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Scott Meadows — Head of Visualization and Virtual Production, Digital Domain

This week’s podcast guest, Scott Meadows, is the crown prince of previz. After graduating in architecture from Texas A&M University, Scott found his way into VFX as part of a two-man team working on the previz of Michael Bay’s Bad Boys II in 2002 — and he’s now Head of Visualization and Virtual Production at Digital Domain. 

In this fascinating interview, Scott shares tales and tips from previz on movies including The Chronicles of Narnia series, Tron: Legacy, Ender’s Game, Black Panther, Ready Player One and the upcoming West Side Story. He talks about how he works with directors such as Steven Spielberg and Joe Kosinski, what post-viz is, and how real-time is revolutionizing the way movies are made — via Xbox controllers and iPhones.

Links:

Scott Meadows at IMDb >

Digital Domain Scott Meadows >

Scott Meadows on Black Panther at Art of VFX >

Ender’s Game previz on Made in Hollywood: Teen Edition >



Chapters:

00:00 Intro

03:58 Scott’s origin story

11:58 Getting into previz

16:15 Bad Boys II and Michael Bay 

20:08 Sticking to previz — or ignoring it

27:28 Working with artists and knowing what works

31:50 Previzing 100% CG versus real-world shots

37:09 The emergence of virtual production

47:53 Lighting studies and previz

52:28 Virtual production from home

57:03 How filmmaking is changing

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About the author

Christopher Nichols

Chris is a CG industry veteran and Director of Chaos Labs. He can also be heard regularly as the host of the CG Garage podcast which attracts 20,000 weekly listeners. With a background in both VFX and Design, Chris has worked for Gensler, Digital Domain, Imageworks and Method Studios. His credits include Maleficent, Oblivion and Tron: Legacy.

Originally published: October 26, 2020.
© Škoda Design

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