FWX Talent Spotlight
Meet Amiteshwar Anand, our new CG Supervisor at FutureWorks. With a career spanning back to 2006, he has a wealth of experience and expertise, and plays a pivotal role in managing FutureWorks' CG team, ensuring top-notch results within allocated budgets. In this insightful Q&A, Amit provides a glimpse into his dynamic role, his journey into the industry, and his perspective on the evolving landscape of visual effects.
Can you describe your role?
As a CG Supervisor, my role requires me to manage the entire CG team at FutureWorks – ensuring they have the support and resources required to achieve the best result for our content partners.
A CG Supervisor is part production, part creative, and part TD. That means you have to make sure that the work is done to the highest standard using the right tools within the production budget.
To accomplish this, you need to be able to balance the expectations of production, pipeline, and creatives and find a common objective. A CG Supervisor acts as a bridge to communicate between departments – resolving issues and standardizing processes.
Of course, it's not possible to manage all the responsibilities on your own. That's why a good team is very important for a CG Supervisor, and I am lucky to have a great team of artists and production and tech at FutureWorks who support me on a daily basis.
What's your day-to-day like?
My typical day starts with a short meeting with production and all the departmental leads. Here we discuss crucial roadblocks, locking short-term deliveries, and figuring out plans to ensure milestones are achieved.
After that, we have daily rounds with each department. We go through the WIPs and again, discuss any creative or technical issues related to the shots or assets the artist might be facing.
During the day, I am available on the floor to support artists regarding any requirements. It could be from inventory to creative or technical queries.
In the evening, we again have rounds with the creatives. We present our WIP or approved work to the VFX supervisors. This helps us align our work with the VFX supervisor and director's vision, so there is minimal chance of miscommunication.
In addition to this, I have meetings with the pipeline team to help them address artist's requirements and solve pipeline issues, and with the production team to chart out the delivery plan, give them updates, and discuss any production-related issues where I need their help.
Last but not least, I also need to identify the training requirements, hire and mentor team members, and look after the health and culture of all CG departments.
What would you say is the most rewarding part of your job, and why?
The satisfaction of creation. Even though we are creating someone else's vision as artists, we get to use our creativity, and that itself is very satisfying.
Seeing hundreds and sometimes thousands of artists working towards a common goal and bringing life to some ideas is a great feeling. Even though I work in the sector, there are times when I forget how many hours are spent by so many artists just to create a single frame. It's the most awe inspiring and surreal experience.
A major aspect of my role that I love is the creative freedom it offers. Since joining FutureWorks, I've had the chance to develop into wider areas of filmmaking and see how the overall process works.
How long have you been in the industry?
I started my career in late 2006. After gaining my bachelor's degree in computer science, I became interested in animation and multimedia and further completed a two-year diploma in animation and visual effects from MAAC to get into the industry.
What do you think the future looks like?
The future looks bright to me for the VFX industry in general. The way AI is progressing in all creative industries is bound to cause disruption. It might affect some labor intensive jobs but what it also does is push the boundary for technology. So the demand for better art and work is only going to increase.
Plus entertainment is an industry that can't disappear. It might change its form but people need visuals and stories. So maybe the way the VFX industry works might completely change in the next 20-30 years with the innovation in technology.
Where do you draw inspiration from?
My family. Day-to-day life itself delivers so much inspiration. Likewise, nothing is more inspiring than someone doing their job honestly when no one is looking.
Inspired by Amit's CGI journey?
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