CV
curriculum vitae
Alfred Murrle
Compositor – Lead – Supervisor
alfredmurrle@protonmail.com
+64.021.269.0076
Wellington, New Zealand
Starting in 1996 with Starship Troopers, I entered this field at the highest standards of the time from the very beginning. I have worked at Tippett Studio, Rhythm and Hues, Digital Domain, and for the past 25 years at Weta Digital,
Experience
I have a wide range of experience with all forms of traditional digital vfx compositing, from basic blue screen and green screen extractions, to the more complex multilayer composites and environment and sequence look development. I have worked extensively with miniatures photography, shooting as well as compositing photographic effects elements, archival image restoration, cg integration, stereo compositing, software tool and technique development. I’ve also done some work as a texture artist, creating shaders for 3d digital assets for Tintin and I was also a lighting TD on Avatar and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I’ve recently completed an ancillary project for Peter Jackson, working and leading a team of other artists in colorizing a large number of scans of old photos from WWI for a local museum’s exhibition celebrating the centennial of New Zealand’s involvement at Gallipoli and Europe.
Skills
I have been involved with compositing look development for quite some time for a variety of shows. In this work, I find myself ever looking to nature for my guide, compiling reference in the process of problem solving and attempting to recreate naturalistic phenomena. I have been an avid photographer; using medium format film, shooting digital images, stereo images, HDR images, and 360 panoramas. I am always striving to learn and improve my knowledge and craft and I try not to let my tools limit my creative options.
Every year we are faced with new challenges and if the solutions aren’t readily available, we find new ways of using or developing the tools we have, or we build new tools to achieve our goals. To this end, I have also been involved in helping to develop a number of compositing tools at Weta Digital, and I was one of the first group of 3d compositing brainstormers and end users, requesting and refining many of the tools which make up Weta’s deep compositing workflow today.
Aproach
In my roles as comp supervisor and comp lead, I have assessed the work and bid days for turned over sequences, working with production to set assignments and assemble a schedule and timeline, experimenting and facilitating others in coming up with practical plans for creating whatever feats of magic are required for a given show, and in this process creating tools and templates for the compositing team, mentoring when needed and assisting in facilitating the completion of everyone’s shots to a high standard. I prefer to work in a collaborative atmosphere, where we are all peers and anyone can have a voice within the constraints of time. Working as a team, we can take advantage of each others strengths in order to produce the best possible work and manifest the director’s vision onto the screen.
When I have been asked to work as a comp supervisor or sequence lead, I always see my role as primarily being one of service to the artists, along with being the liason to the vfx supervisor and director, but primarily helping each artist to most easily create beautiful work through the best and ideally most simple means.
Over the years, I have worked with many different digital compositing packages and proprietary tools and I have since come to believe that it’s not necessarily the mastery of any specific tool that makes a good vfx artist, it’s not the complexity of ones work, but rather the experience, the eye that drives the mouse, and perhaps more importantly, the creative relationships that we develop in working together as a team. In the end, I am always looking to make ever more beautiful and interesting images while at the same time finding and maintaining the balance between meeting the creative goals of the client and fitting into the demands of production and getting shots out the door.
