Expanded Job Description
Ideally, Magliochetti is involved with a project while the script is still
being written. Because of his training in writing and directing, in addition
to visual effects, he is often able to make suggestions to the writer that
will maximize the visual effects budget.
Generally, he reads the script and makes notes about possible effects.
He meets with the director and/or producer to discuss the director's
vision for various effects. Often, he reviews the storyboard to identify
particular sequences that involve effects. Then he, the director, and other
department heads, such as art director, stunts, and makeup effects, meet
to discuss who will handle the various aspects of the effect: "If it's a
transformation, makeup effects can handle the altering of the person's
body structure up to a certain point. After that, a digital effect might take
over to blend, or morph, to the next stage of the makeup. In the case of
stunts, the stunt people will outline what they can safely do. Let's say
they are going to perform a high fall off a building, but need to be teth-
ered by some type of safety wire. We will discuss the best angle to shoot
from and what it will cost to remove the wire using visual effects."
Next, Magliochetti submits a budget that outlines what the various
effects will cost. In some instances, the effects job will be presented to
several effects companies and it becomes the producer's job to decide
who is the most cost-effective person to deliver the quality desired.
Once filming begins, Magliochetti prefers to be on set as often as pos-
sible when scenes involving effects are shot. This enables him to do
damage control, correcting potential problems and continuity errors. He
also takes photographs, measurements, and notes to use when the effect
is put together. Although some prep work can be done at this stage, gen-
erally he must wait until the locked picture cut of the film is available
before he begins creating the effects.
Once the picture is locked, Magliochetti can begin ordering the origi-
nal negative to be pulled and scanned to the specific lengths required to
complete the shot. Once the footage is scanned, it can be loaded into the
computer as a series of sequential files. "We don't work on it as a movie,
we work on it as a group of stills. If you were to see this data in the com-
puter, there would be the shot number, with a number after it, like 001,
002, 003. Each of these individual frames is loaded sequentially as a sepa-
rate photograph." Similar to animators working on cells, the work is
broken down into single frames.
Temporary shots are completed first to ensure the visual effect is pro-
ceeding in the manner the director and producer envision. For many
directors and producers, committing their film and financial resources to
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