Life as a VFX Artist

[vmuriel]

[3__]

two whole weeks!? pussy.

-cpb

[andrewlowell]

Nice! However, it was worse in the music industry ... the clients had guns and the deadlines were more like 20 minutes

(only half of this sentence is mild sarcasm)

I've wondered for quite a few years but haven't come up with a good explanation ... why ARE things this way in the digital arts?

two whole weeks!? pussy.

-cpb

Edited April 10, 2008 by andrewlowell

[Rafal123]

LOL

[MADjestic]

two whole weeks!? pussy.

-cpb

word.

And he is typing too much of non-productive typing.

[pagefan]

Bah, deadlines, come on be serious. There is always plenty of time for projects even in the music industry. I bet these projects are planned years ahead by Managers and Marketing-gurus. They'll have meetings, more meetings, workshops, visit far away nice locations to get "inspiration", more meetings, diners in fancy restaurants, parties they need to attend, more meetings. When they finally have consensus about what they probably want, after several years of meetings, they throw some vague description on the desk of people who can actually make something, at Friday 5 pm., and tell them it got to be done by Monday-morning. Still not a real deadline because all the work is done by computers, right? So you push some buttons and you got your video, movie or whatever. So they ask if the artist can send them a preview Sunday evening.

The artists starts working, calling of his date with his girlfriend, making pots of coffee, firing up his renderfarm. By Sunday he has a preview, sends it to the M&M's and, what do you expect, no surprise here, this isn't what they probably wanted, they wanted probably something a bit probably different. You know, a bit of this there and some tidilido over there and the colors, they need to be a bit "richer", oh and they want more flesh, flesh sells. So the artists get's back to work. On Monday-morning he delivers his project and the M&M's start to have meetings right away to discuss the results. They are slightly disappointed about the VFX, the length of the movie (they wonder why the artists needs all these computers and then comes up with only a meager 15 minutes of footage). Oh damn, lunchtime already. After lunch they'll have another meeting about something very important project-related as well and by 17:30 they realize they need to make an end to all the fun. They all pat each other on the back how much fun and stress it was to pull it off and they'll congratulate each other in advance of how much buzz this project will generate tomorrow. Oh yes, hmm they almost forgot, there is still somebody who needs to make some changes. So they call the artist again, tell him it all got to be done like this and that an such and so and it got to be done tonight 8 pm because they want to have a premiere with a select few....

Problem is these days that no one seems to know anything about something and all they can do is hold....., you know what. It's some kind reversal of the problem Marx described in Das Kapital, the working class getting detached from the product they make. Only in this case it's the people who control the "factories" who don't have a clue about their own products...

Sorry for the long story and the rant...it's rather frustrating to see it happen everywhere, and for no apparent reason other than that people don't care or aren't interested in knowledge anymore (it's not what you know that's important but how many vague courses in business-administration, self-help, time-planning -of course your own time, not somebody else's time, courses about how well you can communicate etc etc. you put on your c.v.)

[Marc]

The thing about this issue, is that it's more complex than that. It's not just a case of the working class being exploited by clueless management. There are people out there who love working the extra hours; either because they love what they do or because they're young and have something to prove/no life outside work.

So the type of employees range the gamut of people who would like to work regular hours because they want to go home and be with their family, to people who could care less because they're doing what they love no matter the cost. So there's enough blame for the problem to be cast around on all sides.

And while there really are plenty of producers making shitty deals with clients and plenty of clients making unreasonable demands, ultimately it's up to us to set our boundaries and make sure they stick to it. As an artist, if someone calls me up on Friday at 5pm and tells me something needs to be done by Monday, then they need to offer me something of equivalent value to the time being taken away from my family to even make me consider it... and believe me, there's not much that can match up to that level of value, so chances are I'll say no. If a client is daft enough to get themselves in the position where it's that important to do, then they must be willing to pay to get themselves out of the mess they made.

It becomes trickier if I own the company or are freelancing... but again, ultimately it's up to me to choose whether or not to accept the work. This isn't rocket science, or some life changing work we do where lives are at stake. We really need to maintain some perspective here. As an employer I have every right to demand that they pay the price for their incompetence, and even if they're willing to pay I still have the choice to turn the work away if I feel it would be detrimental.

So if you happen to be one of the people who love working all hours, then carry on there's tons of work to be done. But in my opinion if you're not one of those people then you should never feel forced to work. And if you are then you're probably working for the wrong company.

my 2cents

M

[andrewlowell]

I'm in total agreeance with Marc. I think especially with creative personalities ... it's all about the "intent."

I personally enjoy working extra hours, sometimes it's easier to focus in on a task after you've already explored it for 8 hours and are in the "zone." However .. when I'm dealing with poorly planned productions / clients / small budgets .. and it's "expected" usually due to lack of planning completely outside of my control; that enthusiasm now quickly turns into resentment. However, it took me quite a long time out of college to realize this.

