"In this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, we speak with compositing supervisor and visual effects artist Jon Alexander (DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE, AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, THE PHANTOM MENACE). Jon was witness to a number of milestones in the history of visual effects, and throughout the episode, Jon shares numerous stories from his long career at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), granting us insight into a time he likens to as the Italian Renaissance. From optical printers to artificial intelligence, Jon shares his experiences working with the many pieces of technology responsible for manipulating images, and he reveals the level of focus he and his colleagues at ILM shared when it came to problem-solving (even during an earthquake!). In addition to his work in film, Jon has also worked on projects for The Sphere in Las Vegas, and he shares what he believes to be the distinctive traits of and the possible uses for the new technology. Jon also reveals what he saw as a groundbreaking advancement in visual effects while working on HOWARD THE DUCK, and we compare past and present VFX techniques. Plus, we break down how optical visual effects are actually made."
https://teamdeakins.libsyn.com/jon-alexander-compositing-supervisor
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Thank you for sharing Florin Şumălan. What really stood out to me was Jon’s take on compositing supervisors as "Master Sergeants"—they might not be the ones creating shots, but they keep everything running smoothly. That leadership and problem-solving vibe really hits home for me as I work on my own projects. I’ve also been using AI mainly for repetitive tasks to speed things up without losing the creative touch. I don’t think AI will replace us, but it definitely helps get work done faster and can save costs, especially for smaller studios.