Produced By - Birth of an Adventurous Dream Career in VFX⁠ | #35: Fernando Brandão de Braga

Starting point is 00:00:01 Hello and welcome to Produced Buy. Just quickly before we begin, if we enjoy the show, please consider supporting it by joining our Patreon. You can choose from a list of memberships and we'll receive some exciting rewards. Thank you and back to the episode. Hello Fernando. It's a pleasure to welcome such a legend like you are. So thank you for joining and welcome to the show.

Starting point is 00:00:28 Oh, it's my pleasure. I've been jealous and I had to ask you if I could be part of it. instead of being invited. It's fine. It's okay. It's awesome. I'll be having a lot of into the interviews.

Starting point is 00:00:42 I was very pleased. So thank you very much for joining. And I'm sure people will find out why you are such a legend just in a few minutes. So can you, Fernando, please, introduce yourself? Yeah, sure. My name is Fernando.

Starting point is 00:00:59 I am from Brazil originally. And yeah, I currently am in between jobs after a contract as an asset supervisor at DENHG. I work in Visual Effects for the last over 10 years, actually. But yeah, that's the basics. I believe we will get into the details as we speak. Yeah. So can we start with your background? Where are you from?

Starting point is 00:01:30 What was your childhood like? Yeah, I was born actually in southern Brazil. Like, it's a state called Rio Grande do Sul and a city that was born is Kashias do so. It's a state that it touches Uruguay in Argentina as well. I was born actually, when I was born in October, it was snowing. It was very fun. A lot of people didn't make that snows in Brazil, but there are certain people. parts that you use to snow.

Starting point is 00:02:06 And I have photos of me as a baby, kind of doing little angels or devils, whatever you choose on the snow. Yeah. And you said it's a beautiful. So it doesn't snow there anymore or not that frequently? Global Warmer is a tough one. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:02:24 It doesn't snow anymore. It does sometimes. There are a couple of places. They're quite high in Brazil. The depending on how it is in winter, it snows. But it would snow like in the city. You know, it's, yeah, now, unfortunately, it does anymore.

Starting point is 00:02:39 Even when I was born was already way less snow than what it was, like 80 years ago or something like that. Yeah, it's a beautiful, beautiful place. My father's family is from there. My mom, she's from São Paulo, where I'm actually calling you from. And then they ended up meeting in San Paulo, they moved into South Brazil. Actually, they met in South Brazil. And I grew up, I grew up until I was eight years old. I was living in Hungary and Dusu.

Starting point is 00:03:12 I think that between eight or nine years old, there was a gigantic migration in Brazil in search for work opportunity, work quality, education towards Sao Paulo, which is a gigantic financial capital. It's also a great place for study. and that kind of happens early 90s and throughout the 90s until today still happened a little bit, which is a lot of people looking for opportunity to have a better life coming to Sao Paulo. And my parents, they're very humble as well, and they were looking for that opportunity. So my dad took a job, I believe, and then when he got here, he didn't have that job anymore.

Starting point is 00:03:58 There was some dishes. But we moved here and it was, I remember the beginning. It was very interesting because we didn't have money. They pretty much rented. They paid like for the first three months of rent. And then we were pretty much eating like bread, ham and cheese and drinking Coca-Cola for breakfast, lunch and dinner sometimes. Yeah, it was a very tough beginning.

Starting point is 00:04:27 It was a tough beginning. But then my father and my father and mom, they kind of managed to work that way through. I grew up with a brother as well. I have a sibling. He's one year older. And we got along quite well. I used to love watching cartoons on TV. That's kind of where a lot of my passion for what we do started as a lot of people.

Starting point is 00:04:54 But yeah, my childhood was the tip. I think it's a typical childhood of a lot of people, like parents trying to make your life better, trying to make theirs life better, while trying to shield their children from the world and the realities of the world. So as a child, I knew that there was something wrong. You know, you kind of always have that feeling. You hear the discussions. You kind of see that there's something missing here or there are better days and worse days, you know, and then you kind of just grew up in that environment. Yeah. But it was a great environment.

Starting point is 00:05:26 My mom and my dad, they always done a great job caring for education. I grew up, I studied in public school in Brazil for many years. And then my mom, she went to university, she got her diploma, and then she started teaching in a private school. And then I had the opportunity to move to the private school under a scholarship. The scholarship was based on the fact that I could only get tens. or ace. I couldn't take any

Starting point is 00:05:59 lesser grades or else the scholarship would be canceled. So it was, in that sense, I feel like that's where my pressure started to kind of to exist more drastically for me. It was the first time that I had a responsibility over something.

Starting point is 00:06:17 Like, it was a really nice, great school. And yeah, it was the first time that my parents kind of put a little bit of pressure on me because, hey, we cannot afford this, but this is the best education we can provide you right now through the scholarship. So you and your brother kind of need to get your shit together and keep doing the right thing. In her loving way, they were very, like, they were very understanding. That was the first time that I had contact with English. It was the first time, and it was terrifying.

Starting point is 00:06:47 First time I had contact with English. Oh, yeah, I see. Because in the, yeah, in public school, I never. learned English. English at that time wasn't part of the curriculum. And at the private school, I joined the private school, I think it was 7th grade or 6th grade or something like that. And they had English since the beginning. So I had to study from the book, like without teachers with anything, trying to learn English to join the class and head towards English. And it was very traumatizing, very traumatizing because it was super hard. You know, English.

Starting point is 00:07:25 wasn't a thing. It wasn't there was like internet wasn't that thing. You know, like you, you pretty much listen to music, but you were just like mouth it, but not necessarily understanding many other ones. You know, you would just enjoy the music for the whole complete product that music is. But not necessarily paying attention to the lyrics, but I didn't recognize the words. And then I kind of had to kind of start paying attention to that study that. It was very stressful.

