Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/3788
Compositors notice details in things that many of us wouldn't think twice about. The way a sprinkler dis- tributes water, the way light bounces off an insect at dusk, the way an animal moves.They study details and use them to perfect their art, which could translate to realistic-looking snow or an in-your-face visual effect such as a CG alien. And they find inspiration in many places and things, such as museums and ar t books, photography, music, efficient workflows and most importantly realism. Each day, these compositors find the right balance between creating effects and mimicking what they see in life. B U I L D I N G O N R E A L I T Y Steve Mottershead, of New York's Artjail (www.art- jail.com), which officially opened in May, finds inspira- tion in art and photography and does what he can to immerse himself in that world. Ar tjail is a 4,000- square-foot studio in Chinatown with two Flames lo- cated in one large suite; the rest of the space is an art galler y. "That helps inspire us, he says. "We keep it open and airy and even do full-on gallery openings." Even surrounded by all that ar t, Mottershead says his biggest inspiration is reality."For me it's about using what you see in the real world as your basis point for doing compositing. A lot of the stuff that I tend to do, especially in my compositing workflow, is use real ele- ments, as much in-camera as I can, and form those to- gether to complement what was shot instead of try- ing to recreate ever ything." He points to a recent Audi R8 commercial, Tunnel, out of Lowe Roche in Toronto as an example of building on reality. "It was a good example of my overall methodology for effects. Not recreating things in Flame but using the system and real elements to make something cool and doing it in a simple, real-life way… let the camera capture the hard stuff and just comp it all in post." Compositing THE ART OF CREDIT: IMAGE ENGINE/DISTRICT 9'S MOTHERSHIP