VFX SUPERVISOR SEAN WALKER ON HIS OSCAR NOMINATION FOR SHANG CHI
The news that VFX Supervisor Sean Walker had been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences® reached us this week and we reached out to Sean to get a reaction:
What does being a member of the Academy mean to you?
It's pretty incredible. I've always wanted to be a part of the Academy, and this is the best way I could imagine being accepted. To be a part of such an iconic and talented group of people is an honour. Plus, I get a voice and a vote in the next awards which is amazing.
You were nominated for an Academy Award for your work on Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. What was that experience like?
The experience was amazing. It's still pretty surreal and even now, it kind of felt like a bit of a dream. Being over in LA, dressing up and walking down the red carpet, meeting all these amazing people. I felt incredibly proud to represent all the amazing artists on the show.
Can you tell us a little about your background and career at Wētā FX?
I started at Wētā FX in 2006. I first began my career at Weta Productions working on a TV series called Jane and the Dragon.
It was an excellent introduction in to the business, a lot of fun, and many of us there shifted to Wētā FX directly after.
My first film was Eragon, where I started in the FX department rendering and lighting smoke for the evil dragon at the end of the film. From there I worked on a couple of smaller films, and then, like everyone else in the company at the time, moved on to Avatar. It was an amazing experience that offered a lot of artists new opportunities. I was only a lighter but was given a few sequences of my own to lead. I was given the chance to run my own lighting dailies, and felt very involved in the creative process. It was a mammoth but very exciting and satisfying show to work on.
From there it wasn't long before I got my first taste of working on a Marvel film, with the first Avengers movie. We had a few scattered sequences throughout which is always fun, and I was pretty hooked from then on. We had The Hobbit Trilogy, and The Planet of the Apes Trilogy in between, but whenever there was an opportunity to jump on to a Marvel film, I took it.
I worked my way up to CG supervisor and eventually, I was given the opportunity on Avengers: Endgame to become a sequence VFX supervisor. These days I'm almost exclusively on Marvel films. It's been a wild ride, and I'm still amazed I get to work on all these amazing and creative projects. It's absolutely my dream job.
Do you have any favourite projects that you have worked on?
I don't have an all out favourite project. They all have incredible moments. Each project has those incredible times, where, as a team, we band together, and pull out some amazing work. Or when an individual completely blindsides you with some cool concept or tool they've been working on. I'm proud of all the work we've done on all our projects, but I'll always remember the team experiences the most.
What inspires you about the future of VFX?
Seeing all the amazing new young talent come forward and be a part of all these incredible stories. I love seeing new artists get excited about showing their work, and then getting to experience that work on such a large scale. I'm blown away by the love and care and enthusiam they bring to the industry. I think the future of VFX is in good hands.
