The middle management in the animation/vfx industry and you. Part 2.

continuing from part 1

The following post will sound like sour and bitter gripes of previous experience. But they are all teach me something.

One of the common issues arises is when the middle management look after their own self interest 1st while preaching teamwork and taking one for the team to the artistes.

In a corporation, there are a lot of these middle managements all looking out for themselves. Hey, for a lot of people, its human nature to want to climb the ladder and be in a position of power.

A classic example would be the production manager to tell the artistes that they have to work through the weekend to get the shot out and then himself taking that weekend off to some beach resort.

Of course there is nothing technically wrong with the above scenario since its the artiste's job to deliver the shot, not the manager.

the good side.

this is the season to be ranting.. tralalalala...lalalala...

with all this perceived negativity in the air...... let me remind myself why I got into this industry.

Its a playground. You can create anything. Seriously anything that your mind can think of in CG. Entire civilizations, worlds, creatures, spaceships and for the sadder ones, digital fantasy females. And make them come alive! Living breathing digital entities. (can't shag them though but if you tried, I do not want to know).

Even things that you didn't think of via noise frequencies as well as modulation of particles and geometry. .

man.... You get to play god! How cool is that. ( I can see the messiah complex thing in a lot of guys in the industry) But seriously that is awesome.

Z-brush and mudbox man.... u can sculpt something out of a cube with no mess and almost infinite Undos. Its a awesome tool for a creative outlet. I wait for the day that we can sculpt in holographic mode.

And you can get some pretty pictures even with a simple 3 point setup, you can move and frame the camera to get the perfect composition. And animation wow..... making your creation come alive. That is the ultimate coolness.

But most importantly you want to tell stories. Stories that people can feel for and like.

But that is something that CG can't do. Which is to tell stories. It can create the most amazing worlds and creatures that is beautiful to look at but if there is no story, there is no soul to your creation. Its the stories that define and shape who the people that live in your world are. Their hopes and fears, their advantages.

And that to me, is the allure, the addiction and the magic that is animation. The POTENTIAL in all of us to tell stories with these really amazing tools.

Ideas to help improve yourself and have fun at the same time.

Often after graduation, The skill sets that you have won't be production ready. Even if you have been working in the industry for a while and you want to take the next step up in technical skills or learn a new software, its quite draining and daunting to start.

I personally found it very very hard to get motivate to start. After working long hours, how can you find the energy to do more stuff? Its a hard and long climb by yourself. Facing the computer at home after work with so many distractions not very conducive. Its like dieting,you know eating healthy and less food is good for your health but its so hard to maintain a diet especially during liulian season.

The middle management in the animation/vfx industry and you. Part 1.

Who are they, where do they come from and do they actually do? And most importantly how do they affect you as an artiste.

If you work in a big vfx/animation/games studio as an artiste, you will have dealt with these guys.

Who are they?

These are the executives who "manage/coordinate" the talent, the schedule, the budget and everything else in the middle.

Where do they come from?

From all walks of life. Graduates from art school, film school, computer animation school, business administration. People who are interested in film, movies and want a career in this industry. There are some who cannot hack it as artists or find the life of an artiste too hard/ prospects limiting/not their cup of tea therefore they will move to the production side.

There isn't a specialised technical skill set but more about their people skillz. Ability to manage people.... duh.

What do they do?

Planning for a career in animation locally and overseas.

Let me tell you something you already know....

You will not get rich becoming an animator, td or modeller in Singapore. No. Fucking. Way. For those that is stepping into the industry and harbouring illusions of owning a new Lamborgini or a BMW, definitely keep on dreaming. Life is meaningless without a goal.

But unless you wrote a software that will be bought by a major company or a game changer, its a wee bit hard to retire at 40 or even 50. Or you convince the Govt to give you money to conduct subsidized courses or open a company for outsourcing/collaboration work and you take the middle part. Even then, compared to the Shenton way crowd, the amount is insignificant.

For the rest of the people in this industry, if you are talented, hardworking, easy to work with and most importantly lucky, you should have have a fairly comfortable existence. Job satisfaction and long hours not withstanding.

The problem is long term wise, this industry is still very dependent on contract work. People work for a stated contracted period and then take a few weeks off and then start again. And even then no CPF contribution. Or if you are lucky to be a full time salaried staff, you will get a stable job but the salary won't be the greatest and more often then not, their is no bonus at the end of the year and/or the job isn't the most rewarding/challenging/satisfactory. It is very hard to break this cycle.

The Action Movie fairy Tale.

