How to: Triple your Productivity and Impress Your Producers
Let me start off by saying, this tip requires no special training or software. Furthermore, when I tell you the tip, there will be some of you out there who will say, “That’s it? Are you kidding me? That’s the tip?” And the answer is a resounding “YES”, because you’d be surprised how this simple tip is overlooked, taken for granted and ultimately not followed through on by the MAJORITY of artists working in the industry. What is the tip? What’s the magic key to tripling your productivity and impressing producers? Take notes. When you have project meetings or talk with your producer, all you need to do is write down what needs to get…
Agence Television – Paris
While in Paris, I had the pleasure of meeting with Benjamin Hunault and David Ben Ayoun of Agence Television in Paris. We talked shop about the industry in France and US. As expected business is business no matter where the location, language, or currency. The concerns of running a studio from the number of staff, to handling freelancers, to dealing with clients are all cross-cultural. Agence Television’s current strength lies in broadcast. What I really took away from my conversation with these guys was their drive to elevate the creative. I know that is something we hear a lot of people talk about, but observing their process and case-studies on a few jobs, I could…
MACs and PCs
Macs vs PCs Thought I would try to see how many of you readers use either Mac or PC. At most of the shops I’ve been to, I’ve found that most designers/animators tend to use Macs, while the 3D people prefer PCs. Besides the cost aspect, I think it’s interesting to see why people choose their equipment. From a cost side, there are definitely some advantages to going with the PC choice. Where things can sometimes get dicey is when the studio needs to decide how they want to handle scaling up. Especially in terms of both work server and render farms/nodes. Many small to medium shops tend to use their workstations as render nodes…
Importance of Personal Projects
As you work you find that more and more of your time is occupied with … well, your work. You scour the web and find cool projects or featured projects on motionographer and think, I want to be doing more of those projects. It’s a great motivation to have. But when you’re working on those projects, you usually aren’t thinking about how great that project is. Even once you complete it, you’re often thinking about the errors, shortcuts, compromises, and/or politics that are inherent in the process. But even more than that, it’s easy to just lose sight of the creativity that got you into this business in the first place. That’s why I’m a…
Freelancing – Billing / Invoicing
So lets chat a little about freelancing and invoicing. When you work for a studio or on a job you will need to invoice for your services rendered. (Please refer to my previous post about loan-out corps and payroll.) Couple things you should find out from the studio in regards to invoices: 1. How often do they accept invoices? Usually weekly or bi-weekly, but some leave it up to you. I would recommend weekly, just because sometimes it takes time for payments to be made and it’s always better to have money trickling in. 2. Who to send the invoices to? If in doubt, send it to your producer. But will often be a Head…
Freelancing – Going the Incorporation Route? Pt2
What is a Loan-Out Company/Corp? In our previous post, we started talking about the different ways of being classified and paid when you work “at a studio”. The focus of that post was highlighting the payroll option, now lets shift gears to the “loan-out” company/corp option. When you act as a loan-out corp, you are working as a separate business entity, offering a studio a service. This is usually a preferable option for freelancers, since they are working with many different studios and also allows them more control of their finances. What I personally like about this option is that it helps to distinguish the artist from the studio(s) they work for. You are an…
Freelancing – Payroll vs Loan Out Corp Pt1
If you are going to freelance and “work at a studio” you will most likely soon be offered a choice of 2 ways to be paid: Payroll Your own business entity, loan-out company. There are pros and cons to each, but it usually comes down to these 2 options. I put work “at a studio” because this is an important distinction that needs to be made. If you are working for a studio remotely, than you will most likely be able to just invoice them as an independent contractor regardless of your entity. You can be a sole-proprietor (which is just about everyone by default who uses their social security # to get paid)….
