DreamWorks Animation Loses Money For the Second Quarter in a Row

DreamWorks Animation reported a loss of $15.4 million in the second fiscal quarter, the second consecutive quarterly loss for the company. It reported earnings per share of -$0.18, a result worse than analysts had expected that sent the company's stock down nine percent in after-hours trading.

Read More @The Wrap...

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More insider info on the TAG Blog: The quotes below were lifted from the TAG Blog.  Does anyone really believe the business model will change?  What do you think will happen if it does?

But of course, all these things take time. And as one DreamWorker said to me away from the studio:

"The company needs to get the costs of features down. Management doesn't seem to want to restructure at the top and upper middle very much, which is where it would help a lot. Production is supposed to squeeze and cut. I'm not sure how well that will work. ..."

And Jeffrey speaks to that issue:

We are also exploring the opportunities of actually making some films -- some original films on a very different scale altogether, where it's not incremental changes in the film cost, but the concepts of the movies and the style with which we would make them would have us working on a very different business model.

Video Game Layoff Stories

Video Game layoff Stories

I like to keep this blog positive. But the long thought stable landscape of gaming which has stayed the most secure sector of creating animation til now... has been hit more and more by restructuring and layoffs and we need to talk about it. 

Jason Schreier offers insight into why games has been experiencing so many layoffs lately.

Dreamworks Animation Layoffs

As DreamWorks Animation Television continues to hire, DreamWorks Animation's feature division continues to shed jobs. Last Monday and Tuesday, an estimated forty to fifty DWA employees were called in for one-on-one meetings and informed their services would no longer be required.

via TAG Blog

Why do practical effects get replaced with CGI?

Why do practical effects get replaced with CGI? from Andyfilms on Vimeo.

Animators Don't Animate, Andy Serkis Does it All... Says the Serkis Clown

This guy is a piece of work. I will be surprised if he can staff his new project with the comments he makes in the press.  If you are a digital artist and accept a position on The Jungle Book remake for Warner Brothers, you have no reason to complain about being unappreciated, treated like a wrist or undermined for your efforts.  I understand animators do not win Oscars - actors do, but Serkis' understanding of how animation for a feature is created is NIL.  I am sure he will be schooled on his directorial debut. The amount of work done on Serkis' performances for all of his "mocrapped" movies will evidently stay under wraps until CG artist create a accurate behind the scenes documentary of what it takes to translate a captured performance of an actor into a believable performance on a digital puppet.

Quote below from io9

"It's a given that they absolutely copy [the performance] to the letter, to the point in effect what they are doing is painting digital makeup onto actors' performances. It's that understanding which has changed as much as anything."

More about his perspective on an animator's role on a mo-capped film at Cartoon Brew.

Dear Hollywood: Fix VFX, It Will Fix the Movie Biz for You

Dear Hollywood: Fix VFX, It Will Fix the Movie Biz for You

"The CVD is a dangerous precedent for feature film profits"

Tax Deductions Guide for Freelancers and the Self-Employed

Tax Deductions Guide for Freelancers and the Self-Employed

LIFE AFTER PI

http://www.hollywoodendingmovie.com/

Animators Roundtable: Full Interview

The Los Angeles Times uploaded an interview with 

five directors who worked on various animated films in 2013. 

Watch the full interview here.

Vfx Soldier Blogger ‘Outs’ Himself

Vfx Soldier blog revealed his identity today to lead the visual effects protest outside DreamWorks Animation in conjunction with President Obama’s visit. The identity of the anonymous VFX Soldier blogger has been revealed to be technical director Daniel Lay. Lay, who has worked at DreamWorks Animation, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and Digital Domain, has spent the last three years writing about problems within the visual effects industry.

more here...

Disney Women

because there are so few of us... ( Al Seib / Los Angeles Times ) These are the women of Disney's animation studios. Jennifer Lee, front right, one of the directors of Disney Animation's "Frozen" and Lauren MacMullan, front left, director of "Get a Horse," a short film coming out soon, are surrounded by other women who work on animation projects at the Walt Disney Studios.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/lat-frozen-women-la0012509069-20131115,0,1876972.photo#ixzz2laeJoPb3

The Business of the VFX Industry or The Death of Hollywood as We Know It

ITF 2013 | Scott Ross Masterclass by nifff-ch

Wonderland | A Short Form Doc on Creative Commerce

Wonderland | A Short Form Doc on Creative Commerce from Eskimo on Vimeo.

