Justin Keil

Justin Keil

Compositor, Flame Artist, FX Artist, Writer

Senior Digital Compositor / 10 yrs

New York City, NY

Hire Me

Compositor

Marshall (2017)

Digital Artist

The Great Gilly Hopkins (2016)

Compositor

Emelie (2016)
Compositing Reel 2020
JK_HOUDINI_STUDIES_2017_2018
JK_VFX_REEL_2017-2018
Hello, I'm Justin Keil.
A VFX artist with 6 years of experience within the film and advertising industry. I am efficient with both Nuke and Flame, using them in tandem day to day to lead jobs, composite, and finish jobs within live client sessions. I have also done some 3D work within Maya and Houdini, providing assistance where needed, and continue to work as a Houdini hobbyist and 3D enthusiast. Familiarity with texturing packages like Mari and Substance Designer, matchmoving packages like Pftrack, and various other softwares like Speedtree has evolved over the last six years as a result of professional dedication and personal interest in VFX as a discipline.

I believe a fundamental understanding of live action and the CG pipeline is critical to being a competent Project Lead, and on a larger scale to continued innovation within a VFX company. My true passion is storytelling, whether it be for commercials, episodics, or film. It started during my time as a Film and English student at USC and stays with me now as a VFX artist. VFX provides a unique framework for innovation in visual narrative, and the pure love of this potential is something that drives me both professionally and personally on a daily basis.

You can see my latest reel at the top of my VFX page on my website, justinkeil.com, and a more comprehensive list of my professional work on the film and commercial pages. I update my Houdini showcase on vimeo as frequently as I can as well. Thank you so much for your time, and feel free to reach out to me if you have any work inquiries, or general questions.
Work History

  • Nuke Compositor, Freelance

    Blacksmith

    July 2020 - September 2020

    Compositing work on several Facebook and Fanduel Commercials

  • Compositor, Flame Artist

    The Mill

    May 2019 - July 2020
    New York City

    Project lead on various projects, including Google “Go Big,” Bud Light “Fridge,” Trulicity “Nurse,” and a
    Hellmann's Mayo Campaign. Responsibilities included timeline management, compositing, and live client
    sessions.
     Compositing work on various Volkswagon, Google, TD Ameritrade, Chantix, Target, and Thinx campaigns.
    Responsibilities varied from rig removal and green screen extraction to 3d compositing.
     Finish artist on Chantix, Lincoln's “Warm Escape” and “Fresh Take” campaigns, and various others.
    Responsibilities included high volume versioning, quick turn around compositing adjustments, socials creation,
    and live client session work.

  • Flame Assistant

    Union Editorial

    March 2017 - April 2019
    New York City

    Conforming, finishing, and coloring tasks. Completed conforms for Adidas, and Nest Fragrances clients.
     Assisted on large-scale commercial work and outputs for Citibank, Polo, Xeljanz, Entresto, Ralpha Lauren, and
    other Agencies, doing conforming, pre-conforming, exports, compositing, and assembly.
     Simulation work for Atkins commercials using the vellum solver in Houdini.

  • Digital Compositor, Freelance

    The Molecule

    February 2017 - March 2017
    New York City

    Worked on various episodics. Heavy workload included roto, phone comps, and green screen work.

  • Digital Compositor

    Empire VFX

    January 2014 - December 2017
    Buffalo, NY

    Projects:
     Julies Greenroom: keying, frame by frame painting, and compositing.
     Marshall: led compositing team in the development of 3d projections for matte work within the train station scene.
    Created several of the matchmoves and built the main composite for use across all shots.
     Tippet Studios: League of Gods - Matchmoving responsibilities included working with lidar data and
    photogrammetry to produce precise and scalable results.
     Hydraulx: Beyond Skyline - Compositing responsibilities for several CG heavy portions of the film.
     Rig removals for the shows Tomorrow People, Black Sails, and Flesh and Bone, including lens flare removal,
    frame by frame painting, and time lapse effects to remove wires from the fore of constantly changing light sources.
     Multiple Rotoscoping and paint projects for Boardwalk Empire, Flash, and other shows for our Encore, Dive,
    Method and Crazy Monkey clients.

  • Landscaping Foreman

    Country Peddlers

    June 2012 - September 2014
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Education

  • VFX Certification

    Daemen College

    January 2013 - August 2013

  • Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Film/Cinema/Video Studies, Creative Writing

    University of Southern California (USC)

    2008 - 2012