Short answer: The visual effects supervisor is responsible for what the effects look like and how they get made, from planning through the shoot to final delivery. The visual effects producer is responsible for the budget, the schedule and the vendors. They work as a pair, and on most shows there is one pair on the production's side and another at each vendor doing the work.
If you are producing a show with effects in it, these are the two people you will talk to most about them. Knowing which of them owns which question saves a lot of forwarded email.
This page covers what each role usually does, and why there are often more of them than the call sheet suggests.
What the visual effects supervisor does
Wikipedia's entry puts the role in one line: the supervisor is responsible for "achieving the creative aims of the director or producers through the use of visual effects". In practice that splits into three phases.
Before the shoot, the supervisor breaks the script down into effects work, proposes how each shot will be done, and helps the producer bid it. Whether a city is built, painted or shot on location is usually their recommendation. The same entry notes that supervisors tend to have a strong technical background and oversee the choice of methods and technology.
On set, they make sure the footage can be worked on later. That means deciding where tracking markers go, when a clean pass with nobody in frame is needed, what reference photography and lighting data to capture, and when a blue or green screen is worth the trouble. On bigger shows a dedicated on-set supervisor and data wranglers do much of this, reporting back.
In post, they review every version of every shot, give the notes, and present the work to the director. They decide when a shot is final, from the effects side.
What the visual effects producer does
The producer owns the business of the effects. That covers the budget, the bid from each vendor, which vendor gets which shots, the schedule, the contracts, and the running count of what has been delivered against what was promised.
It's easy to read that as administration. People in the job tend to disagree. Mark Spatny, who has worked as both supervisor and producer, told VFX Voice that the producer is "an equal partner" to the supervisor on a project, and every bit as responsible for its success or failure. In the same roundtable, a studio-side producer said that a lot of the time the producer starts on a film even ahead of the supervisor.
A coordinator usually works under the producer. Coordinators track shots, versions, notes, deliveries and dates. On a large show they know where every shot is at any moment, and they are often a vendor's first contact.
How they split the work
A rough rule that holds on most shows: the supervisor owns "how" and "how good", the producer owns "how much" and "by when".
The two overlap constantly, because every method has a price and every schedule limits the method. When the director asks for a change, the supervisor says what it means for the shot and the producer says what it means for the budget. A decision made by only one of them is usually the one that comes back later.
For a production, the practical rule: send creative questions and notes to the supervisor. Send money, scope and schedule questions to the producer. Copy both on anything that changes a shot after it was bid.
Why there are two of each
Wikipedia notes that supervisors "can be employed directly by a film production company or work for a visual effects company". Most productions with substantial effects have both kinds.
The production hires its own supervisor and producer, sometimes called the client side or studio side. They plan the work, split it between vendors and review what comes back. Each vendor then has its own supervisor and producer, responsible for that company's shots and that company's budget.
So when a production says "our supervisor" and a vendor says "our supervisor", they mean different people with different jobs. The production's supervisor judges the work. The vendor's supervisor makes it. Their producers negotiate with each other. Most friction between a show and a vendor travels along one of those two lines, and knowing which line a problem belongs on is half of solving it.
A specialist subcontractor, such as an environment painter brought in by a larger vendor, usually sits one level further down. They answer to the vendor's supervisor, not the production's, which is covered in what a VFX studio buys when it subcontracts.
Does a small production need a visual effects supervisor?
If the show has more than a handful of effects shots, usually yes, even part-time.
The expensive mistakes in effects work happen on the shoot day, when nobody is there to say that a shot needs a clean pass, a lens grid or a different angle on the horizon. They get paid for in post, usually at far more than avoiding them would have cost. A supervisor who reviews the script and spends the key days on set is often cheaper than the fixes they prevent.
A small show can combine roles. Some people work as supervisor and producer at once, and some vendors will supervise their own shots on set if they are brought in early. What matters is that someone owns each question. And the questions to ask a VFX vendor are a good test of whether a vendor can carry part of that load.
Where an environment specialist fits
Chumak Studio, in Toronto, paints environments for film and television, for productions and for larger vendors. The work is described on the digital matte painting page. If you are planning shots and want an environment question answered before the bid, send the frames.
