Day in the life
Discover the typical daily routine of Klaudija Cermak, who trains the next generation of industry talent at Escape Studios
Klaudija Cermak on training the next generation of industry talent
With a CV including roles at major postproduction houses such as MPC, The Mill, Framestore and DNEG, Escape Studios’ VFX compositing lecturer Klaudija Cermak has 35 years of experience to bring to her teaching – along with a deep understanding of what is needed to succeed in the industry.
Her feature credits include
Gladiator, which won an Oscar for Best VFX, as well as Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, Harry Potter And The Deathly
Hallows, Captain America and Jason Bourne. Broadcast credits include Virtual History, which won the VFX Society Award for Outstanding Visual Effects.
3D World caught up with Cermak to find out more about her day-to-day routine.
08:00am
I generally wake up earlier but now, while we are working remotely under coronavirus, I tend to sleep until 8am. Whatever time I get up I always have the same routine in the morning: a walk and a coffee, and a bit of thinking. It’s a habit I picked up from my mum and it has served me well. It’s important to find time to detach oneself from the world around you.
09:00am
there is a sort of routine, every day is pretty different as potential, current and former students need various types of attention, from advice to feedback on their work.
09:30am
This is when I would normally go to my first class. Our classes are split into teaching time, dailies and exercises. Through lockdown, we’ve replaced physical classrooms with a combination of Google Meet, Discord and Syncsketch. This has worked really well as students can contact us at any time.
Whether we’re remote or inclassroom, we always aim to teach transferable skills and prepare students to be flexible throughout their career. They may end up using Blackmagic’s Fusion or Autodesk’s
Flame, so everything they learn in class should be applicable to other software. We also teach soft skills, which will equip them for whatever path they wish to pursue.
13:00pm
Lunchtime! When we are at Escape Studios, common areas are heaving with students and we can mingle and chat. Now in lockdown, lunchtime is a bit erratic and solitary. Time to catch up with emails and have a sneak peek at Facebook.
15:00pm
The learning never stops and it’s the same for us tutors. In an industry that changes so frequently, it’s important that we keep learning about the latest professional workflows so that we can better prepare students for real-life production roles.
For instance, we are spending the afternoons taking an advanced Blackmagic Fusion course this September, so that we can introduce it to our students. We’re also looking to begin teaching Davinci Resolve editing and grading workflows: I’ve acquired a Blackmagic camera and have shot plates that will serve as course materials for this. The future is in content creation, and it gives me the greatest pleasure to empower our students to do just that – and then see them develop into successful artists.
17:00pm
Towards the end of our classes, studio assistants and I will offer additional guidance on student projects. On days when there is no class, such as during lockdown, there will still be plenty of meetings. There is always catching up to do with other tutors. As a personal mentor, I will also regularly meet with individual students that need support either with studies or with life in general.
17:30pm
The rest of the time is dedicated to development and preparation for classes. Checking the latest visual effects news, preparing scripts, looking for new footage and techniques are all part of it. Theoretically that’s the end of the day and I try to finish and work on something creative – maybe paint or write. I never liked running but have learned to really enjoy it in lockdown through the Couch to 5K app.
“WE AIM TO TEACH TRANSFERABLE SKILLS AND PREPARE STUDENTS TO BE FLEXIBLE”