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Author: Sam Preece

REALTIMERS: Shannon Moran, VFX Editor

If there’s one thing we love more than VFX, it’s our team. REALTIMERS is a chance to showcase the amazing people behind the pixels to see what makes them tick.

Meet Shannon, our VFX editor, who discovered her love for video editing in her high-school glee club, of all places. 

Name & job title:
Shannon Moran – VFX Editor 

Where do you fit in?
I am the revolving door at REALTIME, starting with getting footage in the building, working with pipeline and other teams to get it to artists and then checking the final product and sending footage out to clients. Then making some cheeky reels after for marketing. 

How did you get your start in the industry?
 It’s a very magical mystery tour. I started self-taught in high school teaching myself offline editing then making silly videos, after a failed career in Theatre in college I changed majors and got into film editing. I worked in Offline TV in Denver Colorado before moving to the UK to continue my studies at the Met Film School in Visual Effects and Animation. While working there as a technical support took that self-taught attitude I found an online class in a new software at the time called “Hiero” that combined my love of Editing and VFX. Talked on a few message boards and got the eye of advertising at Framestore, and that was all she wrote. I worked there for 6 months as a sort of baptism by fire of what to do (and not do – I made a lot of rookie mistakes) as a VFX editor. Then worked at Moving Picture Company for four and a half years, three of them I was the PR VFX Editor where I was responsible for everything showreel and promotion of the company and award reel submissions, and created and produced (along with others from editorial) a show called Monthlies. Later my role moved to LA but was taken on board as a VFX editor once again for The Lion King. Moved to DNEG to work on TV and landed working on the show Dark Cystal, then following year was lead VFX editor on Netflix’s “Cursed”. The pandemic happened….and then found the team here at REALTIME. 

Your superpower?
That one is easy. Teleportation. After being a commuter for 7 years from Brighton to London I just can’t do it anymore and I would also save on travel to the States and see my family more. Fancy going to Mom and Dad’s for Dinner (snap finger) poof in America, then poof back in UK to finish work. 

What inspires you on the day-to-day?
The need to create something. Sometimes (usually at the most inconvenient time) I will see an idea for a trailer, reel, animation, something. and within an hour have made something or planned it all out. Sometimes it comes out great and makes me go “wow did I really make that?” and other times I will be like “woof that was crap” but I’ve gotten that creative energy out and I feel exhilarated. 

My desert island film / TV show / animation / game / artform / piece of artwork is:
OH, wow I’m so bad at these. I just recently finally was able to answer the “what song would you play to save yourself from Vecna” (Little stranger things reference) – So sadly don’t have a really profound answer like “oh I would take Atlas Shrugged or the works of Salvador Dali” unfortunately my interests and inspirations change so frequently. 

Your soundtrack whilst working:
If I need to solve an issue – probably a beautiful mind soundtrack. If it’s just plug and chug getting sends and turn over done, some EDM Remix playlist on YouTube or my feel-good playlist. Something with a steady beats per minute to keep my focus 

If you could work with anyone who?
Maybe not a who, but more a what. One day I just want to work on a Star Wars project in some capacity. I’ve come close a couple times, and I’m ever hopeful now with TV VFX and things. I’ve been blessed to worked with some amazing creatives already. So yeah, something Star Wars or Jurassic Park. 

If not this, then what?
I’ve always had a backup plan if editing never worked out. I loved the idea of hands can be healing. So, I toyed with the idea of a massage therapist or sports medicine of some kind. I come from 5 generations of nurses so medical has always been in my blood.  

Why REALTIME? 
REALTIME came at a good time for me and my family. Right at the middle of the pandemic, the idea of an Editorial Job being working from home seemed inconceivable before 2020. Like stated before commuting for 7 years and the hours was really taking a toll on work/life balance and I was thinking that I need to make a hard choice and walk away from the industry. But I feel REALTIME has shown that life after pandemic there is a place for hybrid and a work at home culture. This year (2022) has been a growing and learning period for REALTIME but I feel like it’s the combination of work/life balance that I need.  

People would be surprised that…
I was in Glee Club in high school before Glee club was cool by the TV show. We called it show choir and I absolutely love to sing and dance and contemplated going into musical theatre. Funnily enough, going to a show choir camp (yes, they did exist) was what got me into video editing as someone did a scrapbook video and I hunted the person down (thank you again Jamie wherever you are) and asked him a million questions and he said all you need is a “firewire cable and record on a minDV tape” and the rest was history. (And yes, I’m that old my start was before tapeless media) 

Advice you’d give yourself if you were just starting out?
That a Career doesn’t define you as a person. I am not just VFX Editor Shannon, no I am much more than that.  

REALTIMERS: Sam Taylor, Head of Skills & Development

If there’s one thing we love more than VFX, it’s our team. In our new series, REALTIMERS, we are showcasing the people behind the pixels to see what makes them tick.

Meet Sam, our Head of Skills and Development, who has re-joined REALTIME recently to help build a brand new training programme for VFX graduates and also help the development of our existing artists. 

