CG Garage Chaos Labs

Liz Hitt has worked across VFX departments on some very cool movies — and she’s not stopping there. Beginning at the legendary Dream Quest Images on Deep Rising and Mighty Joe Young, Liz built a name for herself as a talented production coordinator and producer via movies including Hollow Man, Spider-Man, Stealth (with Chris), The Golden Compass, Wonder Woman, and Spider-Man: Homecoming.
In this podcast, Liz reflects on her career, the roles she’s taken and the crews she’s worked with, sharing how she manages people. She shares a rough guide to the “small-but-global” VFX industry, revealing how new technologies often present more challenges, and giving her thoughts on the effects of the pandemic on both the way we work and the films and series we make.

While most five-year-olds were playing with Legos and Barbies, Junaid Baig was taking his first steps with 3D Max. From this early start, Junaid developed an incredibly in-depth understanding of 3D, lighting, and rendering from working on VFX for movies, including Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Avengers: Endgame, and Venom.
Today, Junaid is head of applied technology at DNEG, where he’s helping pioneer virtual production on films and series including Masters of the Air. Junaid combines his knowledge and passion for technology with deep respect for artists, and he reveals how virtual production — and Chaos’ Project Arena — are changing the way crew and cast can work together to create new worlds for audiences to enjoy.

Dan Ring is an expert in empowering VFX artists with cutting-edge research. He began his 20-year career by creating tech to analyze surgery videos (so that no one else would have to), then moved to Foundry to develop CopyCat, the Nuke machine-learning tool that applies corrections to sequences based on a small number of frames.
Now, Dan has joined Chaos to help implement machine learning in its visualization products. In this conversation with Chris, Dan covers just about every aspect of modern CG, including generative AI, Gaussian Splats and NeRFs, the surprising VFX roles that AI might not replace, and the steps Chaos is taking to ensure users have access to helpful but unintrusive tools that are ethically sound.

Phil Galler is a true virtual production guru. From the nuts and bolts of LED screens to the 3D software that provides the imagery to the business decisions and financial trends that help fund this new wave of VFX filmmaking, Phil understands it all.
In this podcast, Phil talks about his history in virtual production, beginning with the innovative projections used to make Oblivion’s sets come to life and continually evolving the tech via Tomorrowland, House of Cards, Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Mandalorian, and Bullet Train. Never one to sit still, Phil is leveraging his knowledge of real-time solutions and content to help define the next generation of storytellers. Phil’s holistic understanding of digital entertainment makes this podcast a must-listen.

Chris MacLean’s incredible career in VFX has transported him from documentaries on Cretaceous dinosaurs to the far-flung future for Foundation, Apple TV+’s bold adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s genre-defining sci-fi novels. Along the way, Chris has created and supervised VFX for movies and TV series, including Crimson Peak, Godless, American Gods, Resident Evil, and many more.
Having worked his way up from artist to second-unit director, Chris has a unique perspective on filmmaking and how the crew comes together. Chris also talks about making Foundation, including how they found the series’ extraterrestrial locations here on Earth, avoided blue screens, and even digitally simulated the vintage lenses used on the physical shoot. Chris also shares his informed perspectives on new technology, including Gaussian Splatting, in-camera VFX, and AI.

Hugo Guerra is the dictionary definition of multitasking. Having taken his eye for compositing into directing short films and commercials, and supervising VFX, Hugo fills his spare time with producing content for his successful YouTube channel and recording the VFX Notes podcast with Ian Failes. If that’s not enough, he’s also produced a cookbook with his wife.
Hugo talks about his early career in Portugal and how he took his love for movies into short films, and then compositing and directing. He also tells you why you need to go on-set, talks about the benefits of teaching, gives his thoughts on AI and “invisible” CGI, and reveals the inner workings of YouTube.