Introduction
The Animation industry is a very broad market,in terms of opportunities and the diversity in work practices in different sectors of the industry. From games, feature animations, visual effects and even architecture, there a different style types that allow companies to cater to the needs of different clients, TV, Advertisement, Games and film. In order to be able to produce content, people with different skill sets in specific areas such as lighting, texturing, modelling, animation or technical directing in some areas. However within this unit my main focus will be on the Generalist role in the Visual effects industry, and how effect as a role it is, will companies high more generalist freelancers in the future as a way of sharing the workload and how does this effects the industry.
Generalist role
As a Generalist you are required to take on different roles and must be versatile and a fast worker in order to meet deadlines. A generalist is usually an individual skilled in different roles, from lighting, compositing, through to modelling and texturing; including many more.
In order to be an effective generalist you need to have a strong portfolio that shows skills in many areas, and also a range of different software; Maya being one of the primary software's in both visual effects and animation. You work as a team,with the lead and supervisors in order to produce quality content for a client. This means that confidence is very essential in this role, your tasks changes and you must adapt the different knowledge in the key areas in order to complete the task to a high quality
The VFX Industry for Generalists
At the early stages, when the Visual effects industry was just starting to take its tole and rise up, such companies like, ILM, D-neg and Famestore became very iconic for the innovation and advancement of the VFX world. Through the use of technology and advancement in new concepts and ideas, visual effects became the new instrument ; used to visually create a persons ideas. In the creative industry, you can either fall int two key categories as a content producer, Specialist or Generalist. A specialist is a person who is skilled in one key are e.g. Modelling, this could be a persons main focus and they are and expert when it comes to that particular task. As a Generalist on the other hand, you are skilled in multiple 2 or more areas in the pipeline e.g. Modelling, Texturing, Animation, generalists referred to as 'The Jack of all trades' which in my opinion is a very negative term to use. According to (http://blog.digitaltutors.com/vfx-artist-need-jack-trades/) a Digital tutors blog on Gneralists in the VFX industry, it supports the fact that most visual effects companies are less likely to higher a Generalists due to the high demand for visual effects projects and even worse, a decreased budget for those jobs.
This had led the industry to focus on hiring specialists who can complete tasks in their specialist roles quickly and efficiently, the use of generalist were common for more high budget projects, so that their skills can be shared throughout the pipelines. However as times have changed, more generalists also have a specialist area, e.g. A generalists specialist area could be Modelling
In order to be an effective generalist you need to have a strong portfolio that shows skills in many areas, and also a range of different software; Maya being one of the primary software's in both visual effects and animation. You work as a team,with the lead and supervisors in order to produce quality content for a client. This means that confidence is very essential in this role, your tasks changes and you must adapt the different knowledge in the key areas in order to complete the task to a high quality
The VFX Industry for Generalists
At the early stages, when the Visual effects industry was just starting to take its tole and rise up, such companies like, ILM, D-neg and Famestore became very iconic for the innovation and advancement of the VFX world. Through the use of technology and advancement in new concepts and ideas, visual effects became the new instrument ; used to visually create a persons ideas. In the creative industry, you can either fall int two key categories as a content producer, Specialist or Generalist. A specialist is a person who is skilled in one key are e.g. Modelling, this could be a persons main focus and they are and expert when it comes to that particular task. As a Generalist on the other hand, you are skilled in multiple 2 or more areas in the pipeline e.g. Modelling, Texturing, Animation, generalists referred to as 'The Jack of all trades' which in my opinion is a very negative term to use. According to (http://blog.digitaltutors.com/vfx-artist-need-jack-trades/) a Digital tutors blog on Gneralists in the VFX industry, it supports the fact that most visual effects companies are less likely to higher a Generalists due to the high demand for visual effects projects and even worse, a decreased budget for those jobs.
