In his book THE ALCHEMIST, Paolo Coelho talks about a Personal Legend. So many people give up just moments before they reach their own Personal Legend. After a while, if you aren’t getting the desired goal, it’s hard to convince yourself not to give up. It’s especially hard when other people are telling you to give up. 

Insecure people lash out at people who are more accomplished or ambitious, or courageous. They’re intimidated by someone who rubs them the wrong way. This also applies to new tools or technology. These days, it’s a common reaction toward AI. So many people fear that AI will take over their jobs. Instead, they can choose to get new skills and get in front of this innovation. 

You’re the one choosing your outlook:

• Rather than seeing someone as a threat – you can see them as an ally.

• Rather than seeing innovation as a threat – you can see it as an opportunity.

Nothing worth doing comes easy. It’s always darkest before dawn. But once you’ve earned your place, the success is so much sweeter.

Inspired by Paolo Coelho’s THE ALCHEMIST, Allan McKay talks about your Personal Legend, how to eliminate the negative voices that challenge you to keep going, how to change your own outlook – and choose to be inspired, instead of being intimidated.

For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/409.

Crafty Apes is a full service, boutique VFX company based in Culver City, CA & Atlanta, GA. The company was launched in July of 2011 by three visual effects veterans Jason Sanford, Chris LeDoux and Tim LeDoux. Believing that strong 2D compositing is the backbone behind quality visual effects, Crafty Apes was formed to primarily offer high-end compositing services for feature films and television clients. 

Crafty Apes specializes in compositing effects and visual effects supervision. By paying extra attention to the detail and integration that 2D work requires and by working with the best technology available spread among a select group of artists, Crafty Apes can deliver a superior product to higher end clients in a shorter time period.

Their recent credits include: The Babysitter: Killer Queen, Lovecraft Country, Doctor Strange, Hidden Figures, Lalaland, Fist Fight, Pete's Dragon, Captain America: Civil War, Killing Reagan, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, Dirty Grandpa, Allegiant, Insurgent, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Black Mass, The 33, Foxcatcher, 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, The Monkey King, White House Down, Single Mom's Club, The Last Stand, A Madea's Christmas and many more.

In this Podcast, VFX Supervisor Marc Smith and VFX Comp Supervisor Tanner Bartlett discuss their work on Mark Mylod’s THE MENU, the way their studio Crafty Apes approaches a new project, as well as give advice to artists on why it’s important to admit your shortcomings and the skills that make you most hireable. 

For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/408.

Frank Petzold is an internationally acclaimed Director and VFX Supervisor, and he’s been working in film for over 25 years. Whether working in film or television, Frank creates cutting edge visuals.

Before stepping into the world of directing, this award-winning VFX Supervisor enjoyed a successful career in Germany as a Director of Photography, specializing in shoots with visual effects components. In the early 90s, Frank joined the Tippett Studio in California to supervise and direct VFX work for major Hollywood films. Starting with the cult classic STARSHIP TROOPERS, he quickly moved from one blockbuster to the next, including ARMAGEDDON, THE MATRIX, HOLLOW MAN, THE RING, GOLDEN COMPASS and many others.

Working closely with Directors such as Steven Spielberg, Paul Verhoven, Frank Oz, Gore Verbinsky, Ivan Reitman, Frank learned how to bring story to life. With that extensive experience, he began directing complex commercials for the international market.

When ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT Director Edward Berger called Franks, with whom he worked on the AMC Series THE TERROR, the idea of working on such an iconic literary IP made Frank intimidated and inspired at the same time. Based on Erich Maria Remarque’s best-selling 1929 novel of the same name, the film follows an idealistic young German soldier in WWI who soon learns the harrowing reality of war. Because of the intimate perspective and to capture the verisimilitude of life in the trenches, Petzold’s goal was to ground the visual effects in photorealistic reference points. In other words, in this case, less is more. In 2023, the film won 4 Academy Awards.

Frank has been a member of VES since 1999.

In this Podcast, Allan McKay talks to the VFX Supervisor and Director Frank Petzold about his start in VFX at the legendary Tippett Studio; his work on STARSHIP TROOPERS, HOLLOW MAN, ARMAGEDDON, as well as the 2023 Academy Award Winning film ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT.

For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/407.

Some people argue that you can’t make more than $50K in VFX. Others compare their lives to the curated lifestyles on social media and demand to get paid more. It really comes down to your WHY: Why do you need more cash? The quickest pay rise you can give yourself is figuring out your budget. It’s better to figure out your finances and take control of your money. And if you still want to earn more money, you need to understand the industry you’re in and what it pays people.

That being said, you can earn bigger numbers in VFX. If you want to earn more, you have to rethink the whole process. Recently, I was offered a Director position on a AAA game. Working in video games, you can make extra cash either in bonuses or by having a side hustle. If you were to start to think about dealing with things on a bigger level – as a studio – you can start to understand the process. 

As a VFX Supervisor and previously a Producer and Studio Owner, I understand budgets. When Producers create budgets, they don’t have the money allocated yet. Once vendors submit their bids, Producers sit down and figure out what the budget for a project might be and the number of artists they need to hire. Then they worry about their margins, their expenditures and profit. The Producers on the client side don’t scrutinize the details. All they care about – is deliverables. That allows you to rethink the process by changing the way you charge your rate.

