Sandra visited the eyeon head office in
Toronto. We had a chance to sit and chat about what she loves
about the VFX industry and where she wants to go in her
career.
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| Q: Tell me about yourself
and how you became interested in Fusion?
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My name is Sandra Balej. I am a 23 year old compositing
artist and love everything that involves film.
I
really enjoy the impact movies have on people's lives and
that's why I am happy to be a part of this industry. I mean,
recreating reality or creating new realities so that the
audience can just forget where they are for an hour or two is
quite an amazing thing.
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| Q: What made you decide to
become a VFX artist? | |
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Ever since I was a child I was absolutely amazed by the
magic of film. Early on, I formed the wish to actually work in
the movie industryàso I couldàmake my
contribution.
First, everyone thought that this was my version of "I want
to become an astronaut" but I stuck with the idea. Over the
years, I realized that those vfx movies inspired me the most.
Those that created cool new worlds with the immeasurable
possibilities of VFX. Of course, the fact that I really like
to work with computersàis an added bonus.
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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 been using Fusion for aboutàone and a
half years now.
Back in 2006, I started my
educationàto become aàVFX artistàwith the
Bavarian Academy of Television. We were mostlyàusing
Shake and After Effects. From there, I moved on to the
Vancouver Film School.
After that, I got a Job at a Berlin-based company with
a great team of very strong Fusion artists. That was the first
time I got to use Fusion.
In the German VFX industry, there tends to be a lack of
money for specialized people. In smaller companies, it is just
more efficient to have generalists that can be used for many
different tasks. They tend to make up for the missing
specialists. This is where I gathered a very broad knowledge
of Fusionàas I had to do complete shots from tracking and
rotoscoping to the final composite.
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| Q: What artist/event/person
inspires you? | |
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I am inspired by the team of Fusion artists that I had the
fortune to work with inàthe Berlin-based company that I joined
right after my studies. They pushed me a lot, taught me a
great deal, and therefore made me a better artist. We formed a
really great team, working like a well oiled machine and had
loads of fun in the process.
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| Q: What shows have you
contributed to in the past?
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I contributed to a couple of German feature films on TV.
The last one actually involved Nazi UFOs destroying Berlin's
Olympic stadium. It was a very bizarre experience.
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| Q: What are some of your
favorite tools in Fusion?
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I love how the whole Fusion 3D Space is developing,
especially all the shading and texturing possibilities. It
allows the artist to be really flexible and fast when
responding to clients' wishes.àAn artistàcan make
quick adjustments in Fusion to see the final results instead
of having to rerender everything using a 3D package.
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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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Iàbelieve that more and more work will be done in
compositing packages instead of 3D packages due to their great
ability for quick changes. That isàwhy I think it is
important for a VFX artist to be able to adapt really quickly
and have more general skills as it may soon be necessary to do
everythingàand the different departments will be merging
and intersecting more and more.
As for myself, I want to extend and broaden my compositing
skills. I would love to work in Vancouver again, since I
really love that city and it has a very interesting VFX
industry.
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