Underbidding Visual Effects →

Scott Squires:

When companies underbid it not only affects that company, it affects all other companies and the people who work for them. A company that underbids erodes good companies who are attempting to operate a visual effects company as a real business instead of a lemonade stand. A company that is bidding using actual numbers is now losing business not due to true competition but because a business is choosing to commit long term bankruptcy. A good company can only lose business for so long before they close.

Nailed it.

Nothing worse than getting under bid and losing the job.

The flying traffic created by the visual effects... →

 

F Yeah Behind the Scenes:

The flying traffic created by the visual effects team at Digital Domain allowed artists to create personalized license plates.

Great movie, also great compositing. Have a good week everyone.

President Obama Visits DreamWorks, VFX Animators Protest

KCRW:

President Obama is back in Washington after a two-day swing through Los Angeles. Why was he here? To raise money and highlight the motion picture and television industry’s place in the economy. Bill Allison is from the Sunlight Foundation, which looks at transparency in government. He joined KCRW's Steve Chiotakis. Steve also spoke with Variety senior editor David S. Cohen about a group of disgruntled visual effects artists who protested outside DreamWorks to call attention to the loss of jobs to other countries.

Have a listen.

B is for Bullet Time →

Graham Edwards:

Whether or not a camera move is fair has always been open to debate. Take the 1941 classic Citizen Kane. You won’t see Orson Welles dodging bullets in ultra slo-mo, but you will find a wealth of magic camera moments. At the start of the “El Rancho” scene, for instance, the camera makes an impossible flight over a (miniature) rooftop, passing right through the middle of a neon sign before dropping (by way of a nifty lap dissolve) through the solid glass of a rain-spattered window to enter the nightclub below. Is that move motivated, or is it just Welles showing off? You tell me.

VFX Artists Plan Obama Protest →

Graham Edwards:

President Obama is due to visit the Glendale campus of DreamWorks Animation tomorrow – November 26 – where he is expected to deliver a speech hailing filmmaking as an American success story. Visual effects artists, frustrated by the current state of the industry, are planning to stage a protest at the event. Protestors will wear green T-shirts, the “greenscreen” colour representing what a film looks like without visual effects.

I hope this goes well. Remember it's our fault the people who matter dont care or don't know. It's our job to edjucate them. We need to change the thinking first then we can change the practices. Break a leg.

Post, What's That →

Ed Ulbrich:

There’s no such thing as post anymore. We are suffering from tradition. It’s a giant cultural and mindset shift. But it’s also a time for opportunity.”

Agreed, I have talked about this before. Why do visual effects cost so much? You need a whole new crew.

RedShark News - Here it is: the Future of Colour →

Phil Rhodes: 

Many people, even now, are shooting 4K for a 2K finish even if they're not interested in future-proofing because of the drop in noise and increase in sharpness that can be had by downsampling such a large image. But there are also all kinds of potential problems, from the increase in the demands we're putting on lenses and focus pullers, to the increased precision with which production design must be done.