I'm sure many have had it worse, but I was working 100 hour weeks and sleeping on the studio couch two or three days a week for my first whole year after graduation, and that was after a six-month free internship with daily yelling matches. I got Christmas off but that's because I was sick and couldn't make it into work . Maybe I didn't have the most common sense at the time but I was really trying to make it in the music industry. My second year was even worse than that, and I won't even go into it. The sad thing about this tale is that these were the "up and up" studios with name brand clients. All the while people made it deadly clear that if the hours weren't worked the market was such that I was replaceable. Granted, I wised up after two years and a stress related skin condition, but I'm sure people are going through the same type of BS right now.

Overall I've found the graphics industry is MUCH more respectable and relaxed. The egos aren't as intense, and the projects are better planned, especially at larger companies. But, there's always a grey area there.

So, here's a question ... overall is the graphics industry getting better .. or worse in these respects? Are their more, and better jobs giving the artists more freedom with improved technology, or are there less jobs, more students coming out of school, and driving the wages down and the hours up? Let's compare to say 10 years ago (I'm curious)?

[pagefan]

Well I agree with Marc too but the thing where he goes wrong is that usually you aren't in control to deny an assignment unless you are the boss or M&M. I have seen it all to often M&M's make deals with clients which they haven't thought through if they can pull it of with the people who are assigned to the project. I have seen quite a few people snap because of that.

Also it needs an incredible amount of courage to say no to a client (so respect to Marc 'causes he has the balls!).

If it becomes worse? In my field of creative work, which is architecture, yes, definitely. Not that we need to make 100 hours a week or anything (Andrew are you %%**&^^ insane??) but i notice we don't get the time any more to finish a design properly. Combine that with an erosion of knowledge of your own core business, poor payment, less control over the building process (because for every sub discipline you got a consultant these days - with their own M&M's) and you are bound for a small disaster...

For the graphics industry: i think you needed to be a software enigneer in the 1985-1990's to just boot up the DEC-Alpha so i guess wages were pretty high compared to the point and click Autodesk applications and plugins we have today...

[Marc]

Well I agree with Marc too but the thing where he goes wrong is that usually you aren't in control to deny an assignment unless you are the boss or M&M.

Overtime should never be a requirement of the job. It's understood that at times in this industry there's going to be some (or crazy amounts) of overtime, but the second that it becomes 'expected' is when you should look for another job IMHO. In most places I've worked in, the OT has been a request by management, not a demand. There's no way you can turn to an employee and tell him that he'd better work the entire weeked 'or else'. I'm pretty sure there are laws against that kind of behaviour.

Having said all that though, just so I don't come off as some extremist anti-OT zealot . I do work overtime, in fact I'm working 65-70 hour weeks now. But I only do so to the extent that it doesn't come between me and my family, and I make sure I'm home by 6:30 every night... and above all else, I'm getting paid accordingly.

Don't even get me started on people who work OT and don't bill for it... they should all be flogged for cocking it up for the rest of us (obviously I'm talking about hourly employees here ).

[andrewlowell]

I really don't know if a lot of the blame for these unpleasant working situations can be pinned on the entry level employees. They are doing what they can to put their degree to use, and the attitude is normally some work, even under less than ideal circumstances, whether pay/hours/both, is better than no work.

Not sure if hoping the employers of these type of companies are going to become better people is going to do much good either, they're normally in it for the $, it's kind of their job, maybe just taking it a little too far sometimes.

I still don't have an answer to my question though, why are these type of industries naturally prone to abnormal working situations? If people know something is going to take a certain amount of time, why is this time not normally accounted for? Maybe it would help to look for similarities in the "best planned" projects. Has anyone ever worked on a project where they didn't work more than 40 hours a week and everything was working the way it should?

[3__]

...

Has anyone ever worked on a project where they didn't work more than 40 hours a week and everything was working the way it should?

Ha yep: any project where I work with my own team, or alone.

I've noticed things get very slow as soon as:

the work starts to change hands,

the responsibility each person has over what they're doing is diminished,

or the aesthetic/conceptual decision-maker has no vision (or ability to communicate it).

Weak technology can be a factor sometimes, but its a clear problem that can be

quickly solved for a price... not as insidiously crippling as the above.

Not in my experience anyway. But its still a young industry, many people wanting

to have a go at doing things their way hoping they'll hit a winning formula.

[JeffBenjamin]

Ahhhh, that is the way of the past my friends! India is now an emerging player in the VFX world, and were in for some changes:

I can live with it.

[Marc]

hehe... yeah. I was going to say some guys at my work did that, until I searched the phone directory and saw that it was people at your work too.. .

Welcome.

[Netvudu]

hah,hah...Bollywood arms getting longer by the minute