50 hours a week animating,
another 20 hours of grad school,
i am so tired,
art + film + vfx = awesome
Showing posts with label VFX. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VFX. Show all posts
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
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:
talk amongst yourselves.
VFX Breakdowns Boardwalk Empire
Brainstorm Digital reveals the man behind the curtain with detailed before and after VFX breakdowns of scenes from the first season of HBO’s period drama Boardwalk Empire.
Visual Effects House CafeFX/ComputerCafe Closing
March of 2010, We posted about the rumors
of Cafe FX closing it's doors.
of Cafe FX closing it's doors.
Looks like it's finally happened.
It's sad when I have a section on this blog now for Studios Closing.
CafeFX/ComputerCafe, headquartered in Santa Maria, Calif., is closing its doors, according to a statement from its founders, Jeff Barnes and David Ebner, that is posted on the company website.
"After 17 years in business, CafeFX/ComputerCafe has decided to officially close its doors," the statement began. "The current economic climate and global marketplace have made it unrealistic for us to continue to deliver the highest quality visual effects work, which has been our hallmark, at a competitive price and a sustaining profit."
The company's credits have included Shutter Island, The Kite Runner and Pan's Labyrinth.
The news comes only a month after the closure of another California-based VFX business, Asylum.
via Hollywood Reporter
p.s. here is a link to equipment for sale.
Need a Sentry Here!
Valve shows off the latest addition to their lobby’s waiting area:
A full-scale level 1 sentry gun constructed
by New Zealand-based SFX/prop company WETA Workshop.
Official Trailer Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
not sure I can take two hours of that much black eyeliner...
but Depp, as usual is doing a great Keith Richards.
GDT and MTh make a Studio Mirada
Wowsie Wow!
In light of all the studios closing,
this is great news!
Mirada will house all of the tools that filmmakers need to create entertainment that lives partly on the Web, partly in movie theaters, partly in video games – so-called transmedia – under one roof.
“The goal is to create a creative business that fuses together all of those different disciplines,” said Mathew Cullen, a Mirada partner and well-known director of commercials and music videos. The other two partners are Javier Jimenez, a co-founder with Mr. Cullen of Motion Theory, a video production company, and Guillermo Navarro, a cinematographer whose work includes Mr. del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” and the coming “Twilight” installments.
Read More at the NYT...
The Dark Crystal Sequel
BRISBANE film-making twins Peter and Michael Spierig will emulate industry pioneer Jim Henson by creating hundreds of puppets for the sequel to the Muppet creator's 1980s classic fantasy, The Dark Crystal.
I love the quote by the brothers from the article link below:
"We went to a convention not so long ago and we had a number of people come up and say, 'Don't you dare rape my childhood'," said Peter. "When one person says that, you take it on board. But when a bunch of people say it, you think, 'Wow, this really means something to them'." "So the last thing we want to do is screw it up," Michael adds.
Read more at CourierMail.au
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...
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
This is, by far, my new favorite movie...
I know I am little bit late,
but any movie where Tom Waits is the devil wins in my book.
Asylum FX is Gone Baby Gone...
I worked at Asylum twice in my career... both, on National Treasure projects. It was a really fun studio, and I have some stories :) One of my favorite studios in LA. It is a sad thing to hear they are closing their doors.
I open up the comments section of this posting for folks who are looking for work to post their links and details for employers who might be looking.
Best to my friends over there,
Angie
President of FrameStore NY Jon Collins
"Actually, VFX studios have been trying to explain for many years that it's to everyone's ultimate benefit that we are included as a creative production partner as early as possible. It's only in the last ten to fifteen years that we have been allowed on sets. And only in the last five that we've been allowed to speak. And on the occasions on which anyone is listening literally hundreds of thousands of dollars could potentially be saved."
Collaboration: The New Black
Jon Collins says it like it is...
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