The VFX Factor: Crafting Subtle Creative Touches with Antonio Jimenez

Antonio Jimenez is senior flame artist and creative director at ELMNTL. Since the start of his career, Antonio has honed his expertise through his work on a wealth of commercials and iconic music videos at companies such as Absolute, No.8 and Big Buoy. With a portfolio that boasts collaborations with top directors and brands, Antonio has proven himself to be an artist who consistently pushes for creative and technical excellence.

LBB> What’s the biggest misconception people have about VFX?

Antonio> One of the biggest misconceptions about VFX is that it's only about creating flashy, obvious effects and impressive CG elements within a scene. In reality, a significant part of VFX work involves subtle creative touches and invisible enhancements that most viewers would never notice. We might adjust colours to enhance the mood, add atmospheric effects like smoke or rain, or even replace an entire sky to heighten the scene's impact. These enhancements may not be obvious but they play a crucial role in shaping the story and influencing the audience's emotional response.

LBB> There are two ends to the VFX spectrum - the invisible post and the big, glossy 'VFX heavy' shots. What are the challenges that come with each of those?

Antonio> As technology evolves, we are entering a world where we have more tools than ever before to develop even greater VFX work, but this inherently makes the audience get used to more advanced, realistic, and impressive VFX. So, in response to the question, it naturally becomes more challenging each time we craft VFX, as the audience is exposed to more CGI and photorealistic effects.

LBB> VFX is a true craft in the classic sense of the word. Where did you learn your craft?

Antonio> I’d like to say I learned everything about VFX and compositing at school, in university, or through a Film/Post Production degree, however, like many people who dive into these types of jobs, most of what I know comes from a self-taught mindset and approach that I developed from a very early age.

For example, being the only person who knew what Photoshop was in my classroom at the age of 11, is probably a good indication of how I got into this world and how I ended up becoming a VFX compositor and supervisor. Having that early curiosity about compositing in Photoshop, and spending my spare time with my father’s video camera, was a trigger for my desire to learn more.

The craft itself doesn’t come with the job role, but from the ability to have a meticulous eye for detail and a critical understanding of real world physics. When you’re a VFX Artist, you never see a glass of water in the same way most people do. Instead, you pay attention to how the light passes through the glass and creates chromatic aberration, and how the contents seen through the glass are distorted by the refraction of the material and then you think about the type of contact shadow the glass casts when sitting on the table, and lastly, how that shadow fades as it moves away from the contact point. 

After all these observations, when you think you can replicate the same physics and build a CGI glass that no one would question as being real, that’s when you’ve developed a craft.

So, in answer to the question "Where did you learn your craft?" the answer would be, anywhere, anytime. 

LBB> Think about the very, very start of a project. What is your process for that? Do you have a similar starting point for all projects?

Antonio> I think the very start of a project begins with a conversation with your producer about a job you haven’t even won yet. The first step is grasping a true understanding of the creative requirements and therefore the post production approach and then ultimately this leads to estimating how much time you'll need to carry out the work, how many resources you'll require, and how you'll communicate your idea to the client.

Most of the time, we jump on calls with the agency, client, and director to properly understand their vision and how we can offer an elevated, more curated solution to achieve this. 

Once the job is confirmed, we then work with the director and the production company to make sure that anything that’s been shot live action translates to what we’re planning in post, then it's time to come up with a plan for setting up the pipeline and distributing the work among all resources, so we can meet the deadline while fulfilling the client’s expectations.

LBB> We imagine that one of the trickiest things with VFX is, time issues aside, deciding when a project is finished! How do you navigate that?

Antonio> The concept of finishing a job in VFX can sometimes be very abstract. If you ask any VFX Artist at the stage of delivery whether they would have spent a little more time on that important shot in the film, 100% of the time they will say, "I would have if we had more time… I think I could have spent more time fine-tuning those shadows on the subject," etc.

But I think the most important way to determine whether a job is truly finished is when both the director, the agency and the clients as well as your internal team are all happy with the results at the time of delivery, and you feel a sense of accomplishment with the outcome.

You could always spend more time on a job and call it 'final_final_final,' but there needs to be a point where you recognise that it’s time to move on. You’ve done a great job, and (hopefully) the client is thrilled with what you’ve achieved. 

That’s it.

LBB> Is there a piece of technology or software that's particularly exciting you in VFX? Why?

Antonio> Absolutely. Not only at present but looking to the future, Unreal Engine is the most promising software out there. It won’t just be a step forward in Virtual Production but will also address the big issue we discussed in the previous question, when time is critical, and your deadline is only two weeks away, yet you're still facing 100 hours of rendering time.

Unreal Engine is not only becoming the most efficient tool for quick rendering solutions, but it's expanding at such a pace that it will soon be the dominant software in the market.

LBB> And as real time tech and games engines become ever faster and more sophisticated, how do you see that shaping or changing the role of VFX and its place in the production pipeline (e.g. thinking about things like virtual production)?

