Managing Teams

Teamwork is the key to making our deadlines, and fostering an environment where people give their best is key.  I’ve worked in teams, and I’ve also been in charge of entire departments.  Here is a brief rundown of some of those positions and challenges.

Cinematic Director

Twice I’ve been in charge of the cinematic department for a game company.  The first was in creating the sequel to Life Is Strange, by Dontnod, titled Life Is Strange: Before the Storm, and the second for a title that has yet to be released.

In both cases I was in charge of creating a department from scratch, including hiring and training the teams in the concepts of cinematic composition, lighting, and the understanding of the cutscene in narrative games.  Both required working closely with other departments, including art, story and animation, but also concept, engineering, level design and of course, the creative directors.  Some of the presentations I have given in team training:

For Before the Storm, I was also on the mocap set working with the actors and director to capture strong, clear performances.  For the more recent project, I also did all the cinematography, acting as director and editor, as well as providing storyboards and generating concepts that became fx elements.

3D Supervisor

I was promoted to 3D supervisor at Encore Hollywood after having worked on The Flash, and in that position I oversaw tracking, modeling, animation, and particle effects for 9-12 concurrently running television shows.  I also bid the work with our producers, decided which taskes could be done in-house and which we outsourced.  I then coordinated with both our VFX supervisor and the compositing teams.  Part of my role was to get the best out of our artists, help navigate any bottlenecks, manage expectations and also identify artists who had the ability to do more, and give them the opportunities to step up, where I deemed it possible.

The turnaround for episodic shots generally ranged from 1-2 weeks, and often required me to present to the clients directly.  Here are some of the shows in-house at one time or another.

In addition to overseeing these shows, and more not listed, I also did work on some of these shows directly, including several shots of Supergirl in flight, seen here as a breakdown.  This video gives you a better idea of what the 3D teams did and what I oversaw in my position, from start to finish.

VFX Supervisor

I was the in-house VFX Supervisor for Mafia!, a Leslie Nielson comedy.  Not only did I oversee the insert stage shooting for the crowds, I built all the geometry you see, doing everything except materials, including the 3D placement and rendering.  This was another client facing position.