[FRAMED]: Christian Demeester-Guerard, Training Coordinator, Montréal

Which film or TV series do you wish you could watch again for the first time?

I wish I could watch the TV series The Get Down again for the first time. It’s a series that’s just so earnest in its portrayal of the start of hip hop in the Bronx (in New York) and all of the factors that play into it. The transition away from disco and the music from the show is such a good blend of that old sound and slowly integrating the new sound as our characters grow and change. It’s definitely got some rough edges but it’s also one of the first roles I had ever seen Giancarlo Esposito in and he just brings the house down with his performance.

Which Framestore character do you feel you’re most like?

Weird Barbie probably, I have a real knack for pulling together plenty of outfits with mismatched colours, weird designs. My house is quite similar to Weird Barbie’s in that it’s exactly what “child me” would have wanted my house to look like. I’ve got pink couches, neon signs, blue walls and, thanks to my partner, probably all the funko pops you can imagine.

What fictional world or place would you like to visit?

I would love to live in the world of Treasure Planet, I think it’s such an incredibly gorgeous locale and the beautiful cloud-filled scenery just fills and inspires me with such a sense of hope. I’m just a real sucker for the aesthetic of space boats. It’s such an impractical way of looking at the world but man, does it ever look cool sailing across the galaxy.

What’s your favourite project that you worked on at Framestore?

It’s definitely going to be the Launchpad Insights program, which is my current project. It’s something that’s been in development and trials for almost half a year now and I’m so excited to get to introduce the world of VFX to some younger people. I think the youth of today are so incredibly creative and smart and I just look forward to being able to show them a different way of being able to apply their creativity, that they can then apply to their own work “post-Launchpad”.

If you hadn’t gotten into VFX/company training, what would you be doing now?

Probably doing all sorts of odd jobs. I think one of the most interesting jobs I used to do that people might find peculiar is construction videography. So here in Quebec, when doing major construction on a building, for insurance purposes you need to have a company come and film the entirety of the structure before construction begins. This serves as insurance in the event that a construction company manages to damage something: maybe a construction company damaged the foundation of the building or a rogue jackhammer broke something. Having that video of essentially every surface of the building helps determine where the fault lies. While the work is backbreaking, it has its perks. I’ve seen the behind the scenes secrets of metros, churches, schools, businesses.

The DREAM project would entail?

Being able to build learning pathways between every department so that every artist can have the opportunity to grow into the position they would like to.

How would you describe your job to a child?

We work at a big company, and that company has a lot of artists that need to make art that goes in big movies. Our artists are fantastic artists, but they could always be even better. So my job is to help put together these trainings, that can help our artists be the best artists that they can be.

Describe your career journey (into the exciting world of VFX).

It was a real slow burn over the course of many years. First it was just getting into filmmaking as a young kid, getting my first camera and realising the fun that could be made and the stories that could be told by stringing together all these frozen moments in time, shot on camera. Then I got a Canon Rebel T3i when I got into college and had lots of fun making short films for school. Unfortunately, my house flooded, which lost me my T3i but gave me new found inspiration to get a new camera.

So I saved an entire summer’s worth of money and bought a Blackmagic Pocket 4k because that was the budget cinema camera all my favourite creators were using. Then I started shooting KPop dance covers with the local community in Montréal which was a lot of fun. It was this whole world I never delved into. For me though, I was really interested in taking it to the next level, so I was always researching how to separate what we did from the rest, and so slowly I started enthralling myself into the wonderful world of VFX.

As I’m sure a lot of people do, I started off with After Effects and kept going with that until the crashes frustrated me enough to start looking into what the 3D world looked like. Then when Covid hit, I found Blender and just spent everyday immersing myself in that world. I did the donut tutorial like everyone does and just kept doing that. I was trying new techniques and projects everyday. Once Covid lifted, I started attending a VFX school in Montréal called ESMA and that introduced me to a lot more of the industry-standard techniques and software, like Nuke, which I’ve since fallen in love with. From ESMA I was able to get a job as a runner here at Framestore and I was able to leverage the previous skills I had built up to find myself a place on the training team where I can make use of those VFX skills and knowledge and still learn from all the wonderful people around us here at Framestore.

Describe a day in the life of a training coordinator in emojis.

😴😲🥣😎👁️‍🗨️💋👁️‍🗨️💬🗨👁️‍🗨️💋👁️‍🗨️🥵🥶💤

Framestore is, to you, in three words:

Flexible, Caring, Global.

What is the biggest perk about working at Framestore?

I think just having access to so many talented people has been really incredible, you can learn such a crazy amount in such a short time when you surround yourself with these really talented, great people.

Framestore is great at:

Throwing some stellar parties and also just like being invested in their workers, you know?

Favourite artform?

I love some good long-exposure photography, something about painting with light is just so thrilling to me.

Favourite image?

What is the last piece of art (e.g. music, film, TV, writing etc.) that inspired you?

I think most recently it was probably The Matrix, which sounds odd because it’s a movie that’s been out for a good 25 years. But in rewatching it with my girlfriend, I took away a lot from the movie of stuff from the movie that’s very of its time. I feel like I kinda found that passion again for just making stuff that you personally believe in. I think in today’s world, cringe is kinda the purveying thing that everyone seems to be fearful of being and so we kind of end up with this big monoculture. But I think more often than not what is cringe is actually just being confused with honesty. That honesty and willingness to put yourself into your artwork and letting the cards fall where they may is what matters. I think it’s something I need to remind myself of a lot and that I carry with me. The Matrix is goofy as all get out and the characters talk like philosophy students but man, that movie slaps. It’s very honest with what it wants to be.

How do you unlock your creativity?

With a lack of ADHD medication, there’s not necessarily a lot to unlock. That door is open at all times and I have no choice but to use it or lose it.

From where do you seek inspiration?

Just going places and seeing new things honestly, I don’t have that much money to travel so I spend alot of time travelling within and around Montréal. I’m just always getting inspired by the beautiful city we live in. I love exploring buildings that have been left to time and abandoned and just learning the history of these places that are going to be lost to time.

Who in the industry do you admire most and why?

I don’t know that there’s a specific person I admire because I think especially today, anyone can turn out to be a weirdo in the wrong ways. But in terms of a group of people that I admire most, I really admire the people in our Visdev departments. In my own private VFX journey I have always loved just touching every part of the VFX process and I think the work they are able to do and accomplish in the timeframes they are given is fascinating. They also use Blender over Maya in that department, so how could I not love ‘em? I have so much respect for anybody in a generalist position.

Share the best piece of advice you’ve ever received.

Best thing you can do when learning something new is fail hard, fail fast, learn from that and always be open to asking for help.

What tech/innovation could you not live without?

If I didn’t have my computer, I’m not sure what I would do with myself. It’s an extension of myself and I have been able to do such fascinating things because of it. It’s definitely paid for itself multiple times over by now.

What tech/innovation deserves the hype?

Trains! Trains are so hype and we need to make way more use of ‘em. If I could just take a train to NYC, which realistically is not that far away, straight from Montréal, that would be bliss. Get us those high speed trains they got in Japan, those would be sick.

What tech do you need that hasn’t been invented yet?

Teleportation devices of any kind would be pretty hype… but like, minus the potential for getting mixed all up with a fly like Jeff Goldblum did. If we could avoid that part, that’d be pretty neat.

Christian Demeester-Guerard, you’ve been [FRAMED].