Technical Director: Job Description
Since I decided to turn to computer graphics in film instead of games, many people have asked me, “what exactly does a Technical Director do?”. Conveniently I have come across this description given by Industrial Light & Magic which was referenced from an interview with Beth Sasseen on ILMFan.com.
The original document details all the positions that are available at ILM and is certainly enlightening. ILM also recommends applicable books and even a list of schools and colleges, including Bournemouth University (though it’s listed as Bournemouth Polytechnic).
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Division: Industrial Light & Magic, Computer Graphics Department
Duties: Technical Directors (TD) work with direction from the Visual Effects Supervisors and CG Supervisors to create the look of computer generated objects and scenes. They are responsible for lighting, shading, rendering, some compositing and for creating the motion dynamics and look of simulated effects such as water, smoke, fire and hair. TDs work with other artists such as Character Animator, Rotoscope Artists and Compositors to bring the shot together. They must be familiar with the ILM render pipeline and be technically adept to identify and debug any problems.
How to prepare yourself/what we look for: Technical Directors typically combine strong computer programming abilities with visual arts skills. Qualified candidates have a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Computer Graphics with at least 2-3 years production experience. A strong working knowledge of UNIX, C programming and shell scripting is necessary as well as knowledge of Maya, Renderman or proprietary high-end software packages. To gain the necessary production experience people typically begin as Computer Graphics Technical Assistants, eventually moving into an Assistant Technical Director before becoming a TD. Other ways to prepare yourself for this role include working on live action/CG integration project, spending time learning how to install CG characters into a plate, light it and applying shadows.
In the aforementioned interview, Beth had some interesting ideas on what should be in an applicant T.D.’s demo reel, which is invaluable information. I’ve decided to copy it out here for those who don’t want to go go trawling through the whole interview:
The role of the technical director is the finished look of a shot where CG elements have been integrated into a live-action plate. Given that is their mission, it would be great to see the entirety of the process: background plate, cg element that’s going to be integrated into the scene, other elements that will give it its sense of realism (explosions or whatever), subtle lighting and shadowing, realistic textures, etc. The finished look is what we’re looking for. Are the light sources natural to the surroundings or do we look at it and say “Oh, that looks CG.” Does it look as though the model is standing in the middle of a stadium where the lights are on for a night game, not allowing the subtleties of the shadows in the scene? Things like that. It’s always great to see the “before and after.”
Also, speaking of Bournemouth, I’m heading over there on Sunday. I’m living in halls for the first time ever (Cranborne House) though I have no idea what floor/room yet. I guess I’ll find out on the day. I’m split between anxious and excited, which seem to cancel out so in the end I don’t really feel anything.
I’m worried that I can’t seem to come up a good idea for my thesis. I have a few half-formed ideas floating around my head but nothing solid. I guess it’s because I’m not sure what the industry needs yet, or what’s possible in the time-frame… I suspect something will come to me while I’m there, but I want some back up ideas just in case.
Links: Industrial Light & Magic, Original Document, ILMFan, Beth Sasseen Interview.
September 21st, 2006 at 4:39 pm
Well Peter, I reckon a short 3 sec sequence would be ideal. With you picking a subject which would allow you to focus on clear seperate objects/components that will eventually make up the composite clip at the end.
i.e. short life action clip, model object, lighting/mist,FX & motion =composite.
I will see if a topic appears in my head.. something funny would be neat.
September 21st, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Yeah, I agree. As programmers we aren’t expected to produce stunning works of art (though it certainly helps…) but we are expected to produce a short-ish sequence of animation showing our chosen technique/algorithm/shader/whatever.
Currently I’ve been thinking of a few things, but they’re all basic ideas at the moment. Some of the ideas that I had have already been done, but there’s no harm in attempting the same thing myself, as long as I do it better
There’s some previous MSc Computer Animation work up on the Bournemouth website: here’s the link. This is really interesting, and a lot of the ideas I had are actually implemented there.