Starting point is 00:07:51 My first contact with English was very stressful. Yeah, I remember that I almost I almost failed a few tests in English. I kind of had to, I was lucky enough that some of the teachers, they actually gave me second chances because they knew that I never studied. So that was really good. But yeah, it was an interesting first contact with English. And can you say how hard is it for someone who speaks Brazilian language? How hard it is to learn English? because for example it will be easier for someone who knows other Germanic languages,

Starting point is 00:08:27 but when it comes to Brazilian? Yeah. I'm sorry, Portuguese. Oh, my God. Yeah. No, it's okay. I feel like it really depends on the person more than the language itself, unless it's like a language in which the structure is absolutely different.

Starting point is 00:08:41 Like, you have Japanese, Chinese, Arabic. Like the way you write and see is different. But like for Portuguese, to be honest, English, from a purest language, from a period. purely technical point of view, Portuguese is very complex. Like, even time tends to have more time tenses than the usual. It's really complicated. We have so many rules as well.

Starting point is 00:09:05 I would say that from a technical perspective, it isn't necessarily that hard to learn English. I think that for me, and I think that for a lot of people that I met over the years, it's just the usual. It depends on how old you are. right? Because at certain ages you are just esponging you you just absorb information, your brain's not set in a way, in ways, you know? And when I had to learn English, my brain was very much set in ways already. And breaking that barrier, you know, like thinking in English, instead of just trying to translate things.

Starting point is 00:09:45 The whole thing that was the complicated part, I don't necessarily believe that English as a lot. language. English is very complex if you want to make a complex, but the base of English for having like minimum to meaning communication is not that complicated. That was my perception, but I believe like if you, the hardest part is just like understanding the rules and how that goes, right? Like right now I'm actually trying to read as many books in Portuguese because on my first week here in Brazil, um, a couple of weeks ago, some people thought that I was, that I wasn't Brazilian because my Portuguese from Brazil has an accent. And the way I've been instructing in a way that it works for English, but not necessarily Portuguese. So I'm kind of mixing both languages and that's happening for a long time. Yeah. But yeah, everyone creates their own language, you know, at some point. Yeah, but yeah, I'll say, I always tell people when a lot of Brazilian ex-students and people that I know,

Starting point is 00:10:56 they're always afraid of pursuing opportunities abroad because of language differences. And I always say, I feel like you can study as much as you want. But at the end of the days, throwing yourself at a circumstance in which you're forced to learn, positively or negatively, right? Like you have amazing stories from refugees. therefore also stories of people like myself I had opportunity to study before and then get there and still get slapped in the face because you kind of need to learn you know like you need to learn how to go to the doctor which is

Starting point is 00:11:32 sometimes people don't actually teach you in class you know like how to describe the symptoms of cold you know or how to describe that you're she somewhere I don't know it's a I feel like I always tell people to not let don't let us let opportunity to go away just because you are unsure of language. There are many, many ways to put yourself out there and learn. And I do find that, I don't know if it's, I've been out from Brazil for 10 years. I don't know if the perception has changed. But I do find that Brazilian people, a lot of Portuguese speakers here, they are super afraid and they assume that you need to be like fluent in the language, in English, for instance.

Starting point is 00:12:20 specifically to go work in the States or Canada or England or whatever English speaker country. And I find that those countries, they are the majority of people, they're very embracing. There are some prejudices. I feel like there are always that what like a couple of people who are absolutely dicks about things. I have been made fun off in meetings with supervisors about accent or the wrong way of using a word or something like that. But I feel like if I have to say something, I try to tell everyone, it's like communication. There's so many levels of communication. And expressing yourself takes time, right?

Starting point is 00:13:02 But it's important to take that step forward and just try. I find that like I remember that one of the things that I struggle the most in English when I moved to Canada was expressing feelings and, you know, desires, anxieties, fears. expressing like emotions through words and sentence because they're a different language they don't have the same weight they don't have the same like you know what i mean right like they don't they don't have the same that even cursing i tend to curse more in english of the curse is different it's not the same as the weight of the curse that i know you kind of kind of let it go and then it takes time speaking the language to understand those nuances and also have a relationship with that language, right?

Starting point is 00:13:55 Like it's so that's why I think you need to give yourself time to go out there. You need to talk. You need to challenge yourself. You need to get frustrated. And all those things use all those things that kind of sound negative as a way to feel that desire to learn that thing as well. I feel like I talk to talk about this with my partner quite often. And we have both a very similar sense.

Starting point is 00:14:22 Like when you go to a country, a different country, you need to learn how they think, how they feel as well. I feel like that's the bare minimal respect that is own. You know, like we just did a trip around Europe and we will always kind of try to say hi, hello, thank you. Try to understand the language itself and try to communicate. Say you're sorry that you can't when you jump into English or something like that. But yeah, I do feel like a.

Starting point is 00:14:50 A lot of people have that fear on language where you're I was going to say that I absolutely agree because before I moved to London, I was also afraid of my level of English if it will be, I don't know, sufficient or if it's enough but after being here I think it's the last thing you should worry about because when I tell someone and they say my English isn't good so I say is the lot really the really Don't worry about there are so many people.

Starting point is 00:15:23 Not everyone has perfect English and there is nothing to be ashamed of because it's not your native language. There are like people from all around the world. It's not their native language either. And it's not a big deal. You will always communicate somehow and if you immerse yourself in the language, you will learn it by practicing. So it was a great point. Yeah. It is interesting. I do feel like it's a.

Starting point is 00:15:50 There's a lot of self-pressure when it comes to expressing. There's a lot of not wanting to deal with that frustration for many reasons. Some of them are good. Some of them are bad. But yeah, yeah, it's a very good point. And now I have, oh, sorry. I was just going to say, I think what's also important just to show your effort, because when people see that you are trying,

Starting point is 00:16:12 they're usually happy to help you or happy to see the effort that you are making. So, really, there is nothing to be. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I remember like when we have artists, they're junior artists from a different country. And they, you know that they're already stressed because they're junior. And they're already over-stressed because they don't speak the language. But they're trying. Like, we need to be patient.

