Alex Frisch, lead visual effects artist and managing director, Method Studios, Santa Monica, believes the future of visual effects lies in 3D. And he’s not alone. Flame artist Jamie Scott of MassMarket, New York, acknowledges that there is an increasing reliance on 3D CGI and design-based elements. In some cases, this has caused a shift away from jobs led by a single person like the Flame artist to a more collaborative way of working. “In some cases jobs are lead by 3D artists or designers rather than Flame artists,” Scott says.
Click here for The SHOOT Top 10 Visual Effects & Animation Chart
He adds that there are several reasons for this. With the advancements in CG, agencies are becoming more ambitious with their ideas. Creative teams are more confident about and can rely much more heavily on 3D. “One reason is the increasing use of pre-visualization. Agencies and directors have come to love the amount of control 3D gives them and this has now extended to pre-production as well as post. It’s not uncommon to pre-vis an entire commercial before shooting begins. This gives everyone involved a very clear indication of what the final spot will look like and what needs to be shot and in some cases can even reduce the amount of post work that is actually needed,” relates Scott.
“In creative terms the other reason for this shift is that people are constantly finding new and innovative ways of combining live action with 3D and design elements. 3D is no longer just used to fill in the gaps left by the limitations of live action–it is a narrative tool in it’s own right.”
Mark Glaser, owner and creative director of Sway Studio, agrees that there is a trend towards VFX and animation being considered more as a production model rather than a postproduction service.
“What makes this particularly exciting is that the recently released StopWatch data from TiVo has shown there are two types of commercials that get watched the most: direct-response and high production value movie-like ads. Television still reaches the largest audience and sophisticated, compelling visual effects are definitely being shown to be a highly effective way to capture their attention,” says Glaser.
Budget constraints
But while all of this means that creativity is flourishing when it comes to VFX and animation, unfortunately budgets are not. That issue is compounded by compressed schedules.
“With compressed schedules, you now have to take into consideration how much time you will have to work on the scene and devise a methodology accordingly. While it tends to still work and most of the VFX work coming out these days is extremely cutting edge, we now need to think a bit differently with turnaround time always looming overhead. This situation has also been exacerbated by the introduction of HD. Working and rendering in HD can be up to six times slower than with Standard Def,” explains Scott.
Frisch points out that 3D software, such as Maya, Boujou, or Massive have become more user friendly and interactive, allowing a heavy use of CG even on a fairly tight schedule.
“Combining live-action and computer-generated images seems to be the most significant trend today. More and more we composite CG elements in a live action shot. We will do this either in a totally seamless photorealistic way or conversely by adding very graphic 3D elements to create a more stylized look. Motion capture has also helped a lot to create convincing animation faster,” he says.
Keep pushing the bar
As technology continues to improve, expectations for visual effects and animation will continue to grow. Agencies, clients and even the average audience member are much more aware of the capabilities of 3D animation, for instance, than they were just a few years ago, according to Jacob Slutsky, 3D artist, MassMarket.
“I never thought I’d see the day when my father complains about bad CG,” he says. “Amazingly, it has arrived.”
So even though challenges such as the changing media landscape, downward pressure on budgets and tight schedules are not going away anytime soon, the biggest concern for most companies is simply putting everything they can into their work and creating the best looking spots possible. “Our focus remains on defining our creative difference and working hard to produce consistently good work,” says Bruce Carter, creative director, Animal Logic, Sydney.
A sample of that high-caliber work is showcased in SHOOT’s Top 10 Chart of the best visual effects and/or animation work this summer. The Chart appears later in this section.
Meanwhile, continuing the industry’s assessment of itself, SHOOT surveyed others about their most pressing issues and what they believe are the most significant creative trends in VFX/animation today. Here’s what they had to say:
What is the most pressing issue facing the visual effects/animation industry today?
