Advanced VFX Compositing

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What is Compositing?

Compositing is a vital part of the process in creating visual effects (VFX) for movies, TV, and animated productions. The Compositor combines elements filmed during production with Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) created by other artists to blend them together seamlessly. Compositors also fix problems in the footage that occurred during filming, and find methods to enhance VFX shots to better match the director’s vision. All of the final pieces are assembled by Compositors, who can transform a shot into something spectacular that initially was not possible. 

Our 12-Month Program

The Advanced Visual Effects Compositing Diploma offered only at Lost Boys is specifically designed and continuously updated to provide students with a broad variety of real-world compositing tasks to sharpen and prove their skills on a demo reel. Being a small, specialized school with a strong reputation, we have a long history of successfully creating practicum opportunities that lead to jobs for our Compositing graduates. The overwhelming majority of graduates from our intensive 12 month program, which only holds 12-students maximum for each class, are hired right out of school either as Compositors or BG Prep/Paint Artists, and go on to enjoy long careers in the VFX industry, with some choosing to become Leads or Supervisors.

What You Will Learn | Curriculum

These are the core concepts that will be covered in our Advanced VFX Compositing program using Foundry’s Nuke Software. Our curriculum evolves and adapts to fit Industry needs.

Keying

By selecting a range of specific pixel colours and brightness levels in the image, the Compositor creates a cutout or "matte" that can be used to replace the background. We explore a vast number of keying tools and strategies to preserve fine details (like an actor's hair) and go beyond the first steps into the realm of digital relighting and colour correction.

Taught in: Invisible & Ethereal Effects Projects, Intro to Nuke & Comp Essentials.

Rotoscoping

When keying is impossible or needs to be improved, rotoscoping can be used to isolate a specific part of the image to make all kinds of adjustments. Rotoscoping (roto) is the foundation of what we do in Compositing, and we teach you established techniques to roto challenging shots quickly and precisely.

Taught in: Title Creation, Reflective Object, Invisible & Ethereal Effects Projects, Intro to Nuke & Comp Essentials.

Tracking

Since Compositors work on motion pictures, being able to track the movement of any given object is an invaluable part of the process. We cover the 3 main categories of tracking in depth: point tracking, planar surface tracking, and camera tracking, providing you with a variety of tracking tasks, tips, and tricks to handle complex movements.

Taught in: Title Creation, Reflective Object, Invisible & Ethereal Effects Projects, Intro to Nuke & Comp Essentials.

Digital Painting

Often the goal of digital painting in visual effects is to paint something out, (company logos, stunt equipment, reflections of the camera and crew, etc.). You will learn multiple methods to complete high level paintouts, as well as advanced techniques related to digital makeup and de-aging effects. The end goal here is to make your paint work invisible and believable to the audience.

Taught in: Title Creation, Reflective Object & Invisible Effects Projects and Intro to Nuke.

2D Compositing

Compositing in 2D involves taking footage shot during production and 2D elements created in post-production to integrate them cohesively into a single shot. Blending layers of 2D elements to create the illusion of depth while matching colour, lighting, and perspective. We teach you how to analyze and recreate camera and lens properties, with a special emphasis on creating photo-realistic composites.

Taught in: Reflective Object, Invisible & Ethereal Effects Projects and Intro to Nuke.

3D Compositing

By understanding what each of the different layers in a 3D element does, a Compositor can separate a specific pass to make quick changes. Integrating 3D elements into a live action shot and making it look like they were both shot on the same day is one of the toughest challenges Compositors face, and we teach you how to do it successfully.

Taught in: Title Creation Project.

Our Teaching Philosophy

The vast majority of VFX that appear in modern films and television are “invisible effects,” which means that ideally the audience has no idea they’re watching something that’s either been digitally altered or is completely synthetic. To create this effect, we have to observe reality and then replicate it.

And there is not just one reality an artist has to deal with. There are in fact 6 of them.

The Physical Reality, the real world; the Photographic Reality, the reality that is captured by the camera; the Perceptual Reality, how you perceive the world; the Imagined Reality, how you imagine reality to be; the Expected Reality, how your leads, supervisors, and directors want it to be and the Approximate Reality, how the computer mathematically creates a virtual reality.

This Compositing Program, the first of its kind in the world was designed to teach students about these realities. It gives the students a framework for understanding Visual Effects. Through a unique and iterative workflow, students are taught how to learn to composite photo-real images.

There is no hiding in photo-realism, if it does not look photo-real then it isn’t real. All we have done over the last 10 years at Lost Boys is to teach students how to perform this magic trick without getting caught.

What To Expect

Practical

Practical

Based on Project-Based Learning, students are presented 18 to 20 shots to complete for their demo reels. These shots are designed specifically to demonstrate Rotoscoping, Keying, Paint & Integration competency, and also provide the student an avenue to showcase their excellence in execution.

Theory

Theory

Our compositing lessons do a deep dive into every aspect of photo-real compositing. The why, the how, and the when a tool or node should be used. If you are the kind of person that needs to know how something works, you are going to love this!

Industry Insight

Industry Insight

Learn about the Past, the Present, and the Future of the Visual Effects Industry. Get access to Guest Speakers from the Industry, Studio Tour of World-Class Facilities, and gain access to closed-door Presentations.

Review

Weekly Review

Weekly Review of student’s work, one-on-one mentorship, periodic script reviews, all given by the instructors with pixel accuracy to ready you for Studio Dailies.

Career Prep

Career Prep

If you want a career in visual effects, not only do you need to know how to do shots, you also need to know how to get Jobs. Learn how to create a demo reel, breakdowns, portfolio site, manage your money, set goals, apply for jobs, and learn the dark art of soft studio skills.

Practicum

Practicum

Once you are done with the program, you will get placed at studio for more industry training and experience. You will get to practice everything you have been taught and have learned over the last 10 months. Often these practicum opportunities lead to studio hires.

Alumni Success

We believe that progress toward our mission can be measured by the profound impact our graduates have on the visual effects industry. Our alumni continue to engage and shape the world of entertainment. Through our project-based learning and the unique curriculum of each of our veteran instructors, our alumni have proven time and time again that Lost Boys produce extraordinary artists ready to start on the ground floor.

Compositing Practicum

Unique to Lost Boys and a testament to the job readiness of our students, our Advanced VFX Compositing Program includes a two month Industry Practicum placement. You will be placed inside the compositing department of local studios (upon availability) or assigned to a project for an external client to gain both unique workflow knowledge and industry connections. This initiative has received immense industry support, with the majority of the local studios and artists signing on to open their doors to our students, eager to find new talent. The successful implementation of our practicum has helped many of our students receive job offers weeks prior to graduation!

Vancouver provides a two-month industry practicum opportunity as part of Lost Boys curriculum. Students must have a grade above 75% and 90% Attendance to Qualify for Practicum.

Select Student Reels

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Admission Info

Academic Start Dates

We are currently running Spring and Fall intakes – Contact us for specifics, be sure to share site and program.

What We Look For...

The following criteria provides a general idea of what we look for in the personal letter and portfolio that you must submit in the application process. It is important to note that the quality of these items are considered together with the general requirements needed to apply to Lost Boys

Tuition Costs

Our Advanced VFX Compositing Program continuously produce highly-sought out specialized artists which has given us an outstanding placement rate in previous years. To that extent, our tuition cost for this program is expertly calculated to both represent the quality of our program and the exclusive nature of what we offer here at Lost Boys. We are confident that the investment you make will be rewarding both in experience and to your clear future as a visual effects artist.  

Domestic

$39,900 CAD

International

$47,900 CAD

Check out our admission process!