IPN Spotlight: Farhez Rayani (Lighting Technical Director at Pixar Animation Studios)
Farhez Rayani has worked in the CG (computer graphics) industry specialising in film for 20+ years. For the last 10 years, as a Lighting Technical Director at Pixar Animation Studios, he worked on animated films such as Up, Toy Story 3, Finding Dory, Cars 3, Coco and Incredibles 2. He previously worked on visual effects films, such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Golden Compass and The Incredible Hulk. He also was on the development teams for the Academy award winning animation software: Autodesk Maya and also: Adobe Photoshop.
Throughout his career, Farhez has been involved in the research, exploration and implementation of cutting-edge technologies to birth new techniques and looks for films. He also has educated hundreds of artists and technologists on these tools and workflows.
In 2018, Farhez worked on three experimental animated short films. For Pixar, he worked on “Purl” and “Smash and Grab” which used new technologies and workflows at a big cost savings, and they are both available to view on YouTube. The other project is an independent animated short film “Sonder”, available online at Vimeo. “Sonder” was a big feat, involving a collaboration of 144 artists from across the globe, who used the 3D real time game engine: Unity. It was one of the industry’s first attempts to use this process, and as a result a virtual production studio was created.
Farhez is also a photographer and often travels for this work. He recently served as Director of the inaugural Jubilee Arts International Film Festival, that took place in Lisbon in 2018, as part of the Diamond Jubilee Celebration. In 2019, Farhez will be teaching courses at the University of Central Asia in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
What do you do for continuing education and improvement?
I consider myself a self-starter, so I firmly believe in the process of self-learning. Honing one’s skills and trying new things leads to new opportunities. For Sonder, I was working with a new technology in a way it was not designed to be used. I was also leading a large team, that I had never met before in person and whom themselves had little to no experience with this new technology. I had to start from the beginning and not allow uncertainty to prevent us from taking risks. The project greatly challenged my team and myself – we learned a lot and made a beautiful film.
What do you wish you had known or done differently throughout your career?
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned throughout my career is that it’s ok to not get what you want. I’ve been very blessed to have all the opportunities that I’ve had and know I am very fortunate. However there have been times when I didn’t get what I wanted. It was painful at those times and sometimes it was challenging to let go of what I had been so focused on as a goal.
The most important thing is that in one’s career, there are many paths and the universe has a way of showing you a lot of options and presenting many different opportunities. The trick is knowing how to recognize them and then to bootstrap yourself to pursue them.
What is next for you in your career?
I am smitten by the idea of working on projects with international teams. I want to create my own films and also enable other filmmakers of all cultures, thereby improving diversity in the industry. There are many rich cultures, more than those that are often represented today and I’m working to create projects that will resonate with a global audience, which has a hunger for this new content. Ideally these projects can make a social contribution to underrepresented communities around the world and help to improve understanding between societies. I also want to continue exploring what it will take to maximize the use of new technologies, like real time game engines to create films.
Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
• Collaboration
• Coaching
• Career Advice
Please provide the link to your LinkedIn profile:
Farhez Rayani
What are the best ways to see your work and get in touch with you:
Some of my travel / visual diary photos can be seen on Instagram:
instagram.com/farhez
Information about my work can be seen on my website:
farhez.com
Region:
West
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