Daniel Cavey

Here is a summary of my VFX background. I've been at ILM / Lucasfilm for 18 years working in every facet of the production dept form bidding, vfx breakdowns, stage/set work, editorial ingest, clearances, asset & shot production through final delivery.

Feb of 2006, I started as an ILM Stage PA at Kerner providing support to the Model/Camera & FX teams for a variety of shows. This was also my introduction to 3d layout c/o of Josh Livingston & David Janssen. Prepping the camera binders for Carl Miller & Pat Sweeney's Motion Control shoots.

Mission: Impossible III
Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
Lady in the Water

That Summer I transferred to LDAC & joined the VFX Production team on Eragon, running dailies, cinesync reviews, taking shot notes etc.
My next show was The Spiderwick Chronicles where I was promoted by Janet Lewin to a Coordinator for the Creature Model & Digimatte Crew.

Then Lions for Lambs as a TD/Comp coordinator, with Susan Greenhow producing. This was a great show for me to get a better sense of scheduling to make sure the Comp crew had shots to work on at all times.

I moved onto Iron Man as TD/Comp Coordinator, running cinesyncs, taking notes, setting up dailies etc through final delivery to CO3. Reporting to Katie Lynch, Production Mgr & Wayne Billheimer, VFX Producer.

Right after delivery I moved onto Terminator Salvation, continuing as a Coordinator to Ben Snow with Susan Greenhow producing. From location scouting to 2nd Unit & Main Unit shooting I was wrangling Camera Data with Lanny Cermak as well as operatering Witness Cameras for I-MoCap on the 2nd Unit T-800 fight in the Factory. There was lots of collaboration with the Stan Winston team on set to get Lighting Refs in addition to VFX photography for HDRIs, Panos etc. When vfx turnovers arrived I was the front end coordinator for editorial, post-viz, & layout; then TD/Comp through Final Delivery.

As soon as Terminator was out the door I went back on set for Iron Man 2, a third show with Ben Snow & Wayne Billheimer producing. At the MBS stages & Airforce base I was operating I-MoCap Witness Cameras along Marla Newall our Layout Supervisor.

From set work I was back at LDAC on Rango as an Animation Coordinator & promoted by Carol Norton & Jacqui Lopez to Assoc Production Manager. Working with the Assets, Rough Layout & CreDev teams to make sure the Animation crew had everything they needed to get started & final their work with Hal & Gore.  This was a great growth show, the challenge of scheduling 1440 shots across 60 animators both in SF & Singapore.

Joining Super 8 I was promoted By Jessica Teach & Jill Brooks to Production Manager & back on set & in West Virginia / Los Angeles with Kim Libreri as VFX Supervisor and Tim Dobbert & then Colin Benoit as Layout Supervisors. Similar to my role on Terminator, I was covering a few responsibilities on-set supporting the VFX team: VFX Breakdowns, Memos to ADs, Lighting refs, HDRIs, Data Wrangling, Panos as needed. Back at LDAC the overall ILM schedule in coordination with our 3rd Party partners.

Katie Lynch brought me on for The Avengers, I was managing the editorial plate loads & working the ATDs on the color pipeline to ensure that all plates were loaded with the Dailies cdl values. Then TD/Comp for the Hulk & Helicarrier Unit + Scanline's work for ILM supervised by Jason Smith.

Next show was Pacific Rim, again with Susan Greenhow producing. I was the Front-End Production Manager working with Hui-Ling Chang, the Back-End Prod Mgr, together we managed the overall schedule across (3) ILM facilities SF, Vancouver & Singapore.

On Michael Bay's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, with Susan Greenhow producing, I continued my role as Production Manager overseeing the full VFX schedule at the ILM facilities as well as covering on-set work in NYC while our other Prod Mgr was on vacation. The set work was supervised by Pablo Helman, Bill George & Robert Weaver.

After TMNT wrapped I transitioned onto another Bill George show with Carol Norton producing, two Rides for Disneyland: Soarin' The World & Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure. Again as Production Manager overseeing the full VFX schedule.

Jason Smith had me back on his team for The Revenant, mainly for the Bear Attack sequence. I managed the Production crew at ILM in SF & Vancouver & overseeing the schedule/bidding/Add'l Photography through Final Delivery.

Next stop was Ready Player One, joining the show I promoted to Associate VFX Producer. Initially working on the VFX turnover schedule, shoot prep in collaboration with Digital Domain & the Amblin VFX team. Once the show was up & running I was responsible for special projects, ensuring that all 3rd party CG assets were built & rendered with the IP owners as well as complying with usage restrictions per property.

Towards the end of RPO we were bidding alt 360 render scenarios for potential AR/VR usage. Back with Wayne Billheimer Executive Producer, this landed me on Jurassic World: Blue the velociraptor VR experience for the Oculus Quest launch. Khatsho Orfali was the VFX supervisor and we developed a great rapport from bidding the 360 renders going into this VR project.

During this time Jason Porter & I picked up some seqs on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom in support of the ILM London crew.

