Special Effects Technician
Griff is a trainee special effects technician at Real SFX
I help create practical special effects for film and TV productions. That can include anything from explosions, gunshots and bullet wounds to fire, wind, rain and smoke effects.
A simple way to explain it is that if something is happening on screen that isn’t the actors, there’s a good chance the SFX (special effects) team is involved.
My role is mainly workshop-based, where I help prepare, build and maintain equipment ready for filming.
Making sure everything is safe, tested and working properly means the on-set team can deliver the effects that help bring stories to life on screen.
What first attracted me to special effects was the cool stuff – the big Hollywood explosions, bullet wounds and all that.
They’re the most rewarding, because so much effort goes into them, from setting them up to the clean-up afterwards.
I also really enjoy doing fire effects. It’s straightforward to do (once you’ve learnt how), it looks great on screen, and it’s got that wow factor.
On set you can feel the heat, which makes you realise how powerful it is.
There’s loads of STEM skills (science, technology, engineering and maths) involved in what we do. If we’re making a rig to create an effect, we use maths for sizing and making sure everything fits properly, and physics to work out things like force and pressure.
Problem solving is important too, as a lot of the time we’re using trial and error, testing things and using experience from doing something before to judge what might work this time.
Other skills I use are teamwork and communication. We’re rarely working on our own, so I need to be able to explain what I’m doing and understand what someone else is doing. It’s crucial to keep things safe, especially when you’re testing something that must be precise and perfectly timed.
I’m part of the workshop crew, and when I started everyone was really helpful and supportive, which makes a massive difference when you’re learning.
We usually build and test rigs as a team, so having other people around helps you work more efficiently, spot problems earlier and make sure everything is done safely.
The work can sometimes be challenging, but it’s a lot more enjoyable when you’re doing it with people you get on with and can learn from every day.
The wind machines are probably one of my favourites – they go out on pretty much every job.
They’re over half a meter in diameter and we use them for so many things, like clearing smoke in a studio or creating a wind effect on an actor – they’re so handy!
The job can be pretty full-on, so I mostly like to chill out in my spare time.
I try to keep learning bits outside of work though, and at the weekends I like to see my friends.
At school, I was into rugby and football, but I also enjoyed doing woodwork with my dad. One summer, we built a whole cabin in the back garden.
I liked the planning side – working out how things go together, taking measurements and building something that you can use and enjoy.
I worked on a show called SAS Rogue Heroes, and that’s where I did the coolest thing I’ve done so far – a building explosion effect. We didn’t actually blow up the building, but it looked like a big industrial warehouse was exploding, with massive fireballs coming out of doorways and windows, it was amazing!
We used propane woofers (equipment that makes controlled fireballs using propane gas) to shoot a big fireball out of the front doorway. We also had fuel bags dotted around with small pyrotechnics under them, so there were multiple sources of fire. It’s the thing I show everyone when I explain what I do for a job.
Before I started, I thought special effects was mainly the obvious stuff like explosions. But there are so many small details, like smoke and atmospherics.
Even the thickness of smoke and how quickly or slowly it drops can change a scene.
I’m still early in my career, so there’s still loads more I want to learn. I’d like to grow my skills in things like carpentry, electrics, plumbing and pyrotechnics because they all come into special effects in different ways.
I’d also like to get more experience on set, as well as in the workshop.
Give things a go, don’t just sit around thinking and worrying about things. Give it a go, and you’ll soon find out whether you like it or not.
And if you don’t like it, that’s a good thing to find out, and you can go and try something else!
Discover what qualifications you’ll need, how much you can earn, and what the next steps are.
