Produced By - Conquering the World of VFX and Beyond | #36: 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. And then I was kind of heading towards, I think, a lead position. I was older as well so I had a little more experience.

Starting point is 00:00:25 I feel like I have developed a lot of people's skills So I help motivating the team, I help organizing and help like, you know, like supporting. I remember having a couple of colleagues that they just had arrived in Canada. So I kind of also helped them settle a little bit, trying to kind of give them a little bit more like a positive reinforcement. Yeah. Because it's tough. Like coming from different countries, we know that some countries have a very harsh work culture.

Starting point is 00:00:57 And then you see someone that kind of has the like super. self-destructive way of doing things because that's how their reality requires. Like some countries they are harsher to work at. Like they do require a lot of overtime. They do require you to be there more time or like give more of yourself. And certain countries, they have a different culture in which you can actually take advantage to that to a certain level. And like, hey, man, let's slow down.

Starting point is 00:01:34 You don't have to do this. You don't have to do that. No one is judging you for this. You just started like your first week, man. You know, like that kind of stuff. They just kind of slow the person down a little bit. And kind of, I feel like it's important. I saw a lot of people, even myself, like it took me like a few years.

Starting point is 00:01:53 Even while I was talking to him, I was still working a lot, you know? And it took me a long time, too. understand how to balance life and work. Coming from Brazil, getting to a West Coast culture in Vancouver, not to say that I wasn't working. I was working. People work hard. But it's interesting to know that people work hard, but they don't work for free.

Starting point is 00:02:20 Because I feel like that's a breaking part for a lot of people. You know, like you ended up working for free because you're trying to prove yourself. You come from a culture in which you have a work you're lucky. person and you should say thank you and kneel before your boss and you're always afraid that if you lose your job you know i'm not going to say that the school i worked at i was lucky enough that people are not dicks people are not assholes but the economical perception of country and the culture is quite like that so you're lucky that you're you have that position to which we are compared to a lot of things and coming from where it comes from i know the value of work and i

Starting point is 00:03:00 understand what is there if I don't work, you know, and then balancing that with a different country and their culture, like, okay, what is life? You know, what's the personal life that I want to have and how to balance that? It takes time. And definitely something that I do, I do see myself having a more reasonable perception of that to this day. And then I went to a job fair as well after I joined Icon after like almost eight months and in that job fair I met a couple of recruiters I met Carlos who was a lighting lead at digital domain and went for an interview and then I got a gig at digital domain and that was technically I would say my first gig on a big visual effects house that has the history that they had you know like

Starting point is 00:04:00 Benjamin Button and like Tron and everything they were doing and it was like like it was all these amazing things. I don't know. I was absolutely. I hope I'm not around but isn't a digital domain. Wasn't it founded by James Cameron or it's not correct? Originally I believe so, but then he sold and there were different things and by the time I was there I think that even the company went by different, like someone bought the company,

Starting point is 00:04:29 but it was funded by, believe, James Cameron, some other people. They worked on Titanic and all that stuff, right? Yeah, like, it's an amazing place with amazing people as usual. And that was the first time that I had experience, like, in big blockbusters instead of TV shows. The first project I worked on was Fast and Furious. I forgot the number because there's so... I don't know

Starting point is 00:04:58 was there one with the submarine in the in the ice yeah so I think it'll be I think that was five seven eight or seven yeah I think seven

Starting point is 00:05:13 I think past seven maybe seven or six it's too many too many for me as well yeah but it was it was awesome It was like, I got, I started very early stage in the movie, which was great.

Starting point is 00:05:29 I had the opportunity to talk to the VFX soup, like one-to-one to get feedback as well. My leads were amazing, Carl and Jack. Like, it was just fun people to work, like, very, like, calm and patience as well. And then as the project grew, the company grew, and then I had, like, I remember it was me and another guy. and then out of the blue, we were like 30 lighters on the show, you know? Our team was like enormous, and the company was growing because the project required. And it was the first time that actually also took some look-dove responsibility. And then after that, I worked on Spider-Man.

Starting point is 00:06:14 I worked then on Thor Ragnarog. Sorry, if I were what Spider-Man? By the time. Spider-Man Homecoming. Oh, that's awesome. Oh my God. The first one of the new, the Tom Holland. Yeah, trilogy, which was super fun. And then by the time I was done with Thor Ragnarog.

