Junior visual effects - Assistant Technical Director (VFX)

This occupation is found in the British and International visual effects (VFX) industries, providing digital content for film, television, advertising, and corporate and immersive reality industries. VFX companies and studios vary in size and the number of employees they have. They are found across England and the UK. The output and remit of a VFX studio is varied, and they will produce work for a range of clients across advertising, film, television, and immersive reality. Some studios specialise in one area, particularly feature films which is the largest area of the industry.

VFX is the term used to describe any imagery created, altered, or enhanced for moving media. This involves the integration of live-action footage and computer-generated (CG) imagery to create images, which look realistic but would be dangerous, costly, or simply impossible to capture during live-action shooting such as explosions, car crashes or flooding of cities.

The broad purpose of the occupation is to collaborate with the team to create or manipulate VFX assets or elements to meet production requirements and perform a range of support functions to ensure the smooth running of a visual effects project. This is a core and options apprenticeship, with three options and the option taken is dependent on the VFX specialism of the employer.

Option 1 – Junior VFX Artist (2D)

Junior VFX artists (2D) are responsible for assisting the senior visual effects artists by preparing elements for use in the final VFX shot. Junior 2D artists utilise artistic knowledge in areas such as composition and colour, in addition to accepted industry standard compositing software and operating systems.

Option 2 – Assistant Technical Director (VFX)

Assistant technical directors (VFX) (ATD’s VFX) may perform a diverse series of technical support functions to ensure the smooth running of a visual effects project. ATDs utilise a variety of industry standard graphical applications, scripting languages and operating systems. They may support projects by gathering artist requirements, designing solutions and coding small-scale tools using established employer workflow requirements. They are expected to work well within a team and to be good communicators and problem solvers.

Option 3 - Junior VFX Artist (CG/3D)

Junior VFX artists (CG/3D) are responsible for creating computer generated (CG) assets or elements for use in the final VFX shot. Junior VFX (CG/3D) artists utilise artistic knowledge in areas such as sculpting, cameras and storytelling, in addition to accepted industry standard CG software and operating systems.

Upon successful completion of their apprenticeship the individual could have a diverse career progression, some will eventually become supervisors in their field. A junior VFX artist (2D) will typically progress to become a compositor and may eventually become a 2D or VFX supervisor. An ATD may progress to become pipeline technical directors, software developers, riggers, technical directors or FX artists. A junior VFX artist (CG/3D) may progress to become a matchmove artist, layout artist, modeller, lighting artist, texture artist or previz artist.

In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with engineers, artists, designers,team leads, other visual effects teams, their supervisor and/or the client. They will need to be aware of the activities of their occupation which contribute to their “professional carbon footprint” and steps to reduce this. This is a junior level role, and the line management and reporting structure of the team will vary according to the size of the employer. They must be able to take direction and feedback, to create the effects required, according to the story being created, the VFX/CG supervisor and the director's wishes. It is usually a studio-based role.

An employee in this occupation will be responsible for, in all options:

• managing their own workload with the VFX production team and/or their lead, generating the required work on time, to meet the brief of the supervisor/client
• working within the workflow pipeline/toolset of the company that they are working for
• working effectively in collaboration with clients, colleagues, partners, and suppliers in the VFX industry to ensure that the VFX elements/asset seamlessly incorporated into the production
• using innovative approaches to solve problems and ensure VFX assets are delivered in line with production requirements
• organising their VFX outputs using appropriate storage processes and systems.

Option 1 – Junior VFX Artist (2D) specialist responsibilities:

• creating mattes (masking areas of the live action footage) by roto-scoping (tracing around objects in the frames) and keying (isolating areas of blue/green screen in the live action footage) to allow all elements of the scene to be layered convincingly by a compositor
• removing erroneous objects within the live action footage, such as camera/lighting equipment and safety stunt wires and rigs
• producing simple composites (combining live action elements and computer-generated imagery to create a shot that looks as if it was captured at the same time by a single camera).

Option 2 – Assistant Technical Director VFX (ATD) specialist responsibilities:

• supporting and troubleshooting the pipeline and workflow tools
• providing technical assistance to people in creative departments
• managing data and resources.

Option 3 - Junior VFX Artist (CG/3D) specialist responsibilities:

• using on-set data and tracking markers to track the camera motion on set to allow CG assets to be integrated seamlessly into the scene
• creating 3D assets which could include props, environments, or characters
• attending dailies/review sessions to gain feedback on their work and respond appropriately to that feedback.