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:
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