The Industry

To learn about the media and animation industry, Stuart Messinger, a production manager who has worked on a large amount of huge films ('Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire', 'Charlie And The Chocolate Factory') came in and gave a presentation to us. He talked about the system, or 'pipeline' used in producing films that rely heavily on animation or CGI (computer generated imagery).

He then went into detail of each position within the animation based aspect of producing films, stating what is involved. He talked about the people in charge of data ops or wrangling, which is basically filing or sorting material on computers - an IT receptionist of sorts. This is a 24 hour job, which involves long hours and constant shift work, commonly given to people just out of university and wanting to learn about the industry. It's incredibly important, as the computers would not be able to hold the amount of data that is constantly coming in - it has to be transferred to disks and kept in a very organised way in order to avoid losing any work, and to make it easy to share with other departments.

There are also people that are in charge of prep or roto. People working in the prep department are responsible for the digital removal of tracking markers, light rigs, unwanted fixtures/fittings, and any other object that is not wanted in the scene. People working in roto use roto-scoping or roto-mation software in order to separate characters from backgrounds, or vice versa. These are required in compositing.

Lighting is also a huge area in the media industry. They are in charge of integrating a computer generated object into a filmed image, and making it look like it was always in the shot. The team need to have a deep understanding of how light behaves in the natural world. There is obviously a different lighting team used for the shooting of the film, who light the set or location.

The art department also play a large part. They develop concepts in order to provide final designs for characters, environments and effects. The team uses 2D and 3D tools to explore possibilities within scenes, and develop a range of ideas. They are given a brief, and present a the possibilities to the asset/build department, who's job is to create each object or character to the director's brief. The process is managed very closely from scratch to ensure that it ties in with every area of the 'pipeline'. They build the base for the asset, and then add the hair/fur, and facial features etc. Many assets are shared with merchandising and games companies.

The final step is the compositing department. It's their job to pull together all the department's work, to create a seamless final production. They match colours, key green screens and add lens warps, until the directors feels that the film is completed.

The starting place for the majority of people wanting any sort of position in the media inductry is a runner. They do what it says on the tin - run errands for anybody that asks - fetch drinks or food, deliver or collect items, and can even be on cleaning duty. They need to be polite and enthusiastic - no job is below them. Making a good impression as a runner often leads to promotion into one of the above positions. Many people on work experience take on the role of a runner, as it is a great way to gain experience and knowledge, and interact with a wide range of people.