3D Animation & VFX Student

1.4K+ render hrs

Open to internships & junior roles · Grad 2026

I make the impossiblelook like it was filmed that way.

Final-year animation & VFX student building previs, creature animation, and full CG-to-comp breakdowns — currently looking for my first studio seat.

Watch The Reel Get In Touch

12Shots composited

3Festival selections

1.4K+Render hours logged

2026Graduating class

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01About

Self-taught, studio-tested.

Focus areas

Character & creature animation
3D lighting & rendering
Compositing & roto
Previs & blocking

I picked up a copy of Blender at fourteen because I wanted to know how the Hulk's muscles moved. Six years later I'm still chasing that same question, just with better software.

A VFX shot only works if nobody notices it. I'd rather spend three extra passes on a roto edge than ship something that reads as "effects" instead of "real."

Halsey Conservatory of Animation & VFX●Open to internships & junior roles · Grad 2026

02The Pipeline

One pipeline. Every shot.

Previs

Block the shot in 3D before a single frame is final.

Animate

Build the performance first, polish second.

Light & Render

Match the plate's light, not just the brief.

Simulate

Let physics handle the parts animation shouldn't fake.

Composite

Marry the CG and the plate until the seam disappears.

03Reel

Six projects. Six pipelines.

Tilt a card — every project here shipped through a different stage of the pipeline above.

Creature Animation · Thesis Film

Undertow — Senior Thesis Film

A 4-minute creature-animation short built solo over two semesters, from blocking to final comp.

4 minRuntime

31Shots

2Festival runs

Character AnimationLightingCompositing

Compositing · Roto-Heavy

Glass Atlas — VFX Breakdown Reel

A before/after breakdown reel showing six plate-to-comp shots, from greenscreen pull to final grade.

6Shots

14Avg. roto layers

180Comp hours

RotoscopingTrackingColor Grading

Studio Internship · Cinematic

Riftline — Game Cinematic Trailer

Contributed animation and lighting passes to a 90-second cinematic trailer during a summer internship.

90 secTrailer length

9Shots owned

210KViews

Cinematic AnimationLightingStudio Pipeline

Hybrid Animation · Collaborative

Paper Wolves — 2D/3D Hybrid Short

Co-directed a hybrid short blending 2D character animation with a fully 3D-rendered environment.

6 minRuntime

4Collaborators

1Festival selection

Hybrid PipelineEnvironment RenderDirection

Previs · Indie Feature

Groundwork — Previs Package

Delivered a full previs package for three action sequences on a no-budget indie feature.

3Sequences

48Shots blocked

3 wksTurnaround

PrevisCamera BlockingStoryboards

Simulation · Houdini

Smoke Test — FX Simulation Showcase

A simulation-only showcase reel of smoke, fluid, and destruction effects built to learn Houdini's solvers.

9Sims completed

6 hrsAvg. sim time

210GBCache size

Smoke SimFluid SimDestruction

04By The Numbers

A student reel, not a placeholder.

0.0K+Render hours logged

0Festival selections

0Shots composited

0Pipeline tools mastered

05The Stack

Six layers. One composite.

Keep scrolling — every pass stacks behind the active layer, then the breakdown flattens into the final shot.

Plate

Raw live-action background footage, locked and stabilized.

STACKING LAYERSNOW COMPOSITING

06Behind The Render

Where the frames actually get made.

A glowing dual-monitor 3D workstation setup in a dark room — Late-night render sessions

A vibrant 3D-rendered abstract geometric scene — Lighting test, Undertow

A modern server room with network racks for render farm computing — The render farm queue

Close-up of a stylus pen sketching on a digital drawing tablet — Blocking out a new shot

A person monitoring multiple screens in a studio control room — Dailies review

07Experience

Three years, three pipelines.

VFX Intern · Lumen Studios

Summer 2025

Supported the comp team on a feature film, owning roto and tracking passes across 40+ shots.

RotoscopingTrackingNuke

Animation Intern · Forge Interactive

Summer 2024

Animated secondary characters and props for a cinematic trailer under a senior animator's mentorship.

Character AnimationRigging SupportMaya

Render Wrangler · Halsey Conservatory

2023 — Present

Manage the school's render farm queue and mentor first-year students on pipeline basics.

Render ManagementMentorshipPipeline Tools

08The Timeline

Software, scrubbed like footage.

Maya

92%

Blender

95%

Nuke

85%

Houdini

78%

Substance Painter

88%

Unreal Engine

80%

09Credentials

Education & recognition.

BFA, Animation & Visual Effects

Halsey Conservatory (Expected 2026)

2026

SIGGRAPH Student Volunteer

SIGGRAPH

2024

Adobe Certified Professional

After Effects

2023

Official Selection

Northern Lights Animation Fest

2025

10Crit Notes

What the crit room says.

“

Kai's roto work is cleaner than most juniors I've hired full-time. The attention to edge detail on Undertow was genuinely professional-grade.

Priya NandakumarVFX Supervisor, Lumen Studios

“

Most students animate to finish the assignment. Kai animates to solve the performance. That difference is the whole job.

Marcus OyelaranFaculty, Halsey Conservatory

“

We brought Kai on for a three-week internship and extended it twice. The trailer work held up next to our senior team's shots.

Sasha LindqvistLead Animator, Forge Interactive

11Contact

Let's put me on your crew.

Internship, junior role, or a freelance shot that needs an extra pair of hands — send a message and I'll reply within a day.

Emailkai.bennett@example.com

LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/kaibennett