In Conversation with Brian Kubovcik from Fuse FX

SCAD Animation Fest 2023 concluded a few weeks ago and had no lack of talented and informative speakers. One such was Brian Kubovcik, Head of Studio and Sr. VFX Supervisor at FuseFX Atlanta. After a very insightful interview, Mr. Kubovcik shared valuable advice that can enhance any visual effects artist’s career path to grow as a better artist, leader, and professional. 

Starting out as a young art student, one may have the wrong perception that a career path in Visual Effects is linear. However, after asking Mr. Kubovcik to further expand on his story, he showed with an inspiring answer how broad, non-linear, and enriching a career in the industry can be. Before diving into Visual Effects, Kubovcik majored in Philosophy and Religion, enhancing his capstone project with visuals within a short film instead of a written paper. Through this project, he realized his passion for visual art and storytelling. After school, he started developing his career at a news station and through commercials, learning by action what worked for him. His love for editing and motion graphics motivated him to move from South Carolina to New York, where he developed his knowledge of effects as a Flame artist for commercials. Throughout his experience, he learned to value managing a team more than just creating a pretty picture. Which led him to his current job as a supervisor at Fuse FX. 

His story shows how being an artist within the industry can entail having to wear multiple hats depending on the job, which can be enhanced when pursuing a supervision role in the team.  To better understand the supervision concept and leadership within the industry, Mr. Kubovcik explained the two types of supervisors that exist: “There are two different models of VFX supervision, there is the vendor’s side supervisors and the independent supervisor who manages multiple vendors. The job of a VFX supervisor is not just one model.” Overall, he shared that within a supervisor’s job, there is a 30% technical approach and 70% interpersonal approach, which includes the creative part as well by balancing efficiency and budget. Within the interpersonal creative approach, listening is key to making sure all the production and post-production teams have what they need to create the product. His experience portrays how each day as a leader in the industry is different depending on the show, the project, and the problem at hand. 

As a VFX supervisor, each day includes a lot of decision-making. One of the most crucial questions is: Which tool will be more efficient to approach the task at hand? Keeping in mind the ongoing conversation within the industry and here at SCAD regarding traditional and real-time approaches, I asked Mr. Kubovcik his opinion. As a VFX supervisor, he approached this question, explaining how by using real-time, there is a pipeline shift adding more time in production than usual. This enhances the importance of being aware of where the resources are placed. With real-time what you see is what you get, therefore Mr. Kubovcik explained that having a clear vision is more important than usual.  “ If there is not a clear vision of what this has to be, it is better to go green screen or build half a set; record performance and decide what to do with Visual Effects afterward.” Overall, it is important to have a team of good decision-makers when using real-time because if not, production can be highly limited. Real-time is just another tool in the toolbox. Not something to rely on all the time. As a supervisor, determining the best approach along with a team is a puzzle, like Kubovcik said “Every day is a puzzle”. 

As a supervisor and an artist, apart from approaching the daily puzzle in different ways, you can approach these tasks from different places. Within production and post-production, location can vary in relevance depending on the job at hand. For example, the Visual Effects team can be location-wise more flexible. Artists can be all around the world and still work remotely for FuseFX by connecting through a network. On the other hand, in production, location is highly relevant to enhance the story of the project at hand. Mr. Kubovcik shared that his desire is to move production to the East Coast, particularly Georgia, because of its broad environments that can push forward any type of storytelling. 

To end our discussion, I asked Mr. Kubovcik what was the work-life balance within Fuse FX and what would be the best advice he would share with aspiring artists. He emphasized that even though there will always be crunch time no matter the project, work-life balance is essential at Fuse because a burnt-out artist can’t create the best product. “As a supervisor, it is important to manage a studio to get the work done for a client while planning and preparing strategies to make sure that the work is evenly distributed. Our goal is to get to the finish line without making people burn to the ground. Which is very challenging”. Mr. Kubovcik also remarked that with modern-day streaming, at-home, and on-demand services, the system is less predictable. Sometimes production is always in crunch time, other times it is a slow period. Overall, even though there will always be hard situations within the industry, Mr. Kubovcik shared a piece of advice that can help any artist when it may feel as if the team is in the trenches: “Think about your ‘Why’, the reason behind what you are doing.” He also mentioned “Surrounding yourself with people you like and treating others the way you want to be treated is really important. Having empathy and trying to be a great team player are all important aspects.” Understanding the ‘Why’, problem-solving the daily puzzle, and most of all enjoying collaborating with others, are all key to thriving in the industry.

I want to thank Brian Kubovcik for sharing all this insightful information and advice. We at RenderQ hope for fellow young artists and students to take advantage of his advice, and continue to carve their way through their own professional path.