It was the best kind of prank. My former student booked an hour with me to review her Compositing reel. That’s what she expected. Here’s what she got instead: 2 people with 10 years of experience each studying her shots, comparing notes, diving into her Nuke scripts, listening to her questions, and sharing recommended approaches and areas to improve.

Despite it being 9pm on a Friday, Shuhei Ogawa joined the Zoom call from my tiny office and stayed for 90 minutes. Hiroka Oizumi was already familiar with Shuhei and his career path was a source of personal inspiration. It’s also relevant to say this was completely unplanned.

This is one of many examples of the generosity of Shuhei, someone I’ve known since we both began our VFX journeys as students, spending long nights at school and dreaming of getting our first VFX credit. We worked at the same studio after graduation, and Shuhei was frequently the colleague who came to the rescue when a shot was too long or too challenging for me to complete before a deadline. I was not the only person he helped. He became a true “finisher” of shots and projects.

Shuhei returned to Japan after 5 years of working in Canada and working at Spade&Co. , one of the top VFX studios in all of Asia. During this time, he worked on 𝑹𝒖𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒊 𝑲𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏: 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍, which remains one of the most beloved live action adaptations of an anime. We watched the earlier films together in school as Shuhei and I were already fans of the source material.

It’s been exciting for me personally to see Shuhei move into roles as a Comp Lead and Supervisor. He’s worked on sets and has managed teams. Some of my former students have worked for him, and some other seniors found work when there little available thanks to his skillful planning. I’ve only ever heard good things.

Even when we were demonstrating techniques in our call to Hiroka, Shuhei showed the most effective and efficient approach to fix one particularly tricky edge. It’s a real pleasure to be able to see him teach the next generation and that knowledge applied.

Shuhei doesn’t get much credit for all that he’s done, and I’ve barely scratched the surface. But there’s good reason why he is so trusted and respected globally by the people who know him. For someone who doesn’t seek out attention or recognition, maybe this post will be an effective prank to make him blush. Additional praise for Shuhei is welcome in the comments. ☺️