Name & job title:
Sam Taylor – Head of Skills and Development

Where do you fit in?
I sit across a few areas at the studio and I am primarily in charge of internal training and development for staff. I also reach out to universities and training programmes to support, guide and build strong connections, whilst working with our recruitment team to identify and hire talented artists that are new to the industry. Additionally, I help out on production as a generalist to ensure that our training always matches the current pipeline at REALTIME.

How did you get your start in the industry?
At REALTIME! So, I started my career at REALTIME as a junior generalist with an emphasis on FX after meeting Tony Prosser when he visited the university I was studying at. I worked my way up to a VFX generalist role at REALTIME over a few years before getting into teaching VFX at university and continuing as a freelance VFX generalist on various movies and TV projects.

Your superpower?
I’m pretty good at picking up new things like sports/hobbies quickly. I don’t think it’s because I’m naturally good at them, I think it’s more a force of me being so determined not to be bad at it that I just will myself to do ok pretty quickly (it will probably end up in me getting hurt one day). So, I guess that would make the superpower: Super Strong Willed.

What inspires you on the day-to-day?
This is going to sound super cliché for the field that I’m in, but learning new stuff and being surrounded with people that are excited to learn or share their knowledge and experience.

My desert island film TV show?
I am a big stand-up comedy fan, and Taskmaster is one of my favourite TV shows for seeing some of the funniest comedians solve ridiculous situations in hilarious ways. So, a box set of every series of Taskmaster, please.

Your soundtrack whilst working:
I have a very broad music taste so depending on my mood my work soundtrack can range from: Rock, Metal, Electronic, Pop, and I have a soft spot for cheesy pop from the 80s+.

If you could work with anyone who?
Growing up I have always loved Pixar and the stories they tell. Sadly, I live on the wrong continent!

If not this, then what?
Growing up, I was very much into electronics before I discovered my love for VFX, so probably something in robotics.

Why REALTIME?
REALTIME works on such a range of cool projects across different platforms, so there is always something new to learn and explore. Also, the team is full of friendly and incredibly talented people.

People would be surprised that…
I am not an 8th Italian…

Advice you’d give yourself if you were just starting out?
Always remember to stay excited about the work that you do, because working in VFX is awesome! We get to make all sorts of weird and wonderful things that some people can only imagine.

Sea of Thieves: Return of the Damned

Our team loved working on the latest Sea Of Thieves cinematic trailer for ‘The Return of the Dammed’. In this new adventure, the fate of two pirates hangs in the balance, who will you side with? As always, a big thanks to our friends at Rare for their continued support!

REALTIMERS: Lukasz Kyc, In-Engine Generalist

If there’s one thing we love more than VFX, it’s our team. In our new series, REALTIMERS, we are showcasing the people behind the pixels to see what makes them tick.

Lukasz is our In-Engine Generalist, who joined REALTIME fresh out of university and dreams of one day collaborating with id Software on a new DOOM game. 

Name & job title
Lukasz Kyc, In-Engine Generalist.

Where do you fit in?
I get to do a little bit of everything inside the engines we use, I most frequently use Unreal Engine and recently picked up the Frostbite engine for our EA projects. Being a generalist means I rarely do the same thing day to day which I really enjoy! One day I might be setting up cameras and blocking out an environment for a shot and the next day I could be lighting or fixing a technical issue we may be having – it never gets boring.  

How did you get your start in the industry?
I got an internship here at REALTIME right out of doing a games design course at university, and after a few months got a full-time position here. 

Your superpower?
Learning new skills –  I find that I pick up things really quickly and love learning new skills inside and outside of work. 

What inspires you on the day-to-day?
I think just the fact that I get to work in an industry that I’m really passionate about, and where I’m excited to go to work every day.

My desert island TV show?
Either South Park or Hells Kitchen, I already watch both of those shows multiple times a year

Your soundtrack whilst working:
I usually like to listen to something that is related to the project that I’m working on, as a recent example whilst working on the NFS Unbound trailer, I listened to a lot of rap which fit the type of game that I was working on. I also frequently listen to a lot of video game and film soundtracks and sometimes switch up to some metal such as Metallica and Slipknot. I get bored quickly so I like to switch it up.

If you could work with anyone who?
I would love to work with Feng Zhu, I always found his work super inspiring and he’s the one that got me interested in this industry in the first place. 

If not this, then what?
I’ve always loved the DOOM games and I really like the direction they have taken the game with the recent releases, so getting to work with the id Software team on a new DOOM game would be a dream job for me.

Why REALTIME?
I like the variety of projects, the different styles and genres keep the job very interesting and the fact that we get to work in smaller teams means that we get to work very closely together, and can all make a big impact on the projects we work on.

People would be surprised that…
I’m Polish, I don’t have an accent so people always assume that I’m English, until they see my name.

Advice you’d give yourself if you were just starting out?
To do more research into Universities / Art schools before applying, as I personally just applied to the closest one I could find and found that they were teaching some very outdated workflows, and if I just did a bit more research I could have gotten a lot more out of it than I did.