Now, you could go work at the same place your entire life. If you take that linear career trajectory,  you end up waiting for a pay rise every year. If making more money is all you’re after, you need to examine a few things: 

• First of all, ask yourself if you’re in the right industry? 

• If you do want to do it in VFX, can you create a side hustle?

• Do you see yourself launching your own studio?

• Can you move from the vendor to the client side of VFX?

If you want to make money by simply doing VFX, you need to get creative. I’ve talked about this in the past: There is no limit to how much money you can make in visual effects! Ask yourself the question: How do the people who pay me – pay themselves? Once you understand that, you can position yourself in a way that justifies the money you want to make.

In this Podcast, Allan McKay busts the myth that a VFX Artist cannot make a lot of money in visual effects and gives his insight as a VFX Supervisor, Producer and Studio Owner about how you can make a lot more money in this business.

For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/406.

VICO SHARABANI is a Creative Entrepreneur, award-winning Creative-Director, Director, and Producer. He is also the Founder and CCO of The-Artery, a New York based media production company that creates high-end visual content for brands, feature films, commercials, digital experiences, art installations and more.

As one of the most notable Flame artists in the world, Vico is the winner of the first ever Autodesk Flame Award recognizing his vast contributions to the VFX industry over the past 25 years. Vico’s portfolio includes a wide range of commercials for fortune 500 companies such as Mercedes-Benz, Nike and AT&T, music-videos for Beyoncé, Coldplay, Niki Minaj, KanYe West, and work on dozens of films such as Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, Ocean’s 8, Tower Heist and Sex and The City, to name a few.

YUVAL LEVY is a Director, Creative Director and VFX Supervisor at The-Artery. With two decades of VFX experience, Yuval spent half that period of time steadily moving up the ranks at Gravity New York (formerly RhinoFX) as CG Supervisor / Head of CG to VFX and Digital Supervisor, as well as Creative Director. Along the way, he’s lent his talents to high-profile top-tier brands including BMW, Mercedes, and Coca-Cola, commercials and documentary films for National Geographic and The History Channel, and multiple successful feature films such as The Other Guys, Crazy Stupid Love and The Adjustment Bureau.

Vico and Yuval co-supervised the VFX on Paramount Pictures’ recent horror film SMILE which has crushed it in the box office. Globally, the film grossed over $137.5 million with a $17 million production budget in just the first two weeks.

In this Episode, the Founder and Creative Director of The-Artery Vico Sharabani and VFX Supervisor and Creative Director Yuval Levy talk about their collaboration on Paramount Pictures’ recent film SMILE, creating its realistic visuals, the most challenging horror sequences and so much more!

For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/405.

ARwall is a group of indie filmmakers based in LA who are on a mission to democratize their virtual production tech that has previously only been accessible to major studios. ARwall is a virtual production, software and solutions company. 

Since its founding 7 years ago, the company has been one of the pioneers of in-camera realtime effects. They've worked on projects for HBO, Disney and Discovery.  Most recently, ARwall's work won an Emmy for their first film Muppets Haunted Mansion where their real-time tech enabled the stunning visuals. 

In this Podcast, Allan McKay interviews CEO and Co-Founder of ARwall Rene Amador about the launch of the company, its plugins, tools and affordable solutions for filmmakers, the pros and cons of virtual production, as well as shares the behind-the-scenes of their most challenging projects to date.

For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/404.

Wonder Dynamics is utilizing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to develop cutting-edge technologies, innovate production tools and create original content for Film and TV Industry. A startup founded in 2017 by Ready Player One star Tye Sheridan and VFX expert Nikola Todorovic aims to lower the cost and level the playing field for visual effects.

In 2021, the company raised $9 million in a Series A funding round that included Epic Games and Samsung as investors, helping expand its team of machine learning engineers and CG artists to expedite Wonder AI Suite — a cloud-based content creation platform designed to bring blockbuster-level VFX to projects of all sizes. 

The startup has a heavyweight advisory board that includes Sheridan’s Ready Player One director Steven Spielberg, Avengers: Endgame co-director Joe Russo, Capital Factory CEO Joshua Baer, Rhea Films’ Terry Dougas, Google research scientist and Berkeley professor Angjoo Kanazawa, private equity investor Robert Schwab, MIT Head of AI Antonio Torralba and Film Finances president Gregory Trattner.

In this Podcast, Allan McKay interviews Co-Founder and CEO of Wonder Dynamics Nikola Todorovic about the launch of the company, its Advisory Board that includes Steven Spielberg, the AI tools that the startup is building – and how all of this machine learning tech is helping filmmakers with their storytelling.

For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/403.

Move.ai develops patented AAA quality marker-less motion capture technology powered by computer vision and deep learning. Their software runs off any mobile device or camera, can capture any relative volume size and can be deployed in any environment on the planet. 

It’s been tested to be directly comparable to existing suit/optical based systems and generates standard data formats that can be exported to any game engine in real time.

