Stop Motion Pinocchio

Stories have been swirling all around about the Stop Motion Pinocchio film that Deadline/GDT/Henson and Gris Grimly are making.  Here is an excerpt of what Gris posted on his blog to 'set the record straight"...

GDT has been like a big brother and mentor on this project. None of this would be happening if it weren't for him. Many young filmmakers would kill for the opportunity that I've been granted. Maybe they deserve it more. I never went to film school. I haven't worked my way up from the mail room. I haven't invested a lot of time and money into film projects and festivals in hopes to be discovered. I am just a man with a vision and the work ethics to make it happen. Fate has been on my side and in the interest of Pinocchio. I threw the die...and they landed in my favor.

That's showbiz...I guess.

...for more of his post and the rest of the story go here.

VFX Union Picnic in Santa Monica

At the request of artists on both sides of the border, the IATSE union in Los Angeles and Vancouver will be hosting informational meetings on Sunday February 13. The IA, in sunny Southern California, are hosting an informational picnic in Santa Monica, whereas here in Vancouver with a decidedly cooler clime, IATSE 891′s informational meeting will be held at the Shebeen. This is an opportunity to chat with your fellow artists, compare working conditions, and ask the questions you want answered of the union about the organizing drive, the benefits of a union, employment classifications, etc. Bring along your colleagues, enjoy some food in a relaxed casual atmosphere, and most importantly bring your questions!

Vancouver:
The Shebeen in the back of the Irish Heather on Carroll Street
February 13, 12.00pm

Los Angeles:
Dorothy Green Park, Santa Monica

Tim Johnson talks about How to Train your Dragon sequel and TV series

This is possibly the most informative interview I have seen with one of the big key frame studios. They usually are more secretive about future directors and projects.  Good stuff.

Complete Star Wars Saga on Blu-ray

“The most anticipated Blu-ray release ever” begins the press release announcing the impending availability of the complete Star Wars Saga on Blu-ray.

Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray will feature all six live-action Star Wars feature films utilizing the highest possible picture and audio presentation, along with three additional discs and more than 30 hours of extensive special features including never-before-seen deleted and alternate scenes, an exploration of the exclusive Star Wars archives, and much more.

Save up to $50 off the MSRP if you pre-order now via Amazon (Prequel Trilogy set; Original Trilogy set; The Complete Saga). Ship date: September 2011.

What if VFX Facilities Didn't Exist?

A friend and I were discussing the future of VFX today.  To be honest, I haven't thought about animation much over the holiday.  I have been enjoying the time off and time to sleep and hibernate.  But... I go back into the big machine next Monday and with the news of another studio closing on the heels of the Asylum FX announcement - this is weighing on my mind again.  "Bye bye" vacation - back to reality.

My colleague started talking about unions and I argued: "A union at this point will only help a symptom - not the disease.  A biz model based on undercutting the competition until you are working with a budget that equals bone and ligament cannot survive for long.  VFX studios are so poorly managed and they have backed themselves into a corner where they have absolutely no position to negotiate.  To underbid a show simply to get work into the studio is not a good idea.  On top of this... the VFX studios cannot agree to organize themselves into any type of group that could lobby with the production studios for better budgets trickling down better wages and working conditions for artists."

Then, he said - "What if artists worked directly for the Production studios like everyone else?"  After our chat, I am convinced that the only way to save the VFX biz model is to start over completely and eliminate the VFX studios entirely.   Why not go back to square one and work directly with the studios on the lot?  Like all of the other production for movies is handled?  At first, I told my buddy, "...that can't work because the VFX pipeline is so different than live action."  But, maybe not?  Maybe that is the problem?  The current VFX biz model doesn't work, so why would we try to replicate it on the lot.  Maybe a new approach is a good one?  So much has changed technically in how we create animation and VFX with computers today, that maybe we need to rebuild?

Here are a couple articles discussing this issue:

Rough Times for VFX

Another VFX Business Model

What Purpose Do VFX facilities Serve?

talk amongst yourselves.

Mila Kunis and Macaulay Culkin are dunzo after 8 years...

Woo hoo Mila Kunis is single again.....

image from movies.ndtv.com

Mila Kunis and Macaulay Culkin have called it quits.

