Day in the Life
Discover the daily work routine of Digital Imaging FX’S owner and visual effects supervisor, Tanvir Hanif
Digital Imaging FX’S VFX supervisor Tanvir Hanif breaks down his work day
Tanvir Hanif ran the visual effects department at ITV for a decade before redundancy gave him an opportunity to start his own effects company. Today, Hanif is owner and company director at Digital Imaging FX, where along with a talented team of artists, he prides himself on delivering innovative VFX solutions for primetime television projects.
Together with advising directors on set and artists in-house, Hanif takes a hands-on approach to each project: regularly using Fusion Studio to complete his own shots. Hanif’s recent credits as visual effects supervisor include Sky One’s Brassic, Sky Atlantic’s Gangs Of London, and BBC One’s The Little
Drummer Girl. To find out more about how one man can achieve so much, 3D World recently caught up with Hanif about his typical, or not so typical, day-to-day routine.
08:00am
No two days are exactly the same, but I would normally choose the morning to travel to a production meeting with my visual effects producer, Becci Blood. She’s a big part of my team and very experienced in the world of television drama. We met at ITV and have been working together for ten years. I will review my emails then run over our plan for how we can make the best impression. As a boutique, we pride ourselves on giving a personalised service, so client interactions and relationships are important.
09:30am
We meet with the client – usually this will be a producer or director, who will discuss their script and where their ambitions lie when it comes to VFX. We’ll get a sense of budget, so I can advise on how we can help. By the end, I’ll be sure of client expectations, and how we can best deliver this project. This meeting also helps me understand the resourcing requirements. On a big project, I will hire up to ten freelancers to complement my team of four.
11:00am
It’s crucial to be involved in production as early as possible so that VFX can work in collaboration with other departments. As such, we’ll often join a client’s recce team to go and look at locations. I can advise on the best camera angles,
lighting, and set design to allow us to get our shots done efficiently and effectively. This helps the client keep to their budget, as it avoids costly reshoots.
14:00pm
After the recce, we head back to the office and get updated on all the projects that are currently in post with us. We typically manage three to four projects at a time at Digital Imaging FX, so feed work through multiple artists. My role is to review production feedback, relay comments and notes with each individual, and refine their shots further.
Our artists use the typical software you would expect from any high-end post house. Maya for our 3D work, then Fusion Studio for compositing, together with plugins like Boris FX. For freelance artists, we will also cater to Cinema 4D and After Effects too.
15:00pm
Later in the afternoon, I’m on set, supervising a shot for a separate project. Imagine 50 heads turning around and expecting an answer from you. That’s what regularly happens when you’re a visual effects supervisor on set: unexpected challenges arise regularly. Luckily, if you’ve done it for long enough, you will have seen any problem at least once before, so should come up with the solution.
17:00pm
I like to be hands-on as a supervisor, so I’m now back in the office and working on my own shots in Fusion. I will typically carry on working until 9pm, often beyond. As studio lead I’ll often take responsibility for shots that I feel are particularly complex.
Recent shows like Gangs Of London set a high benchmark, requiring feature film-level quality on a TV post-production schedule. That’s where experience can really give you an edge, as you’re required to turn around shots at a high standard in the least amount of time.
“SHOWS CAN REQUIRE FILM-LEVEL QUALITY ON A TV POST-PRODUCTION SCHEDULE”