Starting point is 00:16:37 We need to, hey, just take our time, take a deep breath. If you want, like, let's go to someone else and then we can come back to you later. I feel like it's just, it's a process. People need to be, people need to be more gentle. themselves and with other people. So that's something that definitely needs to happen more often. Yeah, yeah. And it's hard sometimes in a capitalist world.

Starting point is 00:17:01 But I do think that, yeah, the effort, as you mentioned, is a very, very good point. And I was curious, as you said before, when you went to public school and they didn't teach you English, was it because they were teaching different foreign language or they weren't teaching foreign languages at all? So when I went to public school, at that time, they were not teaching any other foreign language. It was Portuguese, and that was all. I do not know nowadays if English is part of the public school curriculum. I do know that a lot of private schools here do teach English as a second language.

Starting point is 00:17:41 I think that some of them I even go for Spanish. But I would say that I am not qualified to answer that in a sense. uncertainty. Yeah, yeah. But at my time when I was learning at the school, I was definitely English wasn't a thing. I don't know if maybe English you're going to start teaching English like a few years after because I was so young. Maybe they were not teaching English at an early stage at the time. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:18:11 Yeah. And then also I wanted to ask you where you were growing up because I've never been to Brazil. So just to imagine what did it look like, you know, I've got image of Brazil just from the movies. So was it like a, you would say, regular city like London or maybe not London, but like a regular city? Or for example, I remember from, it's going to be stereotypes. So I apologize, but from Fast and Furious, there was in Rio, you know, jumping from, I don't know, from, I don't know, they call it slums or something like that? Like, very poor people, or what kind of place was it?

Starting point is 00:18:54 Careful with the Fast Infurious reference, because I believe that some of the things that they show in the movie saying that it's Brazil is actually not Brazil. Really? Yeah, I think that they shot it or at some parts of the States or Mexico. Oh, I didn't know. the Portuguese they're using is actually Spanish

Starting point is 00:19:15 Spanish actor yeah it's it's a whole thing that is a whole thing it's very poorly represented there are a couple of scenes that I believe that yeah there are from Rio the favelas

Starting point is 00:19:29 where I grew up in South Brazil was actually at that time was very green it was a big city it was a big city not as big and large and populated with buildings as London nowadays it's close But we had a lot of greenery as well. It was really nice.

Starting point is 00:19:48 We used to live in this little hill. And it was a fairly new neighborhood. It was kind of around the main downtown area. It was cheaper. It was easier to build things. It was more isolated as well. But it was beautiful. We could see a lot of the city from there. It was still a growing place.

Starting point is 00:20:09 And when I moved to Sao Paulo, I did, I did, I definitely remember having a shock because Sao Paulo in the 90s was going through the whole process of changing from houses to buildings, right? So, Polo used to be a relatively, like, didn't have that much, that many buildings on early states. Like, it had more than the average in Brazil, but nowadays, it's like a lot of buildings. It's like a ridiculous amount of buildings. But some polo still has some greenery around. There are some neighborhoods that unfortunately lack green, but there are certain areas that you can definitely have more.

Starting point is 00:20:52 But I would say that San Paulo, it's closer to a London vibe. London has the history of like over 500 years of existence written on the streets, whereas San Paulo is a fairly young city compared to London. So you don't have that many, you don't have that much history, but you still see some of the colonial style buildings here and there. We have like some marks in the city. You can still see some of the different architectures. But San Paulo is also going through the same process that the majority of the big cities are going through, which is overpopulation.

Starting point is 00:21:26 Demolition of old houses to build studio buildings, you know. It's kind of all over the place. But it is definitely like from where I am, I can still see some trees around. the city has been trying to increase the amount of trees. When I left St. Paul for the first time over 10 years ago to go live in Canada, I recall having less trees than now that I'm back. So it's a good thing. Which is good. At least for me.

Starting point is 00:21:56 Yeah, exactly. Like, the people who live here don't notice that much. But I was personally surprised. I'm quite happy. Quite happy that we have more things than I can remember. at least. I don't know if it does my memory playing games on me, but yeah, it's definitely nice. But I love Sao Paulo. San Paulo is like, it's amazing, it's amazing convoluted, complex, multicultural place in which, yeah, it's just fun to be around.

Starting point is 00:22:26 You know, like people are very live. The metro system is amazing. Yeah, it's just fun to be around. There's like tons of bars, theaters, movies. There's so many, like, there's, yeah, there's so much to do here. Yeah, it's one of the things that it's interesting. As someone who wants to live in a place, I find personally, my taste, San Paulo, much more interesting than Rio. Rio has the whole beachy side section, you know, like, it's more touristy, it's pretty.

Starting point is 00:22:56 You can definitely see all the things. It's nice. But, San Paulo, you can drive around and get into, like, woods and forests. It's also quite nice. That was actually. It was my next question. It was my next question. If you can make a little comparison

Starting point is 00:23:11 between Sao Paulo and Rio, because I believe that most of the people know the Rio. So what would be some differences? Yeah, it's hard to compare. Like, it's such a different culture, right? Like, it's a, there's even certain, like, culturally speaking, there is a rivalry

Starting point is 00:23:27 between people from Rio and people from Sao Paulo. It's one of those things, you know. Like, it's, real is a gorgeous place. The people are awesome as well. But it's just imagine a West Coast lifestyle versus a East Coast lifestyle. That's kind of what happens. Like, Sao Paulo is because it has this title of financial capital,

Starting point is 00:23:49 however it comes here for work, it has a go, go, go vibe to it. And Rio, they slow down things. They enjoy the beach. They tend to, they still do a lot of work. You know, like it's not like they don't work. But there's a different speed insert, sense of urgency. There's also the size is different. Like, Sao Paulo is much larger. Rio, it has a lot of density.

