Effects Corner

Visual Effects Guilds

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:23:47 PDT

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What’s the solution?

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:04:20 PDT

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Visual Effects Professionals United

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:34:36 PDT

Visual Effects Professionals United [Update: 4-12-2013 I've adjusted the page a bit. The VES has a project in process and one of those has to do with the workforce. I've been tasked with trying to...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VFX World Wide Pi Talk

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 23:28:04 PDT

Last night was a great visual effects event. Visual Effects World Wide Town Hall - Pi Day. A great many people worked incredibly hard to pull this off in the time available. (Big thank you to all of...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Pi Day

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:30:35 PDT

In case you haven't heard the VFX Town Hall on Pi Day is being held 3.14 (Tomorrow as I write this) It's in Los Angles but there will groups in San Francisco area, Vancouver, New Zealand and...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

We are artists

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:30:19 PDT

We are artists I was asked in the comments of another post why I didn't care for the term technicians. Aren't there technicians as well as artists doing visual effects? Here's my response that I...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

The Miracle of Visual Effects, will it continue?

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:13:33 PST

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VES Board Member thoughts

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 11:01:31 PST

Van Ling, a visual effects artists for many years and a fellow board member at the VES has asked me to publish his open letter. I've never had a guest blogger post here before but I thought I should...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Visual effects are inexpensive

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 09:52:47 PST

Visual effects are inexpensive (relative to other options) Ang Lee and everyone in Hollywood say visual effects are too expensive. We’ve created the worlds and characters that make their movies...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Risk and subsidies

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 17:26:11 PST

Risk and subsidies This post is in response to a comment on the previous post Oh, the mess we’re in! . Blogger is unable to allow long comments so I've made a new post for the response. Here's the...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Oh, the mess we’re in!

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 09:55:32 PST

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Bad Visual Effects Business Practices

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 20:08:43 PST

Bad Visual Effects Business Practices [ This posts covers specific bad business practices of visual effects companies. If you're interested in the problems of the visual effects industry check these...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

DD cutting wages, VFX Union update

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:00:11 PDT

Hmm, maybe part of this should be done as a title crawl against a star field. Digital Domain, one of the largest visual effects companies in the U.S. has been going through some rough times. They...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Visual Effects Innovation

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 10:54:41 PDT

David Cohen made some interesting observations in his article 'Deadly dull vfx undermine the biz'. It does seem odd for visual effects to be considered as a secondary player by Hollywood yet at the...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

What to do when you're laid off

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 23:16:22 PDT

@saldivar_vfx on Twitter suggested a blog post on What do you do when your company closes Being laid off is similar whether planned or not planned so I'll cover that here. I'll probably be doing...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Visual Effects Positions

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:10:00 PDT

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Visual Effects Tax Incentives / Subsidies

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Wed, 01 May 2013 23:58:37 PDT

Visual Effects Tax Incentives Subsidies [Many more updates since I wrote this post. I've tried to keep up with some of the related items at the end of the post. So what do we learn from all of this?...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Visual Effects Trade Association

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 23:21:28 PDT

At SIGGRAPH John Textor announced he was giving Scott Ross $100,000 to help start a visual effects trade association. This is probably a good thing. What is a trade association? It's a group of...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Why do visual effects costs so much?

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 22:01:56 PDT

Why do visual effects costs so much? This question comes up constantly even from those who should know better. Many simply wish to ignore the reasons. If you haven’t done so yet please read The...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

The Value of Visual Effects

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 09:00:42 PST

The Value of Visual Effects There’s often discussions about the costs of visual effects. But for now let’s take a look at something seldom discussed and that’s the value of visual effects. What are...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Getting a Visual Effects job

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 14:27:01 PST

Getting a Visual Effects job This article is primarily for professionals who are already working in the visual effects business. If you’re just starting out make sure to read the post on Career in...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Visual Effects Tips 2

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 09:43:17 PDT

[Visual Effects Tips 1 post] Time is important in visual effects. There’s never enough of it so make every attempt to minimize wasted time and simple mistakes. Many of these examples are animation...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Visual Effects Tips 1

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 13:04:58 PDT

Here are a few tips and suggestions for visual effects artists. Some of these overlap my post on being a good visual effects artist. It takes more than just knowing how to use a visual effects...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Waiting

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 07:16:39 PDT

Even though there is a real IA visual effects union effort starting up many have decided to continue to sit on the sidelines. They are waiting for the perfect solution for the visual effects...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

What happened?