80s and 90s action movies were often maligned not just for their violence, but also for their lack of depth and psychological sophistication. "They're not important."

But these movies built a generation of men who are now in their 30s and 40s.

They didn't learn that killing is cool, which was the worry of people who didn't watch those movies and didn't understand. This violence was central to the cinematic experience, but incidental to the story.

The complainers ignored the story because they thought it was basic, trivial. Wrong. Write down the plot synopsis of every action movie, and awareness will come over you:

A marginal guy must save a hot chick from bad guys; when he does, he gets the girl

II.

A generation of adolescent boys learned immediately three things:

1. marginal guys are the real heroes.
2. heroes never die.
3. bad guys exist as bad guys, not as good guys who went bad, or bad guys with some good in them also. Darth Vader was unquestionably bad starting in 1977, unimaginable that he was once a sweet young boy with good in his heart. That story had to wait a whole generation to be told.
4. in order to get (active verb: to obtain, procure, convince) a hot woman to fall passionately in love with you, you have to do do some extraordinary things: take out thirty terrorists, master kung fu, be in the special forces, etc.

Interview with the directors for Pixar's Toy story 3.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130646919

I found this awesome interview. Goes into the thought process of crafting the story for Toy Story 3.

Interview Highlights

On speaking to adults and kids at the same time

Michael Arndt: "Your first concern when you take this over is you're just trying to make it all fit together on a basic narrative level. ... We did 60 different drafts of the scene before we got to the final version. ... It was really only after we set up the narrative structure of [toys realizing they're going to serve their careers being played with by children and then 'retire' to the attic] that we realized how emotional it was, and how much it played into people's fears of obsolescence. ... I think everybody feels the way these toys feel — like they've given themselves over to this child, Andy, and given him 100 percent and played with him and given him so much of their lives, and now he's going away. And they don't [really] want to go with him to college; what they really want is acknowledgment, and I think that's a universal thing. I think a lot of people go through life feeling like they work really hard and they're doing a good job and they just want some sort of emotional acknowledgment."

On writing animated features vs. nonanimated features

Arndt: "You can't make any distinction between a live-action character and an animated character. They're all real characters. To me, Buzz Lightyear is as real as Olive Hoover [from Little Miss Sunshine] is. You want to take their problems as seriously as they take them themselves, and you want to be as emotionally honest and intelligent about what they're going through as you can possibly be. But it does put you in these sort of odd situations when you're a writer and suddenly you have to think, 'OK. I'm a little rag doll and I've just been put into a knapsack,' or, 'I'm Mr. Potato Head and I've just lost my parts. How do I feel about that?' There were times when I thought it was funny to be writing scenes like that, but you have to take it seriously. You have to put yourself in that position and think, 'What would I do if I were in that situation?' "

Arndt: "The great thing about animation is you get to see these actors record their lines ... and that does inform how you think and write about the characters. So you can add parts of Tom Hanks' personality or Tim Allen's personality or Don Rickles' personality to the characters. It creates this feedback loop in animation. You get to go watch the actors perform, and then you can go back and write a little bit more incorporating what they've done and then you can record them again."

On writing for toys

Arndt: "When we're in a story meeting and we're trying to figure this stuff out, we usually go to the human analogue. We don't talk about, 'Well, if I were a rag doll,' or, 'If I were a plastic dinosaur,' because you want to get to the emotional truth of this story, and you want to get to the emotional truth of these characters. So you say 'OK. Woody: He's a little bit like a helicopter mom. He's a little bit like a mom who can't let go of her child.' So we always try and figure out the human equivalent of these characters."

Lee Unkrich: "But then the fun thing is, once we have that figured out, we try to figure out ways to make their issues particularly a toy's issue. I mean, Ken [of Ken and Barbie] was a great [example], and we made endless fun of Ken. Ken is a whipping boy. We thought, 'What is it like to be a guy who is a girl's toy?' You're a guy, but you're only played with by little girls. And further, he's just an accessory for Barbie. He doesn't carry equal weight to Barbie. He's really no more important than a pair of shoes or a purse or a belt to her, and we knew that he would have to have a complex."

Arndt: "You go, 'What are going to be the issues of a character like Ken?' What's going to be the stuff that keeps him awake at night? So immediately, you go, 'Maybe he's a bit insecure about the fact that really he's a girl's toy. Maybe he's in denial of that. And then this whole sort of richness opens up."

Guillermo del Toro's words to live by.

From his book reading stint at Portland's Baghdad Theater & Pub. Some choice snippets.