This had led the industry to focus on hiring specialists who can complete tasks in their specialist roles quickly and efficiently, the use of generalist were common for more high budget projects, so that their skills can be shared throughout the pipelines. However as times have changed, more generalists also have a specialist area, e.g. A generalists specialist area could be Modelling
Intellectual property
Intellectual property refers to the content produced by the service providers for the client, as a generalist, you do not really have any legal ownership,in terms of distributing and making sales from the content, this is owned by the client in which the content has been produced for.
Copyrights
Copy Rights protects an individual or a company's work(content) from being illegally used and claimed by a secondary of a third party who is not permitted to used the content. Being a Generalist means you are produce work that can be sometimes displayed online and on various advertising outlets, Copyright laws protect these contents from being exploited and ensure that your are payed for your work, giving you the rights of ownership. Your work can not be used commercially with out you being contacted and agreeing for it to be used,if someone does this without your content, they have breached the Copyright law and can be prosecuted and sued for misusing your content.
Copy Rights protects an individual or a company's work(content) from being illegally used and claimed by a secondary of a third party who is not permitted to used the content. Being a Generalist means you are produce work that can be sometimes displayed online and on various advertising outlets, Copyright laws protect these contents from being exploited and ensure that your are payed for your work, giving you the rights of ownership. Your work can not be used commercially with out you being contacted and agreeing for it to be used,if someone does this without your content, they have breached the Copyright law and can be prosecuted and sued for misusing your content.
Economic Sectors
The Creative industry thrives UK in terms of their financial contribution to the economy, the creative industry consists of sectors in Software and Games, Film and TV, Architecture, Crafts, Publishing, Design and Fashion and Music, Arts and Culture. As you can see from the stats below, this contributes to a large some of the economic growth in the UK, when talking about the visual effects industry, this is categorised as the Software and Games sector; which as you can see contributes the largest amount of financial growth in the UK.
Direct Gov:( https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-visual-effects-animation-games-industries-get-multi-million-pound-skills-boost) This talks about the contribution in which the visual effects industry has on the UK economy, it mentions a scheme to create next Gen Academy that develops the next animators, game designs and visual effects artists for the coming years;enhancing the skills to the next level.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said:
"The UK’s creative industries are amongst the strongest in the world, worth £71.4 billion per year to the UK economy and supporting more than 1.7m jobs. Visual effects and games in particular are a great British success story."
Visual Effects on its own feeds into all other 8 sectors, with the constant need for new visuals and concepts, especially in the sectors of Film/Tv and Advertisement; which causes the constant need for jobs and artists to execute these jobs. In relation to this, there are always new visual effects companies starting as well as closing down, which brings the question as to how balance or lucrative is the VFX market and how is it viewed from the workers perpective; not the companies.
Direct Gov:( https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-visual-effects-animation-games-industries-get-multi-million-pound-skills-boost) This talks about the contribution in which the visual effects industry has on the UK economy, it mentions a scheme to create next Gen Academy that develops the next animators, game designs and visual effects artists for the coming years;enhancing the skills to the next level.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said:
"The UK’s creative industries are amongst the strongest in the world, worth £71.4 billion per year to the UK economy and supporting more than 1.7m jobs. Visual effects and games in particular are a great British success story."
Visual Effects on its own feeds into all other 8 sectors, with the constant need for new visuals and concepts, especially in the sectors of Film/Tv and Advertisement; which causes the constant need for jobs and artists to execute these jobs. In relation to this, there are always new visual effects companies starting as well as closing down, which brings the question as to how balance or lucrative is the VFX market and how is it viewed from the workers perpective; not the companies.
Employment Rates
According to The Creative Industries, since 2009 to 2012 there has been a 2% increase in the total rate of employment in the creative media industry, from 188.150 to 192,200. In addition to this there has also been a large increase in the representation of women in the creative industry, from 53,750 in 2009 to 63,590 in 2012, this is currently still on the rise, with more women being drawn towards the creative industry.