Starting point is 00:06:42 Oh, such amazing film. They offered me. Yeah, it was so fun, right? Super fun. It was really, really fun. You're working on it because like, Oh, that looks very different from everything we've done and seen, you know. But after that one, they offered me a lead look-dav position on Avengers. And that was like, because by the time they offered me that position,

Starting point is 00:07:09 I was already seeing people working on the movie. You know, Thor Ragnarog was still happening while people already working on Avengers. And it was super, like, I was very happy. I was like, yeah, sure, absolutely. I would love to do that. And I got to work with amazing city soups, Hannes, you were like amazing, amazing talented guy. Like, I learned a lot of people's management with him.

Starting point is 00:07:38 Like, the team was absolutely stellar. Like, and they were already doing amazing work. And then I kind of worked. They told me what they were expecting, the issues that they were going through. It was a lot of work. It was a lot of work. It was a lot of work.

Starting point is 00:07:51 a lot of overtime. It was a ridiculous amount of work to make that happen. And to me, to be honest, that was like, I felt when I joined that project, that that was the project that was me checking the box of childhood dream. Yeah. You know, that was the vibe for me. At that moment, at that movie, I was like, done. Check. And then, I'm sorry. That was the vibe for me. question again but what adventures was it that was the adventures uh that was the avenger as infinity war yeah that's yeah that was i think that would be dream of most of us to work on such such a project yeah yeah it was but i feel like that was the vibe across the floor man like there's so many people working with that spark on their eyes you know that passion the love and i feel like it's

Starting point is 00:08:50 it is reflected on the final product for sure because everyone had like very similar idea like yep box checked um and then after that i rolled onto end game i worked on end game not until the end i left the company at that time i was also getting divorce and then uh i went to brazil to spend some time to kind of rest i worked too much yeah i haven't had enough like vacation time i wasn't very healthy as well. I wasn't the best partner. I wasn't necessarily personally happy. I was professionally accomplished, but I wasn't necessarily happy as well. So I quit. I went to Brazil. I spent about like two months, three months kind of trying to just recharge a little bit while I could. Then it was my first experience with Dinegg. I got hired by Dinek Vancouver at that time.

Starting point is 00:09:50 to work on a couple of projects. I worked at DENAC for about six months, and then there were a couple of negotiation problems with future possibilities, and I didn't have the time, to be honest, at that point, to kind of go through a couple of things. And to be fair, I also got contacted by ILM. And they offered me a position in so ILM,

Starting point is 00:10:13 and I was like, you know what? ILM is kind of another check, you know, professional. And I had a few friends that I worked with a digital domain and even did I, they were working at ILM at the time. And I knew the recruiter Amy, who is an amazing person. And then we communicated. She forwarded me to actually a different recruiter. So I went to the interview, I spoke with the people there as well. and then like Hugo

Starting point is 00:10:48 who was my supervisor at the time the guy's genius and there was also Nico was another talent it was one of these places that is so much talent in that place

Starting point is 00:10:59 you know they have their issues with pipeline being a mix between old and new you know but the talent it's so raw

Starting point is 00:11:08 and insane the first project that I had was Jungle Cruz I had like it was quite challenged for a lot of different reasons.

Starting point is 00:11:17 But then I had the opportunity to work in one of the most fun projects, which was like Jurassic World Dominion, the last one, which was great, like excellent team, excellent time frame for the project. And that was during COVID. Yeah, that was during COVID already. Yeah. Yeah. And then I started hearing rumors about another thing that for me was like one of the last,

Starting point is 00:11:44 checkbox as I had when I left Brazil, which was working on Sandman. Sandman for me. Or why was it checked for it? Sandman. Yeah, it's like a book that I read when I was very, very young, like 16, 17. Is it from Neil Gaiman or something like that? Yeah. So Sandeman introduced me to New Gaiman and also introduced me to all the different artists. that did the drawings, the coloring and everything, introduced me to Dave McKin.

Starting point is 00:12:19 And then it was like sentiment itself through the comic book, introduced it to Shakespeare, to different authors, different philosophies. Like, Sandman was, it was very impactful in a sense of making me read and explore different things. And I just freaking love Sandman. Like seven of my 11 tattoos are Sandman related. Really? And I, yeah. What do you have tattooed from Sandman? This one here is destruction.

