VOLT极具现代感的工作室坐落在上海的法租界一带，我们在这里见到了Damien Yang，他整个人显得很轻松。他来自新加坡，开创了自己的精品工作室，倡导自由选择工作的核心理念。
Damien Yang cuts a relaxed figure when we meet at VOLT’s modern Shanghai facility, nestled in a typical French Concession complex. That is not surprising given that the Singaporean founded his boutique studio with freedom to pick and choose jobs as a core principle.
Damien Yang
Yang学的是合成，在新加坡的八年时间里，他担任Black Magic Design的合伙管理人兼创意总监，这是一个隶属于一家相机制造商的自有后期制作工作室，有自己的测试设备。整个团队有60个人，日常支出也很琐碎，所以他不得不什么项目都接，“就像鲨鱼一样，一旦停下来就必死无疑。”这份工作让他倍感压力，再加上他看到亚洲市场广告产业不断发展，预见新加坡后期制作将走下披路，所以他开始寻找新的疆土。他觉得起码十年内中国电视广告还有很多东西可做，再加上他也认识不少广告公司和制作公司的朋友，所以2012年1月他在上海成立了工作室。
A compositor by background, Yang spent eight years in Singapore as managing partner and creative director at Black Magic Design, the camera manufacturer’s in-house postproduction and testing facility. With a team of 60 and crushing overheads, Yang says he was forced to accept every project, “It’s like a shark; if you stop, you die.” Stressed and foreseeing a decline in Singaporean postproduction as Asian markets grew their own advertising industries, he began to look at new territories. Anticipating that China offered at least another decade of TVC work, and with friends well placed in agencies and production companies, Yang set up shop in Shanghai in January 2012.
现如今，VOLT团队已经有30人，员工来自中国、新加坡、香港、韩国和法国等国家，文化非常多元。Yang说他不想再扩充团队了，不想再陷入鲨鱼式思维，他们现在已经有了差不多20个优质客户 – 大多都是汽车公司，他们也不急着拓宽市场。他说，“其实不仅仅是为了赚钱，我们要是有空就会放松放松。作为一个创意工作室，要给团队呼吸的空间，让他们有时间学学新技能。”
Today, VOLT has a multicultural team of 30 from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea and France. Yang says he has no desire to grow any larger, for fear of returning to the shark mentality, nor is he in any hurry to expand his roughly 20-strong client roster, mostly serving car brands. “It’s not just about making money”, he says, “If we are free, we just relax. For a creative studio you need to give your team breathing space to rest and spend time learning new skills.”
左起：Jae, Damien, Bastien, July, Charles, Robin and Aymeric | L to R: Jae, Damien, Bastien, July, Charles, Robin and Aymeric
条分缕析 | Break It Down
就公司的发展而言，其实大不一定就好，“现如今，效率最高的后期公司一般都只有10-15人，人员再多的话，就会导致团队分裂，人越多，就意味着管理负担越重。”
When it comes to building his company, for Yang, big is by no means better, “Nowadays, the most efficient post houses are 10 to 15 people. Any bigger than that and they break apart. The bigger it is, the more groups you need to manage.”
现如今，整个行业的预算都很紧俏，制作日程也很紧张，所以Yang采取的是一种细分方式，把各个部门和流程细分成单独的元素，就比如说，他跟Digital District 前CG部门总监Aymeric Renaud一起成立了CG部门。一些专业度很高的制作，比如水模拟或者火的效果都外包给全球各地的独立制作人员。
In the current climate of shrinking budgets and compressed timelines, Yang take a granular approach, breaking departments and processes down into individual elements. The CG department he set up with former Digital District CG supervisor Aymeric Renaud is a case in point. He outsources specialist tasks like water simulation and fire to international freelancers on a job-by-job basis.
同时，一些比较“枯燥”的工作，都是由自己团队10个人用roto技术做的，多数的CG合成都是由Nuke团队完成的，同时，他也保证Flame技术人员能跟导演自由沟通创意，能够带领本地团队，监控整体质量。
Similarly, by having all the “dry work” like masking, tracking and cleanup handled by a dedicated department of 10 in-house roto artists, and much of the CG compositing done by his Nuke team, Yang ensures his Flame artists are freed to work creatively with the director, lead the local team and supervise overall quality.