Professional Experience
1996
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Starship Troopers
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digital compositor
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Tippett Studio
1996
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Starship Troopers
–
digital compositor
–
Tippett Studio
1996 – Starship Troopers – digital compositor – Tippett Studio
1998 – Armageddon – digital compositor – Tippett Studio
1999 – Virus – digital compositor – Tippett Studio
1999 – My Favorite Martian – digital compositor – Tippett Studio
1999 – Komodo – digital compositor – Tippett Studio
1999 – The Haunting – digital compositor – Tippett Studio
1999 – Stuart Little – digital artist – Rhythm & Hues
2000 – Red Planet – digital compositor – Digital Domain
2000 – Stormrider – ride film for Tokyo Disney – digital compositor – Digital Domain
2001 – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – 2d sequence lead – Weta Digital
2002 – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – 2d sequence lead – Weta Digital
2003 – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – 2d sequence lead – Weta Digital
2004 – I, Robot – lead compositor – Weta Digital
2005 – King Kong – lead compositor – Weta Digital
2006 – Eragon – visual effects – Weta Digital
2006 – X-Men: The Last Stand – senior compositor – Weta Digital
2007 – The Water Horse – senior compositor – Weta Digital
2007 – 30 Days of Night – lead compositor – Weta Digital
2007 – Bridge to Terabithia – compositor – Weta Digital
2007 – Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer – compositing team – Weta Digital
2008 – The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian – lead compositor – Weta Digital
2009 – The Lovely Bones – lead compositor – Weta Digital
2009 – Avatar – lighting technical director – Weta Digital
2010 – Gulliver’s Travels – senior compositor – Weta Digital
2010 – King Kong 360 – stereo ride film – senior compositor – Weta Digital
2010 – Knight and Day – visual effects – Weta Digital
2011 – Rise of the Planet of the Apes – lead compositor / lighting technical director – Weta Digital
2011 – The Adventures of Tintin – lead compositor – Weta Digital
2012 – Prometheus – compositing lead – Weta Digital
2012 – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – compositing supervisor – Weta Digital
2013 – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – compositing supervisor – Weta Digital
2013 – The Wolverine – lead compositor – Weta Digital
2014 – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – digital compositor – Weta Digital
2014 – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – lead compositor – Weta Digital
2015 – Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials – digital compositor – Weta Digital
2015 – Furious 7 – digital compositor – Weta Digital
2016 – The Jungle Book – digital compositor – Weta Digital
2016 – The BFG – digital compositor – Weta Digital
2016 – Spectral – digital compositor – Weta Digital
2016/2017 – New Zealand WWI War Memorial – colorization lead – Weta Digital
2017 – War for the Planet of the Apes – lead compositor – Weta Digital
2017 – Mine – horror short – visual effects supervisor
2018 – Mortal Engines – digital compositor – Weta Digital
2018 – Rampage – lead compositor – Weta Digital
2018 – Avengers: Infinity War – digital compositor – Weta Digital
2019 – Ad Astra – compositor – WetaFX
2019 – Lady and the Tramp – lead digital artist – Weta Digital
2020 – We Can Be Heroes – compositor – WetaFX
2020 – The Umbrella Academy – lookdev compositor – WetaFX
2021 – Zack Snyder’s Justice League – compositor – WetaFX
2021 – The Tomorrow War – digital compositor – WetaFX
2021 – The Suicide Squad – compositor – WetaFX
2021 – Planet of the Apes Ride Film – compositing lead – WetaFX
2021 – Invasion – digital compositor – WetaFX
2022 – The Batman – compositor – WetaFX
2022 – Thor: Love and Thunder – compositor – WetaFX
2022 – Peacemaker – digital compositor – WetaFX
2022 – Moon Knight – lead compositor – WetaFX
2023 – Cocaine Bear – lead compositor – WetaFX
2023 – Now and Then – Beatles music video – digital compositor – WetaFX
2023 – Shazam! Fury of the Gods – compositor – WetaFX
2023 – Transformers: Rise of the Beasts – compositor – WetaFX
2023 – The Flash – compositor (uncredited) – WetaFX
2023 – Nyad – compositor – WetaFX
2024 – Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver – compositor – WetaFX
2025 – Superman – compositor – WetaFX
Education
Post-baccalauriate course work – Computer Graphics – Academy of Art College, San Francisco
B.A. Comparative Literature University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Other Experience
From 1994 to 1996, I worked at George Coates Performance Works in San Francisco, responsible for the design, production, and integration of digital art and animation with film and slide projection for stereoscopic display in live multimedia theatrical performances.
From 1987 to 1993, I worked as a concert theatre, stagehand lighting technician, running follow spots at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, The Riverside, and the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.