24 per cent of the workforce is freelance, which is the same as 2009. Freelancing is most prevalent in those areas most closely involved in the production process. As a Generalist, being part of the freelance working force is the best way to start,in terms of experience and getting an effective showreel. However freelancer in any sector of the industry is not as effective as it may be, especially during the' dry period' when there are less, or even no jobs going at the time. Working from contract to contract could also mean that you do not have a pension scheme under the company your are working for; unless it is a permanent contract.
TAX BREAKS
The UK has a very attractive tax relief set up (see details on our production guide). Its film incentives were updated in 2014 so that the rate of tax relief for films with a qualifying budget of £20m or over rose from 20% to 25% of the first £20m of qualifying UK expenditure. The minimum UK spend threshold was also reduced to 10% from the previous 25%. This makes the UK a more attractive co-production partner, and allows a wider range of projects to take advantage of the UK’s excellent VFX and post sectors. (source: http://www.kftv.com/news/2014/12/16/vfx-where-to-get-the-best-for-your-budget)
24 per cent of the workforce is freelance, which is the same as 2009. Freelancing is most prevalent in those areas most closely involved in the production process. As a Generalist, being part of the freelance working force is the best way to start,in terms of experience and getting an effective showreel. However freelancer in any sector of the industry is not as effective as it may be, especially during the' dry period' when there are less, or even no jobs going at the time. Working from contract to contract could also mean that you do not have a pension scheme under the company your are working for; unless it is a permanent contract.
TAX BREAKS
The UK has a very attractive tax relief set up (see details on our production guide). Its film incentives were updated in 2014 so that the rate of tax relief for films with a qualifying budget of £20m or over rose from 20% to 25% of the first £20m of qualifying UK expenditure. The minimum UK spend threshold was also reduced to 10% from the previous 25%. This makes the UK a more attractive co-production partner, and allows a wider range of projects to take advantage of the UK’s excellent VFX and post sectors. (source: http://www.kftv.com/news/2014/12/16/vfx-where-to-get-the-best-for-your-budget)
INNOVATION
If you have ever wondered why there is such a high demand and the need for visual effects, technology is the main reason, through this advancement more ideas and concepts that was once pictured as an impossible task soon became possible; especially in the film industry.
ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) was founded by George Lucas in 1975, he was the director of the star wars trilogy and started ILM as a visual effects company. He had a clear vision for Star was that would require visual effects that had never been seen in film before, this was the start of both innovation in the industry of film as well as visual effects and animation. ILM have been responsible for the visual effects for over 300 films, including Indiana Jones, Transformers and Teenage mutant ninja turtles. |
In our modern day, there is always a constant shift in the way we execute visual effects, as we find new ways to create visual and invent new technology to aid these visions. The advancement of motion capture and facial motion capture allows information of actors emotions,movements and facial topology to be applied to CG characters. We have now reached a level in visual effects when you cant even tell the difference between something that is CG or real,that is the current level we are at in the visual effects industry. Innovation comes from how we find new ways to change and improve our current state, in terms of visual effects software, through the creation of more advanced Facial motion capture technology, were able to produce more life like animations, this allows us to transfer real information into the CG worl
What does this mean For generalists
The following software listed above and frequently used and mastered by individuals in the VFX and Animation sector, they are tools in which we learn in order to create such amazing visuals, as a CG Generalist what does this mean for you,being a generalist, how can it effect or how can you utilize the equipment. Which the constant changes and shift in technology and software, a generalist must always be up to date and his skills should be at a certain level,in order for him/her to be hired for jobs and projects.
This means that more workload and more skills will need to be acquired as a generalist, this leaves an interesting question, being that innovation is a good thing for the creative industry, is it now more effective to learn more than one trade or be a specialist at just one? As a specialist, you are sectioned to one craft, whether it be modelling or animation, that is specialist area, but with more software being developed and new technology being created, as a generalist learning more than one craft seems more effective than ever. When we went on the visit to Double Negative, they stated that recently they have been hiring more generalists based on the broad range of skills, this allows them to be versatile and moved around to handle the work loads at different stages of their pipeline.
