What is a Previs Artist? A Previs Artist allows a director or special effects supervisor to use digital technology to experiment with different staging and art direction options - such as lighting, camera placement and movement, editing - without having to bear the costs of actual production.
The Previs Artist allows a director or special effects supervisor to experiment with different staging and artistic direction options using digital technology.
In pre-production, a preview is used before production even begins. During this stage, the Previs Artist tests the idea for a project, including a concept, an unfinished script, information on where and how to move the camera in space, on the best shot and the best possible execution.
Organising consistency
A Previs Artist is a technician, usually in 3D, who helps a production team (including the producer and director of a film, commercial or television programme) to organise or realistically visualise scenes in a technically coherent way.
He or she is a qualified generalist with extensive experience of digital animation and a keen sense of cinematography. As part of the visual effects team, he or she provides a rough representation of the character blocking, environment, digital effects and other elements to be shot during principal photography. He pays particular attention to the composition of animated sequences using virtual camera lenses, virtual camera movement, image composition, staging and sequence editing.
A Previs Artist is a qualified technician with extensive experience of digital animation and a keen sense of cinematography
Precise and efficient
The role requires proven skills in digital art and animation, including experience in modelling, rigging and character animation. Experience of using software applications such as Maya is required.
Understanding of cameras, staging, composition, pacing, timing and general shooting concepts, attention to detail, adherence to studio, production and pipeline procedures and requirements, clear and professional communication skills are all pre-requisites for this job. Precision and sharpness. English is a must, as it often is in this business.
Preview artists are recruited in special effects studios or in digital marketing and advertising companies specialising in film trailers, title sequences, commercials and other short-format productions.
For the record, the first use of 3D computer software to preview a scene for a major motion picture was in 1988 by Lynda Weinman for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989). It has now become widespread.