Starting point is 00:24:16 And also, culturally speaking, the relationship that Rio has with the favelas, there are a lot of treats that are different from both places. Not only geographically is different. The cultural is different. But it's interesting that we kind of, like it's a four hour, six hour drive from Sao Paulo and you're getting to Rio, you know, and it's absolutely different. Even the accent that we speak is very different. Portuguese from Rio and Portuguese from Sao Paulo

Starting point is 00:24:49 they have very different accents. So can you recognize based on accent where they are from? Yeah. Yeah, you can recognize, yeah, Brazil, each section in Brazil has very specific different accents. Even the accent that I grew up with in South Brazil is different from São Paulo. Zampalo has a very specific accent as well, use of words. Brazil is so large and culturally speaking, it changes so much.

Starting point is 00:25:20 Food changes so much. The type of music that we enjoyed, that we grew up listening, the geography changes absolutely so. much as well. Like most people, I don't know every single corner of the country because it is one, unfortunately, it's expensive to travel within Brazil. And it takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of time to like very little people actually have been to many, many different states. I had lucky to travel around a little bit. And I was personally surprised with like how different everything is, you know? Yeah, yeah.

Starting point is 00:26:03 And so Paulo kind of gets a little bit of everything. I feel like it's a very good place to have, for instance, flavors from multiple parts of the country. You listen to multiple accents within Portuguese all the time. It's like the UK, but multiply by a hundred. Whereas you have like all the, like England has its own accents, and then you add the different accents from within Ireland, from within Scotland, Wales,

Starting point is 00:26:35 but then you multiply it for more, you know? It's kind of you're walking around the EU talking the same language, you know? Yeah, definitely a gorgeous place. Interesting country to visit for sure. And I'm feeling I'm doing advertising for the tourism in Brazil now. No, you made me curious.

Starting point is 00:26:57 I will need to at least look at photos of Sao Paulo and Rio as well to see some differences and also to check the map. But if you can do one more comparison, how would you compare it to actually capital city Brasilia? Oh, you know what? I've been to Brazil only once and I was very young. I don't have much recollection of it.

Starting point is 00:27:18 I remember being a very dry place, incredibly dry at that time that I visited. I think I was about 16 years old, 16, 17. I don't know how it is now. Brazil is a full-on like it was a planned city I believe I believe that the the main part

Starting point is 00:27:41 with the political capital is Brazil right that's where the president is and everything and it was planned to be in that location for military purposes and things like that it's far away from the shore and all those things I believe that then there is a also

Starting point is 00:27:58 there's a city that grows around that to provide services and things like that I don't know how well planned it is but I would say that is a different experience as well I don't know how how that is now to be honest yeah fortunately I cannot give you my own perspective no worries you sold us the country already no I thought you feel like that honestly there's too many places to go here like I I know a little bit more going towards south a little bit bit around San Paulo. A couple of places in the north. My father, he lives in the north. I haven't visited him yet. But you also have like, like, Amazonas and like states around that area.

Starting point is 00:28:46 It's still like I haven't been to many of those areas as well. I've done like a quick shooting over 15 years, 17 years ago in the Amazon's. But it was only three days. And it was like so muggy. so hot so many fly I couldn't sleep I believe if you want to

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Starting point is 00:29:31 with the show and more. Links are in the show notes. Thanks. Before we move out of this geographical window, if you were to share one favorite site to see or visit in Brazil or place or something for tourists, what would that be? I don't have one.

Starting point is 00:29:55 I don't have one. It's hard. It's a hard one. I would say if you like beaches, stick with the north. I prefer the beaches that you will have like north, including like Rio Janeiro, like it's a very nice place. But the beaches at North think you have more variety.

Starting point is 00:30:13 If you want to eat, Minas Gerais is an amazing place. Sao Paulo will have food from there as well. But I don't know. Like there's so many great places to go. Yeah, unfortunately, it's too big men to decide. Yeah. That's the story.

Starting point is 00:30:28 There's a favorite movie. There are too many movies to be favorite. As a kid that I don't like a question. No, no worries. So then, coming back to your education, when did you decide to pursue your career of someone who's working in film or VFX industry? When was it?

Starting point is 00:30:52 Yeah. I mean, I always enjoy like cartoons, growing up watching cartoons, right? And then we have something here in the high school. You can choose at the time you could choose. I don't know if they still have this. You could choose to do the high school and also pursue a technical career. And I chose advertising.

Starting point is 00:31:16 So that was my first contact with some of the stuff. Creating a creation of image, kind of trying to get a little bit of a very simple base of marketing, advertising. And I really enjoyed it. But I would say that the day that they find that I really, really wanted to work in movies was when I watched Beauty and the Beast in the movie theaters. When that was released, I remember... Animated. Yeah, that was a 2D, Walt Disney, all that stuff.

Starting point is 00:31:49 I remember that my parents, they didn't usually have the money to go for the movies with me. with me. So my neighbor, she had a kid that was quite friends with me and my brother, and she offered to bring us to the movie theater. And it was like this, the first time I've been to the movie theater and it was like love at first sight, like the whole experience sitting in the dark, the smell of popcorn, you know, like the big lights coming from the screen and all that fun. And that was like absolutely, I was hooked. It was like, honestly, the most intense drug I've ever done in my life. It was like absolutely amazing.

Starting point is 00:32:34 And that kind of got me thinking into drawing. So I started drawing as well. I started painting. I have my grandmother used to paint. I have an auntie that paints quite wonderfully as well. And then every time I would visit them, we would draw a paint. And then I grew up having a little bit of that. And then I started working.

Starting point is 00:32:57 Coincidentally, that school, the high school, they had like a design company and they were hiring. So I got my first job when I was around like 13, 14 years old. So I started working with them. I started working in Photoshop and that kind of stuff. That was kind of my first experience with images. And then I moved from that place into merchandising, when my mom was doing psychology. she had a colleague and he needed someone to do visualization of the products that he was trying to sell for PDVs. So I pretty much kind of got hired and that was the first time I had contact with 3D because he paid me a course to learn 3D max and things like that.

