The Magic Makers: A Conversation with a VFX Producer

Host Tara Jabbari talks all about visual effects with Leah Orsini, a VFX Producer with over 20 years of experience. Leah shares how she started in production and moved to be a VFX Producer, and talks about projects she worked on such as The Gilded Age, Blindspot, Mr. Robot, Falling Skies, and Split, among others. You’ll learn about the difference between special effects and visual effects, how much the profession has changed due to technology enhancements, the growth of diversity on set and behind the scenes, and much more.

Leah Orsini’s IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1924648/
To learn more about visual effects: https://www.vesglobal.org/ 

Transcript

00:01 - VO (Host)
Quiet on the set, all cameras lift and action. Welcome to Media Maker Spotlight from Women in Film and Video in Washington DC. 

00:16 - Tara Jabbari (Host)
Welcome to Media Maker Spotlight. I'm your host for this episode, Tara Jabari, and our guest is visual effects producer Leah Orsini, who has over 20 years of experience and has contributed to a diverse array of acclaimed productions, including notable TV shows such as the Gilded Age, the Loudest Voice, Blindspot, Mr Robot, and she was Emmy nominated for her work for Falling Skies, plus films like Split. Thanks for coming on, Leah. Thank you for having me. So first, can you dumb it down and tell us what it entails to be a visual effects producer? 

00:56 - Leah Orsini (Guest)
Sure, there's actually kind of two different types of VFX producers VFX producers on the facility side, which are the companies, a lot of times, that execute the visual effects, and then there are visual effects producers on the show side, which is currently what I do. 

01:15
Basically, show side VFX producers are hired directly by the production or the studio to manage the visual effects with the visual effects supervisor and potentially a small team with them. 

01:28
Usually that happens with shows that have a lot of visual effects within them and it's a bit more than the post team can take on. And it's also beneficial because the visual effects producer and the visual effects supervisor can better advise on to you know, as to how to shoot the visual effects, how to, you know, with the budget and everything, how to be efficient in order to save money and and you know, obviously make everything look great. And then the visual effects producers on the facility side would still be involved in a show Like you know, for instance, one that I would do, because I would work direct, like we would hire the visual effects facility to of our, you know, choice. Typically there are several facilities that we like to work with and they would take our direction or the visual effects supervisors, creative direction and you know, work with me on the budget and the logistics to basically get the work done okay, got it. 

02:33 - Tara Jabbari (Host)
I'm curious, like because we kind of discussed this when, uh, we were talking about it. Like, you think of like, okay, so robot or no not robot, blind spot or warrior. You think of, oh, lots of visual effects, but then you think of the gilded age, not so much, and you're like hmm, and kind of stuff like that. Um, so what are some things that there's quite a lot that goes in with visual effects? Um, in all the different types of things, because you have all this wide variety. So you have all the little superhero stuff or action things, and then you have these time periods and then, or like Mr Robot, which is just modern day and you know everyday kind of happenings, what are some things that you think people aren't't don't realize are visual effects. 

03:27 - Leah Orsini (Guest)
Yeah, so a lot of the projects that I work on now, and I guess a lot of them in the past too, are you know of the I guess we call it invisible visual effects. I really enjoy it because it you know, the task of making it look like it's not a visual effect is difficult and you know has been for a while and you know the technology is advancing and you know most people wouldn't notice but we critique it quite often. But actually Gilded Age is a whole lot more visual effects than something like Mr Robot. Blindspot was a lot. But for example, you know I said the bigger visual effects shows have a show side VFX producer and a VFX supervisor, which was our team on the Gilded Age. And Mr Robot and Blindspot were more of the direct-to-vendor or direct-to-the-facility show. So smaller shows where the post team can handle managing the visual effects with the showrunner and everything go direct to the facility. And so when I worked on the facility side, that's when I did those two shows and so I mean, like Blindspot is, you know, a lot of muzzle flashes and blood and and you know I think there were some explosions. It's been a while since I uh, worked on that show. 

04:54
You know those type of things and cleanup and you know production, production, cleanup and stuff like that, whereas the Gilded Age is in the, you know, 1880s period. So we have to make everything look that you know that time period and so we worked a lot with art department and stuff to make sure that anything you know if we were shooting at a practical location, for example, storm windows aren't of the 1880s period. So we would have to clean that up and make them look like they were not storm windows in like a building or something like that. You know removing door buzzers and you know anything that looks modern on the street that we weren't able to remove practically. But then, in addition to that, things like set extensions. We had a full back lot where we built the first level of a block like a city block of New York, and so all of that was practical and then visual effects extended up and back in CG? 

05:58 - Tara Jabbari (Host)
Yeah, and could you kind of explain the difference between visual effects and special effects? 

06:07 - Leah Orsini (Guest)
So special effects is practical effects, so an explosion that you would maybe do on set practically, or fireworks that you would shoot practically, but even anything that is like water running that isn't typically there, or something like water running in a faucet. You know they bring special effects in for any kind of smoke or atmosphere is their department, and then visual effects is all done in post in the computer. 