Starting point is 00:12:53 This one here is delirion. I have one here that is destiny. I have dream on this arm. And then I have despair and desire on my legs and death on my back. I've been so many times curious about your tattoos at work. And now finally I know. you see finally yeah

Starting point is 00:13:17 but it was yeah it was definitely like gosh that that was like salmon it introduced me to a whole plethora of different graphic novels you know like different authors and and it got and from that you go back to books

Starting point is 00:13:32 you know like it was kind of like that relationship I always find that is interesting that like for me my mom used to read a lot but I was never into reading that much And then I got into reading comic books. And then comic books got me into books. And it was a different kind of pleasure.

Starting point is 00:13:52 It was a really interesting, strong step towards that. And like a lot of references in comic books and graphic novels and manga and anime into movies and things like that. And then you kind of just, that's kind of how you just throw yourself out there. I used to collect graphic novels and comic books and movies. I had like over 5,000 pieces at home at some point, donated everything before I went to Canada. And it is just amazing. And then when I heard that ILM was that had that opportunity,

Starting point is 00:14:27 one of the guys that worked at ILM worked with me before, and he knew I was obsessed with Sandman. So he offered me the opportunity to be a lead as well on Sandman. And then, yeah, that was a, It was super fun. We worked on the dream becoming very old. Yeah, that was that was really nice. That was like a I was I'm going to say I'm being very fortunate with the

Starting point is 00:14:56 contacts I have with the people with like how I've learned from my mistakes and the opportunities people knowing me they have given me as well. Yeah, and it was it was amazing even my my talent to manage. at the time, Margarita, like, amazing person. She always also super happy giving me the news that I was going to be working on Sandman. And I was already extremely happy because I was working at the documentary Goodnight Opie, Good Night Opie, which is a documentary that is on Amazon Prime about the Opportunity Rover when NASA sent the Spirit and Opportunity Rover to Mars for the first, yeah, we worked on that

Starting point is 00:15:41 And it was awesome. It was honestly like just the science behind it, researching, seeing the references and Googling the materials and everything. You know, like it's just, it was a lot of fun. It was one of the things that I feel like visual effects give you the possibility to research a little bit of everything you're doing, you know, like you kind of learn a lot of things here and that. It's so cool.

Starting point is 00:16:06 Yeah. And then after working at ILM for a little while, I feel like I got hit by COVID, the COVID staying home kind of thing. And my partners as well, we were tired. And I was looking for a different kind of challenge. I feel like both personal life and both professional life. And I got contacted by DENAG, London. And that's when I got offered a position for an asset supervisor,

Starting point is 00:16:35 which was the first time I had that position offered. And then you kind of know my story. Went to D.Nag. I worked the first time on that show. I always get it wrong. It's the Netflix show from the creators of Dark 1889 or something like that. Oh, yeah. It's something.

Starting point is 00:16:58 They are on a ship, right? Yes, exactly. That one. Unfortunately, got canceled, even though it was very curious. I just need to check this. 1889. 18. I think there was quite a complicated story wasn't there. Yeah, by the time, by the time it was done, like you got into the plot twist at the end.

Starting point is 00:17:22 But yeah, let's see, maybe in the future they kind of have it bring it back. But I worked on that show and then I joined future shows like a coyote versus Acme that we had the chance to work together for the first. time, which was very challenging and things like that and other projects that I'm not allowed to disclose. But yeah, it was also like a very interesting experience just to kind of like work with everyone, getting to the different position, kind of have more the overall like managing more artists and things like that.

Starting point is 00:18:00 Yeah, like the team, you know, like the people are amazing. And it was very fun. But then I spoke with my wife. And we had recently traveled to South Africa to go see her family. I've never been to South Africa. And then we also invited my mom to go with us. So my mom came from Brazil to London. Then we went to South Africa.

Starting point is 00:18:25 Then from South Africa, we traveled to Ireland. We did Dublin in Doolin. And then we went to Edinburgh, Scotland. And then we went to Wales in Tambi. And like the traveling was like, so refreshing that we noticed how tired we were still. And there was something missing for us as well. There was some kind of different challenges that we wanted to kind of take.