Starting point is 00:33:51 Actually, it wasn't the first. My first was I learned, I tried to learn by myself, but it was just too complicated at the time. And then he paid a course. I went to the course. And then I started meeting more people that also work with 3D. And then after a little while, I got hired by a bureau of design. And that's when things started to become a little bit more serious for me. That was already like six down the road.

Starting point is 00:34:17 But the owners of that place, there were two artists. They were classic artists. and they started kind of helped me to see what I wanted to do. I've always knew I wanted to work with cinema but Brazil, it was a very hard place to start working.

Starting point is 00:34:39 I always wanted to do like visual effects, special effects, I want to work with animation. At that time, it was still quite small or quite focused in advertising. And I never actually thought about going abroad at that time yet. And then we were talking after a few years. We're quite close.

Starting point is 00:34:59 I was one of the oldest employees in the place as well. And they finally asked me, I was pretty much, I postponed going to university for about four years because I had to work to help at home as well. And at some point, I was like, okay, everyone's okay. Like I can start thinking about my future a little bit more with time. And then I was talking to them. they're like, hey, why don't you just do photography? Like, it's just across from the office. It was literally the same, like, just walking across the street that will be at the university.

Starting point is 00:35:34 It was one of the best programs in Brazil. It's a university called Sanaki. I used to work in a neighborhood call up. It was a very interesting neighborhood. And I was like, you know what? Let me try a couple of things. I've always wanted to do philosophy. So I did a test to enter university to do philosophy, and I tried photography.

Starting point is 00:35:59 I passed both, but I ended up choosing photography because it was more practical. Like I could see a future a little bit more easy with that, which was something narrow-minded from me at that time. I didn't understand all the potential everywhere. And I feel like it was also a language that was more used to. And that was the first time that I actually started studying and get formal education when it comes to image. And it was awesome. It was honestly, I have plenty of great memories.

Starting point is 00:36:37 And I was extremely happy. I've always enjoyed studying. Always. I've always enjoyed learning something. Since I was young, I don't, I like the frustration. of learning to a certain extent. And I find that learning one of the most addictive things to be doing, you know, like, regardless of what it is.

Starting point is 00:37:02 And I did... Do you have still such a mindset now? Yeah. Yeah, I do. I'm actually feeling a little bit... It's one of the things that I'm trying to plan what's going to be the next thing from which you study, right? I like to learn different things as well.

Starting point is 00:37:17 But we're going to go back to that. Let me just, I don't want to lose my line of thought because my brain works and scape away. So I did two years of photography. I loved it. I loved it. Every single ounce of it. I remember that my, I remember going to the black and white lab to review. Like we, my time was a transition in time towards digital photography.

Starting point is 00:37:45 And my class was one of the last. class that was pretty much analog photography. So I went to the labs, we will reveal the film in the black and the dark room. It was fun. It was like yeah. And it was also really nice because it was the first time that I was actually exposed to like my my class had about 40 to 50 people and 40 to 50 people of extremely different lines of thoughts you know like it's the kind of thing that i feel like the university is still worth going to you're exposed to different mindsets different things different backgrounds different cultures different styles and it was really like mind-blowing seeing all those things uh it was very fun

Starting point is 00:38:34 but at the end of the second year of photography i still felt like it wasn't a hundred percent what i wanted i've always missed the animation part of it uh and at that time I was doing freelancing with a guide that was doing a program at this new school. And that school was kind of like a kind of escape studios. It is in London, Vancouver Film School. It is in Canada. They teach you like 3D from the base and then go and you could do like a sharp film as your project, as you're like a project, final project.

Starting point is 00:39:14 And then I start saving money. as much as I could at the time. And then I started doing the program. I put a pause on the university. I started doing the program. I remember that I actually paid a little bit less because it was that time that you need to write down a shack, right? And then I cried off for a discount and then the guy gave me the vet.

Starting point is 00:39:36 And then I took a little bit more when I wrote down all the 12 checks. And I was like, I don't have the 12 checks anymore. We're going to have to wait. Can we just? And he was really nice. It was okay. The financial department was okay. It wasn't that much, you know.

Starting point is 00:39:51 But at that time, for me, it was a lot. Like, 25 in occurrence at that time was like, I remember that I had to choose one meal that I wouldn't have for the first six months. So I would always have breakfast and then I would have to choose between having like dinner or lunch. Even meal prepping would be hard. It was a tough moment because. my mom was having issues, my brother was having issues as well. So financially, it was kind of like, okay, let me play with this. I start taking some credit debts with the bank as well, which put me a little bit.

Starting point is 00:40:26 It was a risking investment. But it was also really nice. Like the school was amazing. The people, I'm actually, I still do consultants work with the school. I still, including today, I'm going to the school after talking to you just to see the people. I'm very close friends with all of them. the same one. Yeah, still the same one.

Starting point is 00:40:48 Yeah, they're still up and going. The school became a university now, after all this journey in time. Yeah, it's called Melias. It's really nice. They change a lot of things in Brazil when it comes to visual effects and CG. A lot of people came from different states in Brazil to that school as well, which is awesome. And I was one of them. So I was in a class with a lot of people that,

Starting point is 00:41:15 they were risking a lot of things like I was risking, you know, like a lot of people, because it is expensive for the nature of what it is. So a lot of people were kind of like taking a lot of chances. And I was studying at night because I was still working. In Brazil, it's very traditional to work full-time and then do university. Yeah, yeah. So I would work from usually, I don't know, eight to six and then go to the school, study from seven to 10 and then go back home, do homework, wake up even early.

Starting point is 00:41:49 I would wake up earlier around like 4 a.m. Then go to the go to work and try to study before work started as well. So I was like for about a year. I was pretty much sleeping like three hours, four hours a night. Oh, yeah. And then studying during the weekends. Yeah. There was a moment that I had to do.