As first reported by Us Weekly, the Golden Globe-nominated actress' rep confirmed the couple's breakup to New York Post's Page Six on Monday; they first began dating in 2002.

"The split was amicable, and they remain close friends," Kunis' rep said.

According to a source, the couple went their separate ways months ago but decided to keep it quiet while Kunis, 27, promoted Black Swan.

Read more HERE at omg.yahoo.com

Asylum VFX CEO Nathan McGuinness

From Bryant Frazer - Studio Blog:  "It’s been a bad week for post-production in Los Angeles. First came word that the 11-year-old Asylum VFX house was closing its doors. Next, word came that Digital Domain had purchased stereo-3D specialist In-Three and was moving its operations to Florida. And finally, Variety reported that Technicolor was going to quit striking 35mm release prints in the U.S., consolidating its North Hollywood operations into a facility in Canada. I spoke this afternoon to the head of Asylum VFX, Nathan McGuinness, to ask what went wrong for his company."

Nathan McGuinness: What happened was we couldn’t compete with the rest of the world. We couldn’t compete with the tax incentives from other countries. The work I’ve seen coming from around the world, the U.K. especially, is stellar. Amazing. We could do the same, but we weren’t given the same playing field. The last days of Asylum, we were on the back foot trying to get forward. We were at capacity, with so much commercial work going on, movies prepping and movies running. It really confused the staff. “Why is Nathan saying we’ll shut the doors today?” It didn’t make any sense to people. But the problem for us is, being an independently run and funded company, I couldn’t — I just couldn’t keep up any longer.


Read more here...

Penny

I heard that Pee Wee Herman is coming to Broadway!  NPR aired a really interesting interview with Paul Rubens  - the creator of Pee Wee Herman, Friday night.   One of my favorite segments of the Pee Wee show was the Penny Cartoon.  I wanted to post it for those who have never even heard of Pee Wee.  I loved Pee Wee Herman even though I was a bit hold for the show and am so glad he is back with a more adult version.





Penny's approach to animating shorts was to record a little girl... just telling stories, pick the most interesting one and animate to it.  It's so much better to work this way than trying to mime to an actor from a film.  There is so much more room for creativity.  I encourage students to try it!  You can record your friends talking...  Ardman has used this technique for their shorts for years.  Taking the story out of context, but still respecting the delivery and content of the line is where Ardman and the penny cartoons excelled.

ICT at USC

I have been working at the Institute of CreativeTtechnologies for the past 6 months. It has beeny interesting working with virtual humans and interactive technologie,s again. Plus, it feels good to be working on something that might help someone out there. Previous to joining the group, I had no idea what ICT was. There are many application for CG outside of movies, games and commercials.

A story in today's Times features the institute, and much of the work is used by the military for purposes including training fighters to combat insurgents and calming nerves of weary soldiers. ICT’s wide-ranging technologies are now found on 65 military sites across the country.Above is a video explaining what ICT is and shows some of the various projects in production.

George Lucas To Donate More Than Half Of His Wealth To Education

In a letter dated July 16, 2010, Lucas has agreed that he will donate the majority of his wealth (a.k.a. more than 50 percent) to improving our schools through the George Lucas

Educational Foundation. In the letter, he cites the importance of technology in the classroom as well as a fear that the "education system as little better than an assembly line with producing diplomas as its only goal."

Read More at Cinema Blend

Hollywood's VFX Sweatshops

"Fundamentally, visual effects is a crappy business," James Cameron told me when I interviewed him for my book, The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron. "You don't make much of a margin. A good year for us was 5%. Sure, we were doing huge volume but at a low margin." In 1998, after the VFX company he helped start, Digital Domain, won an Academy Award for its groundbreaking work on Titanic, Cameron resigned amid dispute about its direction.

 For VFX houses, there may be a dramatic Hollywood ending. With effects-heavy movies like the forthcoming Batman sequel, The Hobbit, Thor and Green Lantern coming down the pike, the demand for VFX may overwhelm the industry's diminished capacity. The changing nature of the work could alter the balance of power too: being a gifted designer is becoming more important than being a technical whiz. Says analyst Alan Lasky: "The minute you see one of these movies not make its release date due to this capacity crisis, then you'll start to see some interesting changes in the industry." Who knows? Maybe someday an effects artist will even get star billing.