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 11:20:37 PST

What happened? A week or two ago the LA Time ran an article on some of the problems of the visual effects industry. It covered someone who had been in visual effects for awhile and wanted things as...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Melies quote of artists and businessmen

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:53:54 PDT

This is a story from Georges Méliès, early film director and visual effects artist. The film HUGO covered part of his life and the VES (Visual Effects Society) uses his image of a Rocket in the face...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Beyond 24fps

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 11:32:31 PST

Peter Jackson has been shooting The Hobbit in 3D at 48fps*. Jim Cameron is looking at doing Avatar sequels at 60fps. The preview of some of The Hobbit footage this last week caused some concern and...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Visual Effects Union, take 2

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:00:58 PDT

(Update 4/23/2012 fixed missing BECTU link) Yesterday there was an IA Union meeting with a number of visual effects artists. Most were from Sony Imageworks but there were others attending to get...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Digital Domain plans to have paying students make up 30% of workforce

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 09:39:03 PDT

[Update: 9/15/2012 DD has now closed their Florida facility. Some of the classes have been put on hold and certainly students won't be working at the DD facility as planned. But the post is still...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VES feedback

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:22:44 PST

VES Visual Effects Handbook feedback We are having meetings and starting to work on the revised VES handbook. Most of the feedback we have received has been very general. If you want to see...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Acting and Animation

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 22:34:23 PDT

Acting and Animation There has been debate and discussion lately regarding if motion capture is pure acting. Here are a couple of latest links to check out: James Franco requests recognition for...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VES and VFX trade organization

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:18:45 PST

There's a LinkedIn discussion going on regarding Vfx trade organizations and the Vfx foundation. LinkedIn discussion This also includes some potshots at the VES. I wrote up a response but thought...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Dream Quest

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:08:07 PST

Below are a few videos with visual effects by Dream Quest, a visual effects company I co-founded in late 1979. These are from the first 5 years. The company was later sold to Disney and changed it's...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Visual Effects Union - IA efforts one year later

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:01:29 PDT

I know most of you would rather just focus on the technical issues of visual effects and many of you have an aversion to even thinking about unions after being bombarded by myths and inaccurate...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

People, not computers, create visual effects

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:14:34 PDT

There's an impression that is perpetuated in the media that visual effects are created entirely by computers. The human artists are left out of this narrative. The term CGI is now being used...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Rotoscoping - The Basics

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:11:26 PDT

Mike Seymour @ fxguide has written up a great article on Rotoscoping. It covers the history, the process and the list of the various roto tools available. I'm glad he spoke to Tom Bertino and Jack...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VES Board of Directors

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:39:35 PDT

If you are a Visual Effects Society (VES) member you should have already received email regarding the Board of Director's nomination forms. If not, make sure the VES has your current email or check...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VES Visual Effects Bill of Rights – Now what?

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:46:51 PDT

VES Visual Effects Bill of Rights – Now what? By now most of you have heard and hopefully read the VES Bill of Rights. If not check it out here. This first step was to try to define where we want...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Letter to Animation Guild

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 11:50:15 PDT

The Animation Guild received an email for someone in the VFX industry who documents some of the issues faced by typical vfx workers. This is somewhat of an extreme but there's certainly a basis of...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VFX Wages Discussion

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 12:13:27 PDT

This post is in response to a comment on a previous post. See this post and follow the comments there for the full original comment. (Toward the end from Anonymous) Unfortunately once I wrote this...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VES 2.0 feedback requested

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 19:46:20 PDT

The VES 2.0 group (Visual Effects Society) continues to meet and explore options for the vfx industry. I'd like to once again ask all vfx artists and companies to submit their thoughts, ideas,...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

2D to 3D Conversions

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 21:16:56 PDT

2D to 3D conversions 2D to 3D conversion is the process of converted a film from 2D (normal film) to a 3D (or stereo) film for viewing with a stereographic viewing system. (polarized glasses,...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VES Handbook now in eBook formats

