JIM FINN
VFX Director of Operations &
Executive Producer

Birthdate: Unknown Hometown: Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Website:  Series Work: Poltergeist: The Legacy, Sliders, Welcome to Paradox, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, Secret Agent Man, Andromeda, Special Unit 2, John Doe, The 4400 and Life as We Know It. Feature Work: Executive Decision, Valentine, Ballistic: Eck vs Sever, and An Unfinished Life.

     Jim Finn walked away from Andromeda when producers ask the SFX Supervisor to put his name on inferior work. He's moved on to bigger and better things since. 

Now... The Interview... 

TB: Tell the readers about yourself Jim. 

JF: I went to several Colleges and Universities in my youth in the 70’s trying to find my lot in life when I took a two week work study at an Educational Television Network in Toronto, Ontario. I got to be a gopher (go for) on a historic drama film being shot by the Network. I fell for the long hours, thankless position and team atmosphere of a film crew. I stayed with the crew finished the film and then found out the reality of life in the film industry. You work on a show until it is done then you are out of work until you find another job. I tried my hand at several different fields in the television industry, from camera to audio to live video switching on variety television. I somehow ended up in a technical position that I enjoyed and for some reason seemed to have a bit more stability in job duration. I learned all I could about the technical side of television and its equipment. As I weaved my way through the industry working my way up and around from sports mobile work to editing in an electronic edit suite right out of the future (at that time). This is where I started to focus my attention and this is the route that led me to Visual Effects. I grew up with the development and innovation of equipment that would soon replace the difficult and arduous task of optical effects and poorly composed television effects. It was this route that brought me back to film and a niche in that market that held an interest and a future for me.

With the advent of dedicated hardware and software specifically designed for Visual effects I moved into the area of composting and animation as an artist and an animator. In the late 80’s and early 90’s I did effects compositing, facility management, job quotes and compositing for early effects shows such as MacGyver and Highlander.

In 1994 I started my own company "FINNesse Productions Inc." and freelanced as a designer, Visual Effects Supervisor and compositor. I worked in many countries and on many different projects. I setup and installed a Visual Effects facility in Bangkok, Thailand that became known throughout South East Asia for its work. I directed, supervised and composited over a hundred commercials in my 2 years in the region. My venue included Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indochina and India.

In 1996 I was asked to return to Vancouver by a facility specializing in Visual Effects to work on television shows that were now shooting and finishing in Canada.

TB: What exactly does a composite artist do? 

JF: A compositor is an artist who endeavors to take all of the elements produced to create a shot and puts them all together in a seamless mix to create a shot that looks as real as if it were shot that way. This includes compositing greenscreen shots, enhancing practical effects like explosions that are impossible to create practically without endangering actors and crew, putting together all of the bits and pieces of a complex matte painting that depicts a scene or a land that does not exist in reality or puts a plate shot in Toronto into the streets of New York. This is an over simplified description of a compositors job but you could write a book about the complexity and technical aspects of the job. It requires a great deal of technical knowledge and an artistic talent to mix that technical skill and apply it to film instead of canvas.

TB: You started as a composite artist on Poltergeist and then became the shows VFX supervisor. What happened to land you in that position. 

JF: Since I already had a great deal of experience working on sets in Asia and having to deal with a good deal more responsibility on those jobs it was a comfortable position to be in when I was asked to go to set here and advise the crew as to how best to shoot the elements that I needed. I enjoyed being back on the set of a film production, decided that I had the technical skills needed to Supervise I only needed the experience. I was asked to supervise a few episodes of Sliders in its first season and ended up doing all of the remaining episodes that season. I was still compositing as well and that is what got me involved in Poltergeist. I worked closely with a supervisor on the Pilot and in the first season and got to know a few of the producers on the show (Grant Rosenberg) for one. When they decided to change things up a bit on the show I called Grant and asked if I could interview for the job, I got it and did two seasons before the show was finally cancelled after four years.

TB: What are your responsibilities as a VFX supervisor? 

JF: As a Visual Effects Supervisor my first and foremost function is to listen to the Directors, the Writers and the Producers to determine what they want to see on the screen that my department is being asked to create. You read and re-read the script, breakdown what you think is a visual effect in your estimation and then present those findings. Some effects are easy to determine and some like matte shots and stunt enhancements are less obvious. Once a breakdown and an understanding of what I am to do for the show I must endeavor to finds ways to accomplish the shots both practically and financially. It is very important to keep production aware of the needs of Vfx as far as shooting requirements and the financial implications of doing the vfx. When the breakdown is complete and the budget prepared we go back to the drawing board to make sure that we can afford to do all of the effects asked for both financially and practically. That is the hard part. Once all of this is done the fun starts, the planning gets under way and finally the shooting begins. As the show is being shot and elements are supplied to the Vfx team we temp shots together and start working on the CGI or Matte element needed. The editor gets the temp effects and cuts them together to make sure everything fits and matches. When the show is locked as far as the cut goes we can finish the shots that are picture specific and start delivering the effects for approval. The long hard task of checking off the shots as they come in begins and refinements and revisions go on. It can take up to four or five months to deliver the last episode of a TV series or up to a year to deliver the shots for an effects heavy motion picture.

