Markus Schmidt

Global Head of Creatures at Framestore

London, England, United Kingdom

About

๐—š๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—–๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€ | ๐—ฉ๐—™๐—ซ ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ด๐˜† & ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฝ Building believable characters at scale takes great artistry and it takes a massive, well-oiled machine working behind the scenes. Throughout my 18+ years in the industry, Iโ€™ve focused on exactly that: the intersection of high-end character work and the global strategy required to pull it off. I look at ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป through two lenses. On one side, thereโ€™s the "big picture" including bidding, resource planning, formulating vfx methodologies & figuring out how to automate complex schedules across global sites without losing momentum. On the other hand, thereโ€™s the ๐˜€๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ, ensuring that a digital performance actually resonates with an audience.ย  My role is often about being the ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ด๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ & ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜€ while considering and working within the operational reality of ambitious deadlines and a high volume of work. Having worked across the world's leading VFX houses, I offer a unique vantage point: the ability to plan and supervise the granular details of character performance while simultaneously managing the ๐—ด๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜€ of a top-tier studio. I advise production teams on crewing, map out internal & external milestones while optimising how we work with our teams by defining a strategy that neither burns out the talent nor the budget. Whether it's streamlining a production pipeline or scouting the next generation of creature artists, Iโ€™m ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด "๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ" ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† and helping build the emotional connection our clients are aiming for with their stories told through these amazing characters Framestore is known for. ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—œ ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ: โ€ข ๐—ข๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ด๐˜†: Designing VFX approaches for character-heavy tentpoles โ€ข ๐—š๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ฒ: Managing cross-departmental teams and multi-site resourcing โ€ข ๐—ฃ๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป: Reducing overhead by automating complex scheduling tasks so artists can focus on the art โ€ข ๐—”๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ & ๐—ง๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—™๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป: Nearly two decades of hands-on experience as a character artist and character supervisor ๐—ฆ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜€: ๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜›๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜‹๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ, ๐˜ž๐˜ข๐˜ณ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜—๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด, ๐˜ˆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด: ๐˜ˆ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜œ๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ & ๐˜Œ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜‘๐˜ฐ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฏ ๐˜Š๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ, ๐˜—๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ญ

Experience

  • Framestore (London Area, United Kingdom)
    • Global Head of Creatures
      Mar 2019 - Present ยท 7 yrs 4 mos

    • CG Supervisor
      Jun 2018 - Mar 2019 ยท 10 mos

  • Creature Supervisor at Double Negative
    May 2017 - May 2018 ยท 1 yr 1 mo

    "VENOM" : : Creature Supervision : : Facial Setup & shape work as well as Organic Model Build of hero characters ------------------------------------------------------------ "RED SPARROW" : : Character Supervision : : Work on a fully digital Jennifer Lawrence head (including facial setup, dynamically driven neck as well as shotsculpt) for opening sequence of the film ------------------------------------------------------------ "AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR" : : Creature Supervision : : All aspects of the character / creature work for DNEG. Also hands on Design, Modelling & Facial Work for Proxima ------------------------------------------------------------ "PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING" : : Creature Supervision: Facial Work : :

  • Facial Modeler at Weta Digital
    Apr 2015 - Apr 2017 ยท 2 yrs 1 mo

    "WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES" : : Facial Modeler : : All facial shapes for "Red" Model, facial topology and all facial shapes for "Spear" Additional supportive face shape work on "BadApe" Face shapes for numerous crowd monkeys ------------------------------------------------------------ "The BFG" : : Facial Modeler : : All facial shapes for "Meatdripper" Shotsculpt work ------------------------------------------------------------ "MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS" : : Facial Modeler : : Facial shapes for numerous crank creatures & various Digi Doubles ------------------------------------------------------------ "SPECTRAL" : : Facial Modeler : : Facial shapes for numerous "Spectrals" ------------------------------------------------------------ "INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE" : : Facial Modeler : : Facial shapes and models for Digi Doubles (Jeff Goldblum, etc.)

  • Industrial Light & Magic (London, United Kingdom)
    • Lead Modeler
      Aug 2014 - Mar 2015 ยท 8 mos

      "AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON" : : Lead Modeler : : Shotsculpt lead for the Hulk

    • Senior Modeler
      May 2014 - Aug 2014 ยท 4 mos

      "AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON" : : Senior Modeler : : Building Hulk's body muscle shapes & sim muscle geos ------------------------------------------------------------ "STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS" : : Senior Modeler : : Work on Maz Kanata: facial topology, first pass face shapes, costume concepts

  • Double Negative (7 yrs 2 mos)
    • Creature Supervisor
      Apr 2013 - May 2014 ยท 1 yr 2 mos

      Modelling & Supervision of the character work on "JUPITER ASCENDING" ~ 14 months

    • Lead Modeller
      Jan 2012 - Mar 2013 ยท 1 yr 3 mos

      "THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE" : : Lead Modeller (Digital Doubles) : : Producing all the Digital Doubles needed on the show ~ 3 months ------------------------------------------------------------ "SUPERMAN: MAN OF STEEL" : : Lead Modeller (shotsculpt department) : : Working on all shotsculpt related tasks of the show (environment destruction, vehicle destruction, anatomy fixes, asset fixes etc.) ~ 4 months ------------------------------------------------------------ "SUPERMAN: MAN OF STEEL" : : Lead Modeller (Digital Doubles & Digital Double Assets) : : ReDesigning the hero hard surface asset for the main Digital Double (Zod's armour) as well as building the two main Digital Doubles including face topology with high resolution facial expressions made to work for extreme close ups ~ 8 months

    • Modelling Supervisor
      Jul 2010 - Dec 2011 ยท 1 yr 6 mos

      "JOHN CARTER" : : Lead Modeller (shotsculpt department) : : Leading a team of up to 8 people in the shotsculpt department to add anatomy and structure to the body meshes ~ 6 months ------------------------------------------------------------ "JOHN CARTER" : : Lead Modeller (face team) : : Leading a team of up to 4 modellers to create the facial shapes of all characters as well as all other blendshapes needed, e.g. breathing shapes, etc. ~ 12 months