It is rare the crew at fxguide is really impressed with another site, but we started to notice a site that consistently produced great stories blogging the VFX world: vfxblog.com Then we woke up one day and vfxblog had beaten us to a story on a film — a film which one of our own founders was a compositor on! We had to learn more – and this led to the site’s founder Ian Failes joining the fxguide team. We welcome him knowing he will continue to keep us o
fxg: What made you decide to combine forces with fxguide ?
Ian: I’ve been having a great time updating vfxblog and conducting interviews, but it was only me doing it, and I also have a full-time job. So I was looking for a way of getting some help with continuing the site without making any
compromises. I also wanted to make the site look more professional and offer a much-asked-for search facility. Luckily, fxguide has all those things plus a great readership already.
fxg: What is your new role at fxguide ?
Ian: What was ‘vfxblog’ is now totally replicated as ‘fxblog’ as a separate section on the fxguide website. I’ll be updating the blog just like before with original interviews and links to other articles, interviews and pieces of news about visual effects. Think of it as an fxguide column by Ian Failes. Readers will now be able to find the posts more easily and have access to all the other information, links and resources offered by fxguide.
fxg: Are you excited by the move?
Ian: Of course! Part of the move is to help my education about and understanding of visual effects, which is exciting. I’ll be working with some real visual effects artists who make up fxguide. Plus I hope to do some new things with
fxblog and continue what I’ve done in the past.
fxg: How long had vfxblog been going? Were you stunned by the success?
Ian: I started vfxblog in December 2003. It actually began as a collection of hard copy visual effects and animation articles and magazines that I kept in about 20 lever-arch files, along with every Cinefex I could get my hands on. As this collection grew and grew I realised that so many of the articles were available on the internet, so I looked around for a way of conveniently linking to them from my own website. Blogging seemed like the right answer.
Slowly I noticed other people were reading my posts and linking to them. On a whim, I contacted Cinefex editor Jody Duncan to see if she’d like to do an interview about the magazine’s 100th issue – and she agreed! Since then I’ve done over 100 interviews.
I’m still amazed at how many people are visiting my little site, either directly or via RSS feeds. It’s also interesting to see how much visual effects info is around to read and digest.
fxg: What do you find the most appealing about visual effects – you clearly love it?
Ian: There isn’t anything much cooler around than visual effects, is there? Although I’m not a VFX artist, my favourite part of visual effects is seeing the befores-and-afters. I’m constantly amazed at how a final piece of imagery is made up of so many different elements and usually from the contribution of so many artists. I think it’s even more amazing when that process is seamless to the viewer.
fxg: What do you have planned for this year – where would you like to see the blog go?
Ian: The interviews and normal blog stuff will definitely going to continue. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do more original interviews that cover not only films, but also visual effects in TV, commercials, music videos, games and other mediums. I’ll also be including more book reviews and spotlights on the visual effects featurettes found in just about every DVD release.
Ian: The idea is that the blog is a resource for all the kinds of visual effects info out there – a way of sharing visual effects info not only for artists in the field, but also for avid film-goers who want to learn more about the process – which is really where I’m coming from. The guys at fxguide have the more technical aspects of visual effects well and truly covered.
fxg: What have you found the hardest about running the site?
Ian: There are lots of hoops to jump through. Most of the VFX studios have their own media liaison or PR person. The studios are quite protective of their clips and images too. It’s also hard to get direct access to the filmmakers as they are incredibly busy. Then there’s the time in updating the site and working full-time as a lawyer. But it’s all worth it and I’ve been lucky enough to talk with some amazing artists!
fxg: What sort of response from readers have you had since you started?
Ian: I have some regular readers who help with contributing links and spotting stories. There have also been some cool comments left by readers and artists. The response has been worldwide – US, Australia, all over Europe, South Africa, New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, Canada, India and heaps of other places. I think at first most people don’t know I’m from Australia either…
fxg: Would you still like people to email you directly ?
Ian: For sure – the best email is [email protected] I try and reply to each and every email I receive !
Welcome to the guide Ian !
– John, Jeff and Mike
