Matt Chandler Interview

The Industry Interviews

Matthew Chandler is a Lead Environment Technical Director at Framestore. He has worked on such films as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Avengers Infinity War, Alita: Battle Angel and most recently Wonder Woman 1984. He got into the industry staring out as a runner and has been working at Framestore for 7 years.

Hi Matt we are going to start off by asking you to tell us about a visual shot that sticks with you?

It's hard to pick one, I could pick pretty much anything from Blade Runner (1982). It really stuck with me the first time I saw it. I'd say it put me on the path I am on today. Probably every frame in that film has been replicated or has inspired half the images you see on CG society or Art Station. The whole film is a world class exercise in lighting, atmospherics and moods. Truly genre defining work by Jordan Cronenweth and David Snyder.

Could you describe a typical day for you?

Typical day. Well, first I come in and definitely have some breakfast. Then depending on what show I am on, there will be a production meeting to go over the targets we set out for the week. Then I work on any shots that have outstanding notes. Depending if we are working cross site (like working with our Montreal office) I will be checking any new notes that have come in while I was sleeping. I catch up with my team and check how they are doing. Lunch. Yum! There will be some sort of dailies session at some point of the day so the Supes can review the work we have submitted. Work on any new notes. Towards the end of the day I set off any renders we need for the next day.

What has been the most challenging project you've worked on?

I think the most challenging project I have been on so far was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. We had the start sequence on the Sovereign's planet. A big shiny gold planet. We had to make it look like it would in space. And I am thinking if you put a shiny gold sphere is space, you'll have a black ball with a tiny dot wherever your light source is coming from right? Yeah it was a challenge getting all the pieces together, to have something interesting to look at visually while hitting what the client wanted. The brief was an earth like structure, clockwork thing, with atmosphere, but everything is gold. It was a headache both with design and rendering (everything is reflective....) Great result in the end though. So worth it!

What are the current standout trends within your area?

For us environment artists I think Houdini is a tool we were not using so much a couple of years ago but now is our go to tool for scattering and procedural models/layouts. We are really discovering some awesome things we can do with this software with some talented Houdini artists. But then again you can ask me in a year and it will probably be different!

What would be your number one tip for those starting out in industry?

Being open minded and flexible with the discipline you have chosen. I always wanted to be a modeller but then I was offered a position as an environment artist and I have never looked back. So keep an open mind to other opportunities. Learning to script was also an invaluable asset for me, you might not think it is artistic but instead of having to do something multiple times, you can just write a simple piece of code to do it for you instead. This way you can definitely enjoy more time doing all the cool creative stuff!

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