and L.A.-based graphics houses are scouring Europe for the creme de la creme of graphics talent in hopes of wooing a few to this side of the pond. In many cases they are succeeding, which might explain the Soho- and Left Bank-bred accents producers are hearing in digital suites lately.
This latest British/French Invasion is accurately attributed to the shallow pool of local talent and the fact that it is easier these days for foreign-born nationals to enter the country and obtain work visas than in the past. Congress bowed to pressure from high-tech companies desperate for skilled workers in late ’98 and raised the ceiling on H1-B work visas-which allow the hiring of immigrants for up to six years, providing they are filling jobs because of a shortage of comparably skilled Americans-from 65,000 to 115,000 for each of the next two years (SHOOT, 10/9/98, p.1). The higher cap on work permits allows U.S. companies to bring in skilled high-tech foreign workers in specialized fields such as visual effects. Several companies in California, however, have raised concerns that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in that state is processing the visas at a slower rate than INS centers in other states (SHOOT, 4/16, p. 1). Meanwhile, work is plentiful in a graphics industry that is growing at a healthy clip. Anyone who doubts that the U.S. is the leading visual effects producer of the world need only ask a Flame artist in the states who speaks English with an accent.
"I think the states are a huge market just because of the sheer quantity of channels there are," says Briton Adam Gascoyne, a Flame artist at New York-based Spontaneous Combustion.
As for the complaint that art schools in the U.S. are failing to adjust curriculums to reflect the new digital universe, the graphics houses SHOOT talked with say that domestic institutions are finally catching up to the digital age. Art schools have been busy installing Henrys, Flames and Infernos and designing courses to teach graphics majors how to use the equipment.
"In the last three to four years, a lot of the bigger institutions like Cal Arts, UCLA and schools like that are focusing on creating curriculums that are more appropriate for our business and for the digital artist," says Jerry Cancellieri, co-owner of the newly-formed company Method in Santa Monica, Calif.
While graphics supervisors and shop owners like Cancellieri applaud the technical training the schools are beginning to furnish on various graphics packages, there is a feeling that training in the U.S. lacks a sense of artistic style.
"The schools are sending out kids who are maybe less artistic, but more technical. I think that is very much a problem. We’re seeing a lot of kids come into the marketplace who know how to operate the equipment, but can’t draw a stick figure," laments Dominic Pandolfino, general manager/partner at Nice Shoes in New York. "That kind of creativity will not bring us through the next 10 years. The next 10 years we’re looking for people who have both creative ability as well as technical skills."
A tape released by Quantel last year to showcase spots featuring work done on the company’s platforms from around the world shook up Pandolfino’s view of the advertising universe. In his view, American originated work came off as technically proficient, but sterile.
"To be honest, I was embarrassed when I came to the spots that were from New York, including our own. I didn’t think the level of work was as rich or as beautiful as what I was seeing from New Zealand, Australia, and in particular, London," he recalls.
"I hate to be speaking so negatively about the American system because, obviously, we have some very wonderful and talented people," he continues. "I think it has to do with the educational system we have set up in this country. I also think we’ve gotten into this safe advertising scheme."
What is missing in American advertising, Pandolfino and others have concluded, is a sense of style based on a foundation of fine art. Technically proficient American-made products are said to lack the rich color, composition and texture of commercials coming out of Europe. And so, talent is being shipped in from offshore.
Nice Shoes, for example, recruited U.K. native Inferno/ Flame artist Steve McGee last spring from Video Copy Company in Hamburg, Germany, to head up a beefed-up digital graphics department. Spontaneous Combustion recently hired Gascoyne away from The Framestore in London.
Santa Monica’s Method, which officially opened its doors in March, flaunts the cultural diversity of its 25-member staff, and promotes its collaborative European style of working with clients as a competitive selling point. Recent international hires include French effects supervisor/artist Alex Frisch from 525 Studios in Santa Monica, and fellow French 3D artists Laurent Briet and Olivier "Twist" Gondry from Buf Compagnie, in Paris and Los Angeles.
To find top talent abroad, most of the graphics houses surveyed rely on word-of-mouth and recommendations from other artists, as well as careful study of commercials on overseas trips. Nice Shoes, for example, hired McGee based on the recommendation of friends in the industry in London. Spontaneous Combustion’s executive director/creative director Tony Robins relies on a mixture of word-of-mouth, overseas contacts picked up on jobs, mentions in trade magazines like SHOOT, and through bicoastal digital artist talent agency International Artists Alliance (IAA).
"We find a lot of these people are found through other artists and different connections with our clients who work abroad," says Method’s Cancellieri.
Party Time
These American post houses make no secret the reason they are actively looking overseas for new talent is their desire to access the European "look." The artists who cross the Atlantic come because "the U.S. is where the action is," they want to work on feature films, they feel it will be a good career boost, or as Gascoyne quips "to party."
