Dinner Chat with VFX Producer Christoph Ro

Compliments of FRANKIE GRRR (www.frankiegrrr.com)

It's about 8 pm in Wellington, New Zealand, and I'm shuffling around in my minute kitchen, slicing garlic, checking on the pasta, and scrubbing some freshly dug clams from the harbor. The reason for my cooking skills coming to light? None other than Visual Effects Producer Christoph Roth is coming to discuss all things career, movies, and Oscar nominations, exclusively with Frankie Grrr, who has shared the interview with CGW.

Roth is a VFX producer with over 16 years of experience in the world of cinematography and art. During his VFX career so far, he has produced various nominated commercials, TV shows, and films, including the feature films After Earth, Rush, and A Most Wanted Man. He won an Emmy Award for an episode he produced on Game of Thrones as well as just having delivered the third highest grossing movie worldwide for 2014 and the highest-grossing Marvel movie of all time: Guardians of the Galaxy.

He is currently working on his next feature film with the VFX company that brought us all The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit movies: Weta Digital in New Zealand.

Having worked with notable industry members such as Director James Gunn and Jim Jarmusch, Actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Oscar-winning VFX Supervisor Ben Grossmann and four-time Oscar winner Joe Letteri, he shares great knowledge and insight in the overall scope of moviemaking from all aspects - including his specialty in visual effects. It was easy for me to get to him, as he is a business partner of mine and, of course, an avid Frankie Grrr reader! Lucky us!

We think those are plenty of reasons to feature him in our #interestingpeople category and to share this interview with Computer Graphics World magazine. But just as if we didnt have enough, there are also the impending Oscars, which have Guardians of the Galaxy nominated twice, and most importantly during this dinner, nominated for Best Visual Effects.

So, as there's a soft knock on the door and the clams begin to open up in the sizzling oil, garlic, and chili flakes

I open the door.

We greet each other and I offer him a glass of this great New Zealand white wine I've gotten just for the occasion. While I throw the pasta over the clams for a quick toss before serving, he takes a seat while complimenting me on the perfumes wafting from the kitchen. Good guest.

Finally, we take a seat. I take a sip of my own wine and pull my Moleskine journal closer to me (this is an interview after all).

Photo courtesy Christoph Roth.

F.GRRR: Nothing like some spicy linguini and clams and some wine to get you talking about yourself, huh?

CHRISTOPH ROTH: Definitely not a bad setup.

F.GRRR: So, Oscar nominations, a new project with Weta Digital, a new country - this is exciting.

ROTH: Yes, so far so good! Wellington is such a great city, and Weta is by far one of the most prestigious companies I've worked with on a project. I'm very excited.

F.GRRR: Brilliant. So if this is another one of your movies and you're having dinner with Frankie Grrr at the end, accomplishments and all, how did the movie begin? How did you get into this business?

ROTH: Well, I was at university in Germany studying Computer Science in the late 90s and was specializing in 3D animation. This was starting to take off. I never did finish my degree, though, which I probably should have. But I got a job as an animator/compositor (a generalist' we called it) working on a trailer for this really avant-garde 3D animated TV show, but the project tanked when the stock market crashed.

Luckily their sister company needed help on a film, and I continued to gain my experience as a animator. I mostly focused on characters, cartoons, and general animation.

F.GRRR: What software was being used back then?

ROTH: Something called Softimage, which I think is being phased out finally this year.

F.GRRR: Okay, so you worked for this sister company as an animator. How did you become a producer then? Did you not like the animation game anymore?

ROTH: No, I do still love it actually. I do have an artistic side still, which I think makes me a better producer because I can relate with the artists I'm working with and understand what I am asking them to do. It was just by chance that someone within that company was asking around for anyone who could take care of the production on a project. I was pretty good at organizing and managing my area, so I offered myself and they took a chance on me.

F.GRRR: I presume it went well since you're still in the business?

ROTH: (laughs) Yes, it did. I organized the production, put in policies and procedures, and built up the 3D department so we could work faster and more efficiently as the next project was coming up. I was in charge of the 3D department and it went really well. We ended up doing three feature films.

F.GRRR: Not bad for not having finished uni.

ROTH: Yeah, although I don't recommend that, especially if my children are reading this, but if you have a passion and you work hard, you can learn on the way. But you definitely need to be a fast learner - always ahead of demands.

F.GRRR: So, what happened next in the movie that is your life?

ROTH: Well, through hard work and successful projects, I got a promotion to become a producer for commercials and I ended up spending about eight to 10 years in Germany working in that field. Commercials are great training grounds for producers because they have very quick turnarounds. You're dealing with a lot of money and budgets as a producer, and you must get the client what they wanted. You have to coordinate so many people, and to get them to get the job done properly so many times, on so many different projects that you can become quite a master at this. If you're organized, of course.

F.GRRR: I can i

LINK:	http://www.cgw.com/Press-Center/In-Focus/2015/Dinner-Chat-with-VFX-Pro...
	See more stories from cwg

Most recent headlines