VFX for the Future
Virtual reality was a concept that was once and idea only seen in sci-fi films, but now through the evolution and advancement in technology we have now brought it into reality, this is know as 'The Oculus Rift', a virtual reality headset built for gaming. However, there are more possibilities that this technology can be used for, withing the Creative industry, sectors such as, Architecture, Advertisement and many more. Visual effects based content will always be needed to cater to these sectors as clients, so as software and technology advances, both specialists and generalists of the industrymust alos adapt their skills to these changes in order to remain relevant and still in work; being that VFX is a skill based and very competitive industry.
This means that more workload and more skills will need to be acquired as a generalist, this leaves an interesting question, being that innovation is a good thing for the creative industry, is it now more effective to learn more than one trade or be a specialist at just one? As a specialist, you are sectioned to one craft, whether it be modelling or animation, that is specialist area, but with more software being developed and new technology being created, as a generalist learning more than one craft seems more effective than ever. When we went on the visit to Double Negative, they stated that recently they have been hiring more generalists based on the broad range of skills, this allows them to be versatile and moved around to handle the work loads at different stages of their pipeline.
VFX for the Future
Virtual reality was a concept that was once and idea only seen in sci-fi films, but now through the evolution and advancement in technology we have now brought it into reality, this is know as 'The Oculus Rift', a virtual reality headset built for gaming. However, there are more possibilities that this technology can be used for, withing the Creative industry, sectors such as, Architecture, Advertisement and many more. Visual effects based content will always be needed to cater to these sectors as clients, so as software and technology advances, both specialists and generalists of the industrymust alos adapt their skills to these changes in order to remain relevant and still in work; being that VFX is a skill based and very competitive industry.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
When starting in the industry,most artists begin their careers as freelancers,whether as an individual or as a sole trader company,most take this route in order to gain experience and to add more work to their show reel. In terms Entrepreneurial directions, there are 2 main routes:
Freelance Sole trader: A self run company by an individual branded by a company name. As a freelance sole trader, you work for yourself, either from home or on sight with other visual effects companies and clients,usually working on a contract based placement.
VFX/Animation Company: Starting off as a limited company, working in a team and taking on clients who require CG based projects, this is how most visual effects companies started off, with a team of individuals distributing the workload.
There are different visual effect companies sprouting up just as fast as others are closing down, primarily in London, however being a generalist or even a specialist in the visual effects industry is very difficult and competitive, some end up going into their job role directly, however there are different ways of financially benefiting from the
Freelance Sole trader: A self run company by an individual branded by a company name. As a freelance sole trader, you work for yourself, either from home or on sight with other visual effects companies and clients,usually working on a contract based placement.
VFX/Animation Company: Starting off as a limited company, working in a team and taking on clients who require CG based projects, this is how most visual effects companies started off, with a team of individuals distributing the workload.
There are different visual effect companies sprouting up just as fast as others are closing down, primarily in London, however being a generalist or even a specialist in the visual effects industry is very difficult and competitive, some end up going into their job role directly, however there are different ways of financially benefiting from the
"Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects. Everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology." This allows people to fund their own projects and productions through the investments of he general public. Allot of attention has been drawn primarily towards Kick starter, especially for short films and project, it has become a more efficient way to independently fund and generate substantial budget for a project; the world is your investor.
Conclusion
I feel more confident taking the entrepreneurial route, as i feel that there is more opportunity along that route that taking the common pathway into the visual effects industry. In terms of opportunity,i feel that starting my own visual effects company will be more financially benefiting and allows me to explore the different roles, from being a generalist to a vfx producer.
I have currently started this process with some individuals both in uni and outside, branded under the name of CGLinks. By doing this unit and this research it had aided in the business plan, in terms of how we fit into the economy and how we can continue to advance and stay reliant and hopefully one day reach the top. I have learnt both the financial side to the industry, which has strongly help our business plan and our business model, getting together a strong work force and a realistic pipeline in order to approach and execute client projects. |