101 BEST WRITTEN TV SERIES ACCORDING TO WGA

101 BEST WRITTEN TV SERIES ACCORDING TO WGA

VFX in Los Angeles – 100 hour weeks & homeless

VFX in Los Angeles – 100 hour weeks & homeless

Quote from Article:  'After a brief time out of Los Angeles chasing a lead on a job, Victor returned for an interview, “I was hired on the spot for a laughable 13 bucks an hour, but with little to no options I took it.”  This was a short-lived gig, followed by others and at times as much as a month passed between gigs.'

NYC Collider - June 10, 2013

missing audio in the beginning...

two hours long, go get your coffee

I have to apologize readers.  I posted this talk and didn't watch it at first.  I figured it was important and should get it up on the blog even if I couldn't take a moment to watch right away.  I sat down today to actually watch the whole thing.  What a waste of time and completely respectful to the speakers.  Out of 2 hours, there is 20 minutes of talk about the current status with the panelists.

If you intend to give a presentation and show off a live survey, you should have billed this thing as that.  This talk was billed as a VFX Town Hall which suggested to me the people on the panel would be allowed to speak.  

I seriously wish the speakers on the panel were allowed to talk and discuss the topics.  Even the audience engaged panelists and the moderator - Acuña Acosta shut it down for the live survey.  Are you kidding? Anyone can look at that online???  WOW!  If you are a moderator for a panel, you should be speaking very little.  So, incredibly unprofessional.

If you want to see/hear anything pertaining to VFX/CG/Anim Labor Issues, scrub to these sections of the recording for content:

49:14 = ~10 minutes of actual panel discussion with Q's from the audience

1:07 - Scott Squires makes some interesting statements in his 5 minute introduction, but no one on the panel gets to discuss it. 

1:13 - Panel talks for about 5 more minutes

01:16 - You get Q & A for about 5 more minutes. The Panelists  are not allowed to speak because there was another presentation after the live survey.

1:21 Online Survey starts and the panelists fight to even speak for the next 30 minutes.  Panelists finally give up and start looking at phones and watches.

1:33-1:37 Audience asks questions from the panel and moderator informs that she has to continue with the survey. So unprofessional.

1:40 Psychological Online Study about workers... ummmm.  Wow.

The VFX Watchers

The VFX Watchers - The VFX Watchers Review Site 

is a place for VFX workers to safely review VFX Companies




Help your fellow artists protect themselves 

from poor biz practices by the facilities

http://thevfxwatchers.com/

Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry

George Lucas echoed Spielberg's sentiments at an event touting the opening of a new USC School of Cinematic Arts building, saying big changes are in store.

Steven Spielberg on Wednesday predicted an "implosion" in the film industry is inevitable, whereby a half dozen or so $250 million movies flop at the box office and alter the industry forever. What comes next -- or even before then -- will be price variances at movie theaters, where "you're gonna have to pay $25 for the next Iron Man, you're probably only going to have to pay $7 to see Lincoln." He also said that Lincoln came "this close" to being an HBO movie instead of a theatrical release.

Hollywood Reporter Read more...

HOW DO YOU REALLY FEEL ABOUT THE VFX/ANIMATION INDUSTRY?

This is your chance to share your personal views on the current state of our industry: the 

5-minute survey designed by Jay Van Bavel, Director of the Social Perception and Evaluation Lab at New York University.

The results will be presented at the VFX Town Hall: Collider 2013, a free event going live Monday, June 10 at 6pm EST at the Hotel Pennsylvania in NYC. 

You are invited to attend the Town Hall in person or participate in the live stream at: http://collider.circles.io/

Deadline for completing the NYU/Collider Survey: Midnight PST, Sunday, June 9.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY

Disney & Pixar announce dates for the next 15 films

Disney & Pixar announce the release dates for the next 15 animated films until 2018 with 2 movies a year and 3 in 2013/16 and 18 . See below for the full list of dates: Pixar’s Monsters University in 3D – June 21, 2013 - via Spline Bomb

Disney’s& Planes in 3D – August 9, 2013

Disney’s Frozen in 3D – November 27, 2013

Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur in 3D – May 30, 2014

Marvel’s Big Hero 6 in 3D – November 7, 2014

Pixar’s Inside Out in 3D – June 15, 2015

Pixar’s Finding Dory in 3D – November 25, 2015

Disney Untitled Animation in 3D – March 4, 2016

Pixar Untitled Animation in 3D – June 17, 2016

Disney Untitled Animation in 3D – November 23, 2016

Pixar Untitled Animation in 3D – June 16, 2017

Pixar Untitled Animation in 3D – November 22, 2017

Disney Untitled Animation in 3D – March 9th, 2018

Pixar Untitled Animation in 3D – June 15, 2018

Disney Untitled Animation in 3D – November 21, 2018