Starting point is 00:18:51 Both of us wanted to study something. I feel like after COVID, we got into writing as well as a creative output. And then we both kind of wanted to kind of like explore different venues, see what we want to do. So we decided to quit the nag. but not before like we we didn't want to leave europe before traveling around so we planned this 19 countries 22 cities in two months 19 countries so we travel up yeah that's it was a lot it was it was amazing yeah it was awesome traveling saying different places knowing different people and then we also decided to come to Brazil because Caitlin never been to Brazil

Starting point is 00:19:41 before so and now we're here and now it is 2023 and we are still we're all researching looking for things kind of waiting i have something aligned that i'm kind of waiting to see if it's going to work out um but yeah i feel like it's uh yeah it's been a very interesting journey For sure. So you mentioned that you managed to tick quite a few boxes. So are there still some boxes left to tick? It's a hard one. Like I feel like I'm a little bit tired of visual effects in the sense of traditional

Starting point is 00:20:23 Marvel, Fast Infurious, Jurassic World, like that kind of stuff. I'm a little bit like, eh, you know, I've done a lot of that lately. I wanted to go back a little bit of animation. That's something that I wanted to. that I wanted to do. I feel like that's the problem with a lot of people. I feel like I had a few boxes and I checked a lot of them. I'm still working on checking boxes on personal life in the sense of like

Starting point is 00:20:46 traveling around, going to places. I feel like those are the boxes that I'm kind of urging to check the most. Like I would like never meet to Japan. I would like to go to Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, you know, like India. I would like to India. I would like to travel like to so many other countries within the continent of Africa itself. You know, I would like to go Western Africa to understand a little bit more,

Starting point is 00:21:11 even how Brazil came to be, having so many cultural treats shared between places, you know. I feel like my, I'm kind in that vibe, but that is also because I've been fortunate to be able to take this much time off to experience all those things. So your kind of mindset kind of keeps going on that. Yeah. some curiosities to do in the field, that I love doing the asset supervising area.

Starting point is 00:21:39 I do feel like I'm focusing a lot of managing skills and talent. I'm still quite technical in a sense that I still kind of want to give. Boxes to check, I would like to do animation. Definitely for sure. I feel like it's something that I do

Starting point is 00:21:55 want to work on a big animation movie because I worked on TV shows. But aside from Coyote versus Acme, which was integration of animation and plate. I kind of want to do one that is a little bit more like full on animation. I feel like that would be really, really cool. But also, I kind of want to figure out what to study.

Starting point is 00:22:18 I kind of want to challenge my brain with something different. I find that I've been doing what I do for such a long time, that my brain works in a specific way. And I would like to challenge my brain a little bit more in the sense. So I kind of want to go back to study language. I want to study an instrument a little bit. I kind of want to diverge creatively how I stimulate myself a little bit

Starting point is 00:22:41 and see how that works. I feel like I'm kind of, yeah. But right now it's a little bit turbulent. You don't know where you're going to be next, so you're kind of just playing around, testing some things. If you want to boost your online presents, check out our digital marketing agency called Trailblazed.

Starting point is 00:23:03 You can also adder all e-o-skill-share. course, called the 10 tips on how to succeed in your creative career, which was inspired by the podcast. Lastly, make sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter called Creative Spotlight to stay up to date with the show and more. Links are in the show notes. Thanks. But I'm sure with your experience and rich portfolio shouldn't be that hard to find something. Oh, it is hard. I'm going to say it is hard. Or it's just because of it's always a, it's always, A recent situation in the industry or in general? Also, I also think, I do think it's a combo

Starting point is 00:23:46 because it's also hard to find a place that it suits you, right? Like I feel like it needs to be a match both ways. It needs to match. You need to match the job and your job kind of needs to match you. I feel like when, like again, I'm in a privileged position which I can't try to choose a couple of things. But again, if I don't have the option, I'm taking whatever it needs to take, right? I feel like the strike definitely had a dire impact, but I also hope that people understand what that impact also means.

Starting point is 00:24:26 I feel like we work, a lot of people who work in the art side of things, we give a lot of ourselves, we sacrifice a lot of ourselves, and it's work. at the end of the day it needs to be clear does this work and you need to get properly fairly paid your health still come first your personal life if you can't afford still come first and I feel like there are a lot of large companies that do not

Starting point is 00:24:54 respect people to the level that they should be respected and I hope that the strike opens the possibility of at least people trying to respect professionals more, you know. Actually, there's this whole discussion of unions coming up and not coming up. I feel like it's important for us as a community to come together and kind of try to definitely kind of support one another, but also demand and understand what is to be part of work.

