No need to be a mechanic to drive cars, but all Formula One drivers are very fine mechanics.
Same for VFX artists: To reach the top league, it’s crucial to learn what the images you create are made of. That’s Cinematography.
Learning VFX is not just about learning a software. Knowing the tool is only the bare minimum expected from us all. In fact, the most important value in the trade is not our knowledge of the softwares but our vision and understanding of a scene, its composition, its light, depth and motion. To acquire such a unique insight and creative power, VFX artists need to learn the DNA of images. They must connect the dots between the different components and stages of image making. In other words: to get the ‘big picture’, VFX artists have to look beyond the computer screens.
Cinematographers and VFX artists may use very different tools but they are making the same Image, they are dealing with the same medium with the same attributes and parameters, at two ends of the same spectrum. In that respect the practice of Visual Effects truly is Cinematography, only made with computers. And contrary to the tools – cameras or softwares – the science of images is a timeless, universal and highly transferable knowledge.
If this was not enough to see the obvious link between Cinematography and VFX it only takes to look around at more recent platforms, such as 3D, Games and VR, to realise how much they draw inspiration from Cinematography. These technologies are all eager to replicate the world in the most photo-realistic way. And for that purpose they borrow the codes, the representation, the optical signature and visual identity of cinematic images.
The knowledge and understanding of Cinematography helps future VFX artists to nurture that critical eye so essential to work in the industry. Escape Studios has established its reputation with a unique industry focused education. That’s why Cinematography is an integral part of our curriculum and contributes directly to the making of ‘production ready’ artists, of people able to deliver the Hollywood standard from day one.
THE ART OF VISUAL EFFECTS AT ESCAPE STUDIOS 