介绍:
From the lush landscape of Pandora in Avatar to the heart pumping battles in The Hobbit films, all these wouldn't have been possible without Aaron Gilman. As the visual effects supervisor at Weta Digital in New Zealand, he has worked on dozens of blockbuster films including Ironman, the Avengers, and the Adventures of Tintin. Doris Wang spoke to Aaron Gilman about how he got into the movie industry and his advice for aspiring filmmakers.
Q: You are a visual effects artist, what make you more interested in the technical aspects in film making rather than the artistic aspect of it?
A: I have always struggled with being my own visionary. I find it very very difficult for me to see a final product that comes from inside of me. Whereas when I work with other creative people, I find it much easier to bring their vision to life. And I enjoy that process, because it's really challenging, it's very difficult, I just always chosen to being a technician than being my own director. It's harder to be your own director in the sense that it's more difficult to make a career out of it, and make it something you can live of.
Q: Do you remember a particular incident or particular situation where you said "Aha, I want to be a visual effect artist" ?
A: Absolutely. It was probably three months into the Vancouver Film School. And that's when I couldn't believe that animation was possible, I was like "look, it's moving", and I did it. (laugh). So I kind of feel like I was able to create life. And that was something that attracted me right away. And now after 15 years, I can tell you that every single day of my job is exciting. It's never stop being fun.
Q: So it's there a big demand in the market or in the film market for a visual effect artist?
A: Enormous demand. The problem is that the competition has become much greater than it was in the past. Essentially it's a growing industry; movie making is going anywhere, it's here to stay forever. Human beings have always wanted to go to movies. So as long it has a demand for film, there's a demand for visual effects. And as long as it has a demand for visual effects and the state of globalization, which is, you know, more and more countries around the world are trying to attract that kind of business. Then you are going to see a larger population of artists trying to get jobs.
Q: Could you tell us some big projects we worked on, like Avatar and the Hobbits? And how you landed these jobs?
A: Well, after working at the Tippett Studio in San Francisco for "The Matrix Revolutions", "Hellboy" and "Constantine", I had a period of time where I went to computer games and I really didn't love working in computer games. So when I made the decision to go back to film, I contacted friends of mine that have moved from San Francisco to New Zealand to work on "Kingkong" and they stay there and they love it and they start to work on "Avatar". So when I contacted my friends, they basically said: "Come on down! No problem! " So I went, I sold my house and I moved my wife and my son and I went down to WETA. And I stared on "Avatar" and I worked on "Avatar" for a year and half , After "Avatar", they ask me to be one of the animation supervisors on "Tintin", so I was the sequence supervisor on the end fight where they're fighting with the big Cranes. Then they ask me to supervise "The Avengers" and I worked on the "Hobbits" films. Then they ask me to supervise "Iron Man 3", and then I worked on more "Hobbits" films. Then they ask me to supervise "Godzilla". And then I worked on "The Planet of Apes" movie. Now I am supervising on the third "Hobbits" film.
Q: What advice will you give to students who are eager to get into film school?
A: Well, listen, I can tell you honestly that every single day, you will think that after fifteen years of me animating every day, that it would be easy. It's not. It's really hard. Every shoot that I animate on is hard. It never stops being complicated. So there is no free things in animation or in any visual effect. It doesn't come for free. The only way to make it great is to work your butt off. You gotta work really really hard. So my fist bit of advice is spend as many hours as you can to make the greatest thing you can make. So hard work (is) most important. The second most important thing is analysis. Analyze everything that moves, analyze film history, analyze movie of Disney, analyze everything you can so you understand movement and how to tell story through movement.
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