Starting point is 00:25:32 It is a workforce. So there will be problems. companies will crash things you know economically speaking is complicated um but i feel like the most important evolve is just educate the new generation as well properly because there are a lot of people that unfortunately are starting to work in the area now right and it's a very tough moment like it strikes like it's already hard to start yeah right and then of all these things but it is worth it Like, honestly, I have had so much joy in my life for the last over 15 years doing what I do, knowing the people I know having to talk, you know, like it's so much fun and you learn so much

Starting point is 00:26:19 about so many different things as well that is just not computer-based, get to know people. My best friends are from the area that I work. And I feel like it is a hard thing to break into the industry. treat sometimes. It needs to be patient more than anything. And I personally don't like the narrative in which people shift towards like, oh no, just keep studying every day, 10 hours a day. It's so new to make your portfolio better. But it's not only about you. You know, the world and life is so much bigger than you are, right? I mean, who could have imagined that a strike would put so many people all of their jobs. It's not their fault that they lost their jobs, you know. So I feel like putting

Starting point is 00:27:08 the 100% of the responsibility towards people who are starting is also a problem. Because it's not only about the quality of your demo real. It's about tax incentives in different countries, right? It's about, like, networking. It's about timing. There's so many pieces to that equation. And I feel like linkings the problem sometimes because like it's just people studying, studying, studying, but then you're sacrificing so much of a personal life as well. I feel like people need to be a little bit, again, it goes back to people being a little bit more gentle to themselves, to others.

Starting point is 00:27:53 I feel like we need to study. We need to keep like improving. But there's a balance. And that balance comes with. time that balance comes with life choices that balance comes with you being honest to what you want to be and who you want to be now you know and just adapt i also find that a lot of people who start in this area they find this self quite in a monolithic way you are allowed to change if you do your job for four or five years and you're not happy it's okay you can change you need to

Starting point is 00:28:27 plan financially you need to plan knowledge but you can and you are a lot allow to change. And if in 10 years you want to change again, you change. You know, like life has consequences. But you need to be prepared to that. I feel like just like thinking that you, your first job is what you're going to do for the rest of your life. Somehow for a lot of people in a lot of countries is still a thing, you know, and it's not. You can do what you want to do if you create a life that allows you to do that. And even if you are in a tough position, you have to. You have to be a, you time to change that you requires effort it requires sacrifices right and those are the things that I feel like it's it's complicated for a lot of people that

Starting point is 00:29:10 starts because they're also very young and I'm saying 20 years old still young right there's different from people who are being around a little bit longer I'm finding I'm finding that I see a lot of people emotionally struggling with anxiety and things because not having having that perception like you need to go out you need to walk a little bit with fresh air those things make a difference talk to people don't isolate yourself you know it's important to have support everyone needs to vent at some point you know i'm finding that all those all those things are things that i wished i had done and i wish someone who would have told me before

Starting point is 00:29:56 because i know that to a certain extent i would be at the same place that i am right now if I have not sacrificed so much I would still have to sacrifice a few things but I feel like I could have done things a little bit I could have enjoyed my family a little bit more I could have enjoyed my friends a little bit more you know you could have enjoyed traveling a little bit more because at the end of the day work is not life work is work yeah like living alive yeah yeah like actually living a life is very much important. It takes time.

Starting point is 00:30:35 Like the way I grew up, I grew up in a family that we didn't have much money. So money was the thing. And I grew up worried about the money. I start working, work, like, worried about the money. Went to Canada, worried about money. Spend my first seven years in Canada, worried about money.

Starting point is 00:30:53 You know, and that kind of becomes something. And unfortunately, we live in the world in which that is a majority, and we still need to worry about money. But they're at the limit. you know, there are only so much things you can do yourself. Yeah, I think that that's, I don't even know why we started talking about this, but I feel like those are things that I wanted to say. It's important because one of my questions later was to share some advice from your rich and diverse career.

Starting point is 00:31:26 So I think this was a great summary. but if there's something more that you feel like you would like to share from your career, whether it comes to work-related or life-related. Yeah, I feel like you hit a word that was really important, diversity. One thing that I didn't tell you, I used to be a ballroom instructor. I used to teach dance for about 10 years. Oh, really? And that was right after I got, I finished,

Starting point is 00:31:59 university and I got hired by the school I got hired by the school and then I started dancing with my mom during the weekends and then the teacher invited me to become like to do a scholarship and then kind of dance was after a couple of years it was a ballroom it was like a mix of like a bolero cha-cha-cha marangga tango samba like this swing and and then while I was working at the school, I would work at the school in the morning and then I would go and teach dance at night. And that was like I started two times a night or three times and during the weekend sometimes

Starting point is 00:32:43 as well. And I must say that the diversity, the different mindsets of doing things differently, it definitely helped me a lot with a lot of things. and even like a like one thing that I like doing is trying to do different things that what you would do on a day to day basis so I work in front of a computer most of the time

Starting point is 00:33:09 so with my spare time I try to do experiences that rely a little bit more on physical things for photographing so I would try to put myself in the middle of the woods and go walk around and kind of like taking photos I always have a little bit of a project on the side.