06:37 - Tara Jabbari (Host)
Okay, got it. Okay. How did you get your start in visual effects? 

06:41 - Leah Orsini (Guest)
So I originally started in production. 

06:44
I did an internship in New York and then moved back to Texas where I'm from, stayed in production for a while and then moved and took a post-production job at a company called Real Effects in Texas. 

06:57
And in doing that I just kind of got a, you know, a taste of visual effects and it really interested me as far as, like the technology and, you know, learning something new about it and it advancing so quickly and being able to kind of, you know, create something from nothing in the computer. And so I kind of wanted to focus more on that and really kind of concentrate on that aspect of it. And so, and I really wanted to move, I was in commercials at the time, so I really wanted to move into TV or features. So I just kind of applied for a bunch of jobs and ended up getting. I also wanted to leave Texas. So I got a job in LA and moved there and then my now husband got a job in New York and so I was in LA for about a year and then we both moved to New York. 

07:52 - Tara Jabbari (Host)
And that was one thing that I was wondering with, with visual effects and arts and even special effects and stuff, and you mentioned it that the technology that has changed over the last 20 years and even that it drew you when you're job possibly easier, what, what do you think will help? What? What makes you scared? That's like, oh, that's going to take my job away, uh, kind of thing um, well it's. 

08:35 - Leah Orsini (Guest)
It's constantly changed, in that the software's gotten faster. You know everything has just gotten faster, that we can do stuff quicker. I don't actually execute the visual effects. I, you know, basically manage the, the whole, like almost like a project manager, the whole thing as far as budget and um and and shots go and overlap a bit with the visual effects supervisor. But I feel like I mean, since I started in, like in TV, you know, in visual effects, what was it 12 years ago or 13 years ago? 

09:14
Everything is, you know, moving much faster. We can. We can do a lot of stuff really quickly, whereas then you know lots of things took a lot more. You know still fast. You know constantly getting faster, but now it's speeding up. As far as you know render capabilities and even things like automating our process, for you know IO, you know as far as like receiving and sending plates, and you know just the amount of data that has to be transferred back and forth from the DI house to us and to the vendors and back. It's all just gotten a lot faster and it's also just gotten better as far as being able to. You know more tools, more plugins that make things look better, and then you know the talent is great too. That's what makes everything look great, is you know the artists that work on it and the visual effects supervisor, that is, you know guiding them to. You know create his vision. 

10:19 - Tara Jabbari (Host)
What are other departments, then that you work closely with? 

10:24 - Leah Orsini (Guest)
We I'd say we work the most with art department. Our worlds kind of merge together quite a bit, especially in something like a period show like the Gilded Age, because we're always matching into what they're doing practically. Or if it's something that is not there, the production designer usually is working with the visual effects supervisor on the vision of you know what this should look like, period wise, and obviously you know the directors and showrunners. But the production designer always has that research and knowledge on what is within that time period and what would not be there. So I'd say they're the biggest overlap for sure. Special effects too, depending on the show. A lot of work with our department, for sure. 

11:16 - Tara Jabbari (Host)
And what do you recommend for people interested in visual effects and like wanting to get into this field? 

11:24 - Leah Orsini (Guest)
I mean on the production end. You know, as far as VFX coordinating or VFX producing goes, I didn't go to school or anything for visual effects. I was a broadcast journalist and major. I just kind of got into it because I, you know, I knew that I wanted to work in the film industry and then it ended up happening that I was interested in it. You know I started as a PA. But as far as you know, visual effects artists, visual effects supervisors, um that that you know, most people go to school for it, like to a visual arts school. Not everybody does and then they just, you know, pick up a nuke license or you know, start, you know, have a good eye for color and lighting and you know composition, and so they, you know, just start practicing or get lucky and get a, you know, an internship and somebody that can, you know, has a program to teach, something like that. 

12:16 - Tara Jabbari (Host)
You started in production. You go into visual effects producing. Have you ever been interested in anything else Like would you want to get into more of the technical side or go into special effects? 

12:28 - Leah Orsini (Guest)
No, I feel like if I, if I did something else, I would be interested in going back to production. Sometimes I, you know, it's kind of a best of both worlds right now because since we work show side, we get to, you know, the supervisor is typically the one that goes on set and when I was in production my favorite part was going on set. But in this situation I have on set experience and so, for example, on the show that I'm on now, zero Day you know he can't be two places at once and so he would be covering, you know, the bigger visual effects day and if we had a second unit running at the same time that had visual effects that were needed, that we needed to have somebody on set for, I would cover that day. So you know it's good because I still get a little bit of, you know, that onset work that I really enjoyed being in production. But I feel like if I moved out of visual effects, I would want to to go back to production in some sort of way. 

13:34 - Tara Jabbari (Host)
And then do you have a favorite genre that you like working more? 