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 14:14:33 PDT

The VES Handbook is finally out in Kindle format from Amazon. It came out last fall but had issues with the Table of Contents among other things. Currently $37.22 on US amazon store. Paperback...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

The Artistry of VFX

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:40:02 PDT

The Artistry of VFX It’s sometimes difficult to get directors and studios to look at vfx as an artistic process and those involved as creative. To some we’re looked at as technical nerds (with the...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Working directly for the studios

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:43:46 PDT

Working directly for the studios Joe Harkin, Dave Rand and David Stripinis have all expressed a potential solution to some of the problems in today’s vfx industry by having vfx artists working...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Using the nail

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:02:07 PDT

Using the nail The last post I covered some of problems facing visual effects workers. Today I’ll cover some of the potential outside groups that may be able to help the VFX industry. (* I’m not a...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Pass me a nail

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:33:54 PDT

Pass me a nail Every time someone even hears the word union and visual effects in the same sentence they always say "it will be the nail in the coffin for all visual effects in this the...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VFX Business Models

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:29:04 PDT

VFX Business Models The VFX business has always been difficult. The amount of work has fluctuated causing feast or famine for those working in it. In the last decade or two the amount of work has...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VFX Union Chat

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:02:50 PDT

On April 21, 2011 I was invited as a guest on Variety's tech live chat. David S. Cohen, from Variety, was the moderator. Also on the chat were Lee Stranahan, Joe Harkin and Dave Rand. I'd like to...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Overtime and misc

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:27:44 PDT

A few recent reports: From @neonmarg Study: “working more than 11 hours a day increased the risk of heart disease by 67 percent” http://bit.ly/fxl36H Working overtime hurts health ABC news Full...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Global VFX Workers - next step

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:32:32 PDT

Not long ago I posted about a possible global VFX worker guideline or seal of approval. Please read it if you haven't already. I received some good responses directly from people. So if we had a...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VFX Deal Memo

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:38:03 PDT

When starting a project you should see about getting a document detailing your work agreement. This is sometimes called a deal memo. Sometimes it’s a full contract. This is so you and the visual...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VFX Interactions

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 09:49:34 PDT

Interactions Most visual effects are designed to integrate with live action images. Whether you're creating a cg creature, cg background, physical model addition or even 2 live action elements, the...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Canada's IATSE local 891 VFX survey

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 21:47:19 PDT

Canada's IATSE local 891 VFX union has done a survey of VFX artists that's worth checking out.

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VES handbook thoughts?

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 10:01:20 PDT

Now that the VES visual effects handbook has been out several months it would be great to get some specific feedback. Sometime in the next 2-3 years it will likely be updated slightly. Keep in mind...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Unions, VFX working hours and environments

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 11:41:41 PST

If you have a safe working environment today then you likely have a union to thank for it. 100 Years ago was the deadly Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. This info graphic shows some of the safety...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Union update

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 17:48:20 PDT

Today the union had an info meeting in Burbank and Vancouver. If you have not attended an IATSE Union info meeting yet I would strongly suggest you contact the point person directly to get the...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Global VFX Workers

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:13:18 PST

Paddy Eason from the U.K asked in a previous posting about the possibility of a global union for vfx workers. The following are some notes I wrote this last weekend. Some this refers back to a...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

What makes a good visual effects artist?

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 09:15:48 PST

For those just starting out: VFX Career VFX Schools Visual Effects Positions Getting a Visual Effects Job ---- First off of course are all the standard things that any good worker would be doing...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

IATSE VFX has public meeting March 13 in Burbank

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 17:29:59 PST

IATSE is holding another Public VFX Meeting to try to answer questions about a potential visual effects union. "we will be holding another picnic on Sunday March 13 at 1:00 pm at Johnny Carson Park...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

How do these things tie together?