Footage, fonts, copyrights, and plug-ins
Footage, fonts, copyrights, and plug ins You have probably heard the common, but not actually legit, maxim that if you change 10% of a copyrighted image you’re in the clear to use it in your project. Unfortunately, that myth definitely does not apply to any type of commercial work. So how do you know what materials you can use? If you’ve been hired by a studio for a project, it’s likely that the final product will end up being used for commercial purposes (rather than say, an internal only, non-profit project). Thus all the materials used to create the product needs to be original or properly licensed. Be aware that not all royalty free material…
Now what: Day two and on at a studio
Motion graphics / VFX / animation is a fun industry. In general you’ll find work days start a little later, dress codes are more relaxed, and the people are much, much more interesting than you’d find working in a call center. There are days when you might find people playing with new toys like the latest Apple gadget, dogs running around the office, maybe even a pizza party at lunch. But even the most laid back studios expect a level of professionalism. Here are a few situations you might encounter and what studios expect in each: Personal anything This includes personal phone calls / text messages, checking personal email, Facebook, non work related YouTube…
5 Tips for Student Loans
Sorry but this post is mainly going to pertain to US College students/recent graduates. This post is not about motion graphics per se, but about coming out of school and being ready to work. I wanted to write this post because if possible, I’d like to help soon to be grads or recent grads save some money early on by doing a few simple steps. And hopefully give them some relief from the financial stress of student loans. If you’ve been taking out loans for your college education, like I was, when you graduate you will do an exit interview. You will sign a document that shows you how much you owe and what loans…
How to: Triple your Productivity and Impress Your Producers
Let me start off by saying, this tip requires no special training or software. Furthermore, when I tell you the tip, there will be some of you out there who will say, “That’s it? Are you kidding me? That’s the tip?” And the answer is a resounding “YES”, because you’d be surprised how this simple tip is overlooked, taken for granted and ultimately not followed through on by the MAJORITY of artists working in the industry. What is the tip? What’s the magic key to tripling your productivity and impressing producers? Take notes. When you have project meetings or talk with your producer, all you need to do is write down what needs to get…
Agence Television – Paris
While in Paris, I had the pleasure of meeting with Benjamin Hunault and David Ben Ayoun of Agence Television in Paris. We talked shop about the industry in France and US. As expected business is business no matter where the location, language, or currency. The concerns of running a studio from the number of staff, to handling freelancers, to dealing with clients are all cross-cultural. Agence Television’s current strength lies in broadcast. What I really took away from my conversation with these guys was their drive to elevate the creative. I know that is something we hear a lot of people talk about, but observing their process and case-studies on a few jobs, I could…
MACs and PCs
Macs vs PCs Thought I would try to see how many of you readers use either Mac or PC. At most of the shops I’ve been to, I’ve found that most designers/animators tend to use Macs, while the 3D people prefer PCs. Besides the cost aspect, I think it’s interesting to see why people choose their equipment. From a cost side, there are definitely some advantages to going with the PC choice. Where things can sometimes get dicey is when the studio needs to decide how they want to handle scaling up. Especially in terms of both work server and render farms/nodes. Many small to medium shops tend to use their workstations as render nodes…
Importance of Personal Projects
As you work you find that more and more of your time is occupied with … well, your work. You scour the web and find cool projects or featured projects on motionographer and think, I want to be doing more of those projects. It’s a great motivation to have. But when you’re working on those projects, you usually aren’t thinking about how great that project is. Even once you complete it, you’re often thinking about the errors, shortcuts, compromises, and/or politics that are inherent in the process. But even more than that, it’s easy to just lose sight of the creativity that got you into this business in the first place. That’s why I’m a…
Freelancing – Billing / Invoicing
So lets chat a little about freelancing and invoicing. When you work for a studio or on a job you will need to invoice for your services rendered. (Please refer to my previous post about loan-out corps and payroll.) Couple things you should find out from the studio in regards to invoices: 1. How often do they accept invoices? Usually weekly or bi-weekly, but some leave it up to you. I would recommend weekly, just because sometimes it takes time for payments to be made and it’s always better to have money trickling in. 2. Who to send the invoices to? If in doubt, send it to your producer. But will often be a Head…
Freelancing – Going the Incorporation Route? Pt2
What is a Loan-Out Company/Corp? In our previous post, we started talking about the different ways of being classified and paid when you work “at a studio”. The focus of that post was highlighting the payroll option, now lets shift gears to the “loan-out” company/corp option. When you act as a loan-out corp, you are working as a separate business entity, offering a studio a service. This is usually a preferable option for freelancers, since they are working with many different studios and also allows them more control of their finances. What I personally like about this option is that it helps to distinguish the artist from the studio(s) they work for. You are an…