Michael Pardee, EP, ASYLUM, Santa Monica
The most pressing issue is the schedule. Schedule drives everything. It is a continual and ongoing issue for our industry. Agencies feel it from their clients; directors and their production companies feel it. What this means for us is that we have to be smarter about how we operate and how we assess upcoming work. Working with directors that understand the dynamic of what we do and recognize the limitations of the schedule can become our strongest ally. Our goal is to give the director what he/she wants. Ultimately though, time will play into what can and can’t be done. If a director understands this and brings us to the table to help find solutions early on in the pre-pro phase, it will give them credible options prior to the shoot. Rather than thinking of VFX as postproduction, it should be, under the right circumstance, be thought of as preproduction, production and postproduction. From doing previsualization prior to the shoot, to putting together rough comps on set for the director and agency to see; to doing our post-production work once we received all of the shoot elements. It is and can be more useful and at the same time make the production schedule more manageable.
Loni Peristere, Co-founder, Creative Director, Zoic Studios, Los Angeles
Understanding the process of effects production is a major issue. Production companies and agencies often do not understand where a visual effects budget comes from. It appears as a line item number in a budget, which they try to encapsulate and trim as a whole. What is often not understood is the value of the number they are given and the actual labor involved to get there. As more and more work is falling into the hands of VFX professionals, there needs to be a global education for our partners of what is involved in our production, which is very often not dissimilar to a traditional production. Bottom line: Effects are not just a number, they are an integral part of the creative process and should be approached accordingly.
Jason Mayo, Executive Producer, Partner, Click 3X, New York
One of the most pressing issues facing the VFX/animation industry today continues to be the need for shops to deliver high end animation and effects in HD at a severely reduced cost within tighter schedules. As vendors, we’re responsible for offering cost effective solutions to our clients. But as any sound business owner could attest to, it’s not always as simple as cutting rates and working longer days. Addressing internal issues like technical infrastructure has become more and more essential. Earlier this year, we were awarded a large HD project for Web MD that would be airing throughout the MLB playoffs. The project involved high-end animation and heavy VFX compositing in Flame. We didn’t have much time and we weren’t afforded a budget with much cushion. We didn’t feel that it was prudent to charge more for a technology (HD) that we felt was an important component of our industry’s changing landscape. So we upgraded from our Octane 2, Unix based Flame systems that were running on version 8.5 to Linux based Flame 2007. This switch allowed us to render frames in HD up to five times faster than our old systems. With the project deliverables requiring us to finish more than 40 different versions in HD, it turned out to be a switch that essentially made the job not only possible but cost effective and even profitable for our shop. Our industry is changing, so should we.
Aaron King, ECD, Pure, N.Y.
Originality. While desktop platforms have given us a huge flexibility and speed, they have also created an environment where the industry is very self imitative. Schedules have gotten so compressed that there is often little time left for the design phase of a project. Carving out that time for creative exploration is key to finding ideas that are unique while also being brand appropriate. It all comes down to creating a compelling story and finding unique ways to visualize that narrative.
The earlier we start to collaborate with our clients, the more creative thinking we can commit to their project. For instance, in a campaign we did recently for Glade, we spent time up front designing branding elements that could be used in a variety of ways. Then when we shot the whole series of spots, we already had a visual language prepared and could shoot accordingly. The result is a tighter integration of live action and animation that communicates a solid brand while also putting more production dollars on the screen instead of into revisions.
Limore Shur, Chief Creative, Founder, EyeballNYC
Lack of standards and practices have made the industry feel like the wild west. The industry has boomed and it is a bit of a free for all. There is a huge amount of talent out there and the capabilities of both new and old companies are really amazing, but with this boom comes a lack of education on the client side. Until both clients and studios agree in general to the process, we will continue to see unreasonable budgets and timelines being tossed around. Generally these issues work themselves out over time and it is up to the studios to weather the storm.
David Schwarz, Director, co-Founder, HUSH, Brooklyn, N.Y.
