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sup tiger
An Academy Award, and a surprising development. - Page 2
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GeckoVOD
Germany814 Posts
sup tiger | ||
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Durak
Canada3685 Posts
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Lysenko
Iceland2128 Posts
On February 27 2013 08:43 Durak wrote: Your latimes article got the names wrong. Well done >_< Yeah I noticed that. As for a walk-out, there are no legal protections for employees who walk out except as part of an official union action. Also, even those protections can be suspended for companies currently under the supervision of a bankruptcy court. So, I will not be doing any walking-out on 3/14. | ||
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-Kaiser-
Canada932 Posts
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Lysenko
Iceland2128 Posts
On February 27 2013 09:40 -Kaiser- wrote: Do you think the VFX industry can, or should unionize the artists like the rest of most film professions are? It seems like everybody else has looked after themselves, and so the artists are where the financial edges are being sucked from. As I mentioned in the OP, I fully support unionizing. I'm still a member of the IATSE Animation Guild (currently on what they call "honorable withdrawal" since I'm not working for a union employer) and they pretty much deliver what they promise, the best of which is a coordinated health and pension plan that's ultimately funded by residuals paid by their signatory studios on the work their employees produce. However, the fact that visual effects employees are working essentially for middlemen between them and the content owners makes unionizing only a partial solution. It doesn't address the issue that the vfx companies are stuck between expensive labor on one hand and studios that want to pay them below cost on the other. | ||
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-Kaiser-
Canada932 Posts
On February 27 2013 09:48 Lysenko wrote: As I mentioned in the OP, I fully support unionizing. I'm still a member of the IATSE Animation Guild (currently on what they call "honorable withdrawal" since I'm not working for a union employer) and they pretty much deliver what they promise, the best of which is a coordinated health and pension plan that's ultimately funded by residuals paid by their signatory studios on the work their employees produce. However, the fact that visual effects employees are working essentially for middlemen between them and the content owners makes unionizing only a partial solution. It doesn't address the issue that the vfx companies are stuck between expensive labor on one hand and studios that want to pay them below cost on the other. Then what about VFX studios pursuing ownership of the content that's making all of the money? It seems to me like a studio like DD or R&H or MPC or Prime Focus all have the ability to do the VFX for an entire blockbuster themselves, so why don't the studios, in an environment where it's becoming harder and harder to make money, start making their own movies? Hollywood has thrown writers in the trash, they're throwing artists in the trash. I'm probably ignorant of a lot of things, but it seems to me that if a top-end VFX house become a production house and started producing their own properties, you'd be seeing a hell of a lot less money being leeched away. I don't see how difficult it could be to find investors to get your budget together when you can tell them you don't have to pay x amount of other people. It seems to me that with Hollywood generally being so wasteful with their budgets and the profits going so little to the people who are making most of the movie, a VFX house would be able to stretch a budget a lot better, pay their employees better, and (the bottom line) pay the investors better. I guess it's a matter of risk vs. reward, but the worse the finances get for some of these companies, I can't help but think that it might be less of a risk to try and make your own film. | ||
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Lysenko
Iceland2128 Posts
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theaxis12
United States489 Posts
I apologize for being so negative and I truly feel awful for you and your colleagues. | ||
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Garnet
Vietnam9049 Posts
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aike
United States1629 Posts
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Lysenko
Iceland2128 Posts
On February 28 2013 00:49 aike wrote: Time to go get a job at Blizzard :D They're a prominent local company who does great looking work. I've talked to them before and I probably will again. However if I were to interview or work for them, I will probably wind up going silent on TL, because I gather they look poorly on candidates or non-customer-facing employees talking about them or their work on internet forums that follow their games.  | ||
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Shady Sands
United States4021 Posts
On February 28 2013 05:34 Lysenko wrote: They're a prominent local company who does great looking work. I've talked to them before and I probably will again. However if I were to interview or work for them, I will probably wind up going silent on TL, because I gather they look poorly on candidates or non-customer-facing employees talking about them or their work on internet forums that follow their games. So go work for EA  If you need work as an animator, I know guys at PopCap (now part of EA) and Pocket Gems. | ||
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Lysenko
Iceland2128 Posts
On February 28 2013 05:53 Shady Sands wrote: So go work for EA If you need work as an animator, I know guys at PopCap (now part of EA) and Pocket Gems. I don't think any desire I have to continue participating on TL would drive my choice of employer. Edit: Seriously, thanks for the offer. I have some friends at EA too, so they're definitely a possibility. | ||
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Sumahi
Guam5609 Posts
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aike
United States1629 Posts
On February 28 2013 05:34 Lysenko wrote: They're a prominent local company who does great looking work. I've talked to them before and I probably will again. However if I were to interview or work for them, I will probably wind up going silent on TL, because I gather they look poorly on candidates or non-customer-facing employees talking about them or their work on internet forums that follow their games. Yeah, I think it would be a fun place (and department) to work. And maybe one day you could be working on a Starcraft CG movie! ;D What exactly did you do on Life of Pi? Or were you on other projects? | ||
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Lysenko
Iceland2128 Posts
On February 28 2013 06:50 aike wrote: What exactly did you do on Life of Pi? Or were you on other projects? I did not work on Life of Pi, since when it was in production I was in the commercials group. I'm a digital lighter, meaning that I am responsible for the color, light, and shadow in digitally-rendered elements. There's also a hefty dose of managing the data coming in from other departments whose work I'm lighting. Here's my IMDB page, if you're curious what movies I've worked on in the past. I've also done a bunch of TV commercials and a few other small projects for other purposes. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0929290/ | ||
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StarStruck
25339 Posts
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ziggurat
Canada847 Posts
Can you give a bit more info about the Quebec subsidies? How could any government think that it's a good idea to do this? | ||
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aike
United States1629 Posts
On February 28 2013 13:34 ziggurat wrote: Fascinating blog post. Thanks for posting. Can you give a bit more info about the Quebec subsidies? How could any government think that it's a good idea to do this? Any government wants to bring jobs to their area. So by paying the movie companies that work with companies in VFX in their area will encourage them to do it, which encourages VFX companies to be located there, which makes more jobs, which = more taxes and happy people, etc etc etc. But it's retarded. | ||
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Lysenko
Iceland2128 Posts
On February 28 2013 13:34 ziggurat wrote: Can you give a bit more info about the Quebec subsidies? How could any government think that it's a good idea to do this? Subsidies like this, in Quebec and elsewhere, are structured as a refundable tax credit for production companies who bring motion picture work to their territory. (Refundable tax credits are those that you can have paid out to you as cash to the extent that they exceed the tax you owe. In addition, the B.C. and Quebec credits, I believe, allow the money to be paid out in full even before taxes have been paid.) Quebec provides a 60% credit on labor done by workers who have been working in Canada for over one year. So, for example, London VFX houses are laying off their workers and opening Montreal offices. Some workers are simply being told they must move to Canada or lose their jobs. Even though their work isn't eligible for the credit for the first year, the hope is that after they've been there a year, they'll start to be eligible. Interestingly, these credits go to the production companies, not the VFX studios. So, the VFX studio isn't actually saving any money by doing this -- it's just having a better chance to get the work because the studios want the credits. | ||
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