...excerpts above from article in Time Magazine

Read more: Hollywood's VFX Sweatshops - Time Magazine

Effects Corner POV

I keep hearing "All of a sudden. the folks making VFX have grown up.  Now they are concerned about their families and want stability.  This is why the issues about pay and hours are now important to the workforce."  Poppycock. Yeah, I said poppy cock.  I worked with men who were in their 30's and up when I started in Animation and VFX in the early 90's.  They were happy.  They had resonable schedules, decent pay, comfortable hours (with the occasional push) and most owned houses even in LA's real estate market because of their stability.

Today, facilities are telling the supervisors they have one day to get a shot done that would have been bid at 5 day just a few years ago.  On top of that, budgets force the producers to assign cheap labor instead of seasoned professionals to these shots.

Scott Squires has been around the block.  His career dates back to creating the clouds for Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  He has a blog that everyone should be reading.  I placed some favorite excepts below concerning the recent events regarding labor issues and the future of the VFX Industry, but I also encourage you to go through his blog archive posts.  His blog should be required reading for every artist and TD working in Animation and VFX.

Effects Corner Blog
You can also follow him on Twitter

****************************************************************************************************

Excerpt from this posting: Response

"The VFX industry is like a tire that has gotten out of alignment and is getting more out of balance all the time. Toward the end of the optical era and the beginning of the digital age most projects ran reasonably smoothly, at least at ILM. There was still the sprint at the very end but it wasn’t super crazy. ILM was powerful enough to let the studios know how much time was involved.

With film you had to make sure you finished your shot in time to make the lab run. Once you made the lab run at 7pm or 8pm that was it. That was the end of the day for most vfx artists. Working after that cut off time was only worth it if there was a late lab run, which was only arranged in the final sprint. The next morning you’d see the dailies and would reshoot. Even if it was a small change you’d still have to wait until the next morning unless you sent the film as a daylight run (more expense). When digital came in, the render took the place of the lab run. Sometimes it took longer time to render than to process the film. You’d get your render prepped for 7pm or so and the CG supe would allocate procs in the render farm. And you still have dailies in the mornings. However now it was possible to actually see composites and other things during the day so turn around time for some tasks was much less. As computers became faster the internal deadlines became more flexible.

Certainly in the early days of digital the studios would at least discuss how much time would be required to do the vfx for a large film. The studios would use that information to determine the release date. As more projects were being done digitally the studios realized how much flexibility was available. Both studios and directors started pushing the limits not just creatively but technically and time wise. And we, the eager and hard working vfx artists, jumped to meet those goals. While we were wiping our brows afterwards, amazed at what we had accomplished, the studios and directors now used this as the new standard. Directors on their next show would say, 'You guys say you need clean plates and markers. But remember that last film where we had one shot that we didn’t do any of that and you still made it work? Well that’s what we’ll do for all these shots. That was much faster and easier to shoot'. The studios were now saying 'You did the last project in 6 months and we made changes two weeks before the release and you still did it. This time you’ll have 4 months and we’ll be making changes 1 week from release.' Some of them like to brag about this type of thing."

 **************************************************************************************************

Excerpt from this posting: VFX Service - The Big Picture

"When I think of a service I think of a dentist, a car shop where they work on your car or a plumber that comes to your house. In these cases they do work but don’t tend to produce anything. The costs are based on time and materials.
Custom manufacturing?
Should vfx be considered as custom manufacturing? We actually create something when we finish our work, whether it’s from scratch or a montage of material provided. That’s what the studios want, not the actual service part.

Here is where things get crazier. Each shot is unique like a snowflake. It’s own little world of issues, handwork and tweaks. You try like anything to make shots as consistent as possible and to be able to run them through the exact same process but it’s never full automated. For all the talk about computers in our business it’s still a very labor-intensive process. The number of people and the time required to do a shot from start to finish would astound most outsiders.
If you go to most manufactures and request custom work you will be required to make specific requirements in writing. (I.e. you want cabinet style 32 but in this specific color of blue. You want a custom cake that says Happy Birthday. It will be yellow cake with vanilla ice cream and chocolate frosting.) And that is what you will get. They seldom show you the work in progress or have your input at every single stage. The other thing is a custom manufacture will tell you when it will be done. They dictate the schedule. In the film business it’s the opposite of all of this. The studio specifies when the delivery will be. It’s almost always less than the time that would have been arrived at by a normal scheduling process for the facility."

