TV VFX Technology trickles down fast from film

TV VFX is delivering like never before thanks to advances in software. Film technology is trickling down to tv at a much faster rate allowing production to meet the very short deadlines- often inside of a week.

Jurrassic Jolts Terra Nova  

NewTek Software hosted an excellent panel of stellar VFX artists working in television on Nov 10, 2011 at the Academy Television Arts & Sciences.

Moderated by David Cohen, Variety Tech reporter with panelists:

Chuck Comisky - VFX Supervisor and Film Producer TERMINATOR 2 3D, ALIENS OF THE DEEP, AVATAR (Stereoscopic VFX Supervisor); On set stereo supervision -SANCTUM 3D, FINAL DESTINATION 5 3D

Doug Drexler – CG Supervisor, VES, Emmy and Academy Award winner for BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and DICK TRACY
Ron Thornton – VFX Producer STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE/Emmy Award winner – BABYLON 5 (VFX Supervisor)
Eric Hance - TERRA NOVA VFX Supervising Artist/Emmy Award winner

David Cohen commented that while in Film there are many VFX driven features, in Television story and content is still king.  Many VFX is minimal and hard to see such as clean-up work or location fixes, however Doug Drexler and Eric Hance are working on two of the heaviest VFX shows on TV at the moment. Both commented on the fast turn-around and the role of VFX with story. They are able to work on the fly directly in production along side ART and Editorial (vs. post) and enjoy direct collaboration that they share with the writers to develop story when needed. Active team participation in production is relished by these artists.

More virtual sets are being used than ever before. The thought is that once production gets used to green screen there will be no going back since the cost savings is so great. There were no Production Designers present and find myself wondering how much input the Production Designer is giving VFX to go on.