For being in the profession that lays its back on your imaginations and the way you put down the imaginations on to a visual medium, it is very important that you develop certain basic skills. These skills would prepare you to take your further steps towards crafting a successful career.

§  Get to know the VFX Language: Learn the common acronyms, film language and terms used in the VFX industry, like ‘Dolly Shot’, ‘Tracking Shot’ or ‘Trucking Shot’ which are used to refer a shot taken from a moving vehicle.

§  Be informed of the basics of Math and Physics: Though not very important, math and physics can help you create realistic, advanced effects that can make you feel as artist cum techie. 

§  Be ‘Simply’ Creative: Think simple. Plan how best you can do a shot in the simplest way.

§  Creatively think to reduce your work burden: For example, cheat the viewers’ eyes by using matte paintings and occlusion in to textures instead of creating model background objects that are not covered by the camera. 

§  Balance out between Live and Animated shots: Do not just think of digital solutions. For example, instead of using animation to show fog, you can opt to serve the purpose with simple dry ice.

§  Deconstruct Cinematography: Understand how the chief over the camera and lighting crews work on a film.

§  Probe Photography and Painting: Understand framing, composition, balance and other design principles through photography and painting.

§  Expertise in Computer Literacy: Get to know LINUX/UNIX, Python, C/C++, other suitable programming languages, graphics card, image-editing tools, video-editing tools, audio-editing tools, 3D animation software, etc.

As secondary skills, get to know the basics of film editing, learn to work collaboratively, learn to Balance between Time, Resource and Perfection, learn from criticisms, and keep experimenting.

Above all, Specialize in your Own Style to move up in a definite path towards success, be it in movies, advertisements, games, animations or any sector of your passion.