When Jurassic wrapped in April of 2018 I was going to be let go from ILM as there wasn't an assignment available. However I ended up switching over to Lucasfilm Animation Production as an overall Producer for a series of animated shorts Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures. This was a wonderful opportunity to apply my vfx vendor experience to be a good creative partner with the Animation studio, Titmouse & Barry Kelly directing.

Currently I'm a Senior Producer for Lucasfilm for a number of shows in our Franchise portfolio for both Animation & Non-Fiction (making of specials).

LEGO Stars Wars Holiday Special (2020)
Star Wars Biomes (2021)
Star Wars Vehicle Flythroughs (2021)
LEGO Stars Wars Terrifying Tale (2021)
LEGO Stars Wars Summer Vacation (2022)
Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return (2022)
Star Wars Galaxy of Creatures S1, S2 (2021)
Star Wars Galactic Pals S1, S2 (2022)
Star Wars Visions S2: The Pit (2023)
Disney's The Gallery: The making of the Mandalorian (2023)
Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones & Harrison Ford (2023)
LEGO Rebuild The Galaxy (2024)

& that's 18 years of my life working on fun projects with great people, nowhere else i'd rather be.

 
Roles & Shows at Industrial Light+Magic, San Francisco - Feb 2006 – April 2018 (12 years)
 

Associate VFX Producer | Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Jan 2018 - Apr 2018 · 4 mos | CrDev, FX, TD/Comp through Final Delivery.

VFX Producer | Jurassic World: BLUE (2018)
Dec 2017 - Apr 2018 · 5 mos | VFX Turnover through Final Delivery.

Associate VFX Producer | Ready Player One (2018)
Sep 2015 - Dec 2017 · 2 yrs 4 mos | Bidding through Final Delivery.

VFX Production Manager | The Revenant (2015)
May 2015 - Dec 2015 · 8 mos | VFX/Post Production.

VFX Production Manager | Soarin' The World (Anaheim & Orlando Disneyland)
Jul 2014 - May 2015 · 11 mos | Collaboration with Walt Disney Imagineering, Bidding through Final Delivery.

VFX Production Manager | Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure (Shanghai Disneyland)
Jul 2014 - May 2015 · 11 mos | Collaboration with Walt Disney Imagineering, Bidding through Final Delivery.

VFX Production Manager | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
Apr 2013 - Jul 2014 · 1 yr 4 mos | Bidding, On-Set Plate through Final Delivery.

VFX Production Manager | Pacific Rim (2013)
Apr 2012 - Apr 2013 · 1 yr 1 mo | VFX Turnover through Final Delivery.

VFX Associate Production Manager | Marvel's The Avengers (2012)
May 2011 - Apr 2012 · 1 yr |  VFX Turnover through Final Delivery. Jason Smith's Hulk Unit, TD/Comp.

VFX Associate Production Manager | Super 8 (2011)
Sep 2010 - May 2011 · 9 mos | Plate Prep, On-Set, Front End VFX Depts through Final Delivery.

VFX Associate Production Manager | Rango (2011)
Oct 2009 - Sep 2010 · 1 yr | VFX Turnover, Animation Dept through Anim Wrap.

VFX Production Coordinator | Rango (2011)
Jul 2009 - Oct 2009 · 4 mos | VFX Turnover, Animation Dept.

VFX Plate Coordinator | Iron Man 2 (2010)
Apr 2009 - Jul 2009 · 4 mos | On-Set, Main Unit / 2nd Unit Photography & Motion Capture.

VFX Production Coordinator | Terminator Salvation (2009)
Apr 2008 - Apr 2009 · 1 yr 1 mo | On-Set Main Unit / 2nd Unit Photography & Motion Capture, Asset Dev & TD/Comp through Final Delivery.

VFX Production Coordinator | Iron Man (2008)
Oct 2007 - Apr 2008 · 7 mos |  TD/Comp through Final Delivery.

VFX Production Coordinator | Lions For Lambs (2007)
Apr 2007 - Oct 2007 · 7 mos | TD/Comp through Final Delivery.

VFX Production Coordinator | The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
Nov 2006 - Apr 2007 · 6 mos | Asset Dev & Digimatte.

VFX Production Assistant | Eragon (2007)
Apr 2006 - Nov 2006 · 8 mos | VFX Turnover through Final Delivery.

VFX Stage Production Assistant | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
Feb 2006 - Apr 2006 · 3 mos | Stage support for Miniatures, Elements for Motion Control shoots.

VFX Stage Production Assistant | Lady In The Water (2006)
Feb 2006 - Apr 2006 · 3 mos | Stage support for Stunts & Element shoots.

VFX Stage Production Assistant | Mission Impossible III (2006)
Feb 2006 - Apr 2006 · 3 mos | Stage support for Miniatures, Elements for Motion Control shoots.

For additional credits, please see.
LinkedIn :: www.linkedin.com/in/danielcavey
IMDB :: Daniel Cavey