Starting point is 00:33:27 Or if you like creativity, try to work creativity in different, like, manners. So if I work with movies, I personally like writing. Nowadays I've been into writing. So I like writing a lot. And it definitely challenges you in a different way that somehow is complementary to whatever you're doing, you know, like all those experiences. I would say that 80%, I remember that. I told you that my people's skills were very, like, was very problematic in the beginning.

Starting point is 00:34:02 And definitely dancing helped me drastically with people's skills. Like, I carry lessons from teaching that to today, how to understand body language, like how people are feeling, you know. It's very different. the same way that writing has given me way more patience to do things because writing requires a very different level of constant effort than working with images as well. And I feel like at the end of the day, they're all kind of complement one another in different ways, but you're still kind of getting yourself like a motivational fresh start on something different, which I think is important.

Starting point is 00:34:45 At this time, for me, like what I was struggling a lot is like was motivated. And that's something that I feel like everyone struggles all the time at multiple times in their lives, right? And I feel like trying something different, just putting yourself in a place that you don't usually put yourself. I feel like that helps to kind of put yourself out of that comfort zone. Yeah, yeah. I was saying. I feel like comfort zones are amazing. But if you push that too far, it becomes a problem.

Starting point is 00:35:18 right and and I feel like even moving moving countries has put us like in so many different situations are like absolutely out of her comfort zone you know I feel like it's uh it teaches you how to be flexible it teaches you how to be more gentle with people it teaches you how to be more patient I'm not saying that I'm a patient person because I am not a patient person person like But I've learned how to be patient, more patient, and kind of keep going towards that. I do feel like you don't have to be Zen. I believe that the world that we live in doesn't require Zen yet. I feel like we need to be revolted.

Starting point is 00:36:04 I feel like we need to revolt. I feel like their anger needs to be directed towards something constructive. But we need to feel those things or else we're just compliant to the shitty things that people do. Yeah, yeah. But yeah. I need to say for the listeners that we've been speaking about people skills and these related skills. So just to give a context as we worked together with Fernando.

Starting point is 00:36:29 Fernando was a supervisor. I was in a production. So I just want to say that what you've been talking about from my perspective, as we've been working together and I could see you supervising other artists and other people I can only confirm that you're not just talking about it but you are actually a great supervisor who was you know listening giving great feedback always positive supportive to people and just creating a great wipe in the team so just to prove what you're talking about for the listeners thank you thank you i feel like a yeah it's it's a hard thing man like people's skills is one of the

Starting point is 00:37:11 the hardest things you to develop. And I know because I had really poor people skills. And sometimes I find myself very anxious as well. You know, like sometimes you get yourself in a situation that you just don't know what to do. And then you kind of need to step back. You need to think about it. You kind of need to. And that's when like a group of people that can help you. It's important. Like you can you need to be able to talk to your boss. You need to be to talk to a nice colleague, you know, like you need to be able to have someone at home to be able to kind of bounce back ideas.

Starting point is 00:37:43 But also I find that I'm very harsh on myself. That comes from my family. My mom's very harsh on herself. My brother, my father, like, it's something that comes in a family. And I'm pretty sure that a lot of people do that as well. Like, I feel like it's part of being a human.

Starting point is 00:37:59 Like, we are so inside our own body, physical body, and emotional self that we assume that everything is on us, but there's only so much we can do. There's only so much we can actually fix. And this last year for me was a lot of debt as well. I kind of trying, like, I can only do so much.