VOLT的制作流程跟绝大多数国际上的知名工作室电影制作流程差不多，虽然规模相对较小。本土工作室一般都只有一个Flame人员，但是VOLT的做法让他们脱颖而出。但是这种做法的难点就在于，很多导演都不熟悉Nuke的制作流程，“把任务分成不同的部门，他们招架不住。导演想看到的是你在处理一个镜头，再看看这个镜头怎么跟下一个连接起来。”
VOLT’s pipeline is similar to those adopted by movie productions and most major global studios, albeit on a smaller scale. It sets the company apart from some local studios that channel everything through one Flame artist. The challenge is that many directors are unfamiliar with Nuke pipe-line and, “cannot handle the job being broken up in to different departments. They want to see you work on one shot, and how that connects to the next.”
VOLT也有实习项目，直接招聘那些刚走出校园的学生。Yang的想法是给有才华的年轻人提供不如行业的垫脚石，但是他也指出，关键还是年轻人自己要积极主动，愿意成长。“你自己要想飞起来的话，我可以给你提供跑道，但是我不会推你。”
VOLT runs an internship program and hires directly from schools. Yang believes in giving young talent a stepping-stone in to the industry, but stresses the need for proactive self-improvement, “If you want to fly, I can give you a runway, but I wont push you.”
严格把控 | Keep it Tight
Yang之所以对客户精挑细选，很大程度上也是为了避免客户拖欠款项的毛病，一些制作公司也把这种习惯传染给了后期公司。对于这样的问题，他的立场很坚定，“拖欠或者一点钱也不付的话，当然会给后期公司造成现金流问题。每个月拿不到钱的话，我们就没法运作，要是积累了太多欠款，再遭遇经济不景气，我们上哪儿筹钱去。这样的拖欠会导致后期公司关门歇业，所以为了生存，在选客户时，我不得不挑剔点。”
Yang’s preference to be selective about his clients is largely to avoid the headaches associated with late payments that some production houses pass down to the post house. He takes a firm stance on those that try, “The problem with late payments or no payment is of course the strain that it puts on a post house’s cash flow. If I can’t make salary each month then I can’t operate, if there’s a large backlog of outstanding invoices and there’s an economic downturn then I have no war chest to fall back on. Late payments close post houses so I have to pick and choose my clients very carefully to survive”
Volt作品：福特《充气床篇》 | Volt: Ford ‘Bouncy’
他也指出，其实冗杂的审批步骤也不仅仅只存在中国，起码很多大品牌都存在这样的问题。13年的丰富经验也让他找到了一套自我保护的工作流程。他鼓励广告公司和制作公司把审批流程拆分成“一小步一小步”，不要一步就想走到最后。他说每做一次汇报，“我都不会盯着电脑看，而是观察客户的一举一动，捕捉他们些微的表情变化，看看他们不太喜欢哪个镜头。在第一线这么多年了，我能感觉到下一步会发生什么。”
He says that the issues surrounding endless stages of approval is not a uniquely Chinese problem, at least for major brands. His 13 years of experience has helped him to develop a more fireproof working process. He encourages his agency and production partners to break the approval process down in to “baby steps”, rather than work toward one final delivery. At each presentation along the way he says, “My eyes aren’t on the monitor. I’m watching all the [client] reactions, to catch the little expressions, to see which shots they don’t feel comfortable with. I’ve been on the front lines for so long that I can feel what is going to come next.”
Volt 作品：福特《The Science of Truck》| Volt: Ford ‘The Science of Truck’
线下工作完成之后，他一般会坚持要求所有导演都填写一份特效“分镜手册”，复印分发给每一个人，这样做的目的是为了避免工作模棱两可和困惑。而且也不会用微信发给大家同意，而是建议每个人都来工作室。所有人都要亲自检查每个版本，并签字确认，之后VOLT再分发给大家。
Once offline is completed, to avoid any ambiguity and confusion among the different parties, he insists that directors fill in a VFX ‘bible’ and everyone be given a copy. He won’t send versions for approval via WeChat, recommends everyone comes to the studio. Everyone must physically check and sign for every version before VOLT will release material.
上海后期制作公司也是越来越多，有国际大公司，也有在家办公的个人。但是Yang一点也不担心竞争，他觉得每个公司各有各的优势。工作室有那么多员工，所以他们的报价一般比多数竞争者都高，但是客户也会得到高水准的国际化制作。
Shanghai’s postproduction landscape is populated by a growing number of players, from big international studios down to individuals working from their bedrooms. Yang is not concerned about competition because each company offers its own advantage. With more mouths to feed, his prices are higher than most competitors, but in exchange the client gets an international sensibility and quality level.
Yang也不担心那些低成本的在家里支个桌子就办公的工作室。“虽然有些制作公司和广告公司可能会把一些简单的工作交给这些人，但是这些小工作室并不适合会见客户。”
Yang is equally unperturbed by the low-cost bedroom studios. “While some production companies and agencies may like to use this type of facility for quick, simple jobs,” he says, “they’re not suitable environments for client presentations.”