Antonio> Undoubtedly, there is going to be an increase in demand for artists who are skilled in Virtual Production and real-time VFX. VFX Artists’ skills will gradually evolve, as they will be required to attend Virtual Production studios and collaborate with the entire team to craft those VFX solutions on the same day of shooting.

LBB>VFX is a craft that relies on you looking at nature - how light works, how gravity works, the mannerisms of a kind of creature, how crowds work, skeletons, explosions… whether it’s animation or compositing or anything else… So how do you like to approach the research side of your job? What’s the most random or intriguing thing you’ve learned from working on a project?

Antonio> Unlike things that can only be learned from books, physics can be studied simply by observing everyday life. So, if you find yourself working on a project where you need to create a CGI rabbit moving around a kitchen counter, you start watching videos and asking yourself questions, “How does a rabbit move when it suddenly stops in front of an object?” For the kitchen counter, “what material is the surface made of? How reflective is it? Should I check my own kitchen counter and see if it’s similar? Or wait, my mother-in-law’s kitchen counter looks exactly like the one in the storyboard, let’s go take a picture of it…”

All the references are out there. It’s just a matter of choosing what to replicate and studying its physics.

I remember working on a juice commercial where we needed to build a liquid simulation in CG, so we had to spend quite a bit of time understanding the density of the product and the physics of that liquid element and its interaction with light.

This concept is called Subsurface Scattering, which is the physical reaction of translucent materials as light passes through them.

What’s really interesting is that, as humans, we're constantly exposed to physical phenomena without even being aware of them, they happen every moment in our lives. And regardless of knowing their technical term or why they even look the way they do, everyone has a natural understanding of how real life is supposed to look, without being a physicist or a scientist.

That’s why our job is to get as close as possible to realism, aiming for the VFX to go unnoticed, so the audience can simply enjoy the story we’re telling.

LBB> When you’re watching a VFX-heavy ad or movie, what are the tells that you look for to figure out how well crafted it is?

Antonio> It’s all related to the same thing. A clear indication of whether an ad or movie has great VFX is by looking at the physics again, but most importantly, how the newly added elements impact the existing environment.

You might appreciate this more in films where everything is fully CGI.

Say we’re in a night scene, it’s raining, and a man is standing on his front porch about to run to his car. As he starts to run, you might notice how his clothes gradually  dampen as he becomes exposed to the rain. As the action moves forward, you can appreciate how the water creates reflections on all surfaces, and how these reflections are constantly affected by the ripples that each raindrop creates upon hitting the ground.

The man is about to reach the car, and the animation team knows that due to the rain, the ground where the car is parked might be slippery. When the man arrives at the car, he makes a sudden stop right before opening the door, causing him to slide and almost fall.

You probably didn’t notice, but the man’s jacket was waterproof, so the raindrops slid off without soaking into the fabric. However, his trousers were made of denim, so they now have dark patches where the water has soaked in. 

LBB> How did you first get into the industry? What was your very first job in the industry and what were the biggest lessons that you learned at that time?

Antonio> Back in 2013, I moved to London and got my first job as a Runner in a post-production house in the heart of Soho. 

One of the biggest lessons for me personally, was the importance of time management. When working in advertising, there is a very steep learning curve for time management as you come to understand the importance and implications of answering a simple question “how long is this task going to take you?”.

In many situations, and depending on the complexity of the VFX, time is a variable that can be very difficult to measure as there is no way to predict all the contingencies you might face when dealing with the footage you’re working with. 

You might learn this lesson in your first two weeks, but more likely, it will probably take years to master how you deal with this unpredictable factor, which is the beauty of gaining experience/knowledge at your job and also building relationships with experienced team members who can help you navigate this. 

LBB> What was your first creative milestone in the industry – the project you worked on that you were super proud of?

Antonio> When you start in the VFX industry from scratch, you know that you’ll be assisting senior artists for a while as you learn the dynamics of projects, VFX techniques, methodologies, and understanding the overall workflows and nature of a project from beginning to end.

My first milestone was probably the moment when I led my first job and handled all the creative decisions myself. I would describe this feeling as one of the most fulfilling moments you can experience at the start of your career.

This is the moment when you realise you’re fully capable of implementing all the crucial parts of your project’s pipeline, successfully delivering the project on time, and most importantly, making a very positive impact on the client.

LBB> From a VFX perspective, which ads have you seen recently that you've been particularly fond of and why?

Antonio> 'Coca-Cola Masterpiece' was probably the most impressive ad I’ve seen in a while because of the vast mixture of VFX disciplines involved in the process.

The film opens with a young man sitting in a museum art gallery, trying to find inspiration for what to draw on his notepad, but he looks quite tired. Suddenly, a piece of paint on the wall comes out of the frame, grabs a Coca-Cola bottle from a poster, and passes it through various paintings, so the young man can get refreshed and inspired to continue with his drawing class. The way the entire museum comes to life and the transitions through different art styles as the Coca-Cola bottle moves are simply spectacular.