People who work in postproduction nev-er tire of speculating about the "next generation"—the next-gen platform, the next-gen software, the next-gen distribution medium. What will it do? How will it work? How will it affect the way we do business? This fascination with the toolset is natural in an industry wrapped in technology, but to me, there is a far more interesting "next-gen" on the horizon: the next generation of people.
I have recently had an opportunity to meet a number of postproduction artists fresh out of college (and in some cases, high school), and I have been extremely impressed with their talent, skills and work ethic. This next-gen is arriving with new eyes, a new culture and a new approach. Several of these young artists have recently joined R!OT, and each one has brought a fresh energy to the work and exhibited a level of competence far beyond his or her years.
One thing that makes this next-gen different is that it is the first to have had access to computers practically from birth. As a result, its members are now joining the workforce with skills and experience that the preceding generation learned on the job. Today’s young postproduction artists already know compositing because they have PhotoShop and After Effects on their computers at home. I recently visited my daughters’ public middle school and was impressed to find the computer lab outfitted with row after row of the latest Mac workstations and equipped with the most current software. The effects of having technology of this order available to students starting at such a young age is just now beginning to be felt in the workforce, but the long-term implications are profound.
The next-gen also has new attitudes and expectations about work and career. They can’t imagine being employed by a single company for years and years, nor would they want to be tied down. Freelancing has much more appeal. They are perfectly comfortable following an independent path for their entire work life.
Those of us already in the business would do well to take stock of this advancing wave, of the talents it offers and of the demands it is bound to make. In many cases, it will require us to change the way we work and operate our businesses.
In the future, the postproduction industry will be much more reliant on freelance talent. Studios will provide the technological infrastructure and project oversight, and they will act as a conduit between the client and the talent who actually perform the work.
Tomorrow’s postproduction studio will fulfill a role similar to the role of a general contractor—a client will bring a project to a post house, which will then hire the compositors, animators and editors necessary to get the job done, just as a general contractor would hire electricians, plumbers and carpenters.
To switch metaphors, the next-gen post studio will serve as a kind of central intelligence agency, providing its clients with expert knowledge about how to produce their projects and about the talent pool—locally and perhaps internationally—available to produce it. A studio’s ability to apply the right resources and the right talent to a given task will be more crucial than ever. For next-gen artists, large postproduction studios will be their source of work. Just as you wouldn’t hire a plumber to build your house, clients won’t hire individual artists to tackle a large and complex visual effects assignment.
For some companies, the next generation talent will be threatening, because they will demand a change in the status quo. But I see it as a great opportunity, a chance to reinvent the studio model into something more flexible and dynamic. In any case, trying to resist change is pointless because, like it or not, the next-gen is heading this way like a great wave. You can either let it sweep you away, or grab your surfboard and ride it.
