Steffan Lones doesn't shy away from hard work. In just five short years after graduating from 满帆's 电脑动画 bachelor's degree program, 他撒上砂砾, 的决心, and plenty of initiative to make his way to his current position as Visual Effects Team Lead with Moving Picture Company (MPC) in Montreal, 加拿大, 他在那里为电影做视觉特效，比如 哥斯拉:怪兽之王, 沙札姆!, 《x战警:启示等等.

Steffan's passion for special effects and animation began in high school. 除了他的必修课, he arranged guided-study courses to learn Maya, a professional-level animation and modeling program.

He continued putting in extra effort when he started at 满帆: He fell in love with visual effects during his 3D动画I类 and took the initiative to keep learning beyond the classroom. 在他上学期间, 他做额外的项目, reaching out to faculty members like Shawn Rinehart for additional assistance.

“他太聪明了，对自己不利," says Steffan about working with Shawn via text message on extracurricular work. “他对每件事都有答案."

When Moving Picture Company showed up at a 满帆 job fair, Steffan knew he had to apply. 在他得到这份工作之后, he went through the MPC Academy and was officially on the floor three months later, 上工作 《x战警:启示.

"That's kind of when I got thrown into the deep end of the pool, “欢迎来到这个行业”,’”他谈到等待他的工作.

Since it was his first project, Steffan was responsible for some of the series' grunt work. He used that opportunity to observe how more experienced VFX artists worked and started mimicking some of their workflow tricks. He also gained the vocabulary he needed to talk shop with senior artists. MPC recognized his talent and ability to work on complex setups and promoted him to a role as key artist.

作为关键艺术家, Steffan acted as a bridge between the effects artists and the lead artist, answering questions and stepping up when the lead was unavailable "It was almost like shadowing a lead,斯蒂芬说. After temporarily stepping in on superhero flick 沙札姆!, Steffan got promoted to Visual Effects Lead just in time for 野性的呼唤.

On top of adding his own visual effects art to projects, Steffan now leads a large team of VFX artists. He creates development pipelines for shows, determines what tools and software his artists need for new projects, 给他的团队提供反馈和批评, and determines deadlines with his superiors. 他还投了球。, looking at rough edits of a film and determining exactly where explosions, 火灾, 或者风暴属于.

斯特凡忙起来了. In 2019, MPC在蒙特利尔MPC制作了九部电影, and Steffan was juggling his responsibilities to his artists as well as attending meetings, 制定项目时间表, 参加客户电话会议. During deliveries he can be at the office late, but to him, it's worth it. "[My favorite part is] the end result… When you can actually go and sit in a theater and look at it; it's a lot of fun."

The long hours Steffan is willing to put in for movies like 哥斯拉:怪兽之王 set him apart from the pack when he was getting his sea legs at MPC, and he recommends that all new visual effects hires show that they're willing to go the extra mile.

“赶紧努力. Put in the time, put in the effort, and learn what you can," he says. "Prove to the company that you're willing to put in the time and the effort to stay with the company and grow more. 很多时候, they'll be able to realize that and attempt in their all power to keep providing you with more work."