More interesting highlight posts by Scott Squires:

Unions

Budgeting VFX

VFX Service - The Big Picture

Henry Selick Signs a New Deal to Return to Disney/Pixar

Henry Selick, the director of last year’s critical hit "Coraline," has agreed to a new long-standing deal with Disney/Pixar to both write and direct stop-motion films.

The father of stop-motion films is finally making his long-awaited return to Disney. Review St. Louis reports that Henry Selick, the director of last year’s critical hit Coraline, has agreed to a new long-standing deal with Disney/Pixar to both write and direct stop-motion films for the Mouse House. 

Furthermore, the new agreement gives the acclaimed animator the opportunity to work from his own home located in the Bay Area. Whether original or literary, Selick is entitled to work from his home studio. 

Selick’s new deal with Disney/Pixar should come as no surprise as the writer/director went to school with John Lasseter, the current head of Disney animation

. 

Selick set a new precedent for stop-motion films and made them mainstream fare with his directorial debut in the cult classic A Nightmare Before Christmas

. Although many believe Tim Burton helmed the project, Burton served as a producer to Selick’s direction. 

Selick’s latest film, Coraline, was both a critical and box office hit that garnered the director an Oscar nominee for Best Animated Feature. In addition, the film lent itself nicely to the ever-so-popular 3-D format. 

via Celebrity Cafe

More at Variety...

VFX Town Hall Brought to you by ARTISTS

Give a listen to a town hall created by working ARTISTS

No need for art posters or self promotion here.

Just a clean and simple website with artists speaking 

on the topics and questions that artists have.

The informality of the first 20 minutes has a charm to it

until...

Listen for yourself

Art by John Van Vliet

At least 40 minutes into it, they bring an actual facilities owner  

to answer the questions and discuss solutions.  
(just scrub ahead if you can to the good stuff)

He is informative and very honest.

He explains the difference between a trade org and a guild.

One of the best points the facilities rep makes 

is that a guild would create more security 

for people who are freelancing and bouncing from job to job

through a "monster benefits package" of residuals, 

pension, welfare and health insurance.

Important thing to fight for, in such a transient industry.

The funny thing is:  He says that his clients say

"You get paid when I get paid."

Well, that chatter has found itself all the way down the tree.

I have heard that more times than I haven't as an artist, since 2007.

Art by John Van Vliet

***********************************************************************

  Here is my Dream Panel (5 people):

VFX Biz Rep

Marty Schindler

Consultant on business in VFX with clients like 

20th Century Fox, Cinesite, ILM, etc.

(I have been on panels with Marty and he is great)

One Big 8 facilitites Rep Possibilities

Examples: 

Tim Sarnoff (Sony), 

Scott Ross (DD), 

Lynwen Brennan (ILM)

One Union Rep 

 Kevin Koch

Steve Huwlett

Tom Sito

James Parris

 

One Guild Rep

SAG President - Ken Howard

One Seasoned Artist

(who has experienced the issues going on right now)

Anyone working right now

I appreciate these guys dealing with the issues 

and not have a separate agenda.

They dealt with issues that artists are concerned with
and specifically spoke about solutions instead of blame.

Lots of talk of how and why to start a trade union.

However, It was frustrating listening to two guys ponder issues 

they, themselves have never experienced.

I cannot wait until an artist who has experienced the issues below...

participates in a panel.

• not being paid at all
• or being paid 3 months after finishing a gig
• being required to be 1099 or accept a 30-day net pay schedule
  
• working for no OT
  
• working a 50 hour week for a flat day rate
  
• the need to place a trashcan next to you on the desk when it rains
• cannot find work anymore because it has all gone overseas
• has been told "you get paid, when I am paid." (up to 60-90 days)

P.S.  I want to make one thing very clear...THIS IS NOT just an issue at big studios.  In fact, my experience the small studios are the biggest offenders.

P.S.S.  I agree Digital Artist Guild (D.A.G.) would be a better name, since it covers all artists who work digitally.