The company’s mission is to enable millions of animators and content creators globally to have access to the same level of motion capture as the AAA studios!

In this Podcast, Co-Founder of Move.ai Anthony Ganjou talks to Allan McKay about his company – a AAA quality marker-less motion capture technology – its target audience, the diversity of its consumer, and the implication of the current AI Moment in human history.

For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/402.

The intense drama and riveting action in the newest primetime CBS hit series FIRE COUNTRY is accompanied by spectacular firestorms: The work of visual effects leaders CBS VFX which was selected by producers to create the namesake infernos and deliver other critical visual effects for the most watched new network series of the season. Led by VFX Supervisor Colin Strause, whose career includes such big-screen blockbusters as RAMPAGE, SAN ANDREAS and THE AVENGERS, CBS VFX brings together a visual effects crew of more than 100 people to deliver as many as 135 effects shots in every episode of the series from Jerry Bruckheimer Productions and CBS Studios.

To make fire into a palpable antagonist in the series and to showcase the many different and terrifying forms that fire can take, the work from CBS VFX incorporates multiple elements, sometimes including actual pyrotechnics that were filmed on set in highly controlled circumstances. Although the series is set in Northern California, it is shot in British Columbia where extremely dry conditions mostly prevent the large-scale use of physical fire.

FIRE COUNTRY is the largest in an impressive range of recent projects for CBS VFX, which have also included the acclaimed series ONE PERFECT SHOT for HBO Max and ARRAY Filmworks; and innovative virtual production solution to COVID-relateds challenges for THE DREW BARRYMORE SHOW; and special productions for the 2021 MTV Movie Awards and NCAA Final Four. 

CBS VFX has developed groundbreaking technology and created visual effects for multiple series across many networks, including Apple TV’s ROAR, THE OFFER for Paramount +, THIS IS US on NBC, Netflix’s DEAD TO ME, and BIG SHOT on Disney +.

Brothers Colin and Greg Strause have charted a meteoric rise from self-taught artists working on local cable commercials in the suburbs of Chicago, to renowned visual effects gurus. Their careers began on the original run of THE X-FILES television show before working their way onto early CG-driven features, THE NUTTY PROFESSOR, VOLCANO, and the iceberg sequence of James Cameron's TITANIC. Founding their own VFX house, Hydraulx in 2002, the brothers have worked on visionary sequences for over ninety feature films including AVATAR, THE AVENGERS, SKYFALL, 300, CAPTAIN AMERICA, 2012, IRON MAN 2, BATTLE: LOS ANGELES and THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. Their work on the latter brought Greg a BAFTA for Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects.

In this Podcast, Allan McKay interviews the VFX Supervisor, Director and Producer Colin Strause about his start in VFX – from launching his own company Hydraulx to directing feature films – his learning on the job and working on the challenging fire sequences on FIRE COUNTRY on CBS.

For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/401.

Ash Thorp is a graphic designer, illustrator, artist, and creative director for a multitude of media, including feature films, commercial enterprises, and print. Most recently, Ash worked on the concept for the Batmobile and the Batcycle, for the 2022 film The Batman directed by Matt Reeves. 

Previously, Ash has worked on graphics for Ender’s Game and Total Recall, as well as contributed to the design concepts for Spectre, Prometheus, X-Men First Class, Call of Duty and others. His first directorial debut started with the assembly of an international team for his Ghost in the Shell tribute, as well as the main title for OFFF Barcelona 2014. In 2015, he was requested to assemble an international team of designers and create the title sequence for FITC Tokyo. Later that year, Ash co-directed “Ares — Our Greatest Adventure”, a promotional trailer for the feature film The Martian.

Allan McKay is an Emmy Award winning VFX Supervisor and Technical Director. He is responsible for many visual effects sequences including on hit titles like God of War: Ragnarok, Avengers: Endgame, Game of Thrones, Marvel’s Runaways, Bloodshot, Transformers, Blade, The Last Airbender, Star Trek, Superman, Flight, The Equalizer, and dozens of others; as well as many of the top video games worldwide: Halo, Destiny, Call of Duty, Bioshock, Prototype, Half-Life, and Team Fortress 2. 

Allan has over two decades of experience working in the visual effects industry for many leading studios such as ILM, Pixomondo, Blur Studio, Sony, Paramount Picture, Atomic Fiction, Prime Focus, Ubisoft, Activision and dozens of others.

In addition to his VFX work, Allan runs many online courses, as well as a mentorship. Throughout the past two decades, he has appeared as a speaker at events in over 15 different cities including Paris, Sydney, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Singapore, Helsinki. He has taught master classes at SIGGRAPH and IAMAG, and has spoken at events with Nvidia Google.

His hit Podcast is rated in the top 200 podcasts on iTunes where he interviews many award winning VFX Artists, Supervisors and Film Directors, focusing on both creativity and drive, as well as on how to boost your career and achieve success as a creative.

In this Podcast Ash Thorp interviews Allan McKay about his outlook on failure and how to move past it, AI and other technological disruptions, following one’s calling, as well as the importance of gratitude and always moving forward.

For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/400.