Blog

1. Welcome Sava. What can you tell us about your professional experience and in particular your experience at Axis?

Hey thanks for having me! I studied Interior and furniture design at Belgrade Faculty of Applied Arts, and that’s where I was first introduced to 3d software. My early freelance days were spent mostly working in arch-viz and motion design, but I was always drawn to filmmaking and storytelling. Therefore I’ve devoted most of my free time into learning filmmaking through the making of my personal animated short films, and luckily in 2017 I got noticed by Axis Studios, and have been working with them ever since. I love my job, if I can call it that, and at Axis experiences usually vary from project to project, in a good way:) Every trailer or short film I do, whether at Axis, Hydra, or my personal production, is different from the last in some way. There's infinite possibilities in how we can tackle storytelling in animation, and that is always the most interesting and inspiring aspect of the process to me.

2. After working for many years in architectural visualization, how does your education and professional background influence the way you create CGI animation?

I still find a great deal of inspiration in architecture, I’d say it’s one of my creative cornerstones. My early days of arch-viz are largely responsible for my composition choices, and I believe architecture is one of the best subject matters to have while learning composition and photography in general. You learn about framing, light, shadow, you learn what to show and what not to show. Oftentimes you can represent an overall design aesthetic of a structure by just focusing on isolated details. All of these principles are very transferable to animation and storytelling.

3. What are the fundamentals to create your awesome work and distinguish from other artists? Where do you seek inspiration?

Everyone has their own unique filmmaking style, their own unique vision, and I think the makings of one’s style are deeply rooted in their surroundings, upbringing, interests, life experiences, books, films, poetry, you name it. For me personally, where I grew up and life experiences while growing up had a massive impact on my interests in life, which would later shape me as a filmmaker. So things like the brutalism in architecture, the eastern European events in history and surroundings, music, even down to weather, all of those things have an impact on your aesthetic. When those core elements that are a part of you are combined with external influences, films, books, oftentimes they can lead to interesting ideas and discoveries. 

4. Is it possible, as in music, gastronomy or architecture, to recognize some Serbian characteristic in your work?

Ha! That’s a very good question that nobody asked before:) I honestly don’t know, or at least I’ve never intentionally tried to add such characteristics in my short films (apart from the obvious one in YUGO). But I think it’s safe to say that some of the themes I’m exploring in my films could be usually attributed to that of Eastern European countries in general. It’s where I grew up and where I live, it’s the stuff I know, so in the end it must have ended up in my work somehow. 

5. Do you have any tips for someone who might be interested in starting a visualization or VFX career?

Learn photography, it’s incredibly valuable. Most of the time, in visualization or VFX you’re trying to digitally reproduce real world phenomena through a virtual lens, and learning about how a real lens works, how exposure, shutter speed, white balance and all the intricacies that go into photography work, you’ll have a much clearer understanding of how to tackle that task in 3d.

6. We live in a very specialized world in which work teams are a complex combination of professions. What kind of academic background do other members of Axis have? Are there any architects on the team?

Axis has grown quite significantly since the last time I visited (thanks covid) and I know I shouldn’t assume things, but with over 400 people in the company I would say there’s a fair chance of someone with an architectural background being there:) I don’t know everyone there as I’ve always worked on a remote basis, but I’d say academic backgrounds vary, from arts degrees to science degrees, to probably no degrees at all. All that matters is the artistry one brings to the team, and being a good team player. 

 

7. I assume that your work at Axis absorbs most of your time, however I understand that you have been involved in some personal projects. Can you tell us something about this aspect of your career?

Again I work on a remote freelance basis, so it varies. Sometimes I’m on multiple projects at once, other times I’m taking some time off in between projects and working on my own films. It’s a well struck balance between client and personal work that has worked great for me thus far. I’ve always been a big advocate for personal work. I think it’s the clearest, most unobtrusive way to showcase who you are as a creative person. Client work is important of course, but I would say I value my personal work much more simply due to how much fun, freedom and ownership I have over it. Those films are usually my own stories, or shared stories with my close collaborators, and oftentimes they’re very personal, and we simply have the need to bring them to life. Making independent animated films is incredibly hard due to the many complexities of production and difficulty with budgeting, but it can be some of the most creative working experience you’ll have. As you’re not beholden to strict deadlines it allows for more flexibility with how you approach certain things, and you have way more room for experimentation, trying out different ideas, or different techniques, and to me that is absolutely invaluable.

8. We recently saw a fantastic trailer for HUXLEY. Can you tell us something about its production and the software tools you have chosen?

HUXLEY was a huge endeavor, I’ve directed the trailer and also co-produced it with the graphic novel creator Ben Mauro, and it’s only a small glimpse into what this vast world offers. The trailer was produced by a very small and nimble team back in 2020, and being that everyone is freelance we’ve utilized plenty of different packages. Character assets were sculpted in ZBrush, animation was done with Motion Builder and Maya, everything was textured with Substance Painter, and final scenes were assembled in 3ds Max and rendered with Redshift, with compositing in After Effects and editing in Premiere Pro. And of course, special shout out to AXYZ and Anima which was used for the two crowd shots:) I’ve always wanted to try my hand at a crowd scene, and working with Anima was an absolute joy:)

 

9. Real-time rendering engines and techniques are evolving rapidly and major companies like Nvidia continue to push their RTX technologies with real-time ray tracing. How do you think these innovations can influence our lives?

I’m no tech guru, so with the broad implication on our lives, I don’t know, Holodeck?:) But in terms of filmmaking, real-time technology like Unreal Engine has already had a massive impact on the industry, and especially on the independent animated film space. For the first time since I started on this journey 14 years ago, I feel ready and confident in tackling longer format animated films, and this is just the beginning. I believe real time is slowly but surely becoming the new standard.

10. Finally, what is your fear, if any, and the biggest thrill you get from working in the field of visual effects and 3D?

I guess the fear would be not being able to execute the vision, or realizing that the idea only sounded good on paper, not in execution. The biggest thrill as I mentioned earlier is the infinite amount of possibilities we have with storytelling, cinematography and filmmaking in general with 3d animation. It’s an infinite 3d space, not bound by physics or real world rules, but instead by your own. The only limitation is your imagination. 

11. Are there any future projects you can tell us about? When will we be able to see HUXLEY on the big screen and enjoy the TV series?

There’s a few things in development, I’m currently in pre-production on my first longer format animated film, as well as my first live action short film that I’m co-directing with my friend Lazar Bodroza. HUXLEY is equally as fruitful with development, with Film and TV series in early development, but that’s all I can say for now, it’s too early to share any specific dates but it is moving along:) One thing I will take this opportunity to plug is my Patreon, where apart from sharing my processes and workflow, occasionally I do provide development updates behind closed doors, so if that’s your thing you can check it out at - https://www.patreon.com/SavaZivkovic

 

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WEBSITE: 

www.instagram.com/sava.zivkovic/

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Sava Živković works with anima® ALL and metropoly® 4D Digital Humans: