Visual Effects Supervisor Kolby Kember was raised in the southern Louisiana swamps with a love of visual storytelling from an early age. After earning a degree in Computer Animation from Full Sail University, Kolby took his growing skills to VFX studios in Los Angeles. He’s since contributed his talents to Night Teeth, Black Lightning, Captain America, Game of Thrones, Beautiful Creatures, and projects filmed in his home state of Louisiana like Where the Crawdads Sing and National Treasure: Edge of History.

Kolby talked with us about his base camera equipment, epoxy welding a homemade gray ball, and nerding out about his 3D resin printer.

Kolby’s VFX Kit:

• Sony a7R II
• 85mm lens
• 50mm lens
• 8mm fisheye lens
• Insta360 camera
• Tripod
• Mini tripod in a selfie stick for the 360 camera
• USBs/camera cards
• Solid State Drives
• Color Chart
• Orange and green tape
• Chrome and gray ball
• iPad Mini
• Technical flashlights
• Card reader
• Battery-powered LEDs
• A lucky Mogwai paw 

Tell me a little bit about you and what you do.

My name is Kolby Kember. I am a Creative Director and Visual Effects Supervisor at Crafty Apes, Baton Rouge. I have done a little bit of everything in the visual effects world, from compositing to lighting to set work. And now I’m supervising.

What are some of your recent projects?

Some of the recent projects that I did set work on are Where the Crawdads Sing, a Disney show called Ultra Violet, and National Treasure: Edge of History.

And what does your kit normally consist of?

Normally, I would have a very heavy backpack toting around cameras and all sorts of stuff.

What camera do you normally take with you?

I use a Sony a7R II, I carry an 85mm lens for fun, I carry a 50mm lens for witness cams, and I carry an 8mm fisheye lens for shooting HDRs.

On his accessories:

I have a cable for about everything you could imagine. I’ve got quite a few battery backups. I’ve got an Insta360 camera, a tripod, I’ve got a mini tripod, and a selfie stick for the 360 camera.  I keep a handful of USBs and drives – Solid State drives. I keep orange and green tape, I keep a color chart, and a half chrome ball-gray ball.

I also keep an iPad – I have not had mini for a while, but now I’ve got a regular one with a pen…My favorite was the Mini. Also, I keep flashlights in there, I have quite a few camera cards and a card reader.

Entering the deepest dark recesses of his kit:

I have a lucky mogwai paw.

I’ve got batteries and tracking markers, and a couple of tracking markers I have are the orange-green tape. I’ve got a small bag of battery-powered LEDs that I keep in there.

Are the gray ball and chrome ball homemade or did you buy them from somewhere?

They are homemade. I bought a couple of C-stand knuckles and those garden gazing balls [that are in every plant nursery]. Some people might knock them for the fact that they’re not perfectly spherical – there’s always a little bit of indentions and imperfections to it. But these days you don’t pull your panoramic from chrome balls anymore – they’re more or less reference. So I don’t think they have to be as pristine as they used to be. But yeah, a gazing ball, a C-stand knuckle and I epoxy welded them together, drilled a hole in it, taped it off, made it one side 70% gray, the other side chrome. I got about four different sizes.

Do you have any gear that you’re nerding out about right now? Any piece of equipment you like playing with?

Yeah, the 3D printer, I got a resin printer. It doesn’t necessarily pertain to set work so much. I’m sure I could find a good use case for it eventually, but I’ve been playing around with some 3D resin printers and I’m able to scan [objects] and make things for myself.

Our deepest appreciation to Kolby Kember for sharing his VFX kit. Kolby’s most recent project, Gringa, starring Steve Zahn and Judy Greer, is now available to rent on Apple TV and Amazon.