Inside The Craft with Joe Bumpus

In this new series, Inside the Craft, we speak with Joe Bumpus, CG Supervisor at DNEG Animation, about his journey into VFX - from making the leap out of communications engineering to finding his place in feature animation. He reflects on the importance of that first “yes,” the projects that shaped him, and how global collaboration and evolving workflows are redefining the way teams create today.

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How did you break into VFX? What was your first real job, and who gave you your first “yes”?

I broke into the industry via a Technical Animation (TechAnim) role at MPC whilst also studying a Digital Animation course at university. Prior to this role and before attending university, I was working in communications engineering, an entirely different industry, but I made the decision to switch my focus to pursue a more creative path that felt genuinely meaningful to me. 

The TechAnim role led to me landing a role as Sweatbox Technical Director (TD) at DNEG Animation. This felt like my first “real” job, where I learned the workings of a Feature Animation pipeline in practice, developed crucial teamwork skills, and strong ambitions to grow professionally within this industry. 

My first “yes” came in the form of a fix needing to be applied during my Sweatbox TD role - the directive came from my then Computer Graphics (CG) Supervisor, Paul Baaske. The fix required some technical animation skills that I felt I could apply from my previous TechAnim role - so I offered my skills. I half-expected a more senior team member to be assigned the fix, but to my surprise, Paul gave me the opportunity to fix it myself. 

Did the technical animation fix require a few more passes than expected? Probably. But I learned from that opportunity and became a go-to member of the team for technical animation fixes.

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What’s the most memorable project you’ve worked on?

There are a few memorable projects that have stayed with me over time, each for a different reason, but the most memorable is Nimona at DNEG Animation. Industry professionals often speak about those rare ‘special’ shows that come up once in a while, and I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of more than a couple of these. Nimona is certainly one of them . 

There was a shared sense of making a feature Animation film that would have a deep and meaningful impact. This was one of the first projects where I was trusted with greater autonomy. It was incredibly rewarding to work with that kind of freedom, where I could apply my previous experience, technical knowledge, and leadership skills to help get the show over the line with the rest of the team.

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What has changed the most in your day-to-day workflow over the last few years? What change surprised you the most (e.g., tools, pipelines, client expectations, pace)?

One of the biggest changes in my day-to-day workflow,  especially since COVID, is the cross-site communication that is now embedded into each working day. Since the transition to remote working, connecting with colleagues across the globe has become the norm. It’s made a big impact as these days there’s no real difference between collaborating with someone from the other side of the globe and with someone who may live in the same postcode. 

With increased global communication, there have been plenty of opportunities for development and growth that can be taught to artists across different countries. But there are also challenges. For example, the need to focus on global data transfer has never been more important, and having an acute awareness of which time zone your teammates are in can be crucial for meeting delivery expectations. Despite these minor challenges, the increased global communication on a day-to-day basis has been a hugely positive shift, as there are now more ideas to bring to the table and more minds to apply to any given situation. 

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Teams and stakeholders are more distributed than ever, across studios, time zones, and schedules. How do you keep everyone aligned and decisions crisp, without drowning in feedback?

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As a global business, teams, clients, and stakeholders operate across multiple studios and time zones, each balancing their own schedules whilst simultaneously working together to meet a project’s shared delivery deadline. While this can sometimes be challenging, clear communication is key. I tend to err on the side of over-communicating, especially when managing huge amounts of data, feedback, or ideas as this ensures everyone stays aligned, reduces misunderstandings and keeps projects moving efficiently.

Establishing communication strategies at the start of a project is key. Regular check-ins with adjacent team members helps build relationships, understanding and shared expectations that can grow throughout a project. Understanding the scalability of communication is equally important. Communication that is suitable for a smaller team may not be appropriate for a larger one. It’s crucial that communication strategies are consistently reviewed, revised and can pivot if needed. 

An example of how remote working and multi-site communication is navigated is when an Artist's work is reviewed during dailies sessions. In-person dailies sessions have huge benefits in the form of direct person-to-person communication, but in today’s reality, the Artist and reviewer are often in different time zones, and therefore getting the content submitted for review needs to be catered to in the form of reliable data transfer and remote review tools which enable effective feedback.. The same can be said for client reviews, too, as clients seldom share the same time zone as the vendor, which is why review platforms such as Clearview Flex can enable content to be easily shared and streamed from one party to another across multiple locations. 

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Looking at the future of the industry, what are you most excited about and what are you most cautious about?

The quality of visual effects and feature animation films continues to climb, with standout projects such as the Avatar franchise pushing the boundaries of hyper-realism and the Spider-Verse feature animation films championing stylised contemporary visuals. I’m excited to see how the VFX and feature animation industry will grow and continue raising the bar in visual quality whilst also satisfying the ever-increasing appetite of audiences that want fresh, new and immersive experiences

Like many professionals across many industries, the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and its usage within the workplace is viewed with cautious curiosity. With technological advances come excitement, anxiety and wonder as to what the long-term impact of such an introduction to everyday life, personal and professional, will have. Personally, I’m accepting of the use of AI within visual effects and feature animation, if used to help support efficient workflows and tooling to achieve the artistic vision of individuals, but I find the use of AI-generated visuals and storytelling to be worrying. Human nuance and experience have always been a huge element that connects the Artist to the audience, and I don’t particularly enjoy the thought of this becoming diminished or replaced.

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