Virtual Production and Remote Working with Christian Kaestner Ep 43

Christian Kaestner began his career as an art director at leading advertising agencies, crafting unique work for clients such as Sony and Adobe.

After working with high-profile clients to create beautiful, memorable imagery he pivoted to VFX in the mid-2000s. He graduated from San Francisco’s Academy of Art University with a Masters of Fine Arts in 3D Animation and Visual Effects and launched his VFX career with The Orphanage, before joining Framestore in 2007.

Since then, he has worked on a wide variety of projects including The Dark Knight, Quantum of Solace, Where The Wild Things Are, Avatar and the Oscar-winning Gravity.

Christian made the move to Montreal in 2013 and quickly established himself as a key member of the studio’s senior team, supervising titles such as Paddington, Alien: Covenant, Mary Poppins Returns, Captain Marvel, The Aeronauts, and the BAFTA-winning His Dark Materials. His most recent project is 1899, a major episodic project for Netflix utilizing Europe’s largest LED volume facility. Here he led a team spanning concept art, visualization, virtual production and VFX.

Highlights of the Episode:
0:00 Introduction
0:18 Introduction of guest
1:35 Getting into film
3:34 Why commercials?
4:42 How studying helps you jump into the industry
6:51 Getting a break
9:57 Good route for anyone wanting to get into the industry
11:48 Improving mentoring in a remote work setting
15:49 Becoming a visual effects supervisor
17:23 A VFX supervisor's job
18:55 What makes a good visual effects supervisor?
22:31 How a visual effects supervisor differs from a virtual production supervisor
34:17 What virtual production tools need to succeed
40:37 Virtual production ideas that didn't work when done
42:08 How water environments were approached in the volume
45:38 How much change happens once work is turned over to the vendor?
49:14 Challenges in virtual production that needs solving
50:02 Working from home and productivity
52:49 AI and how it will affect the visual effects industry
56:35 How to compensate for the things we don't have to do anymore
59:02 What's emerging that can be exciting
1:03:57 Advice for someone who wants to break into the industry
1:14:33 Outro

Connecting with the Guest:
Website: https://www.framestore.com/
Linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ckaestner
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ckvfx/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ckvfx?lang=en

Connecting with CG Pro:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/becomecgpro
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/becomecgpro/
Website: https://www.becomecgpro.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/edgevisualCG

#virtualproduction #remoteworking #cgpro