Starting point is 00:42:09 I didn't have all that money. So at some point I had like three freelance freelances plus work, plus the program and trying to have a little bit of a life, which I didn't. Yeah. Yeah. It was very convoluted, but it was very energetic. You know, it was very, I feel like I had the right mindset to go through that at that time. There are a couple of issues. I feel like I sacrificed a lot at that time. Some things I didn't have to, but I also didn't have the

Starting point is 00:42:37 Yeah, the vision perspective to understand what I was sacrificing. But it worked. The school actually at the time, I finish my program a couple of months after they invited me for an interview and they want me to become an instructor at the school. Oh, like once you finished just shortly afterwards? Yeah, shortly after or yeah, it's pretty much for lighting look-dav render comp. I got along quite well with the, we wanted the partners, Raphael, who's a dear friend, extremely talented person as well. and he saw potentially meet and he suggested to hire me.

Starting point is 00:43:16 I went there, we talked and yeah, it just worked. And then after that, it was an intense journey. That was my first official into visual effects world kind of job. That was the first time after like I was already working for probably nine, ten years. And I got into the school and it was awesome. Yeah, it was great. It was everything I could want. I was working my eyes off, but with something that, you know,

Starting point is 00:43:49 like you had that amazing value. After a couple of years, I decided to go back to school to finish university. So I was teaching full time, and then I went back to school. I got my diploma. It was kind of, it was bittersweet because when I went back to university, it was one year after my class, had graduated, so I couldn't say goodbye to them that properly, but I also got to know, I got to knew a lot of new people as well, which was fun.

Starting point is 00:44:24 But it was a different condition because I was only studying a couple of classes here and there, and I was just kind of like that student that would show up for like three times a week. but once I graduated, I was very much happy. Then the school moved to a different neighborhood. The school starts growing. I started picking up more responsibility because I just love. Like I understood that I really enjoyed teaching as well. It was something that it really got to me.

Starting point is 00:44:59 I wasn't expecting that. But it was really, really, really fun. I love teaching. I'm not going to say that I was a great teacher. because I feel like as I was too young, I didn't have the proper thing. You know, like I had my personality that was very different. I was a very rough person because of the way I was working. I grew up working in a harsh environment.

Starting point is 00:45:22 So I'm not going to say that I was the most sensitive person as well. I didn't know how to motivate properly, you know. But after a few years teaching, the people that worked with me were helping, giving feedback, some students confronting me. also helping me grow, you know, and I feel like after six, seven years, I actually became a decent instructor at that time. But it was still starting to miss something. So I decided to keep studying. And after photography, I really remember falling in love with art history. I had this teacher, this professor, and she was like amazing, the love of my life.

Starting point is 00:46:06 She like, her classes were just like so goddamn awesome, you know? It's just like one of those classes that you would start listening to someone and you will be done and you feel like time didn't exist it. And I remember, I remember like if I go back to school, because school is tiring. You know, it's always tiring. If you're working, it's always tiring. Like, if I go back to school, I want to try to study more art history. So I found this diploma program, which was art history, theory, and critics.

Starting point is 00:46:47 And yeah, and I feel like I hit the nail right on the spot at that time, because it was another amazing, amazing experience. It was just a two-year program. It was a lot of theory, but involved so much more than what I was expecting. It was like, it talked about philosophy, sociology, economies, and how that shaped the world in certain countries in order to give the right ground for some art movements to actually, like, emerge. So it was like really deep dive into culture, mindsets, philosophy. It was really, really, really interesting. And I absolutely loved it.

Starting point is 00:47:33 loved it. With everything, like I wouldn't, to a certain point, I wouldn't even get that much tired because it was just fun. It got a little bit more tired when I had to do my thesis itself, but I found out my way of doing the thesis, the perfect environment for me to study, which was the movie theater. So what I would do, yeah, I would do three times a week. I will go to the movie theater, I will buy a large popcorn and a point. pop and then I will sit down, read my books at the waiting room for the movie.

Starting point is 00:48:10 So I would get there, buy the ticket for a movie for like three hours after, and then I would just sit down studying, and then boom, close the book, close my notepad, and then go watch a movie, get out of there. And if it was a weekend, I would do that twice. I will go, write, study, watch a movie, finish the movie, come back, study more and watch another movie. I would spend like pretty much like the entire weekend going to the movie theater. I'll watch the same movie sometimes twice, you know. It's like a perfect environment. And I felt like that was a really nice thing. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:48:45 And it was interesting because I don't usually like studying with people around me, but in, in that context, like looking at the lineups, kind of going through, looking at the couples, looking at people with dates, like people with kids, you know, around. It kind of just felt like so positive environment. that it kind of just worked for me so I kept studying you know like even the people from the movie theater like they already knew my name you know it's oh it's him again

Starting point is 00:49:13 that's a that's the weird guy that right down and go to the movies twice a day yeah and it was really nice the people that I met that at the program was also they were also amazing

Starting point is 00:49:28 and that was an interesting one because we started the class with about 20, 30 people, but very, like every semester, people were dropping because it wasn't what they were looking for. You know, it was also interesting to see, like, people's goals and objectives when it comes to that. And to be honest, I feel like photography gave me a lot of base

Starting point is 00:49:53 to discuss photography and that part of what we call art. But that diploma itself gave me a much broader array of tools to talk about writing, paintings, photograph, like sculpt and performative arts. And yeah, it was just really, really nice. And after I was like that, I thought about following a academic career. That was for about like, after I was done with my thesis, I was like, no, that's what I want to do. Like, it was so, so much love doing that, you know, that I decided that I wanted to do that. And then after a little while, I had a couple of people from the school that moved to Canada to pursue a career in visual effects in Canada. And at that time, things were much better.

