Pete Smith's post-production career began in the early eighties at an old school film editing house in Soho, London, where he learned the art of editing with film and later transitioned to using video edit suites. For a decade, Pete worked as an on-line editor at some of London's leading post-production houses, including The Moving Picture Company and The Mill. During this period, he honed his skills in high-end digital effects, working on commercials, title sequences, and music videos.
In 1995, Pete's career took a significant turn as he became the Senior Flame Artist at SVC Television. As a Flame/Smoke artist, his expertise expanded to encompass design-based idents and stings, as well as high-resolution effects compositing for notable feature films like "Harry Potter 1, 2, and 3," "Black Hawk Down," "Babe 2," "The Little Vampire," "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," "Don Quixote," and "Five Seconds to Spare."
Pete's portfolio also includes a diverse range of music videos, where he has contributed his creative talents to artists such as Madonna, David Bowie, The Spice Girls, George Michael, Mary J Blige, Enigma, Mel-G, Massive Attack, Cliff Richard, Scissor Sisters, The Darkness, Robbie Williams, and Destiny's Child.
For almost twenty years, with fifteen of those spent as a freelancer, Pete has been a dedicated Flame artist, primarily working in London but also taking on projects across Europe, the USA, and Asia.
In recent times, Pete has shifted his focus to on-set VFX shoot supervision. With a vast amount of experience under his belt, he has successfully overseen over two hundred shoots. His role includes attending pre-production meetings to help plan shoots and provide guidance for VFX productions. Armed with his Canon 5D, he takes HDRI photos and records camera data to ensure seamless integration of CGI elements. His expertise extends to the point where he is regularly utilized as a second unit director.