他还说，制作公司自己组建后期团队也很“危险”，因为“面对后期制作，这些制作人一般不知道怎么样解决后期制作面临的各种问题。”他解释说，“我觉得后期制作制片人的角色通常都被人忽略，如果客户想改动画面，后期制作制片人的任务就是要找出一些既有创意、技术上又可行的解决方案，这就要求特有的经验还有技术知识，还有懂后期流程。”
He adds that it is ‘dangerous’ when production companies bring those teams in-house, because “production producers are usually unable to provide the sort of problem solving necessary for successful post.” He explains, “I think often the role of a post producer is not properly understood. When clients want changes, the post producer’s job is to come up with both creative and technical executable solutions. This requires experience and technical knowledge and understanding of the process.”
VOLT：三部曲 | VOLT: 3infocus
2016年，WPP集团旗下的全球广告公司GTB（Global Team Blue）成立，囊括了之前专门为福特公司做广告的Team Detroit、Blue Hive和Retail First，49个办公室遍布六大洲。2016年4月，GTB执行创意总监Kevin Pereira找到了VOLT，想要做一些比较有难度的视觉特效，他说，“我们在做印度品牌宣传时，有人向我们推荐了VOLT，说他们做的东西都很有才华，也很专业，我们有六个广告片都需要一些超现实的特效。”
2016 saw the formation of ‘Global Team Blue’ or GTB, a global agency under WPP comprising former Ford-dedicated agencies Team Detroit, Blue Hive and Retail First with 49 offices across six continents. In April 2016, GTB ECD Kevin Pereira approached VOLT looking for some challenging visual effects, “VOLT was introduced to us as a talented, expert VFX partner during our India brand campaign”, says Pereira, “There were six films which required ultra realistic visual effects.”
福特 Ranger：FX4《Brotherhood Happens》广告 | Ford Ranger: FX4 “Brotherhood Happens”
福特Ranger的Wildtrak和FX4广告《Heroes Happen》和《Brotherhood Happens》是在泰国丛林里拍摄的，设计概念是“即使状况百出，福特Ranger和司机都会从容应对”。每一个镜头都展示了这部车子的越野范儿。
For the Ford Ranger Wildtrak and FX4 spots “Heroes Happen” and “Brotherhood Happens”, production took place in the jungles of Thailand. Designed around the concept of ‘when sh*t happens, the Ford Ranger and driver are ready for it’, each spot demonstrates the Ford Ranger’s off-road capabilities.
《Brotherhood Happens》讲述的是这部车子是如何在山崩的路面上避免事故的发生。在拍摄时，泰国政府不允许真正毁坏道路，所以制作公司Gravity Films Shanghai就就找到了一个废弃的采石场，跟当地制作公司Deluxe Production Asia合作，搭建了碎石铺盖的道路，有一段就做成了山崩滑坡的场景。
“Brotherhood Happens” tells the story of a Ford Ranger helping to avert an accident when a section of road is swept away by a landslide. As Thai authorities would not allow an actual road to be partially destroyed, production company Gravity Films Shanghai sourced a disused quarry where local production partners Deluxe Production Asia built a tarmacked road including the subsided section for the landslide scenes.
采石场的拍摄也给后期制作增加了额外的负担。采用CG技术和活灵活现的森林数目相结合，每一个场景的制作和合成都要还原出热带雨林的感觉。CG碎石、岩石、废墟也通过后期加上了，创造了真是的危险视觉。
Shooting in the quarry resulted in a lot of additional work for post. A mixture of CG and live greenery elements had to be tracked and composited into each scene to maintain the tropical jungle feel. CG boulders, rocks and debris were also added in post to help to bring the danger and jeopardy to life.
“后期制作面临的主要难题是如何不让人看出CG处理的痕迹，而且还要保证山坡和公路在整个场景中融为一体。成片有一半的功劳应归功于后期制作。否则做不出来这么真实的镜头”，Pereira如是说。
“The main post challenges were ensuring the footage didn’t come across as CG, and building mountain-sides and roads to continuity in the story telling. The post was 50% of the end result. Without it we would not have had convincing spots”, says Pereira.
