Books on Film
The VES Handbook of Visual Effects
Edited by Jeffrey A. Okun & Susan Zwerman
Unlike the last book I talked about this one is long (1138 pages) and also kinda expensive (a new copy is about £40 on Amazon). I’d also call it essential reading for a lot of people, in this case people interested in VFX and also directing.
There’s the thing I see happen a lot where directors spend time learning all this different stuff about filmmaking and become experts on cinematography and editing and sometimes sound but they almost always ignore the visual effects side. I never understood it. You can even tell how much a filmmaker knows about something by watching their films. You could have the best DP in the world but if the director doesn’t know a thing about putting shots together there’ll be a big difference between what their film will look like and a director who does know. Same with anything else. Same with VFX. Not only that but directors that come from a background in VFX like Neil Blomkamp or Gareth Evans are able to bring in effects laden movies on a much smaller budget than others.
I’ve even seen this happen on stuff I’ve worked on. I have nothing but respect for the people I’ve worked with and I’m thankful for the work I’ve gotten but sometimes things swing towards wanting stuff that is almost impossible to do or they play it so safe in what they ask for that how it’s shot is kinda unremarkable. I do what I can to advise them on how best to shoot it but I can’t help but wonder what would happen if they knew as much as I did. Not to mention that if a writer/directer knew how to do VFX they could develop the VFX and write at the same time in a way that they could complement each other (that’s how District 9 was made btw). And yeah, I know what you’re saying “It’s the VFX artist’s job to do what the director wants” and that’s true it is (and most of what I’ve learned came from a director asking for something that I then had to figure out how to pull off) but depending on what kind of budget you’re working on it’s not always possible to shoot for the moon. The flip side is that just because you don’t have a lot of resources doesn’t mean the project can’t have any effects and you’d be surprised at the kind of stuff that is relatively simple but can still add a lot.
It’s one of the pieces of advise I’d give to someone interested in directing that I don’t see being said anywhere else. Learn something about VFX. This book is a good place to start and also try and get your hands on something like After Effects or Nuke and do a bunch of tutorials and help yourself get a better understanding of it all.
I’ve heard some people say that this book can be a little dense and overwhelming for anyone that comes to it with zero knowledge of VFX. I already knew a bunch when I first read this so I can’t comment on what it would be like approaching it fresh but I do know that I loved this book and think everyone interested in filmmaking and VFX should read it.
Good advice Paul. But I can't help thinking it's very much a two way street with communication skills and the ability to creatively follow and add to a given brief being 2 of the most important traits for any technical person. This would be true in any industry. Collaborative teamwork is hard.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately we can't all talk fluently with each other across different departments all the time and it's unrealistic to expect that to happen- there's simply too much to learn. But a good technical person will be able to understand a desired stylistic approach, budget and time constraints and give their client the best options they can offer while steering them through the requirements of what those options demand.
For me the key is to get in early while the planning is still being laid out so that people can add to your advice before they become trapped in their creative box of what they believe is and isn't possible from you. Huh, that turned into a bit of a rant.
I agree with what your saying. I was mostly responding to extreme versions of what I was talking about, people either assuming VFX can do actual magic or people with tiny budgets not even trying to put any in because they assume it'll be too expense.
DeleteMaybe my point was too muddled. I absolutely acknowledge that is the job of the various departments to be able to follow the vision of the film but a lot of this ties into how I feel about the whole practical vs VFX thing and how I feel that there's a big problem with how people seem to be thinking about them and how a lot of directors seem to approach them differently. And I think those different approaches can end up causing more harm than good.
Ah, fair point. I think in the long term (as bad as it sounds) we can stop having to work with people like that. We've all got those stories and in my opinion they're hopeless cases. Sometimes people won't go the minimum distance to figure out how to execute something and just walk blindly into the night. Cool article though, keep 'em coming!
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