Their attitudes about working in the states tend to confirm those of the people who hired them. To a man, they voice appreciation for the level of expertise and professionalism of the U.S. production community they work with on spots, music videos, movie trailers, and the occasional feature. They marvel at the quantity and quality of resources available to the production industry. The domestic market is every bit as big as they hoped and they like staying busy. They find production and postproduction better organized and more efficient than in Europe.
The downside is that their European trained eyes tend to find the body of American commercials a bit disappointing: too conservative, an overemphasis on the hard sell, less visually interesting and lacking passion when compared to commercials produced "back home." They also see the creative process here as less collaborative with too little give and take between directors and themselves.
"There’s a different way of working here," says Gascoyne. "In London, the style is to work in groups versus one person [the director] taking the reins."
"American advertising is very conservative [compared to] European advertising," Frisch says. "I regret that quite a bit. I must say that advertising agencies especially seem to always lean toward the non-creative, very conservative solution as opposed to the creative risk taking solution."
"When I say there’s not as much passion here, what I mean is when we work with a director [in Europe], it often goes into a kind of wild discussion," explains Briet. "It’s not really a fight, but a gathering where people share strong opinions. We don’t necessarily agree with each other’s point of view, but we try to defend ours as much as we can and see if the director can be convinced at the end."
McGee feels that American ads take a bit of an unfair hit on the creativity issue. "I think basically the problem isn’t with the creativity," says McGhee, "but with legal issues that block creativity over here. Take the word ‘legal,’ which sends a chill down everybody’s creative spine. It’s hard to do something creative with it. There’s so much legal spiel at the end of a car commercial that you might as well just put it up over black. It doesn’t facilitate putting up an image any more. I think the creatives all struggle with that, certainly the artists who finish the job do."
Cancellieri and many other post people believe that the post houses need to be involved in the production process from pre-production on.
"We’re trying to create a production environment that is organized so that we can accomplish the work in an efficient manner that satisfies our clients," says Cancellieri. "At the same time, we’re trying to balance that with a looser structure that fosters a more passionate environment so that all these various artists can come in and flourish. That’s our goal and what we’re trying to create at Method."
"We don’t want our Inferno operators to be operators. We want them to be artists," Pandolfino says. "We want them to be included in the process. We would love for them to be part of the process from the very beginning. Steve has gone on a number of shoots. Clients who have done that were grateful to have him there because he’s able to weed through a lot that would be problematic when he got back to the post house."
"In Europe it’s a much more collaborative type of work," McGee adds. "You’re involved with the editor. I’m starting to build that kind of relationship with a couple of very good editors in New York I enjoy working with. I hope they feel the same about me."
Green Cards
The biggest surprise the graphic immigrants encountered moving to the states is the red tape. Everyone has a story to tell about running afoul of bureaucratic blunders, incomprehensible rules and regulations, the difficulty in obtaining a credit card, or performing a chore as simple as opening a bank account.
"I would say the one thing that was really helpful to me in addition to my travel arrangements and visa was [Method] sponsoring me to get my bank account," Frisch says. "When you arrive in the U.S. and you have no credit history, you are nobody. Jerry [Canellieri] helped me to buy a car and get going with buying my house."
McGee ran into trouble when he presented a wad of Deutchmarks at a New York bank hoping to open a checking account. "They refused to take his money because they weren’t sure it was money," Pandolfino recalls.
"I came here with a misconception," says McGee. "That misconception was that it would be much easier to make the transition to an English-speaking country than it was to be an Englishman going to Germany. Ultimately, I was surprised that wasn’t the case. Nice Shoes was so generous and patient with me." And he quips, "I found out you guys don’t speak the same language anyway. You’ve got letters missing in the middle of the word color."
Despite the bureaucratic drawbacks, no one is planning to return to Britain or France in the foreseeable future.
"I miss mostly the people in Paris. I had my life set up there and that’s what I miss," says Briet.
"I miss Paris, too. But, since I’ve been here four-and-a-half years now, I’m settled in," says Frisch. "It’s not as hard for me as for Laurent. I am very committed to L.A. at this point, at least for the next couple of years."
After a year in the states, McGee says he doesn’t feel "quite at home yet, but it’s getting better."
Pandolfino, for one, certainly is trying to make it better. "We’re not out to change the world, but we would like to introduce a little more diversity," Pandolfino says. "The way you do that is to bring more people in from other areas who look at things differently. It’s not until you go outside your boundaries that you realize there may be other ways of doing things. They may be better, they may not be, but there are other ways of doing things. We want to have somebody from another country at our place to help us direct and grow our graphics department into something that’s not typically seen in the U.S."8
