A great visual effects supervisor is essential for any animated or vfx-driven live-action film, but what does a supe actually do during a film’s production? It might surprise some to learn that the role of a vfx supervisor isn’t purely technical. “A lot of it is just communication,” says Mike Ford, the vfx supervisor of Hotel Transylvania 3. “It’s getting people to talk to one another.”

While a deep knowledge of the technical side is still required, there’s any number of ways that a digital artist can work their way into the position. “There’s no real ‘That’s-the-way-to-do-it’ kind of path,” Ford tells Cartoon Brew. To learn more what a vfx supervisor does on a film and the type of skills that are required to become a supervisor, watch our chat with Ford:

This episode of This is My Job is sponsored by Adobe, whose software Character Animator allows users to apply their own expressions and movements to animate characters in real-time. Starting using Adobe Character Animator today.

The first season of This is My Job was filmed last fall at the VIEW Conference in Turin, Italy.

See previous episodes in the series:

Episode 3: Studio Owner

Episode 2: Interactive Director
Episode 1: Production Designer

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