Imagi Studios Auction

Imagi Studios USA
Los Angeles Animation Production Studio
37,000 sq. ft. Production and Post-Production Facility
Computers, monitors, servers, wide format printer, editing bays, furniture,
and much more!
Auction begins March 30, 2010 at 9:00 am PST
Bidding ends April 1 at 2:00 pm PST
Online Auction Only!
To bid online register at www.btesto.com

Inspection & Checkout at:
Sherman Oaks Galleria Complex
Sherman Oaks, CA
Preview dates: March 29 & 30, 9am - 4pm or by appointment
Contact the Auctioneer: 818-592-6592

Update from Variety: CafeFX “Downsizing and retooling, not closing”

I worked on Pan's Labyrinth for Jeff Barnes (see above, generously pimping our book) at Cafe FX years ago and was worried to hear about yet another possible CA VFX studio closing in the past 2 weeks.  Various sources have confirmed that they have laid some people off, but the studio is not closing.  I cannot believe Twitter is now a news source, but this is the age we live in I suppose...

 via VFX Guide...
All week there have been rumors that CafeFX is closing. Today Jeff Barnes responded to this chatter by way of David S. Cohen at Variety who said via Twitter (@Variety_DSCohen):

Jeff Barnes of CafeFX texted me they are “downsizing and retooling, not closing.” and “Barnes of CafeFX also writes “We did NOT lay everyone off. we are still working on a project.” He says no more comments for now.” 

Cohen also mentions he may have more in Wednesday’s TechBytes column in Variety. You can follow the conversation on twitter by using a search for CafeFX via this link.

Update from Variety...

03/24/2010

"As we all know, the industry in California is experiencing a radical course correction as globalization, commoditization, foreign incentives and the economy continue to challenge our country and our state. Labor costs need to come down, overheads reduced, specializations realized, new partnerships solidified and smarter pipelines implemented." Barnes went on to say that CafeFX has "reluctantly reduced our headcount" to make those changes.

read more...

Science of Motivation

More rumours are flying about another studio closing this week. Evidently people are being asked "to leave the building with their last paycheck" with no warning. Instead of reporting who, when this is just rumour at the moment I figured I would offer this to marinate on...

***Update C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures Closes Doors

The Ted Talk below gets to the heart of what I think will be the demise of runaway production. There are three things that experienced artists bring to the table that inexperienced, cheap labor will not bring.  Innovation, creativity and the experience to solve new problems. The tasks that have a clear goal can be assigned to cheap labor. But, how many of us everyday are posed with new problems in CG and VFX that require creativity and thinking "outside the box" to solve a problem. There are no clear set of rules to the complex obstacles you run into when working in VFX. There is rarely a single solution.  Every single shot poses a new problem.

I watch my colleagues run to London, Vancouver, Australia, etc. because they want to make movies so badly they will take half their pay to do so.  Why?  Because they love what they do. The Motivation this guy talks about actually exists in experienced CG artists.  Corporate greed will destroy innovation and creativity in our industry.  The studio that adopts the philosophy Dan Pink describes in this video would be much more profitable than any other studio.  Artists working in CG love their job so much, they would work all night to get their shots looking great because they care about the quality of their work.

Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose.

These are what will open the doors for new studios wishing to be pivotal in VFX.

Carrots and sticks for cheap labor will not make studio more profitable.

And, it certainly will kill innovation and creativity.

Image Movers Digital Closes 2010

The rumor mill is flowing with news that IMD will be closing end of 2010. Seems really early to be making the decision, but then again...most of the work is going overseas at this point. I guess that train came and went. Another one bites the dust.

Disney to Shutter Image Movers Digital

Protecting Yourself as a Freelancer

A friend of mine has posted a blog recounting the way he was treated by a studio as an artist. He documents the entire process he used to protect himself with legal correspondence over a disagreement in compensation.

Epilogue Ei8ht

I have several studios who still owe me money from 2007-2008 because I did not employ the documentation he used. I am not incorporated and if I had pressed with legal action against these studios, they would have owed me tens of thousands of dollars in penalties, on top of wages owed. I didn't press out of fear of being blacklisted by the studio. Ironically, I would never work for these studios again because of how I was treated. I create a statement or work now and require the DP to agree to all points before starting any gig, so we are all on the same page.

