when you've got three or four
different jobs on the go and
you're scrambling here and
there. At one point, I remem-
ber we had eight films on the
go simultaneously. Each film
required about a thousand
phone calls, so our phones
never stopped ringing. In the
film industry they change
everything--so you have to
nail them down. For every
hour of flying, we maybe had
to put in an hour and half of
telephone work."
Wright purposefully took a
year and a half off from film
work, but was eventually
drawn back into the business
by offers he could not refuse.
He accepted work on the television series Atomic Train, and feature films
Lake Placid and Reindeer Games. "I don't really chase work. I keep my ear
to the railroad track a little, but I look for the more interesting jobs and
work with people that I've worked with before."
Job Overview
The visual effects supervisor is responsible for designing those visual
effects that cannot be produced on set due to practical, budgetary, or
safety constraints. For example: a stunt involving two cars narrowly
avoiding head-on collision is dangerous and expensive to create. A safer
and more cost-effective way of accomplishing the stunt might be to shoot
each of the cars individually and combine the footage using computer
generated effects to ensure the maximum action value. Visual effects
people are also responsible for correcting shots. For the movie Bounce,
visual effects supervisor Al Magliochetti was called upon to alter the
background footage to make it appear that there was more snow. Visual
effects may also be required to remove unwanted elements from shots,
such as telephone wires.
JOB TITLE: VISUAL EFFECTS SUPERVISOR
"As with any-
thing in life, its a
`be–do–have' kind of
thing. You've got to
`be' committed to `do'
what it takes to `have' what you want. If
this is really what you want to do, then
you have to get out there and knock it
out."--Steven Wright
"Any successful businessperson will
tell you that there aren't any big secrets to
being successful. It just takes a lot of hard
work--a lot of hard work and a couple of
good breaks."--Steven Wright
"Stay out of trees."--Steven Wright
CAREER TIPS
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