Pro thoughts: Ali Al-tobi
Ali Al-tobi on why his training and FX experience goes hand in hand with his short films
The FX TD at Outpost explains how his training and FX experiences have helped him become a better filmmaker
Ali is a Norwegian director and FX TD currently working in the UK at Outpost VFX
There is still an underlying uncertainty around the benefits of the new forms of digital technology and how it has shaped the language of film in recent times; whether it is seen as an asset or a hindrance is still highly debated within the industry by both critics and consumers. Since I have been fortunate enough to have experience in both the production of visual effects and directing film, I feel compelled to share how my knowledge of visual effects has only enabled me to become a better filmmaker.
In its most basic form, visual effects grant the filmmaker the ability to have ultimate control. For the majority of us with much more modest budgets, the option to build detailed sets on a vast scale is simply incomprehensible. However, now, thanks to the accessibility of affordable visual effects tools, we also have the option of creating worlds limited only by our imagination. For example, in 2018 I directed a short film titled Lacuna, which featured a metallic hollow human statue coming to life and playing the piano for a live-action actor. Without VFX, this task would be deemed impossible for such a contained project; the alternative probably would have involved a lengthy and costly process of sculpting and then handanimating a real-life model frame by frame, or using expensive animatronics. However, we solved the problem by utilising motioncapture data we recorded ourselves and a detailed CG model which could be tweaked even days before release, all with a small budget and crew. As a result, my film could remain faithful to my original vision without having to sacrifice any major plot points.
In 2017, I shot my half-hour long drama film The Deceitful Love, which at the start of production did not have any visual effects work planned. However, several inconsistencies and mistakes arose upon revision of the footage. My knowledge of visual effects allowed me to quickly weigh up the cost of reshooting compared to the cost of VFX work. I ultimately ended up uttering the words that no one likes to hear, “We’ll fix it in post”. Subsequently, almost 40 shots required some form of post manipulation – this included VFX such as adding blood, scars, set replacements and other clean-up work. These tasks added a few more weeks to the post-production time, but saved me a substantial amount of money and time for planning if I had decided to reshoot these scenes.
It has become clear in my own experience how vital some knowledge of the VFX pipeline has been in my ability to direct effectively. Equally, my understanding of directing has also played a key role in my ability to deliver purposeful FX work. I am confident we will always see a fair bit of overuse of VFX within filmmaking – particularly in bigger-budget cinema – however that should not colour the opinion we have of the part VFX has to play in storytelling. Working with a small budget has taught me to only use VFX when it is absolutely essential to the film, and I believe this should be the case for all cinema.