One of the most pressing issues is that of nomenclature. In fact, in SHOOT’s very own question, the ambiguous little slash “/” between “visual effects” and “animation” sits at the core of the issue. We could even add several more slashes and write: visual effects/animation/design/direction/CG/editing /motion graphics/production. Our company and others like it continue to diversify our work. That’s the infinite challenge in a career of image making and storytelling. Sometimes we’re hired as directors or graphic designers. Other times, we’re effects artists and CG specialists. We have to be in order to challenge ourselves and the industry at large. As a result, one pressing issue seems to be: How do we position our companies and our work in a sea of changing nomenclature, varied aesthetics, converging media and artistic values? What are we called? What are our real capabilities? Is our industry dependent on the Jack of All Trades or being trade specialists? In a business that defines and capitalizes on the newest trends, we have to position ourselves as ever-diversifying specialists — oxymoronic at best.
Lawrence Nimrichter, Director of Animation, Associate Creative Director, Spontaneous, New York
Maintaining high creative standards while managing tightening deadlines is a challenge our entire industry is facing. Compressing the creative process to meet crazy deadlines has led to burnout and an incentive for some artists to go freelance. The result sacrifices the synchronicity that comes with working with an established team and causes an overlooked side effect–the decreased opportunity for agency input into the final product.
Emmett Feldman, Design Director, MEKANISM, San Francisco
In order to keep evolving, the VFX/animation industries need to embrace the thinking and techniques behind real-time interactive technologies. Generating thought provoking and emotionally visceral images that exist solely within a confined rectangle can only go so far. As artists and communicators we can create a symbiotic relationship between our visual storytelling prowess and the physical/mentally engaging control surfaces of this day in age. People crave the playfulness and immediacy of a usable experience. They want information that is not only useful and interactive, but beautifully represented and conveyed. That’s where the designer/animator/compositor’s come in….Our greatest and most exciting challenge in the coming years will be to create visually captivating worlds that house information in ways that bring both cinema and interactive together.
Alex Weil, ECD/Founder, Charlex, New York
I don’t think that there really are many seriously “pressing issues” facing us today beyond how to enjoy the phenomenological state of this continually burgeoning industry. We are fortunate to be living in the middle of a Golden Era of effects/animation and graphics. For us these are the days of Camelot–everyday more talent; faster, better software; cooler hardware. And an Internet that’s so fast and reliable that anyone can work with anyone else at anytime from anyplace. The democratization of our industry was swift and complete. Individuals at a single work station can sometimes successfully compete with organizations as large, successful and innovative as ILM. A king’s ransom is paid to anyone who comes up with a new look or technique. One minute you’re on YouTube and the next minute you’re broadcast all over the world. So I guess I’m forced to admit that for many of us, young and old, the most pressing issue we face is often “What will I have for lunch today?”
Rick Wagonheim, Partner, Managing Director, Rhinofx, New York
The most recent and salient trends and issues are: 1. Animation and effects studios supplied ballparks when agencies presented multiple concepts. 2. Today, animation and effects studios supply written treatments, visual references, animation tests, design tests and pre-viz’s when agencies present multiple concepts. 3. We’re losing more jobs to concepts than losing jobs to competitors.
Click here for The SHOOT Top 10 Visual Effects & Animation Chart
What is the most significant creative trend in the visual effects/animation industry today?
Alistair Thompson, Managing Director, The Mill, New York
The big strides forward recently in VFX have occurred in the area of computer graphics. CGI is often a vital component at the very beginning of any ambitious project and it is the innovation of CG artists and developers that can actually make the impossible become plausible. The computer graphics realm is also a breeding ground for new directing talent. Where directors used to hone their skills behind a camera, many of the today’s edgiest young directors are learning their trade by using a virtual set on a 3D workstation. Consequently we have seen the rise of directors like Neil Blomkamp, Pleix, Stylewar and Bif who are entirely at home in this ‘generated’ world. With the evolution of CG, the postproduction process has also moved away from being centered around a lone, hero operator in a suite. VFX projects now require teams of artists that have their own specialties. At the foundation of our Mill NY and LA offices, we have a core of CG artists that originally emanated from our London office. As a result, our NY and LA offices have exceptional CG talent on the ground but equally, the very close relationship between the operators in all the Mill offices, allows us to effectively utilize global resources in the best interests of an individual project.