Starting point is 00:38:22 And if I make a mistake, the only thing that I can do is ownership over the mistake. Say I'm sorry to the people that might have suffered the consequences and move forward from it. Right. I feel like a lot of, I was actually talking. the school and one of the things that when I talk to students is it's very complicated a lot of people are afraid of doing something because they are afraid of making mistakes because we live in a world in which everyone paints things as easy and done and beautiful you know you have like instant gratification coming on tictop Facebook Instagram to perfect lives perfect experience and all that

Starting point is 00:39:04 crap that there's a generation of artists they're coming up with 16 15 17 years old that sometimes they just don't want to start something because they're afraid of making mistakes and like our life is a day-to-day mistake from the moment we wake up sometimes you know everyone is allowed to make There are mistakes everywhere. Like great things happens from mistakes. You know, like great inventions and things happens from those mistakes. And I am afraid of living in a world in which people are constantly rewarding perfection instead of constantly supporting going through mistakes.

Starting point is 00:39:56 You know? Because there's no perfection. There's no perfection. There's nothing perfect. And I don't want to, I don't want to, like, it's really hard to motivate someone that is that young, that is already in an anxiety level because of the way cell phones and people and social media, you know, like it's complicated to pass through that and be supportive. if the world entirely kind of starts smashing down, right?

Starting point is 00:40:31 I really hope that people know that. Even like from a movie perspective, like making a movie is a place of collaboration. It's rare people that would do a movie by themselves. It's amazing. Some people do it, but it's usually a process in which you can collaborate And you can count on people to help as well, right? And then everyone just bring their best.

Starting point is 00:41:01 And I feel like that's the thing. Like we can only bring our best. And that's it. And honestly, not even that every day because it's hard to bring your best every day. You know, like we are allowed to be 80%. We are allowed to be 90%. Like cannot be 100% every day. You're not.

Starting point is 00:41:22 David Goggins. or something. You're not like a machine, right? And I do find that it's nice. It's important for everyone that is starting to know those things. We are anxious. Doesn't matter how old we are. We make mistakes.

Starting point is 00:41:39 Doesn't matter how much experience we have. We're not going to stop, you know? Because if you stop making mistakes, you never learn, you know, the kind of cheesy thing to say. But it's the actual reality. You need to learn from those mistakes. And as soon as you learn them, it's not about making the mistakes, about how you deal with the consequences of the mistake. You know, it's how you apologize or how you learn from it. And yeah, I feel like that's an important thing if I would have to say because I was put a lot of pressure from the university.

Starting point is 00:42:13 I had amazing professors to the same level that I had very doubtful professors, you know. And like in Boston as well, I had amazing. supervisors to the same level that I had the worst supervisors with the worst like possible influence on people and that kind of put you in that situation and yeah and I feel like it's it's important for to know that you are a junior you will be treated as a junior and you need to learn in each progress in each like have report you know and I feel like there are a lot of people they're doing amazing amazing job on that and I honestly said that much

Starting point is 00:42:53 more coming from from women than men as well I feel like that's a it's something that I see like we have we have already a hopefully thankfully a growing woman power kind of push into so much improvement in what we do and I feel like we're just need to take learning from that because it's like I remember seeing like I do usually mentor. It's something that I'm trying to kind of work on that for next year as well. I feel like I need to get back more to the community the way I can. I feel like I've been a little bit inside my head the last couple of years and I feel like the community can take more help now than ever. And I've been seeing this like all these people growing, growing. I remember seeing

Starting point is 00:43:44 a person that I met at Seagraph like years and years ago and she was just starting. And now, she's like mentoring and she's like doing such freaking amazing work you know like supporting people and helping introducing i feel like it's it just creates that like it helps to prepare people and i feel like that's something that that i personally want to try to do more as the year comes as well yeah i i had a question but maybe you also answered it now but it's something i started to ask uh just recently And I was sort of curious, what would you say? It's a bit deeper question. And it was that if you had attention of everyone in the world and you could share some kind of wisdom or say something and everyone would listen, what would you tell them?

Starting point is 00:44:38 Oh, that's hard. That's a very hard. I feel like the things that I would like to say, I said, I think that be honest, be gentle. and I feel like our area has so many people that comes from different backgrounds and some of those backgrounds or no background at all. I feel like we need to be more honest about preventing incidents of disrespect, prevent abuse globally, not just because you are working in one place and the other person is working in another place,

Starting point is 00:45:17 if one of those places are being exploited, things needs to come. I feel like there's a lot of exploitation that happens for plenty of reasons. But those are not, just because the world of capitalism allowed that exploitation to happen, it doesn't mean that it has to happen.

