VFX Supervisor
We caught up with Kristian Zarins, who talked us through his typical day working for VFX powerhouse Goodbye Kansas Studios at their office in Stockholm
“TO ME, LIGHTING IS THE MOST REWARDING PART OF ANY CG PRODUCTION”
I’ve been in the industry for over 20 years, starting as a generalist and motion designer at smaller studios before gradually getting more and more into lighting. I joined Goodbye Kansas as a lighting artist, and worked as lighting lead on many cinematic productions. Last year I got promoted to VFX supervisor, and one of my first projects was the multi-awarded cinematic trailer for The Outer Worlds 2.
08:30am
Every day starts with checking the latest renders, plus my mailboxes and our Rocket Chat channels for new messages. It’s always good to do this before 9am when the rest of the crew shows up, to have a plan for the day ahead.
09:30am
Production Sync Meeting with the director, art director, CG supervisor and animation supervisor. Discussing the latest feedback from the client and what tasks we should focus on, and our weekly send to client.
10:00am
Light rounds. The lighting lead runs the meeting together with the coordinator. How are all tasks progressing, is everyone happy with the part or are there any issues we need to address? If I don’t have any other meetings or urgent matters to take care of, I try to attend the different rounds during the day.
10:30am
Compositing rounds. Same kind of meeting as the light rounds, but focusing on compositing. In the beginning of a project this would probably be an animation round, but now we’re well into the production of this game cinematic so it’s time to focus on compositing.
11:00am
FX rounds. And then it’s time to discuss all the FX and how it’s progressing. I’m probably on my third cup of coffee by now.
11:30am
Leads meeting. 2-3 times a week we gather the lead artists of each department so that we can discuss various tasks cross-departments. How can we make that face look better? Is that something that should be addressed by the Lighting team, or should the Look Dev team take a look at it. Or will tweaks in animation help?
12:00pm
Lunch. If I’m at the office we go out to one of the great restaurants in the area. If I’m working from home I usually just grab a quick bite before taking a walk.
13:00pm
Twice a week we have CFX reviews. The cinematic we’re working on right now involves lots of cloth and hair, so there’s always something new to discuss.
14:00pm
Two o’clock is ‘cut-off time’, when all artists need to publish the latest version of their shot and tasks. I use this hour before the Dailies to look through everything and make notes and feedback in ftrack. It’s essential to come well prepared for the Dailies.
15:00pm
Dailies. Usually an hour, sometimes longer. Depends on what stage of the production we’re in.
16:00pm
DAS review. Twice a week I have a review with the director and art director to go through shots that I feel are in a good place and ready to get internal approval or their input on.
17:00pm
Once a week we send a WIP of our work to the client. I like to add detailed notes along with it so it’s clear to the client what’s still in progress and what parts we want them to approve.
18:00pm
The work day is over and now it’s time to eat and play with the kids. Goodbye Kansas is utilising a hybrid work model POST-COVID, so we can choose if we want to work at home or the office. At the moment I mostly work from home, but we make sure that at least the core team meet up IRL every now and then as well.