The VFX Factor: Learning How to Streamline with Wash

Wash is a boutique post-production company in London, founded by colourist Jon Dobson. Wash has been servicing the advertising and broadcast industry for the best part of a decade, and with Tim Wetherall and Jon Evans on board, they now offer full VFX capabilities. Lifelong friends Tim and Jon have nearly 20 years of post-production experience, creating everything from CG cars flying in space, to bouncing stop motion fruit and everything in between. 

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

Wash> The obvious one is that VFX isn’t just a fix it in post' answer to a tricky shot on a shoot. Yes a lot of problems can be sorted out in post, but some things that take a lot of time can seem simple to the non VFX person and conversely, some seemingly complicated things can be quite easy to achieve in VFX. 

For example something conceptually simple, but quite complicated to achieve, would be the recent English Heritage commercial we worked on. The brief was to add shadows of historical characters into scenes, replacing our characters' normal shadows. On the face of it, changing the shadows is quite simple, but actually it required significant rotoscoping and rebuilding of backgrounds to get the shadows to sit properly. Being on the shoot and taking all the post related data was absolutely crucial for the project to work as smoothly as it did. 

On the flip side, we did a project for Bayer that on paper sounded difficult, but was surprisingly simple. The concept was looking inside an eye at a super macro level. It needed to look like an abstract landscape and then pull out to reveal we were actually inside an eye… make no mistake this was challenging, but once we’d worked out a way to approach it, it was surprisingly simple to do. 

So essentially, being involved in a project as early as possible will help get the best out of a production. There are often many ways to ensure how the flow and narrative of a film can be achieved and having post discussions in pre production will always help. Thinking of VFX in a more holistic way with the whole production is by far the best way to think about it. After all, what we’re all aiming for is a realisation of a script and vision. The production and post production are two sides of the same coin. 

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? 

Wash> Think of this a bit like DJing. A good DJ will mix seamlessly between tracks so you don’t notice. A great DJ will sprinkle enough magic to make you stand up and take notice without ever skipping a beat. They will create something new out of the original parts. This analogy can be applied to both invisible and VFX heavy shots. As a VFX artist you want to enhance the existing shot but you should never want the viewer to forget the narrative and go 'wow look at that CG'. The story is always the most important thing, so the challenge for invisible post AND VFX heavy shots is really to make it as good as it can be without distracting from the narrative. 

A good example of post production we’ve done that we think just feels right in the scene and helps the story would be the job we did for Bentley last year. The beautiful car is the star of the show with this. We built and designed all the background and worked with the director to help setup lights on the shoot so the post and lighting would work perfectly together. The end result is subtle but highlights the car rather than detracts. Almost like Carl Cox mixing with three decks…..

LBB> As a VFX person, what should directors be aware of to make sure you do the best possible job for them? 

Wash> Talk to a VFX producer at the storyboard stage. Any shot that’s post heavy can be shot in several ways and the VFX can also be done in several ways. Finding that mix from both a creative and budgetary perspective will help the director's vision. Also don’t be seduced by the newest fad because sometimes it can be a bit ‘emperor's new clothes’…. Jon and I both have experience producing shoots and directing our own work. Having that history of understanding what directors and producers need means we are uniquely positioned at Wash to help them. We understand the pressures both creatively and financially on every type of project. 

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

Wash> On the job mainly. Jon and I started in the industry straight after university in 2004 making TV titles and idents and we learned as we went. We went from titles, to commercials and have been learning all the way through. Jon did graphics and animation at university and Tim did mechanical engineering. Both help to a certain extent. There’s no substitute for getting out there and learning as you go. It focuses the mind tremendously! 

The main thing we realised through our time was that if planned properly, the shoot and post production is just a continuation of the same process. Learning how to streamline either post or a shoot gave us tools to help get the best out of both. So for example if time is tight on a stop frame shoot, how can we maximise the data we need to fill the gaps in post. Or if knowing that creating a CG dog is going to take significantly more time and money to make than filming it, then film it and adapt the shot elements we need. This push and pull of production and post production is the most key thing we’ve learnt over our nearly 20 years in the industry. Caring about the whole project rather than just the bit we’ve been assigned has made us far more holistic in our approach to any project. It makes it more exciting for us and benefits every project we work on. 

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? 

Wash> In an ideal world, when we get a storyboard we sit down and break down each shot. So, camera movement, depth of field, focus, shadows etc. All these questions will then lead into what and how we do the post. Then we look at options like CG, compositing, tracking etc and how that affects how each shot is broken down. Doing this gives us a sort of sliding scale we can apply. Once we’ve analysed the shot, we always talk each shot through with the director and producer. That way we can gauge the creative ambition and budgetary concerns and help with guiding the team. 

