BU graduate a pioneer of International Women’s Day
8 March 2012
 |
BU graduate is the only female Visual FX supervisor in the UK and possibly Europe. |
8 March 2012
|
BU graduate is the only female Visual FX supervisor in the UK and possibly Europe. |
BU has a very unique contribution to today’s International Women’s Day - a graduate that is in fact the only female Visual FX supervisor in the UK.
Graduating from BU in 1994 in MA Computer Animation, Sue Rowe is now the UK’s only VFX supervisor for Cinesite, a company who are one of Europe’s largest full-service visual effects (VFX) facilities. Cinesite do special effects for major motion picture studios, including Warner Brothers, Paramount and Walt Disney Pictures.
Sue has noted that she is definitely the only lady in her position in UK, and she thinks perhaps even Europe too, and has learnt to tactically tackle the ‘when is your boss turning up?’ question which arises repeatedly.
She told Diversity Careers that “there are very few women in this field. I’m the only woman VFX supervisor that I know of in Europe.”
“When you walk into a room, sometimes the only female you see is either the star or the person doing the catering. I used to walk on the set and people would ask me, ‘When’s your boss coming?’ I learned to explain, ‘That’s me.’”
Sue went on to say that the multi-disciplined nature of the course has given her an invaluable edge over some people in her industry, adding:
“Often, you find people who just love art and are flummoxed by computers, or you find people who love computers but they don’t know how to animate. One of my unique selling points is that I can do both.”
As well as being the pioneering female in her field, Sue has won the 2008 Panalux Craft Award from Women in Film and Television (WFTV, London, UK), which recognizes her work as a woman in the male-dominated film industry.