I shared 124 links of podcasts, videos, articles with my previous class of Compositors at Alpha Chromatica. In a previous post, I shared one example podcast. Here is an example of what I recommended they read. I’m reluctant to share this resource publicly because it feels so precious, but it’s also too good NOT to share. It is a wealth of artistic, technical, and life wisdom by a very good teacher.
The CG Cinematography Book by Christophe Brejon is an amazing FREE online resource that took 2+ years to write and 13+ years to gain the knowledge contained within from a Lighting and Color Specialist. It is no easy task to create such a clear and practical learning path. While lighting artists working on big budget animated films are the target audience for this book, I think there are plenty of insights for anyone working in the VFX, animation, film, or game industries. Chapter 10 in particular provides a lot of solid advice for students and junior artists as well as leads and supervisors. Don’t like reading? This book is full of pictures and videos, as well as hyperlinks so you can dive even deeper in specific topics. I honestly find this book more engaging than most video tutorials and frequently revisit it.
For my compositing readers, I highly encourage all of you to check out this book if you haven’t already. The working relationship between your departments and lighting can make or break a project. I had the opportunity to work with some truly great lighters at both ILM and DNEG, and it was incredibly fun to problem-solve technical and artistic challenges together. Some of my former Compositing students now work as Lighters/Compositors in animation studios.
If you want to understand color, you first need to understand light. if you want to tell a story with visuals, lighting can be one of your most powerful tools. Understanding lighting even helps you know how to look better in Zoom meetings, improves your photography skills, and provides greater clarity when optimizing the lighting in your home.
I love this quote in particular:
“(Training) should be a very important aspect of production but unfortunately not many companies give it sufficient attention. Training is not a ‘bonus’, it should be the base. Too much often, unfortunately, companies see training as a loss of money since we are not producing anything. But I am 100% convinced that on the long-term you make better movies and cheaper too.”
Christophe Brejon
Big thanks to Christophe for creating and sharing this resourceful book. I hope my recommendation brings it more of the attention it deserves.