Starting point is 00:45:37 I feel like a lot of people suffer from those needs. I feel like it's a good moment to be vocal, and learn different ways of being vocal on how to reach. Because to be honest, one of the things that made me a little bit less motivated as well was seeing so many different wrong things and how little to know power I had. But then the answer is also, you need to put yourself back in the community and then you need to try to help the way you can. It cannot be just what I was doing, which is just being quiet.

Starting point is 00:46:14 on your own. You kind of need to put yourself off there. And kind of even if you make mistakes, learn from it, get with the people that know that for a little bit longer and kind of try to change, right, little by little. Yeah. I think we can slowly wrap it up because we've been talking for a while. But where can people follow you or where can people connect with you? Oh.

Starting point is 00:46:43 People can find me. on LinkedIn. I have zero to non-digital presence. I have a problem. I have a very addictive personality. So if I have like Facebook, I start

Starting point is 00:46:58 spending too much time and I would rather do other things. If I have I have an Instagram account that I don't use that much anymore. I might bring it back once I finish a couple of projects. But I would say people can follow me on LinkedIn. I have zero problems with that.

Starting point is 00:47:14 that's currently my footprint on the digital world. That's the only social media that I actively check on daily basis. And don't you have ArtStation or it would be a shame to share your work even on Instagram or somewhere? I have a website. I have a website that has a demo reel. Well, that's all. It's Fernando at Fernandovfx.com. I will add it to the show notes.

Starting point is 00:47:47 I would be disappointed if people didn't want to connect after this in the chat. I think I might have a couple of Flickr pages or Behance pages that I have never updated. I also do find that like, don't follow me on that. I'm terrible when you come to promoting myself in social media. I'm honestly horrible with that. But I'm also, yeah, I feel like people need to find a balance because I'm also not 100%. I don't agree with people who spend all their time on that. But there needs to be some.

Starting point is 00:48:27 I feel like I belong to a generation of people that got lucky that we made a network and we grew a portfolio before social media was definitely need. Nowadays is a need. And it opens so many venues, right? Like I feel like you can start mentoring, you can open your own school, you can sell courses, you can sell, you can sell products. I feel like it's extremely important and powerful tools. Don't take my example. Be much better. It's not hard.

Starting point is 00:48:56 If you have an Instagram, you're ready to do it better than I am. But I feel like it's important for people to use that. Having your own website is nice, but I feel like there's so many different ways to provide for. for yourself like i know people who have like patrons and then like githubs like youtube channels and i feel like if you find yourself having an idea and want you to express i feel like definitely go for it's very very important yeah i would i would expect that your linkedin following will grow after this or i hope it will because i think you just mentally deserve it well thank you but uh is there fernando something

Starting point is 00:49:41 Before we finish, that you would like to share, or I should have asked and I didn't ask? Well, I am a celiac person, which means that I have an autoimmune disease and I don't eat gluten. So what I would like to chat. If anyone have any awesome gluten-free cake or cookies or brownies recipes, by all means, we send my way. I'm always looking for new things to fly. And by the way, part of the reason why I developed this disease besides being an autoimmune disease that is genetic is also triggered by stress and other things.

Starting point is 00:50:27 It is not an easy disease. It makes you quite uncomfortable a lot of times. It narrows down what you can do quite a lot, depending on where you want to go eat. You can eat everywhere. Financially speaking, also is complicated. because multiple products sometimes is they're more expensive. So another reason why people should be gentle with themselves and take care of their health,

Starting point is 00:50:51 because, yeah, it just, yeah, take care of yourself. It's important. Cool. I think, Fernando, when I said in the beginning that you are a legend, I think you proved why that is. It was awesome, chat, full of a lot of wisdom, inspiring journey. And honestly, I always enjoyed working with you. So I was very pleased to have this chat. So thank you.

Starting point is 00:51:22 Nick, you are one of the kindest souls I've came across in the last couple of years. And thank you so much for this podcast, because it's really amazing to listen to everyone's journey. It's always like it's so, so nice. It's so motivational. I know, it's so inspiring as well. Thank you for doing that. And as I said before, you need no luck.

Starting point is 00:51:46 You're already doing amazing. You just need to keep doing what you're doing. Thank you, Fernando. So let's finish it for now. I will just stop it and we can just chat shortly afterwards. So thanks, Fernando. And we should good luck in your future career. Thank you so much.

Starting point is 00:52:07 And thank you everyone for listening. Thank you for listening. 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 - Conquering the World of VFX and Beyond | #36: Fernando Brandão de Braga

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