VFX Research: Tim Burke

 As part of my VFX module I wanted to do some research into practitioners in the industry to be able to get an idea about who was the best of the best out there right now, and working on the biggest movies that have been coming out. I wanted to look at a range of different practitioners so that I can get enough research to be able to see what kind of standard is already out there and being used in the industry today.

The first practitioner that I wanted to look at is Tim Burke, who is responsible, most famously, for being the VFX supervisor for the latest Harry Potter film, and as we all know they weren't shy about there quantity of CGI used. Tim Burke was born in 1965 and mainly started out by doing commercials for most of his career but in 1996 he was hired and started doing film effects with Ridley Scotts's new company.

Along with having an amazing career with Harry Potter he was also the VFX supervisor for Gladiator, Hannibal, Black Hawk Down and A Knights Tale.

Tim Burke finally delivered to us the exciting sequel to the Harry Potter films, having started doing it nearly 10 years previously on The Chamber of Secrets, as just a facility supervisor. During his time working on these fantastic films he then took over as Senior VFX Supervisor for the last four films. Since his role in these films, in which these have been his biggest successes, he has received a number of nominations and also won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for his contribution to Gladiator in 2000.

Tim Burke is something to be inspired by as he has definitely started at the bottom and worked his way up, which is something that most people who want to get into film nowadays have to do. I really enjoy watching most of the work he does and it has really inspired me throughout this project to be able to perform at my best and create the best work I can that is hopefully going to be nearly industry standard when its truly finished.