Laid Off →

Scott Squires:

Even staff positions, management and support positions may disappear without much notice. Please don't think you're immune from this because you've worked there x years or they're nice people. As we've seen many companies have closed or had to lay off hundreds of people due to a number of reasons.

A well planned layoff is not possible. I have watched big companies tell good artists only hours before end of day that this will be there last day. I have been laid off over the phone. I have watched artists walk out and quit just because.I have been fired for wanting to get paid overtime.

The long and the short of it. Always be prepared to move around. The bigger the company the more prepared you should be.

You should always have leads on work. Network and know where and when the work is. Stay connected with old co-workers.

You should also be saving good parts of your checks you get to help you thru the times where maybe there isn't any work no matter how good you are.

DD

So there has been a boom of conversation the last week since the news that Digital Domain has defaulted on a loan. On Friday the DDMG company closed its much controversial[to Artists] studio in Florida. Also on Friday John Textor the CEO of DDMG resigned his post. While The Venice studio still stands the artist there are most likely looking for other work as the venice studio has a very high chance of closing as well.

It's a sad day for the 300 artist that either volunteered to go over there and work and or train others.

The best thing for DD to do is to tell all their artists the truth and let them make a decision on what to do about work. The worst thing they can do is pretend that everything is ok and this will get better. Dragging this out over months and months is both unfair and makes unhappy workers.

I challenge other post houses to start contacting these awesome artists and make offers before they fall off the grid. If your looking for great [Insert Needed Artist Position Here] heres your chance.

Ask any recruiter and they will tell you, Good artists are hard to find.

Here are some links if you would like to get more information.

Digital Domain Media Group Initiates Strategic Realignment

Via finance.yahoo.com

Digital Domain Media Group, Inc. (DDMG) today announced that it has initiated a strategic realignment that will enable it to focus its resources on its core business, Digital Domain Productions, Inc., a company focused on creating digital visual effects, CG animation and digital production for the entertainment and advertising industries. As a key part of this strategic realignment, DDMG has begun the cessation of its Port St. Lucie operations by reducing virtually its entire Port St. Lucie workforce, retaining approximately 20 employees who will remain as part of the wind-down.

Financially Beleaguered Digital Domain

Bill Desowitz:

After defaulting on a $35 million loan and to avoid bankruptcy, Digital Domain Media Group has initiated a strategic realignment to protect its core VFX and CG animation business. The beleaguered John Textor is out as CEO and chairman of DDMG; and long-time Digital Domain exec Ed Ulbrich has been promoted to CEO of Digital Domain Prods.

Nuke User Group Meeting with Nuke 7 →

Via gnomonschool.com:

Join RFX, The Foundry, and Gnomon for the Fall Nuke User Group Meeting and learn about the new features in Nuke 7. This event will include presentations and demos of Nuke 7 from Deke Kincaid of The Foundry, as well as workflow demonstrations from Gnomon’s own Martin Hall. If you’re interested in learning more about the next generation of 2D/3D compositing, this event is not to be missed!

See you there.

John Textor's letter of resignation from Digital Domain Media Group →

John Textor, Published on tcpalm.com

As you are aware, I am in profound disagreement with the decision to close our animation and visual effects studio in the wonderful community of Port St. Lucie, Florida. The people of Florida welcomed us with open arms and we certainly owed them greater consideration. We were able to hire and train local residents and have them mentored by the very best of our industry. Our incredibly talented artists and filmmakers were building something truly special in Port St. Lucie, not just our favorite first film, The Legend of Tembo, but also our first home, Tradition Studios. I am deeply saddened and heartbroken by this decision

Were have I heard this before. Oh right.

7.0

Nuke 7

The Foundry:

Set to be our biggest NUKE release to date, NUKE 7.0 comes with a host of polished and perfected tools to streamline your day-to-day workflow, as well as new additions to complement it's highly acclaimed feature set.

Looking forward to the new roto and paint. Good to see a updated 2d tracker. Basics, I'm liking this. The filters and Kronos will be great on the GPU.

The new 3d system stuff always powerful in the right hands.

Here is a link to the beta

Visual Effects Positions

Scott Squires:

I'll be listing some of the default practices but these will vary with companies and locations. Depending on the company structure and size they may be combining some of these roles and some may split them even finer.

Another good look at visual effects. Could not agree more. Having a good understanding of how to answer "So, your a [insert position here].

Sometimes they don't know they are looking for you.

Touched a Nerve

"Hulk, smash".

My stance has always been, "Why do we need unions to do that right thing".

There are tons of non-union shows working in Los Angeles which the unions really have no control over.

Visual Effects are a mess. Agreed.

I work for a company that does the right thing. I work a 50 hour week. I am paid for every last minute. Overtime included. I have weekends and holidays off. When I feel like I need more money I ask. There is nothing shady going on. I agreed to it all. I have a rate. I get time and an half after 8 hours worked. If I am getting screwed it my own fault.

It's simple.

At a certain point blaming others for your problems becomes tiresome and pointless. I love my job. Good or bad day. There isn't a morning were I do not want to go in. Trust me there have been days[thesauce] when running seemed great idea. Is it awesome everywhere, nope. Can it be? Yes it can.

40 hrs.

Who in Hollywood works a 40 hour week?

​Most times the weekend doesn't start at 5pm on Friday, it starts at 5am on Saturday. Stop acting like you can make a movie on a 40 hour week.

​Now if you want to talk over time, that is something completely different.

Have a good weekend

I hope everyone has a good weekend. I leave you with this:

http://sofathemes.com/ - Best action scene in the world ( :) ) from Indian movie Endhiran

Interview with Jack Binks

Frank Rueter writing for nukepedia.com:

In my day to day job I’m mainly involved in the product side of things, rather than engineering. J_Ops is a way to dust off the uni programming skills in my own time (yes, I am that sad!), as well as play with tools which are more driven by what I want, than by what clients specifically say to the Foundry they want.

Frank, thanks for putting that together.