Is there room for more women in the CG marketplace?
By Benita Raphan
For me, entering a male dominated industry is not intimidating or disconcerting because my technically-oriented career path prior to attending CADA enabled me to grow accustomed to working predominantly with men”, says Christine Baldelli who was a graduating student this year from the Masters Program in Digital Imaging and Design at New York University’s Center for Advanced Digital Applications,(CADA) a division of the School for Continuing and Professional Studies.
CADA’s students predominantly comes from the U.S., but also include a diverse population of students from outside the US, including; Asia, Israel, India and Africa.
For her thesis project, Baldelli designed a pilot for a youth oriented television show that she plans to pitch to television networks. The core curriculum at CADA is divided into three sections: Motion Graphics, Animation and Compositing. Of 58 graduating Thesis students this year, nearly twenty were women who had selected a 3D concentration for their career focus. Many of these students would like to stay in the United States to work professionally.
“There’s is without a doubt a need and an opportunity for more women in the industry” says JWT New York creative director Eric Weisberg, who with senior partner/creative director Gary Boyd are working on conceptual thinking with a current NYU thesis class which is graduating in January 2007. “As is clearly evident from NYU CADA, women bring a different sensibility and a refreshing point of view to their work. Most notably, they bring a softer and more elegant touch that is often missing in the cold, hard world of 3D”.
Another CADA student who graduated this month, Michal Finegold, a transplant from Israel, has lived in the United States for nearly two years during her studies. “In terms of the aesthetic that people look for in CG, I used to think it was a really masculine one, and that somehow distinctly feminine styles would not be as popular.
“But that was based on what’s out there on forums and popular websites for CG artists. When I look at what’s actually being done in the industry, I think there is an openness to all types of aesthetics, depending on the needs of the different projects. So clearly, the industry is NOT looking for just masculine design schemes and random big-breasted Poser women with guns.
Before completing her Master’s Degree, Michal was a software engineer. “I studied computer science and physics–also male-dominated fields,” so she says she is used to it.
With so many young women entering the industry, the numbers have to give and women will start making up more of the general population of 3D artists as many of the post houses and larger studios begin to employ women in the CG departments.
“I notice the male dominance more in the industry than at school. I had plenty of women in all my classes” reports Finegold.
“Yes, 3D has traditionally been a male industry. Probably has something to do with Superhero comics and in the early years boys were more likely to use computers than girls. There are exceptions of course, and that is definitely no longer the case” according to Gavin Guerra, former head of Black Logic’s CG Department and currently a top NYC area 3D and compositing freelancer, who is also an adjunct professor at CADA.
“I never sensed any discrimination toward women in the field. Women are usually accepted with open arms as a welcome change from geeky men. When I ran Black Logic’s CG dept, I used to hire mainly women. It just worked out that way.” In fact she says, “The company that I’m freelancing with now just spoke of the need for more estrogen in the office–“
“I think with the advent of programs like CADA, the tide is shifting.
Basically, talent rules, in every industry and if the women CG artists are good, they will have no problem finding work”.
Jenga Mwendo, long term modeler at Blue Sky, tucked away in White Plains, states it plainly and boldly: “It should be recognized that there ARE women in this industry!! And, I’d like to encourage other women to get into it.”
Watch out post world. Here they come.
Benita Raphan is a filmmaker and clinical assistant professor at New York University, Center for Advanced Digital Applications, and can be reached at benita.raphan@nyc.edu
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More