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 17:23:43 PDT

Early last week I posted about what was going on in Wisconsin and how that tied into Unions, the Middle Class and Visual Effects. A couple of posters took issue with my posting so let’s review a few...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Unions, the Middle class and visual effects

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 18:51:18 PDT

For those of you who may not be aware the American Middle Class is under attack by the rich and the powerful. The corporations are pushing ahead in the name of greed. For those of you who don't...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VES Handbook for Kindle - Back soon

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:05:17 PDT

The Kindle version of the VES Handbook was up for a short time a month or two ago but it was discovered that the Table of Contents was missing (a critical feature). Focal Press pulled it to fix the...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

US Health Care

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 22:09:24 PST

Health care: In a recent posting one of the commenters suggested that I was being a bit over the top regarding issue of health care. As I noted there all the information I provided was based either...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

IA VFX Union note

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 22:04:40 PST

I met with Jimmy Goodman of the IA last week. They are planning to have a blog setup within the next 2 weeks to keep people informed. This would be one vfx union that covers the U.S. and they are...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

IBEW VFX Union meeting

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 22:11:57 PST

IBEW Announcement Attention all Visual Effects Artists, Practitioners, Aficionados, & Mavens: IBEW Local 40 will be hosting its’ 4th Informational Meeting for those working in the Motion Picture...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Film incentives

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:20:49 PST

Here are a couple of references to those interested in film incentives. I included these in response to a comment but thought I should also make it full post. Report on the impact of incentive...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VFX Union - What Next?

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 11:34:06 PST

Reminder: I’m a member of the Board of Directors of the Visual Effects Society. What I write here on the blog though is only coming from me as a fellow VFX artist and in no way should be...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

IA Visual Effects Union Announcement

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:02:37 PST

fxguide has posted the official announcement of the IA regarding setting up a VFX union.

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VES Handbook up for a Prose award

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 12:21:20 PST

I've been notified the VES Handbook is up for a Prose award, which is nice recognition for all of those who worked on it. Richard Kerrigan wrote a review on Animation World Network here. Oddly on...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Reminder - VFX Union meeting Nov 7

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 09:44:29 PDT

From the IBEW Attention All Visual Effects Practitioners in Southern California: IBEW Local 40 will be holding its’ 3rd Informational Meeting for those working in the Visual Effects portion of the...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VFX Union IA update

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:09:48 PST

Just a reminder here I'm trying to provide information for VFX artists to make informed decisions. As noted in an earlier post the IBEW is having a meeting for people interested in a VFX union to...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VES Handbook of Visual Effects now available in Kindle

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 16:45:11 PDT

VES Handbook of Visual Effects now available in Kindle electronic form!

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VFX union. IBEW Meeting

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 21:40:28 PDT

From the IBEW Attention All Visual Effects Practitioners in Southern California: IBEW Local 40 will be holding its’ 3rd Informational Meeting for those working in the Visual Effects portion of...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VFX Union Info Meeting tonight

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 12:40:03 PDT

IBEW Local 40 Informational Meeting for Visual Effects Industry It's in Burbank (LA, CA) tonight (Oct 16) at 6pm. I don't know any of the details except the posting at fxguide which lists the...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Tom Cruise and VFX

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 21:30:56 PDT

For those who haven't seen it there's posting on TomCruise.com regarding vfx information. My Effects Corner blog is listed along with a lot of various blogs, companies, schools, etc. Worth checking...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Rotoscoping hair

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:34:51 PDT

I forgot that Focal Press (the publishers of the VES Handbook) asked me to write a short article for them a few months ago. It's online at one of their sites. Rotoscoping Hair Article <-...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VES business for film and VFX artists event

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 15:53:19 PDT

The Visual Effects Society is having an educational business event for artists. 1099 forms, payroll, insurance and other issues will be covered. Open to non members as well (for a fee) Oct 5, 2010...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VES Annual Meeting

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 01:30:48 PDT

For those VES Members in Southern Calif. don't forget there's the VES Annual Membership Meeting. (This is a members only meeting. Sorry, no guests) When: Tomorrow, September 23,...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Price of VFX Education

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 13:54:05 PDT

VFXSoldier has a good posting about VFX education. As VFXSoldier points out all of these VFX schools are in it for profit, which is fine, but be aware of what the true costs are, especially to what...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Unions and freelancing issues

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 15:37:03 PDT

How Companies Turn People Against Unions (org link from the Animation Guild Blog) Ugh: the 'free' in freelanceMore than 40% of contract workers report trouble getting paid. Average owed:...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VFX artists don't need to be taken advantage of

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 15:28:27 PDT

Variety had an article about another VFX company in Montreal not paying their vfx artists: “The latest bad news from the vfx biz comes from Montreal's Fake Studio, part of the Camera e-Motion Group....