制作团队：
- 客户：福特
- 广告公司：GTB
- 制作公司：Gravity Films Shanghai
- 导演：Jesse Salto
- 后期制作：VOLT
Credits：
- Client: Ford
- Agency: GTB
- Production: Gravity Films Shanghai
- Director: Jesse Salto
- Post: VOLT
Ford撼路者：《大象》 | Ford Everest: “Elephants”
2016年，VOLT还承接了另一个项目，在中国大西北城市乌鲁木齐拍摄的令人震撼的风景，这是福特Everest的超现实系列广告，包括《Balloons》、《Elephants》和《Lanterns》，三部曲都需要大量的后期合成，打造宏伟的落幕场景。VOLT总监Rex Or和Bastien Letouze来到了拍摄现场，跟导演Knut Burgdorf紧密沟通。
The breath-taking cinematic landscapes of remote Urumqi in North-western China were the setting for VOLT’s next 2016 spots, this time a surreal series for the Ford Everest. As all three spots, ‘Balloons’, ‘Elephants’ and ‘Lanterns’ required extensive compositing to create their grand finale sequences, VOLT supervisors Rex Or and Bastien Letouze were sent out on location to work closely with director Knut Burgdorf.
Filmate Production执行制片Priscilla He解释说，“直到最后一刻才决定把拍摄场地换到乌鲁木齐，所以我们几乎都没时间侦察场地。特效团队能跟导演Knut一起来到现场，真的很好，可以在我们拍摄的时候就锁定特效背景和所需要的元素，确保后期制作能够顺畅高效的完成。”
Priscilla He EP of Filmate Production explains, “the shoot location was changed to Urumqi at the last minute so we had very little time for scouting. Having the VFX team on location with Knut was therefore really helpful as they could lock down the background plates and elements for VFX as we shot, and ensure we had a smooth and efficient post process.”
GTB创意总监Scott Isaac说，“VOLT跟拍摄团队沟通密切，一直在琢磨拍摄脚本怎么样能最好的运用到后期当中。”
GTB CD Scott Isaac adds, “VOLT did an extremely good job of consulting with the team on the shoot and planning how the footage could be used to best effect in post production.”
制作团队：
- 客户：福特
- 广告公司：GTB
- 制作公司：风靡文化传播有限公司
- 导演：Knut Burgdorf
- 后期制作：VOLT
Credits：
- Client: Ford
- Agency: GTB
- Production: Filmate Production
- Director: Knut Burgdorf
- Post: VOLT
福特：《The Science of Truck》系列 | Ford: ‘The Science of Truck’
2016年，VOLT可谓硕果累累，跟GTB和福特的合作最终以《Science of Truck》三部曲收官 – 《Airmail》、《BIU》和《Fuge》。现在流行的汽车广告要么就像《Top Gear》一样，要么就是像《Mythbusters》一样，融合进科技元素，相比之下《Science of Truck》系列广告却另辟蹊径，展示出福特Ranger的独特性能，给人留下了深刻的印象。
VOLT’s productive 2016 with GTB and Ford concluded with three spots in the SOT or ‘Science of Truck’ series, “Airmail”, “BIU” and “Fuge”. In the creative vain of popular motoring shows like “Top Gear” combined with science and tech shows like “Mythbusters”, the SOT spots feature unusual experiments to showcase the impressive capabilities of the Ford Ranger.
GTB区域创意副总监Jessica Summers说，“跟VOLT一起合作。让我们能够创作出这么引人入胜的片子，在片中通过X-Ray的方式来解释车的科技。用CG动画把技术做的活灵活现。”
Jessica Summers, Regional Associate Creative Director of GTB, explains, “Working with VOLT, we were able to create engaging and scientific breaks in the action that truly brought the tech to life through CG animation.”
VOLT的创意伙伴Pierre Magnol是一位来自巴黎的动态图形设计师，这部广告的动态图形就是他制作的。VOLT CG总监Aymeric Renaud说，“其他特效公司一般只是自己内部团队负责制作，但是我们会跟很多独立后期制作技术人员合作，我们在世界各地人脉丰富，所以需要时总能扩充团队，这样每个项目都能保证有最好的人才参与进来。”
VOLT’s creative partner, Paris based motion graphic designer Pierre Magnol, designed the motion graphic interfaces. VOLT CG Supervisor Aymeric Renaud comments, “Unlike other VFX houses who only use in-house teams we regularly collaborate with independent post artists through our international network which allows us to scale up our team when necessary and use the very best talent for each project.”
制作团队：
- 客户：福特
- 广告公司：GTB
- 制片公司：Luminary films
- 导演：Louis Koener
- 后期制作：VOLT
Credits：
- Client: Ford
- Agency: GTB
- Production House: Luminary films
- Director: Louis Koener
- Post: VOLT
BAM Music Library Brings Edgy, Indie Sounds to Chinese Creatives