David Steel, VP, ArtWorks, a division of NBC Universal
As broadcast designers, animators and storytellers, the use of photo-realistic 3D animation in packaging and illustrative design is one of our top creative priorities. Seamlessly integrating 3D elements into video and film for show opens, for example, or re-creating historic events (Hurricane Katrina devastation, Iraqi tank battles, Olympic games) for our news/sports clients is one area we are very focused on. Thankfully, technology has reduced the turnaround time for these complex scenes. But it has also raised the expectations with shorter deadlines and ubiquitous access to design software and rendering platforms. The real challenge, though, has always been and continues to be a creative one–how you best tell a story or support a brand with strong concepts, smart design and tasteful animation?
Lisa Kwon, Design Director, Creative Bubble, New York
The need to visualize the uber reality. We have progressed in VFX/animation to a place where it is welcome to mix all styles of animation regardless of how disparate they can be. If it’s stop frame, claymation, or incredible 3D, by combining these elements, we can create something new and fresh again. By no means am I discounting the seamless integration of effects into a scene, but there is a desire to see bold and beautiful graphic worlds again. In a sense we are moving towards a destandardization of creativity because our individual realities are also becoming more realized (YouTube, digital camera on every phone). Thus as designers we are striving to meet that vision of defining/visualizing one’s constantly evolving realities.
Cris Blyth, Creative Director/VFX Supervisor, Riot
The most interesting realization, is that today, there is no such thing as ‘impossible’; it’s just a matter of time and money. When someone calls and asks for something, we never find ourselves thinking, ‘hey, can we do this?’ It is simply more of deciding which way would be best. But for a new ‘look’ to emerge, it sometimes needs a directors’ direct involvement to give the VFX a context. The greatest of VFX innovations came from a thematic storyline. And as ideas are an evolving connection between design & implementation, more vfx/post houses need to have all features under their roof, from design to animation to VFX. With all the possibilities that can be, it opens such a massive range of creative possibilities. It can be though a double-edged sword; an answer with no question. Just because we can do something, doesn’t always mean that we should. Limitations can bring innovation. Being able to play within boundaries can lead to beautiful mistakes. The beauty of the design with animation and VFX is to find an effective way of doing something that gives you the most flexibility, while still holding onto the essence of the creative design.
Melissa Davies, Sight Effects, Venice, Calif.
The VFX industry boomed in the 90s and technology advanced through experimentation. Technology is driven by creative cycles. The technological advancements are still there but as the industry has matured, those advancements have become more transparent–faster machines, advanced capabilities and off the shelf software. The next creative cycle seems to be a resurgence of big effects, with lower budgets and faster turnaround. The challenge to the industry is to accommodate without compromise to creativity and quality. Outsourcing and networking of freelance labor is allowing boutique companies like ours to stay competitive–companies and individuals connecting under one creative direction to accommodate the technical demands, short schedules and sophisticated creative. We now have the capability to connect to India, China and an array of freelancers around the world to tap into a variety of styles, large render farms and increasing capacity with flexibility to accommodate large projects seamlessly. The only constant in VFX is the creative management and the art of staying ahead of technology and visualizing the creative transparently and cost effectively.
Mark Wilhelm, FX Artist, Guava, NY
The advancements in technology have made this an exciting time to be a VFX artist. When I started out there were only two pieces of equipment, they were quite expensive and access was limited. Nowadays, there is a variety of equipment at my fingertips, therefore enhancing and evolving my skill set as a designer. Being a VFX artist today is like being a kid in a toy store, and I want all the toys.
John Myers, EP/co-owner, Ring of Fire, Santa Monica
The most significant creative trend (outside of our current favorite – virals) still has to be HD and everything ‘creative’ that comes with it while we contend with shrinking schedules and budgets. The most significant anticipated trend is RED ONE and everything that will come with that, changing our process in ways that will revolutionize it.
Click here for The SHOOT Top 10 Visual Effects & Animation Chart