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Wages In The VFX, Animation, And Games Industry

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:47:05 PDT

VFXsoldier has a very interesting read regarding wages and unions among other things. Click here for the link.

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Vfx helps U.K. post-production stay afloat

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 22:50:22 PDT

For those that don't think the incentives have anything to do with VFX: From Variety article Vfx helps U.K. post-production stay afloat "While most entertainment business sectors in the U.K. are...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Incentive and film program updates

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:54:44 PDT

Every week there seem to be new updates on state or country incentive and film programs. Clint Eastwood makes UKFC plea - Entertainment News, Top News, Media - Variety Here's a snippet:Scottish-born...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Sad but true..

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 12:37:53 PDT

A cautionary tale: From @VFXSoldier twitterArt Institute graduate spent 70K on degree, can't find video game job, takes up stripping instead. Believe me, you don't want to see most vfx artists...

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Ray Harryhausen and Chuck Jones exhibitions closing soon

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 11:36:03 PDT

Just a reminder for those in L.A. the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has a special exhibit on Ray Harryhausen that opened in May and will be closing Aug 22. Free. More info on the...

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Could unionization save vfx facilities?

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 12:59:34 PDT

Could unionization save vfx facilities? is a posting by vfxsoldier. There are those who argue that any type of unionization will drive the nail in the coffin for US VFX production. Since it's...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Escape Studios competition extended

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 11:34:18 PDT

I was recently contacted by Escape Studios, which offers VFX training in the UK and online. I thought readers might be interested so here's the info from them: We're currently running a competition...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VES Handbook Released

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:11:35 PDT

The VES Handbook of Visual Effects is now shipping. I know at least a couple of people I spoke to thought "why do we need another vfx book?" Once they saw the scope and depth of the handbook they...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Globalization and VFX

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:50:24 PDT

Globalization and VFX One of the issues facing VFX companies and artists is the issue of globalization. Given the tax incentives and cost of living variance around the world most film studios are...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VES Handbook of Visual Effects

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 10:51:17 PDT

I'm told the VES Handbook should be available July 30 (currently listed as Aug 13 on Amazon). 960 pages of info written by 88 vfx professionals. (I wrote a few articles and was a co-editor) Full...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

The Tragic Plight of Hollywood VFX Sweatshops

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 19:01:07 PDT

The Tragic Plight of Hollywood VFX Sweatshops is from a retweet by @alba of a tweet from Erik Van HornIt's a posting on sinisthesia.blogspot.com and is worthwhile read for anyone in the vfx industry...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Getting the most out of your VFX budget

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 22:27:53 PDT

Getting the most out of your VFX budget If you were to ask most directors, producers and studios how to get the most out of their VFX budget the knee jerk reaction would be to hire the cheapest VFX...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VFX soldier posting

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 24 May 2010 19:47:11 PDT

VFX soldier posting Interesting read. I have a few articles in progress, one that covers some of the same things, but this covers it well.

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VFX filmmaker

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Mon, 24 May 2010 10:28:31 PDT

Lee Stranahan has started a VFX blog at http://vfxfilmmaker.com/ He recently wrote a humorous article for the Huffington Post. Just watch out if you see me on Melrose.

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Hollywood's VFX Sweatshops

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:44:00 PDT

The latest Time magazine has an article on the VFX business. Very worth reading. "A major point of contention between VFX shops and studios is the issue of change orders. When a director revises...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

VFX Wages

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 17:38:49 PST

One of the issues discussed in relationship to the town hall meetings (besides hours worked) is the wage issue. Certainly a number of people who search visual effects on the web are looking for...

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com

Notes to Store 1.32 released for iPad

effectscorner@mac.com (Scott Squires) — Thu, 13 May 2010 02:05:31 PDT

Notes to Store version 1.32 just released for iPad. Faster, easier brush color and size selection. 16 user defined color presets and other new features.

For the full article please visit http://www.effectscorner.com