FX Master Joan Panis Joins Outpost Montreal as Head of CG

With an impressive background in VFX, Joan is best known for his work as CG Supervisor for Godzilla vs. Kong and Head of Creative Operations at Mr. X on WandaVision. His VFX career spans 14 years, much of which has been spent leading FX teams on technical sequences for demanding films and series.

Reflecting on his early years in the industry, Panis explains: “I have worked in VFX for many years, primarily within the FX discipline. This started at a time where large-scale fluid simulations were less common all the way through to the mass adoption of Houdini throughout our industry.”

Joan also spent the early years of his career working as a part of the pipeline team. This has given him greater technical knowledge which is undoubtedly responsible for his success in a variety of roles within the industry.

Joan will be overseeing all creative and technical CG work for upcoming projects in our Montreal studio, working closely with our team of 3D artists and pipeline engineers.

Working in big studios in the past, Joan is looking forward to being a part of an ever-evolving, dynamic team. “I’ve worked many years on very large scope pipelines that are great at what they do but are slow to update, change and evolve,” he says, “which is why I’m excited to help pursue a young, light and agile pipeline that is more in line with the needs of Outpost.”

Working on major features with serious FX demands has presented unique challenges over the years, as Panis explains:

“One of the most challenging for me while working in FX was a number of very difficult stormy oceans we had to produce for The Finest Hours.

“It was a boat rescue sequence at night. The schedule was a tough one to meet and so many layers of water in all its forms – misty, rainy, splashy, you name it, we had to do it. But I had this amazing FX team to work with that really pulled off some incredible magic in order to get it done. I’ve re-watched the movie recently and I am still really proud of the end result.”

Joan most recently worked on Godzilla Vs Kong, and was instrumental in bringing a fully-CG representation of Hong Kong to life.

We’re more than excited to welcome Joan to Outpost and look forward to seeing the incredible work he and his team produce.