There's nothing like a lock off to telegraph that an effect is coming.
John Gajdecki
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I love the parts of directing that overlap the VFX process, and enjoy thinking as the director or DP when blocking or shooting my shots to work within the bigger film.
Yet I don't want to direct in the traditional way that most people would really really like to direct, if only they knew who to hit up for the job. I guess I don’t want to direct because I don’t want to give up working as a creator of visual effects.
I like Shooting.
I am very comfortable lighting and shooting - I shot a lot of miniatures and elements when I was getting started, often several times a week. CG technology was not as powerful then and models were often the only way to create the kinds of images we were after.
I shoot quickly. Since pretty well every shoot I did for my first 15 years were through my company I was financially on the hook. I got very good at planning, spotting good opportunities to get something better and not getting bogged down on things that don’t matter, things that would send us over budget.
I also am very comfortable making the compromises between what resources to put into a shoot vs. how much time to put into the CG manipulation and compositing down stream.
Greenscreen
I really like shooting greenscreen. Over the years I’ve shot a lot of it, as well as a lot of tests so I am comfortable setting my exposures and ensuring the lighting matches the BG plates, ensuring a good key and final result.
I still have a 35mm Mitchell High Speed camera package, lenses and all. It doesn’t get used as much as the good old days, but I can’t really part with it, or put it into a glass case.