Starting point is 00:50:48 Yeah, in that time, things were much better at home. My mom was, like, very, like, well in her career as well. My brother was doing well. my father was like doing well as well his own place and I think that I got like two kind of lines of thought like and for a couple of years I had like okay Fernando you're gonna stay in Brazil and you can pursue this more academic side of things while still pushing little by little what you know in visual effects or you can kind of try to go and fulfill that dream you had like you go to Canada and you try to pursue that dream,

Starting point is 00:51:27 see what's up with that. And I feel like after a couple of years, seeing people, I didn't want to make a decision of that level right after my thesis because I was so in love with art history and things like that that I knew that I was going to be very biased. So I kind of waited a little bit, put that in practice. I start coming up with my own classes. I start teaching university as well for a year.

Starting point is 00:51:54 And okay, so this is a kind of. academic life. It has its good, it has its bad. You know, like this is, and what do you want to do? I pretty much kind of flipped a coin on the decision, you know, because I was very much like 50-50 split. But I was like, look, Fernando, you've been living in Brazil all your life. You know, they're like, you've been speaking Portuguese or your life. You've been talking about traveling abroad. You never experience anything. Go for a year. And after a year, you see what is it, what happens, you know? I spoke with the people at school. I spoke with a lot of people like, hey, yeah, if you, if you come back, we will get, like,

Starting point is 00:52:34 we will receive you back with open arms. Just, yeah, if you come back. And kind of pretty much, all like, you know, let's just do this. And then I pretty much went with the idea of going to Canada. I researched going to Ireland. I researched going to other places. But Canada was at that time in 2000. 13, 14, it was the most financially doable for me as well.

Starting point is 00:53:01 I didn't have that much money to go there with. So I pretty much went there, like just close my eyes, pay for the English course. So the visa that I went there was like a study work visa. So I had to study first and then after nine months of study, I would get like a nine months or 12 months work visa. So that would be like two years. So the first year pretty much studying, the second year pretty much working, and then done, I will have to find someone to sponsor or I will come back to Brazil. So I was like, you know what, that's a nice experience.

Starting point is 00:53:38 Screw it, let's do it. So I then paid the program, went to Canada, and yeah, I stayed there for 10 years after this. Yeah, I went to Vancouver, which is the West Coast in Canada. It's a lovely place. It's quite different from what used to be. But it was amazing. And I started studying English. I feel lucky that I had people to support me there as well.

Starting point is 00:54:15 My friends that were there that I knew from the school, Marcelo, Raphael, Marcelo's wife, Biba. They helped me so much on our first couple of weeks. And I feel very, very lucky and I treasure them like for the rest of my life because I do find that it's a very, I can, I could see when I was alone the weight of being alone, but also I knew that I had people that I could count on around me. And that just grows my admiration for the people to take that opportunity by themselves. and people who get there escaping from something horrible that they have back home. You know, it's definitely, I was lucky enough to have had the choice of going instead of being forced going. You know, it definitely puts it in perspective.

Starting point is 00:55:06 And the school, the English school that I studied, we dealt with a lot of like refugees as well. You have people from fairs, different countries. And it was really, really nice. Like, it was, it was kind of weird being a student. student full time, you know, but it was also kind of like really nice. I didn't have enough money to be student full time. So I kind of had to find a job before time. And I try finding a job in my area, but it didn't work because you kind of need to be there

Starting point is 00:55:37 eight hours a day. And I was studying until two, like actually until four o'clock in the afternoon. So pretty much you're studying English full time. Yeah. Which was amazing. My English improved so much then. That was really, really cool. Like, there's nothing like being there, you know.

Starting point is 00:55:57 I remember asking for information to get the bus, and I couldn't communicate that properly. And, like, after one week, I was already asking for directions. It was, yeah, and the teachers there were amazing as well. But I started looking for a job, couldn't find it. And then there was a person inside the school. I had a friend that worked in a restaurant, and they were looking for dishwashers.

Starting point is 00:56:25 So I went there for an interview, beautiful locations, it's called Canada Place. It's a pub called Mahoney & Sons. I believe they're still open. And I work at the Mahoney and Sands for, I think, for six to nine months. I don't fully recall how long I worked there for. But I worked from dishwashing for like four months. Then I worked in the kitchen itself.

Starting point is 00:56:48 It was a very rough experience. It was very hard work. Like standing up for a full like eight hour, ten hours or twelve hours. You know, like it was rough on the knee. I remember like spilling hot oil on my feet while doing oil exchange. The rhythm of a kitchen is insane as well, right? But it was also a great point. I made like great friends in the kitchen.

Starting point is 00:57:21 I had to force my English to get much better because I was working with not only Canadians, but with Irish people, Scottish people. And I couldn't understand the different accents at that time. You know, like my brain was like, that doesn't even sound like English somehow. And I couldn't communicate because they couldn't understand me because I had a really extremely heavy accent as well. But it was really good. Like I worked with so many people from so many different backgrounds from like, from being

Starting point is 00:57:48 prison to like being the first job of their lives when they're 16 years old you know my first supervisor had 19 years old or I don't know like and then you have like people different ways of managing you know it was just it was my first experience absolutely different from what I used to do and it was also like ego wise at that time it was even though I understood what I was doing for the time what I was doing it was hard living the position I had before and then like being a position in which like it was so hardcore work I thought that I was past that phase of my life but no you know so kind of I knew that that was the case and that it was just a moment but even though you know that that's just a moment going through those seconds and those minutes was very tough but I was rewarded by

Starting point is 00:58:43 the city to be honest because I will leave the kitchen I don't know, like in the afternoon or a night, like 1 a.m. or 12 o'clock. And I will walk outside and see the ocean and see the lights in the mountain. You know, get the smell of fresh air, like actual fresh air. You know, like one thing that London in Sao Paulo have in common is the terrible air quality. I was going to say, not like in central London. No, definitely not like central London. The beautiful smell of peaking city.

