VFX Trackers

No matter how many VFX shots your project has, a VFX tracker can be extremely helpful to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. From phone screen comps to giant explosions and space ships, staying on top of these can be crucial to saving money and time.

Although a VFX Supervisor, or Post Super may be the one creating the tracker, it is very helpful to have everyone on the post team on the tracker and updating live as VFX go through the pipeline.

Make sure it is noted somewhere on the tracker who was the last person to update the items. This can be with initials or colors. This will be helpful when all parties know where in the workflow everything lives.

What to include on your tracker:

Dates:

You should include the date you received the VFX and the date they added the VFX to the project. When mishaps and miscommunications inevitably occur, it will be much easier to spot when certain VFX packages may have been sent or downloaded to find the source of the problem.

The shot name including the version:

VFX can go up in multiple versions so staying on top of which versions have been received and dropped into the project can help you with headaches down the road. It also provides a quick QC for your editor to confirm all VFX are the most up to date. This can also be done by providing editorial with VFX EDL for them to double confirm we have all the right versions online.

Timecodes and frame counts:

This can again help the post team when troubleshooting and determining if shots are missing frames or need more handles.

A status update:

Every tracker is completely up to you in design, but including a status column can greatly decrease the chances of a missing VFX shot or wrong version in final renders. Be sure to set clear rules ahead of time with your post team so everyone is on the same page.