• When asked about he assembled his filmmaking team: "I draw and sculpt, but I'm not a great sculptor, I'm not a great draftsman. So you hire people who are better than you, and you are loyal to those people... The rule is to work only with people you admire or you love. Or both."
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• "When you tackle a 'B' premise, you need to tackle it like an 'A' premise," he said, noting this is the case regardless of what you're working on, even if it's something like Blade II, which some people (incorrectly) assumed was a "paycheck movie." "I'm not postmodern," he said later. "I absolutely hate being smarter than my material." He's excited beyond belief to do The Haunted Mansion for Disney, a ride he's been collecting ephemera from for years. "The flavor of that ride is unlike anything else in the world."

• On adapting other peoples' work: "Once the material is out, it belongs to all of us." And: "Adapting material is like marrying a widow. You have to be very respectful of the late husband's memory, but at some point you've gotta fuck."

• On writing: "If you get bored with nothing to do, you are not a writer." "We are in the business of reproducing reality from nothing. We are the biggest liars in the world, seeking truth." There will be a collection of his short fiction published, at some point, by Harper Collins.
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• He thanks people for listening to his DVD commentaries. He prepares his DVD and Blu-ray special features "very carefully" so that they're "as educational as possible." "DVDs are the most democratic way to teach film."

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• "If you're not operating on an instinctive level, you're not an artist." Later: "Reason over emotion is bullshit, absolute bullshit." And: "We suffocate ourselves in rules. I find fantasy liberating."
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• "We live in a world that creates impossible standards... I say to all of that, 'Screw you and die.' We should celebrate imperfection, because that's the one thing all of us can achieve."

• "Do whatever the fuck you want, even if it's wrong, and then tell about it with honesty. That is filmmaking to me." And: "Success is fucking up on your own terms."

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Texture Painting Notes Level Up Part III

A callout sheet is a condept design from the concept designer or art director telling you what kind of look should your final character look like. A more detailed call out sheet can also be done by you to get a buy off from them before proceeding to start the texture painting process. This can then be used too project straight on to the 3d geometry as a base map to start painting on before proceeding to clean up the seams and the stretching from the projection.

Texture painting can be boiled down to 2 basic methodology. Creating a texture map from scratch with nothing but different brushes and then photograph manipulation. These of course are not mutually exclusive to each other.

It is more about choosing which method to use to and how much these 2 methods overlap over the creating of an issue that is the challenge. Predominately, the ability to paint is essential. I have seen many painters that are over-reliant to photo manipulation whereas a few simple brush strokes here and there might just do the job.

A color corrected photograph might be a ideal place to start. And the details can be be added on top.

There is a certain feel of liberation that a brush gives you, the confidence that if the painting is screwed up, u can just paint over it. Again, how this is applied needs to be defined on which layers are to be done.

The transition from one part of the body to another is based on what kind of character it is. Amphibian or mammals etc.. Looking at different references are important to understanding the different types of surface materials and making an informed decision on the what is a suitable and aesthetically pleasing surface material for your asset.

Do you really want to step into the animation industry? Part 2

One of my previous students told me a very valid point after reading my previous post,

What I am doing, is explaining my experience of what I have gone through these few years and putting my thoughts down. As well meaning as that may be, I may have miss a crucial detail. A student's priorities and perspective is different from mine because of precisely that. They have not experienced what it feels like. Therefore it is hard to relate to it and measure it against more pressing concerns like relationships and hormone changes. And more importantly, each individual's reaction and personality will be different in the same situation.

What I have failed to also realised is that the role of a educator is to inspire and encourage as well. The students have to walk their own path and forge their own future andI have no right to deprive them of the opportunity for them to experience for themselves. I may point out the potential pitfalls and the negatives of this industry. But I have no right to discourage them. I think I finally understood this. Everyone have their own perspective of this industry and I should allow them to form their own opinion about it. They might forge their own paths or find their own niche in the industry. Or this path might led them to something else completely different and they are better for it from this experience.

But there are a few constant in life regardless of which industry that you are in.

Kindness, humility, and self-awareness are good start. Hard work and dedication is something that is a constant regardless of what you want to achieve in life. And that is something that I hope everyone can strive for. There is a article that I posted before about the anatomy of determination which I think is most useful.

Being a blowhard, egoistical and even arrogance is successful if you can pull it off and if you can back it up. How it works in the animation industry is slightly warped in that unfortunately, you do have to sell yourself to a certain extend.

For more common sense, the list below from Bill Gate's speech is a good indication.

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=152862328071768&id=150221854991848&ref=mf