[FRAMED]: Wouter Gilsing, Lead Compositor, LDN
[FRAMED] exists to shine light on Framestore’s most fascinating cast of characters: its people. Presented with a probing list of questions and a demandingly short deadline, this feature puts the hopes, dreams, and desktops of our MVPs on the digital wall, for all to see. Welcome to [FRAMED].
What are you guilty of?
Title fraud. My Waitrose customer card reads “Lord W Gilsing”, however I’m, in fact, not really a lord…
What was your last brush with danger?
Last week I cut my finger when dicing a sweet potato.
Your last brush with greatness?
“This shot will be GIF-ed to death on Twitter” — James Gunn on a shot I did the comp for.
Your worst character fault?
Whilst I’m rather tidy and organized when it comes to digital things… I’m the polar opposite in real life, unfortunately.
If you had taken a different path, what would you be doing now?
As a young kid I drew a lot and was convinced I wanted to become a book illustrator. I then got my hands on a copy of Photoshop… fast forward and now I’m here.
You’re on the run from the law, where are you headed?
I’d lay low at my parents for a while. I’d have a relaxing time, and they wouldn’t rat me out.
Who’s your partner-in-crime?
My girlfriend.
Fantasy cellmate?
I think Stephen Fry would be excellent company.
Your greatest achievement?
Well, I’m currently being featured on [Framed], so hard to top that any time soon… Workwise, I’ve done a fair share of well received tools and templates.
Most valuable skill?
Resourcefulness.
Go on, say something bragging:
I’ve got over 8000 downloads on Nukepedia, and I’ve answered around 700 compositing related questions on the Nuke forums.
Name your pet peeve?
Messy comp scripts and people not respecting naming conventions…
The DREAM project would entail:
A great team and a good story. Bonus points for good cinematography, a nice mix of SFX and VFX and a clear vision. Even more bonus points if the project is The Lord of the Rings, though I think I missed that boat by about 20 years by now…
Your career highlight to date:
Having grown up with Harry Potter (and being a big fan), the first thing jumping to mind is the moment I was told I was crewed onto Fantastic Beasts. Attending the world premier of Alita: Battle Angel was pretty cool as well.
What’s your current view?
The road outside my window is uphill and (whilst writing this) very slippery due to the snow. So there are a lot of cars sliding around.
Give us a desk tour…
Wacom, Keyboard, iPad, headphones. A large German tankard filled with tea (really, it’s tea). Some miniature wooden shoes, a horrendous pink dolphin my sisters got me and a bunch of show related souvenirs, including a Wonder Woman tiara and a Detective Pikachu figurine.
Right before going into lockdown, my neighbour Manuel Rivoir and I wrapped our desks like Christmas presents, to help maintain the Christmas spirit whilst working on A Boy Called Christmas till the end of summer.
Oh, I also got myself some foot pedals as I thought they would be super useful to assign custom shortcuts to, but I didn’t really end up using them that much in the end…
What do you need to work, on the daily?
I tend to go through large amounts of cinnamon tea a day…
Framestore is, to you, in three words:
Live, Laugh, Love.
Best thing about your work environment? (at home!)
Being able to multitask whilst listening in on a meeting. The commute is not bad either.
Framestore is great at:
Delivering big volumes of high quality content, with artists able to have their own creative input without it feeling like a factory.
Fictional character you’d like to hang with?
Odysseus.
Happiness looks like:
Waking up, looking outside the window and discovering it has been snowing all night.
If not here, then where?
Whilst I don’t dislike working at home at all, I do hope we get to go back to the office at some point…
What do you think of too often?
My keys and my wallet. Are they really still in my pocket?! Better check again.. (repeat again after 30 seconds)
And not enough?
Freeing up my RAM in time…
Couldn’t live without:
Losing ‘ctrl-z’ would significantly complicate life.
How are you spending your weekends?
I’ve just moved house, so a lot of my time is spent browsing for furniture at the moment.
If you ruled the world:
The HEMA, which is a Dutch store-chain (housewares, clothing, etc), is best known in the Netherlands for it’s delicious smoked sausages. A couple of years ago they started opening stores in the UK as well. For some reason they’re not selling their signature sausages here… So a change to their UK product range would be at the top of the priority list. An alternative solution could be to open a Framestore Amsterdam. Maybe I’d do both to be safe.
Wouter Gilsing recently worked on Wonder Woman 1984. Wouter, you’ve been [FRAMED].
