In this conversation, Dan Lorenzini, Head of 2D at Absolute, reflects on his journey from his early days as a compositor to leading teams at one of the UK’s leading VFX studios. With experience spanning music videos, commercials, and international projects, he has witnessed firsthand the evolution of visual effects across continents and decades. From an early career steeped in flame artistry, to building teams and navigating the ups and downs of the industry, his careeer highlights, both the craft and the culture of VFX. Today, he combines technical mastery with mentorship, shaping the next generation of artists while continuing to push creative boundaries in an industry defined by constant change.
From your early days as a compositor at The Hive to becoming Head of 2D at Absolute, what first sparked your fascination with visual effects, and how has that spark evolved over time?
I was very lucky to see a flame in action on my very first day as a runner at VTR. I delivered a coffee to my now-friend and fellow flame-op Tim Davies who was working his magic on a coldplay video. The video featured all the action being played in reverse, but people were singing forwards. That was what inspired me to get into flame and 2d comp as a discipline. I got my head down and read the manual, struggled through roto and cleanup tasks late at night, and finally got my own music videos to work on while at Prime Focus.
Music videos were the perfect training for a flame op, as they encompassed every aspect of the job, and the briefs were super open and demanding, which led you to try to develop a really broad skill set. That helped me get into commercials, travel the world, supervise shoots, and eventually come back to the UK ready to join MPC, a commercials department that I really wanted to be a part of. Being surrounded by such depth of talent in 2d, 3d, colour and production pushed me every single day to try and succeed at this level. Working with people who have gone on to be Creative Directors and HODs at the major players around town was a real privilege. They are the people that pushed me to aim high, and give back by imparting some of my experience to the younger generations coming through now.
At the recent AI Showcase co-hosted by Absolute and Blind Pig, there was a lot of discussion around how tools like LipDub.ai and Suno.ai are reshaping production workflows. From a 2D/VFX perspective, how do you see AI enhancing or challenging the role of traditional composers and artists, especially when it comes to creative control and authorship?
AI tools, when properly used, can enhance the skillset of the comper. We can give our clients real value in our shots when time is tight. Creative control is always an issue with AI, that’s why I find it more useful as an assistant tool, one I can create assets for my shot with but continue to utilise my traditional skills to comp the final shot. It’s the best of both worlds. As for authorship, I really feel that is the responsibility of the AI tool makers themselves. I prefer the term Machine Learning rather than AI, with toolsets that have been taught a particular technical process, rather than the gen AI models trained off genuine artists’ work.
Have you observed any distinct cultural or operational advantages in Absolute’s setup compared to larger VFX giants?
I’ve worked at the giants, I’ve worked for boutiques. The best thing really is that no matter where you are, the mindset of the people you work with is the same. We all want to do a good job, have fun, learn and grow (and get paid). Where Absolute separates from one of the giants is the ability to provide talent consistency for clients across multiple projects. We can hook directors up with our great colourists and help encourage those relationships, we can give our clients the kind of personal touch that we as an industry seem to be losing. In the commercial world, the connections people have are of paramount importance, and we need our clients to breathe a sigh of relief when they walk through our door.
You’ve witnessed the VFX industry evolve across continents and decades. What’s one major shift in the creative process or client expectations that excites or challenges you the most today?
Without sounding overly negative ( something I’m commonly accused of…) the most major shift I’ve felt is time. The time we get to craft, to conceive and to iterate shots is compressing at a ridiculous rate. The client demands for quality have not changed, yet the time given to a highly challenging part of the process is constantly limited. It’s a source of frustration for sure, but the advances in pipeline tech and hardware are helping us speed up pain points. I’ve met some incredibly talented pipeline and infrastructure engineers in my time and their contribution to our craft is valuable beyond words. That’s the challenge, as for what excites me now? I love to help develop new talent, to help them realise that there are so many different areas for them to excel in, and help them develop the artistic eye (yet the thick skin) to deal with the requests that commercial industry can make. I want to help them craft a career out of what can be a very rewarding industry, IF you come to it with the right game plan and mindset.
With the rise of AI and real-time rendering, how do you see the role of traditional 2D artists changing in the next few years?
IF the development of AI tools goes down the right road, I think we can thrive. I want AI tools to be exactly that, tools, tools I can use to make the pain points of my day to day easier. I want auto camera trackers, denoisers, upscalers, inpainting, and roto tools, so i can focus on making the shot look good. It’s my craft, it’s what I enjoy and it’s why I come to work every day. I want our hardware and storage to be lighting fast, and none of us want to wait for rendering. The over reliance on generative AI as a shot maker is a dangerous road, I think if people focus too heavily on that we will collectively lose our craft.
Pretty soon if you can’t prompt it, there will be no one left to actually make it properly. Too many of the big brand overlords are throwing efforts into generative AI, and it’s hard to not feel like their overall goal is to replace people and wages. I think there is a place for both areas to exist as skillsets, but I find the notion of ai replacing artists offensive, and something that is touted by the most base-level Linkedin influencers. I’m all about AI tools being the artists assistant, they shouldn’t ever challenge our existence. I find the whole conversation around ‘ AI replacing people’ and ‘making a brand spec ad for pennies’ such short sighted and incendiary view points. The ‘influencer’ types on LinkedIn are making these kinds of posts to provoke. Personally, I feel our services in VFX should be more expensive than ever. We do some incredible things for our clients, and it’s been a race to the bottom as far as price point goes for the last 15 years. It’s a conversation that could be a whole other article, most probably written by people far cleverer than me.
You’ve witnessed the evolution of VFX workflows over two decades, from tape-to-tape days to today’s AI-driven tools. What’s been the most defining technological shift for you personally?
My particular generation I think has witnessed the most shifts so far! To think that VFX is only really 40 years old is crazy, I’m only now starting to celebrate friends and (older!) colleagues’ retirements. We have been the Guinea pigs for everything. The advent of digital cinema cameras was huge, getting us off film for high volume commercial shoots was a game changer. Moving away from film scans to rock steady, no film weave digital images really changed the skillsets we needed. Getting off tape and into tapeless digital mastering was a breath of fresh air to us all, as was when flame moved from unix to linux operating systems. That opened up a whole new world of power and speed to us (not without our fair share of crashes).
The developments in CG, the creation of nuke, the death of shake, the birth of AI, virtual production – these are all incredible steps forward in our industry. But the most defining part for me is that all throughout the tech shifts – the need for craft and talented people has remained strong. All the most advanced tech in the hands of someone with no photographic eye, or creative thinking, means nothing.
With younger artists entering a rapidly changing industry, what’s one piece of advice you find yourself repeating to new compositors and Flame ops?
Learn your trade. Be an expert. Be kind
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