TB: Do you have your own staff, or is that something the producer of the show comes up with?

JF: I have always tried to keep a team of people together that I know and trust with me on the shows that I work on, and depending on the size of the show I may have to bring in more artist and assistance. A very big factor in the success of any Vfx is the team of artist that do the work that you have tried to envision and pass on to them. Many facilities and freelance artist go into the making of the show and each of these people brings their own expertise and talent to the show. It is a big part of my job to always have a repertoire or talented people working for me. Like any team everyone one on it has to work together but must also bring their specific talent to the shots assigned to them.

TB: Do you enjoy what you do? Is this the direction you wanted your career to take?

JF: It takes a very long time to get to a position where you are comfortable with your abilities and your team. To get to this point takes years of experience and hard work, it is nice once you are there to be able to enjoy the work without the stress of impending doom and a fear of the unknown. I am comfortable now with my abilities and am now enjoying the challenge’s presented with more confidence than fear. It is a never ending job to stay abreast of the techniques and the technology; it can be a lot of fun using it to your advantage. I often think of the challenges that moving on to other aspects of film making offer and will probably pursue them in time but for now I am having to much fun and learning too much to move on just yet. 

TB: What was the biggest difference between doing a feature film and running a series? 

JF: I have done a few film projects but the majority of work done here is series television and a great deal of that is Science Fiction. I enjoy both as they are very different species of Vfx.

     In a film you spend a lot more time preparing and designing the effects and a lot more time finishing the effects after the shooting ends. The shooting time is really the shortest component in the process. In a television series like Andromeda you only have seven days to prepare for reach episode, seven days to shoot it, and about 21 days to finish the effects for each episode and there are twenty two episodes in a full season. The pace is accelerated, the output very high but the work is more diverse. In an effects heavy movie you may have three to six hundred shots and at least a year from start to finish. In a television series like Andromeda we would have to generate about 40 high resolution CGI shots (we do all of the animation at almost film resolution) for the space sequences and another 40 or so matte and composite shots per episode. This could reach over 1500 shots in a single season. The workload because of different factors and the fact that film work is a bit more meticulous because of the much higher picture quality is much the same but the work flow is much different. It is nice to be able to mix the two up a bit. 

TB: Are the computers and software used for computer effects the same for both television and feature films. What types of computers are used? 

JF: The hardware and the software that can be used for television and film Vfx are becoming very similar; the big difference is the resolution of the input frames and the resultant output frames. The difference in the software now is really the version that you use to generate film resolution for film output and the version used to generate television output quality for television. The type of equipment is changing every year and most of the work for both film and television can be done on PC based systems with different input and output systems and of course the amount of processing power needed to generate and move the data required for both mediums. I won’t name any specific software but there is quite a number of different interfaces that accomplish the sane goals, there are also very many very specific software packages for doing very specific functions (2 & 3D tracking, eying, etc…). I installed an In-house system for Andromeda this season to help with the heavy CGI workload and it worked flawlessly all season with little maintenance or down time. We hade high quality workstations, diversified software packages and a very powerful render farm. This gave us the capability to generate twice as much CGI shots at a much higher resolution and we would always be able to supply frames to the compositors because of the speed of the render farm. Every project is different and therefore the needs in equipment can vary quite a bit. I have had a lot of fun designing and installing this gear and see it as the future for many projects. The equipment is now very affordable and in the case of television expendable after a few years of output.

TB: You've told me there are less effects involved with John Doe than Andromeda, but do you see a difference between syndication and network?

JF: The two shows are very different in their needs as far as visual effects are concerned but both are just as challenging. Andromeda is a fantasy time and a fantasy place; therefore the effects can have an off world look that defies reality. John Doe is set in the present and is a somewhat mere realistic show shot with reality based sets and action; the effects therefore must be seamless and perfectly real to the eye. A matte painting of a city in a far off world is fun to create but we can also defy reality in its creation where as a matte shot in a real city on earth in our time or in a historic setting is much harder to pull off as it must be perfectly believable.

TB: How are the effect handled? Do you use one effects house or is it pieced out?

