The Hat was a passion project I created to push myself into the world of visual effects and CGI. I’ve always been fascinated by VFX. I’d done bits of screen replacements, set extensions, and green screen work in the past, but I wanted to challenge myself with something bigger: compositing a fully animated 3D character into live-action footage from scratch.
I handled every part of this project solo — writing, directing, acting, shooting, editing, and all the VFX. This meant I had to step into every role, from DP to VFX supervisor to character animator. The process involved learning character modeling, rigging, shading, lighting, tracking, compositing, and animation, essentially walking through the full 3D and VFX pipeline.
This project taught me more than just technical skills, it taught me how to problem-solve across every stage of production and post-production, especially when it came to integrating CGI into real-world environments. It was one of the most challenging things I’ve done, but also the most rewarding.
BTS