Union VFX - BAFTA Crew Panel

Blog

020 7494 9513

img

by Noga Alon-Stein, Producer

Last month, I was invited to BAFTA to take part in a panel discussing opportunities for women working in technical roles in the Film and TV industries.  The focus was mastering the picture workflow from camera to delivery and the audience was composed of BAFTA Crew members - a professional development network for professionals in the early stages of their careers to gain insight and advice from a panel of industry experts.

I was joined on the panel by Colourist, Jet Omoshebi; Assistant Editor, Emma Mccleave and Digital Imaging Technician, Núria Pérez and the set up was quite informal which allowed for a constructive and honest conversation. 

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to and learning from the different panelists through their different experiences in the industry. 

After the panel there was time to chat more one on one with the Crew Labs members who are mainly producers and directors at the start of their careers. It was interesting to hear their concerns and questions, but also to realise how - even in this day and age - vfx is still a mystery to most professionals in the film industry. 

This reinforces a point I raised at the beginning of the evening that the only way to target future VFX talent (particularly female) is through education and exposure to role models working in the industry. Students need to be taught the importance of visual effects, their power as a creative tool to help tell a story and their substantial role in modern filmmaking. It seems we still have a long way to go to change VFX's reputation as a way of ‘fixing things in post’.  Making VFX a key partner in your filmmaking at the beginning can allow you to achieve things that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.