JF: Today, most effects for both television and film are done at facilities that are built, designed and staffed to do Visual Effects. The people are knowledgably and very talented. This helps a great deal to take the load off of the Supervisor to monitor quality control over the technical aspects of the shots and also give one a great pool of talented artist to choose from to do the work. I will quite often use a single facility to do a show or I may find it necessary to use several at the same time because of the workload or the differences in the type of work needed. The professional and technical quality of the facility is very important but the most important and the one most often responsible for my choice in a facility is the talent of an artist to do the work I need done. After saying all of that let it be known that things are a changing even on this front. All of the Vfx for the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy were done in a facility built and designed to do these films specifically. In the future I’m sure that we will see a great deal more of this and even the use of In-house facilities to enhance or replace the use of outside facilities. If the talent pool can find enough work in the freelance market and can make a living the same way all film workers do then the people will be available to work on specific projects at an In-house workplace.

TB: From your heavy experience in the genre, do you believe that science fiction is in trouble on television? If you do... why?

JF: Boy, this is a loaded question. I won’t say that science fiction is in trouble but I will say that the genre must start using the tools available more maturely and not depend on Vfx to make the show. Science Fiction is, by nature an effects heavy style of picture and it has always been a struggle to keep up with the imaginations of the writers. Unfortunately we have now gotten to a stage where we can do almost anything that can be imagined and in too many cases those images really should not make it to the screen. The audiences now are to sophisticated to be enamored by the glitz of Vfx or the number of bodies (or their gory method of death). I’m sure that like the addition of sound to film we will outgrow the fad and start to use these tools in more realistic and equitable tool in the making of a film. If the story ain’t there the effects won’t save the box-office numbers any (much) longer.

TB: Andromeda has dumped the majority of the people who created what the show is supposed to be about. Does this stuff effect your side of the house? If so, in what ways.  To put it bluntly - with what Tribune has done to Andromeda do you think the show is in trouble? The two creators of the series are gone, you have left over creative difference and now a main character (Tyr) has left the show.

JF: Another loaded question (I enjoyed working fore Tribune and would love to work with them again) but I will not skirt it or ignore it.

If one were to be selfish it is easy to say that the show has changed too much from its original concept and that the people who created the show were dismissed and the show suffered for it. In fact we are all somewhat selfish and want to do things our way, unfortunately there is only one boss and our business is far from a democracy so what they say goes. Tribune is trying to morph Andromeda into a show that will draw a larger audience for their stations and therefore pay for itself and do what it is supposed to do and make a profit. Obviously the original concept did not fulfill their expectation in these areas and they felt that they have to make changes to try and rectify the problem. I think the show was much better in seasons I and II but that is only my opinion. I think that creating a show like Andromeda requires a great deal of faith and trust in its creators and therefore they should be given the chance to finish what they started. The new direction that the show has taken is going to alienate a lot of fans but could create a deeper fan base to help pay its way. A lot of people who wanted to stay on the track have been discouraged and have decided to leave the show. I think perhaps they are in trouble now only because they don’t deem to have a defined route to get them to where they want to go in the limited amount of time left to them. My workload on the show started to get out of hand because of the reliance on Vfx to save many of the borderline episodes and that just cannot be done more that perhaps once. If the new writers can get the show on track and not depend so much and death, mayhem and space traffic jams then there is some hope? I’ll leave it to the fans to decide which version was better.

TB: Any idea what your dream job would be?

JF: Unfortunately in this business we do so many different jobs on so many different projects that I don’t think I’ll know what my dream job was until I’ve finished it.

TB: What is your feeling towards episodes being changed or completely dropped based on current events if they think it's too sensitive? Some series base their stories on current events, but still deem material to sensitive.

JF: Good question. The driving force behind both television and film production is the almighty dollar and to be more specific the almighty sponsorship dollar. To get on and stay on the air today you have to sell commercial time to sponsors. These sponsors are very sensitive to the buyers feelings as they relate to their product and therefore if something about a show seems in the least bit offensive or sensitive they will grumble, and the rumbling makes its way all the way to the stations that air the shows. I can sympathize with this feeling and in a lot of cases I agree with the holding back of programming that too closely parallels tragic real events. Most of these episodes or movies do eventually get aired and no further thought is made to its creation. This is the threat to those who make the shows about current trends in human violence. It is funny though how high the body count is every single night of prime time television. Hand gun murder and violence against humanity is a commodity that sells shampoo but try and explode a tall building for the next few years. Going to war over oil is OK but legalizing pot is a crime against humanity. Sorry!!!

NOTE: This interview was left just half completed. Jim became busy with "The 4400" and is currently the Director of Operations & Executive Producer of VFX Studio in Vancouver Canada.

Hopefully in the near future we'll get a chance to finish the interview... Stay Tuned.

Tim

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