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? 

Wash> Ha, that’s normally decided for us. Air dates rule supreme. Having said that, if time is no issue, it can really be very difficult to say a project is finished. In a weird way having air dates is good as it’s an enforced cut off otherwise we run the risk of tweaking ad infinitum. For VFX, you learn all the time and as technology improves, that learning never stops. Jobs we did ten years ago would have been approached

in a very different way with the technology and techniques we know today. That's not to say it was wrong back then, just things change. So for us it’s better to take what’s been learned and apply it to the next job rather than constantly obsessing over the same job. 

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

Wash> Who doesn’t say AI to this question?! There’s no doubt that AI is a game changer. It seems to be changing on a weekly basis so just keeping up with all the new tech let alone using it is a challenge. We use AI in some form every day now and that will just increase. There’s a lot who worry about it in terms of putting people out of work but actually we think it’s a fantastic tool to help with the massive amount of content that companies need. Having AI to speed that up helps enormously. Clients need content so fast now, that using AI to help get to where you need to be but quicker, is a great tool in the VFX arsenal. 

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)? 

Wash> Real time engines like Unreal are incredible. The quality you can get without having to wait hours to render is staggering. Virtual production is also an incredible tool. But just like any tool, there are still limitations and for us VP is scenario specific. We can definitely see Unreal taking over as the dominant CG force in post over the next few years. Now that more compositing programs are integrating compatibility with unreal, it’s just a matter of time. Mainly because it’s so adaptable. Film, commercials, games, VP it can be applied across the board. 

LBB> VFX is a craft that relies on you really 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? 

Wash> A combination of physics and artistic licence. Both me and Jon have quite a maths based background so we will normally break it down into what would happen in real life and try and replicate that. Once we think we know what should happen, we then see how much we can bend what should happen with creative licence before it feels unrealistic. If we get stuck, normally watching something with David Attenborough in will illuminate us. Failing that, getting the camera out and doing some tests is always a favourite of ours. Starting with real life and working back to VFX is always the goal for us, rather than knowing some technique and forcing that into all projects. 

LBB> What’s the most random or intriguing thing you’ve learned from working on a project? 

Wash> There’s a lot of random and intriguing things we’ve learnt but these are covered by the pile of NDA’s we have signed so not sure we can share any properly juicy stories. One that we can share is on our recent Dulux job, we met the Dulux dogs. We didn’t realise they not only use the same dog in all Dulux commercials but they are also all descendants. So the current Dulux dog is the daughter of the last Dulux dog. Also to get them beautifully fluffy, they spend a whole day being preened ahead of a shoot! 

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?

Wash> Quite often it seems the money and time may have gone into the CG and less into compositing. You can have the best looking CG model in the world but if it’s not properly composited into a scene, it will always look stuck on. It’s the final few percent that take a lot of effort, but those final details make a big difference. Obviously there’s green spill issues that you often saw in 80’s sci-fi films but hopefully we’ve passed that now….. 

Films that totally pull you into a world without ramming post production down your throat are for us where to aim for. Dune recently was incredible and tbh anything by Denis Villeneuve, as Blade Runner 2049 was similarly jaw dropping. But crucially it was the narrative and the characters that took hold. The post and VFX is there as a silent assistant that builds the worlds around the story. Also Christopher Nolan’s work we have very high regard for. Interstellar, Inception are both incredible. He aims to do as much in camera as possible and that really helps with the weight of each shot. It again draws the viewer in and the post is just there to help tell amazing stories. 

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? 

Wash> We worked with a friend on an MTV ident. He’d won it on a pitch but didn’t have anyone to actually make it with, so we clubbed together and built a very rudimentary studio. Bit of CG, After Effects, editing, sound work. We did it all. We were all very green and had to learn very fast but it went well and was the basis for everything after. The main lesson was if you need to know how to do something. Learn it and do it. Yes we do work with freelancers now but having an understanding of as much of the process as possible and limitations for each program or technique are hugely important otherwise you don’t know what is and isn’t possible. 

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

Wash> Probably Innocent Smoothies in 2008. It was maybe the 3rd or 4th commercial we’d done from start to finish. For us it still holds up. It’s bang on brand, there’s loads of post production in it but it feels cohesive. A lot of work and love went into making it feel handmade and I think that shows even today. On the other end of the spectrum would be the Citroen campaign we did a few years later. That gave us an opportunity to flex our CG muscles. Those two together give a good breadth of post knowledge. From handmade and fun to sleek and technical. 

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

Wash> The new Coca-Cola 'Masterpiece' advert is amazing. It's an obvious choice but the use of multiple traditional techniques plus AI makes this truly contemporary and a joy to watch. This is the dream job …