Starting point is 00:59:16 but I would say that yeah it was still very much worth it I remember like every single I would leave the place it was tough I would like but it was worth it every single day was definitely worth it it was fun that people working were amazing you know and then I had a problem with the tendonitis I had an inflammation on my tendon and then I couldn't cook anymore because at that time I was moving I was kind of moving to different stations in the kitchen and I would finally cook on the pen and it was fun I was learning it was actually really fun and I developed this inflammation on a tendon and then I lost this curvature on the on the hand oh and I couldn't work in the kitchen anymore yeah it was a very tough tough time and how does that happen or why did that happen does repetitive use wrong use like it's a you know like too many years working in the computer then plus adding the repetitive movement of the weight because you have like risotto and you're cooking like five, seven riso. I don't know, like 20 minutes, you know, like not fine dining.

Starting point is 01:00:29 Let me see you have a lot of prep stuff and you need to do. Things are heavy and then you're moving. You're chopping things, you know, a lot of repetitive movements. And I wasn't professional. Yeah. Yeah, you don't want that. You don't want me cutting stuff with my lap time. No, no. I wasn't, I wasn't, I wasn't, I was learning what I was doing. So I was committing a lot of mistakes as well, right? So I was holding the knife wrong and then I had to be corrected. People had a lot of patience, but like, it takes some time for you to learn that.

Starting point is 01:01:01 And I developed that within the year. And then I had to take a break. I stopped it. At that time, I was also in a very good relationship. And then I had someone to support me while I was not necessarily working and I still had some money that I was saving from working. Coincidentally, it was also the time in which I was able to start looking for a proper job. It was kind of things were aligning. Then I found a nice doctor to, as expensive doctor, but very confident doctor to help me cure it with the thing.

Starting point is 01:01:40 And then things kind of just align. I was getting better for my hand and I could apply for a job and some friends recommended to a company. And then I got my first gig in Visual Effects after a year and two months, a year, two, three months. I actually had an experience in an architectural company for a couple of months. It didn't work out that well. People were awesome, but just the type of work wasn't necessarily a line. And the guy that hired me, he left to start his own company. So I kind of had a little bit less motivation to stay at the place.

Starting point is 01:02:19 But after two, three months, we talked. We all agreed that it wouldn't work. It wasn't the fit that we all thought it would be. And then I got this job aligned at this place called Bardell. They're still open to do amazing things. And that was the first time that I had a step on visual effects animation. abroad. And I started as a June.

Starting point is 01:02:46 No, no. My English program was done. I was fully on into my work, my work visit. So that was, that was awesome. It gave me the freedom to kind of have a lot of interviews.

Starting point is 01:02:58 And it was also really fun because I never been to so many interviews in my life, you know? It was very interesting because in Brazil, at that time, I would do it. interviews. I will go through a lot of interviews, but the interviews, I don't know, because I was working at the school for so long, it was like almost 10 years working at that school. So I was

Starting point is 01:03:20 absolutely out of practice when it comes to interview. And then I got to like the kitchen interviews that were not that complicated. But then when I started heading to the interviews for visual effects and talking to people, oh, I need to prepare them better for here and there. And yeah, like I remember, I remember that there were a couple of months I had like about six interviews. And I was like, holy crap, six interviews. And I got lucky that I had one of them was a good fit. They were growing. I remember that at the time that they were working on the King Julian.

Starting point is 01:03:54 It was a TV show spin-off from the Madagascar. Magiscar? Yeah. One of those movies from Teamworks. It was really fun. It was nice. Remind me what was it called again, King? King Julian. It's on Netflix, I believe. I think so.

Starting point is 01:04:16 So is that about that little monkey-like animal? Yeah, I forgot that the breed, the animal. Yeah, but it's that one. Yeah. It was super fun. It's the entire. I know just what it is called in my native language, but don't know English, but it's very funny. Yeah, I know what it's called. It was super fun. Lemours? Lemore?

Starting point is 01:04:44 Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's correct. Lemore. Yeah. I think so. I don't know. But it was super fun. And it was the first time that I was exposed to a pipeline, the procedures,

Starting point is 01:04:58 how complex and how many departments there are, production departments. And then I had to report to my leads, the lead that had to report to his supervisor. and then we were talking to the editor because, hey, there's like a continuity and like, oh my God, continuity. That's true. I also need to do that. And it was fun, like working with a lot of extremely smart people, young people.

Starting point is 01:05:22 And that's kind of where I started. And then I had a, and that was a contract, I believed at the time was nine months. I was still very much not used to contract work. coming from Brazil, we are used to permanent positions. At that time, definitely, like, contract work wasn't that much. I feel like nowadays is a little bit more. I was not used to the whole instability of have contract and how to plan for that. But after nine months, my contract was almost done,

Starting point is 01:05:56 and I got an offer that gave me more money. It was pretty much because of the money that I left. Because I needed to kind of start to create some, I needed to start having a little more financial piece at that point. So I kind of figured that I needed to invest on that for the year. And because if I was supposed to go back to Brazil or not, I kind of did the money as well. Yeah, yeah. So I changed to Icon, which is a company that still works. They do amazing work as well.

Starting point is 01:06:36 Again, usually awesome people, talented and everything. And then we worked on the first Latin Disney princess. I got hired to work on Elena of Avalor. I believe, I think that they're done with that show already. It might be on Disney Plus or things like that. And it was super fun as well. a lot of work because they were changing to render men. They used to work with Arnold.

Starting point is 01:07:03 It was like this whole thing, but it was fun. We had a couple of, a few nights that we kind of worked late. That was a little bit tough. But it was still very nice. What was your position at that time? I was still as a light. I was a lighter in Comper at that time. Thank you for listening.

Starting point is 01:07:27 If you enjoy the show, please leave us a five-star review on your favorite podcast app, get in touch to provide your feedback or share any ideas for future guests. Thank you and see you soon.

Produced By - Birth of an Adventurous Dream Career in VFX⁠ | #35: Fernando Brandão de Braga

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