Alexandr Melnikov is a 37 year old visual effects artist who
was born in Baki, the capital of Azerbaijan, he still resides
there with his wife and 2 children. Alexandr presently works
as a freelancer.
We spoke with him about his job in
VFX, what he's done in the past, and what he hopes to do in
the future.
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| Q: What made you decide
to become a VFX artist?
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Very interesting question. In 1996 I worked at a garage,
maintaining car engines.
One time, at home, I was
watching TV and suddenly the question popped into my
head; how do people make such beautiful things?
Something wonderful turned around for me there and then.
I got information about visual effects
artistry and decided to learn it. I worked at the garage
and studied at the same time. After that, I was
invited to work for a TV channel. That is how I
got started and I'm still doing it now.
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| Q: What artist/event/person
inspires you? | |
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I'm inspired by all talented artists. And, of
course, my family.
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| Q: How long have you been
working with Fusion as an artist? Where did you learn
your compositing skills, and how did you first get
started using Fusion? | |
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I have worked with Fusion from, almost, its first
version. I learned it while working on television. At the
beginning, it was just simple tests because my main tool then
was Adobe After Effects.
Later, I liked it and I
turned to Fusion. Still using it to this day, it's been a long
time.
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| Q: What shows
have you contributed to in the past?
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| All my work is available on my YouTube
channel, here.
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| Q: Can you tell
me your favorite Fusion
tool? | |
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I have no preferred tools in Fusion. I always need
everything! But I have always liked the strong particle
system.
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| Q: What trends do you see
emerging in visual effects? How do you see the role of
the VFX artist changing, and where do you see yourself
in 10 years? | |
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I can't imagine in which direction the VFX industry will
develop in the future. Everything changes so
quickly.
Everyday there is new information,
products, and skills. I can tell you one thing, VFX
was, is, and will always be real every time.
Of
course, the role of the VFX-artist has significantly changed
in the last 10 years. It grows with the development of
technology and now there are much more opportunities. Anyway,
even in a very small, simple film, you can't do without
the VFX-artist. There are always shortages of
talented artists. Fusion helps in it. I see myself in this
industry in the future. I love it.
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| Q: Generally, visual effects
projects are complicated and involved. Tight deadlines
and large shot counts put a lot of pressure on the
artistic team. How does Fusion help you achieve your
deadlines? | |
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Definitely, the problem of tight deadlines will exist
every time. We can't do anything about that, it's
a specific part of our work. As I work as
a freelancer, I try to not take on too many projects at
once. Because of that, I never have serious problems with
deadlines.
Of course, the working speed of Fusion
helps very much!
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| Q: Do you make use of
Fusion's 3D environment and, if so, how?
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To tell the truth, I have just used it a few times, when I
had to trash shots, then change the sky or insert some VFX
elements.
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| Q: How important is 3D
compositing to how you
work? | |
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When working with shots from film, one or
several, one always gets value from the 3D
environment in compositing, it will always
be useful. This is true with TV commercials as
well. You should always be ready.
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| Q: What's coming up next for
you? | |
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To work and develop, bring up children, and so forth.
:)
Visit Alexandr's website here.
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