First steps in life – Enola Durand and Lisa Belair

Meeting with Enola Durand, co-director of the film Un mal pour un bien, and Lisa Belair, co-director of the film Le secret de Mona Lisa, both graduates of the CG Animation & FX Master Degree. They tell us about their entry into the professional world, both recruited by MPC, one in Canada and the other in England.

HOW DID YOUR JOB SEARCH GO?

Enola Durand: At the beginning I was a bit lost, we had just finished our short film in which we had put all our energy for more than a year. Once the film screening and the euphoria were over, I rolled up my sleeves and answered dozens of offers on LinkedIn! It was a little frustrating to have to wait for feedback but then you get used to it and finally you get answers, but you have to be patient.

Lisa Belair : Very quick to my surprise! After posting my application on Linkedin, I was quickly contacted by different studios and had several interviews which allowed me to gain confidence, until I was contacted by MPC and accepted the position. I started in December 2021 and my contract ends in September 2022!

WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT JOB AND WHAT ARE YOUR MISSIONS?

Enola Durand: I am currently working at MPC episodic in the field I have always preferred: lighting! I am working in Montreal on the Game Of Throne prequel, House of Dragon. It’s a huge project with a lot of demands but it’s great! I have to adapt the lighting on each shot according to the moods per sequence made by senior artists.

Lisa Belair : I’m a CFX artist at MPC Film London, our job is to add all the secondary motions, in other words: muscle simulations, fat, cloth and fur. In addition to this, we also do shot sculpting, which consists of sculpting the character to meet the specific needs of a shot (e.g., sculpting the cheek of a character who takes a punch).

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR FIRST STEPS IN THE PROFESSIONAL WORLD ?

Enola Durand : I first worked for a few months for Superprod in France as a surfacing artist on a Netflix youth series called Mama K. It was very rewarding and I got to see for the first time how a production works but it was a telecommuting job and personally it didn’t suit me too well. At the same time, I received interview offers following my emails sent a few weeks earlier and that’s when I was accepted at MPC. I was accepted in November and finally left in March, the visa takes a lot of time and it’s a lot of steps but in the end it’s really worth it!

Lisa Belair : My first steps in the professional world were marked by a lot of administration related to obtaining the post-brexit VISA (almost 3 months) and a lot of impatience at the idea of starting to work.

HOW DID YOU EXPERIENCE THIS ENTRY INTO THE PROFESSIONAL WORLD? DID IT CORRESPOND TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS?

Enola Durand: After almost a year I can say that I am still a little nostalgic about life at ESMA and the family atmosphere that was created in 5 years. The transition was quite rough when you enter professional life but I have the chance to work on a great project, I learn a lot, and it’s nice to have a salary! I was a little prepared to go abroad because that’s where a lot of big VFX studios are, but there’s a world of difference between being mentally prepared and saying “here I go”!

Lisa Belair : After a lot of administrative work, I finally arrived in London. The first month was dedicated to learning the pipeline, Linux and the different tools specific to the company. After that, I started working on a real production. The graduation film experience turned out to be close to the studio production experience.

WORKING ON PROFESSIONAL PROJECTS, HOW DOES IT FEEL?

Enola Durand: It’s very impressive and gratifying! On the other hand, you don’t see films like before after that haha! We are lucky to work in the entertainment world, even if it’s not easy, it’s still a nice world. And it’s always nice to see your name in the credits.

Lisa Belair : It is quite stimulating because it is the concretization of the studies. In a few months I’ve already had the opportunity to work on two different projects, with very different needs.

AFTER THESE FEW MONTHS AFTER SCHOOL, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR TRAINING AT ESMA?

Enola Durand: I have wonderful memories of it, it was very intense, a lot of work but you have to keep at it! I learned a lot and I met great people. This year, almost 15 of my class are in Montreal!
I find that the last year is really the most formative because you learn to manage teamwork, which is essential in our profession.

I had the opportunity to work with people who had had other training and I realize that I had a very good foundation that allowed me to easily enter professional life at ESMA. But that doesn’t mean you have to rest on your laurels, you have to give it your all to get to the end.

Lisa Belair : The last year is very formative for the future, especially the ability to respect deadlines and the knowledge of other departments.

HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN THE FUTURE?

Enola Durand : I will continue to give the best of myself and I hope to quickly move to the next level and continue to work on productions that I like like like the one I’m in now.

Lisa Belair : I would like to try to get into a feat animation studio to see what I like the most between vfx and feat animation !

WHAT IS LIFE LIKE ABROAD?

Enola Durand: Even if I miss my family a lot, it’s not bad, it’s a change of scenery and it opens your mind. At MPC there are a lot of employers who come from different countries: Brazil, Hungary, Spain, China, etc. I never tire of hearing stories from other cultures, it’s a change of scenery while I’m still behind my desk. I think I’ll go back to France, I miss the cheese and the good wine but at least I’ll have plenty of stories to tell.

Lisa Belair : After the administrative work is done, it is very enriching. You meet people from very different backgrounds. I felt very comfortable very quickly, especially after meeting up with many friends and acquaintances from school.

Image credits: alternating images from the films Un mal comme un bien and Le secret de Mona Lisa.