In addition, there has been a lot of talk lately about EOR (Employee of Record) organizations and the rights of freelancers. Employees are often misclassified as Freelancers. The EOR's protect the studios by offloading the expense and liability of dealing with freelancers.

To get a really good idea about EORs and

The Freelancers Dilemma, check out these links:

IRS and the Freelancer Dilemma

Questioning the Freelance Dilemma

U.S. Cracks Down on ‘Contractors’ as a Tax Dodge

Organize Employee of Record

Changing Definition of Industry Association Better Reflects Existing Post Production Workflow and Service Offerings

List of EOR's in Los Angeles

California State Work Overtime Policy

California State Paydays pay Periods and Final Wage Laws

Independent Contractor VS. Employee

The most prominent EOR company in LA is MBO Partners.

This is how MBO handles your check:

If you are paid via MBO, they take 2-5% fee for processing your payroll depending on what the studio negotiated with them.

Then, the normal employer's tax is taken off your wages first... e.g. Social Security, FUTA - federal unemployment and training, and in California: SUTA - State Unemployment .

Then they will run payroll, and the employee's tax is taken off: Federal Withholding, State Withholding, Social Security and Medicare. Note: Social Security is taken out twice - you are, in effect, paying double the Social Security tax because the employer pays zero.

The only benefit of MBO, is that you can collect unemployment because you are an employee of MBO and not operating under a 1099/contractor classification. Which is only right because you are paying the employer portion of unemployment taxes in addition to your own. So, unless you collect it, you'll never get that money back. MBO gets the studios off the hook with the IRS, but it doesn't make the comply with state law regarding classification of workers, pay periods or overtime laws.

MBO also doesn't pay on-time - at least in the State of California. They may invoice the company weekly for your work, but it takes them a few days to issue the invoice. The company has ten days to pay MBO. If MBO receives the money by Tuesday, you may get paid Friday, otherwise you'll get paid the following Friday. You'll be waiting 3 or 4 weeks for that first check.

In California, its illegal:

In California, wages, must be paid at least twice during each calendar month on the days designated in advance as regular paydays. The employer must establish a regular payday and is required to post a notice that shows the day, time and location of payment. Labor Code Section 207 Wages earned between the 1^st and 15^th days, inclusive, of any calendar month must be paid no later than the 26^th day of the month during which the labor was performed, and wages earned between the 16^th and last day of the month must be paid by the 10^th day of the following month. Other payroll periods such as weekly, biweekly (every two weeks) or semimonthly (twice per month) when the earning period is something other than between the 1^st and 15^th, and 16^th and last day of the month, must be paid within seven calendar days of the end of the payroll period within which the wages were earned.

MBO helps companies evade payroll taxes by forcing each of their employee's to pay said payroll taxes on top of paying the employer's normal payroll costs in the form of the MBO fee.

Win win for the employer, and lose lose for the artist.

Untitled from Mothership on Vimeo.

Click here to see more videos from the Mothership.

Mothership Launches

and commercials go global just like the rest our industry...

–New Creative Studio Represents Global Talent, Leverages Resources and Expertise of Digital Domain– –Taps Digital Media Pioneer Alejandro Lopez as Executive Creative Director–

02.17.2010 – Venice, CA–A new creative studio, Mothership, has launched in Los Angeles to create original transmedia content for advertising agencies and brands. A sister company to Digital Domain, Mothership represents top global creative talent and develops the content, strategies and campaigns that take ideas and brand experiences from concept through completion, across multiple media platforms.

Mothership has curated an international creative roster of directors, designers and artists; a handpicked group with roots in hybrid filmmaking approaches that blend live-action, animation, CG, motion graphics and other techniques to create new visual realities. The company launches with talent including Robert Hales, Dael Oates, David Rosenbaum, Sil Van Der Woerd, Brent Bonacorso, Pierre Michel, Matthew Santoro, and Happycamper, and represents Nathan Love on the U.S. west coast.

Guiding Mothership is a seasoned leadership team including Digital Domain Commercials Division President and Executive Producer Ed Ulbrich, Executive Creative Director Alejandro Lopez and Executive Producer Tanya Cohen.

Ulbrich said, “Consumer demand for compelling content on connected devices creates an enormous opportunity for advertisers. To capture it, agencies need



Read more at Motionographer