{"id":5521,"date":"2020-03-02T16:02:20","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T23:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/?p=5521"},"modified":"2020-03-02T16:07:03","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T23:07:03","slug":"who-is-vfx-whizz-scott-ross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/2020\/who-is-vfx-whizz-scott-ross\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is VFX Whizz Scott Ross?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-medium is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/ScottRoss.jpg?resize=150%2C149&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5522\" width=\"150\" height=\"149\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/ScottRoss.jpg?resize=300%2C298&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/ScottRoss.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/ScottRoss.jpg?resize=768%2C763&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/ScottRoss.jpg?w=1000&amp;ssl=1 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In our second C-Suite Interview, KIDS FIRST! introduces you to Scott Ross, a maven of the Visual Effects Industry. Veteran KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Gerry O. recently met with Scott in his southern California home to discuss the history and future of VFX. Take a look and learn!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marvel produces films full of actors in green suits running on green treadmills in front of green walls. Yet, audiences never see these films, because of the thousands of people working in an industry called&nbsp;<em>visual effects<\/em>&nbsp;(VFX), the art of cinematic illusions. VFX ranges from mirrors and double exposure to making ghostly images on film, to complex supercomputers processing 3D models that mimic reality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Few know the VFX industry better than Scott Ross, former general manager of Industrial Light and Magic as well as co-founder of Digital Domain. His work has garnered an incredible seven Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects, Technical Achievement Awards and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fWLZ-UtyWeQ\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-medium is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Industrial_Light__Magic.png?resize=150%2C108&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5523\" width=\"150\" height=\"108\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Industrial_Light__Magic.png?resize=300%2C215&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Industrial_Light__Magic.png?resize=1024%2C735&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Industrial_Light__Magic.png?resize=768%2C551&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Industrial_Light__Magic.png?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>When Scott first entered the VFX industry in the 1980s, computer technology still had years of development ahead. Thus, the industry relied on photochemical processes, optical printers and optical illusions to achieve the desired effects. \u201cEverything was film-oriented, and everything was organic,\u201d Scott explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When computers did arrive, the VFX industry had a brand-new issue: \u201cthere were no\u2026 true artists that understood how to work within a computer.\u201d So, the pioneering VFX artists were computer scientists from top institutions such as UC Berkeley. As expected, mixing computer scientists with traditional cinematic artists, \u201cdidn\u2019t work all that well,\u201d Scott commented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/digitaldomain.jpg?resize=218%2C118&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5524\" width=\"218\" height=\"118\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>While technology has certainly improved with the release of sophisticated programs like NUKE by Foundry or Adobe After Effects by Adobe Systems, the industry still has many problems to solve. Marvel\u2019s most recent hit,&nbsp;<em>Avengers: Endgame<\/em>&nbsp;features characters made digitally, worlds made digitally and even the outfits of main characters are made digitally. This has caused many to argue that VFX has become overused as the average film becomes increasingly digitally made. Yet, production companies have a reason to put in as much VFX as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scott explains that international markets have become an increasingly larger portion of a film\u2019s profit and, \u201cyou\u2019re not going to have&nbsp;<em>Driving Miss Daisy<\/em>&nbsp;[a dialogue-heavy period piece] play very well in Beijing or Shanghai.\u201d Yet, characters turning to dust? Volcanoes erupting? That has far more international promise than a film with two characters talking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While there may be an ever-growing demand for VFX, VFX\ncompanies continue to go out of business due to production companies constantly\nasking for changes, increasing the time needed to perfect their work. The pressure-riddled VFX artists suffer as they work long hours with\nlittle rest due to razor-thin time constraints (<em>Avengers: Endgame<\/em>&nbsp;finished VFX less than a month before\npremiering) and, do their work inside in darkness, often across the world from\nwhere production takes place. Sometimes, they don\u2019t even appear in the credits\nof the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TcMBFSGVi1c\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>While technology continues to improve to make the lives of\nVFX artists easier, it also invariably has caused the industry to \u201cbifurcate,\u201d\nmaking many artists obsolete while only the world-renowned artists maintain\ndemand. For example, take the field of rotoscoping. This animation technique revolves\naround cutting out objects from the rest of a frame and, based on personal\nexperience, maybe the most monotonous step in the filmmaking process. Because\nit can be done by anyone, it has been outsourced to countries with cheaper\nlabor like India and China,\nand has increasingly been replaced by sophisticated computer programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-medium is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Gerry.2018.jpg?resize=225%2C150&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5365\" width=\"225\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Gerry.2018.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Gerry.2018.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Gerry.2018.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Gerry.2018.jpg?w=1466&amp;ssl=1 1466w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Visual Effects continues to be an increasingly important\nstep in filmmaking. Despite the industry being in its infant stage, it has\nalready felt the blunt impact of technological innovation and will continue to\ndo so as lifeless computers become more involved in the emotional process of\nmaking cinema.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By Gerry Orz, KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, age 17<br><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/-\/e\/B074HGF3LX\" target=\"_blank\">Author&#8217;s Page &#8211; Amazon<\/a><br><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/worldaccordingtog\" target=\"_blank\">World According to G<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In our second C-Suite Interview, KIDS FIRST! introduces you to Scott Ross, a maven of the Visual Effects Industry. Veteran KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Gerry O. recently met with Scott in his southern California home to discuss the history and future of VFX. Take a look! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,13,5],"tags":[1436,1440,1441,1444,1437,1445,1014,1439,1442,1433,1448,1447,539,1276,1432,1443,1446,1429,1438,1435,1431,1430,1434],"class_list":["post-5521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-news","category-for-producers","category-member-news","tag-academy-awards","tag-adobe-after-effects","tag-adobe-systems","tag-avengers-endgame","tag-best-visual-effects","tag-bifurcate","tag-cinema","tag-computer-scientist","tag-digital-characters","tag-digital-domain","tag-emotional","tag-filmmaking","tag-george-lucas","tag-gerry-orz","tag-industrial-light-and-magic","tag-nuke","tag-rotoscoping","tag-scott-ross","tag-technical-achievement-awards","tag-titanic","tag-uc-berkeley","tag-vfx","tag-visual-effects"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paS5I2-1r3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5521"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5530,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5521\/revisions\/5530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}