John R. McConnell
- Visual Effects
- Special Effects
- Editorial Department
John McConnell is a Compositor and VFX Supervisor with nearly 30 years of experience in visual effects for feature films, Television, and documentaries.
Starting as an illustrator, a chance meeting with then software company "Fractal Design", lead to a position as demo artist for then fledgling Photoshop competitor, "Painter".
As a demo artist for Fractal, while demonstrating their product to visual Effects Houses. A demonstration lead to an opportunity at Pixel Magic. Digital illustration gave way to compositing tools on a Quantel Domino. At the dawn of digital VFX at a shop where Optical film compositing was still in use, digital tools gave way to new techniques and developing skill-sets. John transitioned from the proprietary Quantel Domino, to pre-Adobe, Cosa After Effects. Learning new digital techniques in After Effects lead to a career spanning expertise in the now Adobe produced software package.
For the past nearly three decades, John has honed his skills as an artist and compositor. Eventual work lead to a position at Flight 33 Productions where he became the Visual Effects Supervisor, overseeing dozens of artists, working on multiple documentary series and specials. Two of those specials were nominated for Emmy awards with one finally winning for best graphics in 2014.
As the VFX Supervisor, John accepted the award on behalf of his team for their work on "Big History" for then cable network "H2".
For the past year and a half, John has overseen the VFX department at Buffalo 8. As head of VFX he has managed a small team of compositors and outside vendors, working on dozens of medium budget and Independent films. In just under two years, he has stewarded thousands of VFX to completion for over 30 films. This included a role as the overall VFX supervisor for the film "Supercell".
Starting as an illustrator, a chance meeting with then software company "Fractal Design", lead to a position as demo artist for then fledgling Photoshop competitor, "Painter".
As a demo artist for Fractal, while demonstrating their product to visual Effects Houses. A demonstration lead to an opportunity at Pixel Magic. Digital illustration gave way to compositing tools on a Quantel Domino. At the dawn of digital VFX at a shop where Optical film compositing was still in use, digital tools gave way to new techniques and developing skill-sets. John transitioned from the proprietary Quantel Domino, to pre-Adobe, Cosa After Effects. Learning new digital techniques in After Effects lead to a career spanning expertise in the now Adobe produced software package.
For the past nearly three decades, John has honed his skills as an artist and compositor. Eventual work lead to a position at Flight 33 Productions where he became the Visual Effects Supervisor, overseeing dozens of artists, working on multiple documentary series and specials. Two of those specials were nominated for Emmy awards with one finally winning for best graphics in 2014.
As the VFX Supervisor, John accepted the award on behalf of his team for their work on "Big History" for then cable network "H2".
For the past year and a half, John has overseen the VFX department at Buffalo 8. As head of VFX he has managed a small team of compositors and outside vendors, working on dozens of medium budget and Independent films. In just under two years, he has stewarded thousands of VFX to completion for over 30 films. This included a role as the overall VFX supervisor for the film "Supercell".