Meet Victor (Wei-Kang) Lin | VFX Compositor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Victor (Wei-Kang) Lin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Victor (Wei-Kang), what’s something about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?
I am a compositor working in the Visual Effects industry, and although working on films and TV might sound cool to people, we are just regular people doing a day-to-day job. Most of us don’t get residuals like many actors do, there are no unions to protect us and no matter how big the project is, we just do the shots we are told to do and move on.

Besides the work environment and how we get paid, many people don’t know that visual effects don’t just mean cool laser beams, explosions, and magic glowy lights. As a compositor, 70 % to 80 % of the time I am working on the “Invisible Visual Effects” tasks, such as removing or replacing objects, keying the blue/green screens and compositing with other backgrounds, or even beauty work like removing wrinkles, pimples, making someone change the shape of their bodies, etc. If you look at a scene that we have retouched and you can’t tell what’s changed, that means we did a great job.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a compositor. The easier and quicker way to explain is Photoshop but for videos. I enhance the visual and combine different footage with elements such as effects simulations, 3D renders, or even just random materials we find that suit the storytelling.

For example, in a film I worked on, The Exorcist: Believer, you can’t actually capture the ghosting light effects or for the actors to vomit out dark liquids nonstop. It’s my job to add those things in and make it believable to aid the storytelling. Part of my job is also to remove the blue/green screens and composite backgrounds provided by other departments or clients. Many people might not realize that visual effects for many projects are not a one-man job, and it’s usually many teams of people working on specific things and then combining all the elements together to create the final results we see on the big screen.

Besides the action-packed blockbuster film and cool effects, What I do daily and the most is actually something called “invisible visual effects”. People might look at the scene and not realize anything has been done with it and that just means we’ve done a great job. It can be something as small as removing a scar from the skin to replace the sky. The whole point is to make any changes that seamlessly fit the original footage.

So far I’ve done visual effects on a popular Amazon Prime show, Gen V, a classic horror franchise, The Exorcist Believer, and many more projects yet to be publically announced. In the past few years living in the States, I’ve also worked on scenes in TV shows such as What We Do In The Shadow season 3, Black Mafia Family season 2, Swarm, and Echo 3 so on and so forth.

I am very proud of what I do, and I have been praised for having a good attitude and hunger for knowledge. I guess the drive to grow and succeed is what made me come this far. When I was just a fresh-out-of-school junior artist, I confidently took on more senior tasks within one year of working in the industry and received good comments from my coworkers. My background is also what sets me apart from other people in my company. Being in a foreign country alone can be tough; that’s why I need to work harder and make sure I am constantly improving.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I don’t go out much, and when I do I’m usually out with my colleagues at a brewery or places where we can chat. I enjoy going to the Monday Night Garage to have a few beers and to Chattahoochee Food Works to browse around and get different things to share. I’m sure there are plenty of hidden gems in Atlanta for people to explore, I’d recommend my friends to come explore the city with me and discover new places.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to shout out to my company Crafty Apes, I am thankful for being kept on the team for so long despite the strikes and the slow recovery. I truly think that everyone at Crafty is talented and genuinely great people. And to my partner Drew, for supporting me during the difficult times.

Website: victorlinvfx.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victor-lin-vfx/