13:45 - Leah Orsini (Guest)
a favorite genre that you like, working more. I mean, you know I do really enjoy the invisible visual effects, for sure, but I have done creature work in the past. That's what I did for Falling Skies and it's been a while since I've done something like that. So it's hard to say, because you know it's difficult, for you know, fantasy, sci-fi you're creating something based on someone else's thought and someone else's vision as far as a creature goes, or as far as an environment goes, and but it, you know, has some liberties that can be taken because it doesn't exist, know, but it's, you know it's fun in that aspect. And then you know you have the invisible visual effects where you're really trying to make it so that the viewer doesn't know that that's actually not there when it was shot, you know. So it's kind of hard to choose. They're both exciting, exciting. 

14:39 - Tara Jabbari (Host)
And finally, I was wondering there's a lot of discussions of like having more diversity and like equality of genders and backgrounds on the production, like on set, behind the scenes, and all that stuff. Have you seen a difference over the years? And you being the producer and visual effects producer and being a woman and all that stuff, has it helped? Did you see like a difference over the years? 

15:09 - Leah Orsini (Guest)
Yeah, I feel like at the beginning in visual effects it was mainly men, some women, and since then you know a lot of more women artists are around, a lot more women producers, coordinators, and you know overall. You know in production too, in post, you know editors On Gilded Age Season 2, I think the majority of the team post and visual effects was women, and so it's kind of really nice to see a more diverse group come together from all angles too, you know. 

15:48 - Tara Jabbari (Host)
There's an argument that it helps with a set and telling the story. I think it definitely helps in the writer's room as an audience member when you see more diversity and then it portrays in the story. But I was curious, when you are in on set and you have that and you started, you like, you said you were more around men and things like that, and now, for instance, the gilded age, there were a lot more women than before. 

16:18 - Leah Orsini (Guest)
Um, did you feel a difference where you were like, oh, this, this is nice, like teamwork, or or was it the same, which is also yeah, I mean, it doesn't matter as far as the overall like difference in show it's hard to say because, like in the like final product of the, you know, as far as the show goes, because every show is different, I feel like it can go any direction with any person, you know, cause everybody's personalities are different. So I don't feel like it's women versus men, you know. I feel like if we all get along and we all are going after the same goal and on the you know we're all on the same team, then you're going to have a great product at the end of the day. I think that's the most important. It's really just about being inclusive and making sure that everybody has the same chance. 

17:08 - Tara Jabbari (Host)
That's, I think, the important thing, and people are starting to realize that when the person has that passion and is a team player and has that great attitude and just wants to be it be there for the artwork, uh, and telling the story, and it's nice to see that, and then, as the audience member, I think that they can enjoy the story better. Uh, so it's been nice to hear it from different departments. When you're seeing the shift especially those who've been working in their perspective, concentration in media for longer periods of time they're like I am noticing a shift of being more conscious and it's been nice, or they're like I really don't feel a difference because, either way, we've always been professional and we're there because we love it, and I think that's a great feeling too. Yeah, that's a great point too. 

18:04 - Leah Orsini (Guest)
I think this shift is definitely like just being you know, everybody being more self-aware of you know and about the people around them and you know, being courteous and respectful and, like you said, and getting the you know the job done. 

18:24 - Tara Jabbari (Host)
Well, is there anything that we haven't really touched on that you think is important to like you know any? You know Common misconceptions about visual effects. I know I kept messing it up and you're is more of the logistical um you know budget manager type, but at the same time our roles do crossover. 

19:03 - Leah Orsini (Guest)
We work very closely with each other as far as um, you know, with the budget. And then you know, at the same time there are times where we'll get a shot back and the my VFX supervisor will come and be like can I get your eyes on this? So, um, you know, I would say that like it's like a 70, 30, he's mainly creative, I'm mainly logistics, but then there's that 30% where we, you know, kind of cross over each other. You know he'll speak to the budget If, um, you know, somebody asks him something on set and, you know, helps advise on to like how much something will cost. But you know, overall, I'm, you know, kind of managing that and managing the team and the vendors. And then you know, same thing goes for the creative. If I'm on set because he can't be two places at once, you know, then I'm doing the creative. But you know, a lot of times I'm checking with him to make sure that that's what was discussed and stuff like that. 

20:02 - Tara Jabbari (Host)
So got it Well, thank you. Yeah, that's important to understand, and thank you so much for coming on. Yeah, thanks for having me, really appreciate it. 

20:11 - VO (Host)
Thanks for listening to Media Maker Spotlight from Women in Film and Video. Thanks for listening to Media Maker Spotlight from Women in Film and Video. To learn more about WIF, visit w-i-f-f-v-vorg. This podcast is created by Sandra Abrams, Candice Block, Brandon Ferry, Tara Jabari and Jerry Reinhart and edited by Michelle Kim and Inez Perez, With audio production and mix by Steve Lack Audio. Subscribe to continue learning from more amazing media makers. Please visit mediummakerspotlightcom for more information. That's a wrap.