Research Report – a written report about the industry which shows understanding of how the industry works as well as the state of the industry today in 2023, including new technologies and working methods etc.
This blog post includes an overview of some of the topics required for the research report.
To make a start on this research, this lesson focuses on giving an overview of the report, as well as researching some job roles and hierarchy ‘pipeline’ structures in the film and VFX industry.
Job Roles Task
The first task in this lesson was to research and analyse 2 job roles that I am interested in.
The first job role that I chose was a Floor Runner.
Why does this job interest you?
This job interests me because it is the most common way to enter the film industry for a lot of people and can open up to many other roles in other areas of production like lighting, sound and camera work.
What do you do in this position?
A floor runner does all the jobs that need filling in to assist the production on a TV or Film shoot. They run errands, deliver pieces of kit, assist the cast of actors and anything else that isn’t already covered by a different job role.
How senior is this position?
This job is an entry level job, about the least senior job on a film’s production. They are usually reporting to an assistant director, who works with the director to get everything on a set/location ready for shooting.
Can you give an example of someone (famous or not) that worked this role?
James Cameron, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino all used to be runners – according to Raindance film festival:
The second job role I researched was a Camera Trainee.
Why does this job interest you?
This job role interests me because it is an entry level job in production that is towards the technical side of producing a film.
What do you do in this position?
In this position you are an assistant to the assistant cameras – camera trainees help to prepare the cameras at the beginning of a shoot, helping with camera tests, changing batteries, setting up monitors etc.
How senior is this position?
It is an entry-level job. Similar to a runner, but for the camera department.
Freelance VS Company Jobs
There are several pros and cons to working in a company or working as a freelancer.
This table outlines a few of them.
Freelancing is a lot harder than having a company job – Having to answer for yourself means that you also have to do all of the work that being in a company usually does for you – like taxes, finding other jobs in a different company etc.
Getting into the industry is a hard thing, but finding jobs while in the industry is very easy once you already have a job.
Emerging Technologies in VFX and Animation
The next lesson I have today is about Emerging Technologies in the VFX and Animation industry. In this lesson, I will be researching into some developing and emerging technologies in VFX.
Motion Capture
Motion capture is the process of using reference to track a location. Performance capture is specifically when this process is applied to an actor and capturing their performance. This process has been around for roughly 25 years – Gollum and Jar Jar Binks were the first motion capture characters.
The original form of motion capture was using infra-red reflecting ‘ping pong balls’ on a suit that reflect IR light coming out of a camera. several cameras are used to generate a ‘point cloud’ of reference points that are used to track the balls.
There is a newly developed method of performance capture that uses suits which do not require cameras. The suits have sensors that measure inertia and how far away the suit is from the computer that controls them. This method is much cheaper than buying an entire camera system, and was created so that budget films/games can still use performance capture.
A very new method of motion capture uses AI to create an armature that it animates. This uses no equipment other than a camera and a computer
Virtual Production
Virtual Production combines vfx and virtual reality with the production process.
One method of virtual production uses huge LED screens in place of greenscreens to create an in-camera effect of a background. The screens can be used with motion tracking so that the background moves with the camera.
Another version of virtual production uses VR headsets to create an environment with digital cameras that film makers can control to create a fully virtual film.
A third version of of virtual production creates a real-time greenscreen by automatically keying out characters from the green screen in real time.
Photogrammetry
Photogrammetry is the process of photographing an object to create a set of data which a computer uses to create a textured 3D model. It creates a ‘point cloud’ like in the motion capture process to align the images so that the model can be generated. It is used in games as well as films to quickly generate reasonably detailed 3d models that can be edited and refined.
Portfolio
An important part of this brief is creating a portfolio. In the industry research report, there is a section about explaining the importance of maintaining a present and professional portfolio.
Portfolios are most commonly in the form of a website, with images and videos of work that you have done. A showreel is a shorter 1-2 minute video that shows the best video work that you have completed. Showreels can also be tailored to a job that you are applying for, or a specific area of work that you wish to show off (for example animating, modeling, directing as separate portfolios).
Conclusion
Over all, this lesson was an important introduction to the areas we need to include in the Industry Research Report.