Well, this was an extremely busy week, and I was not able to write a blog post. Excuses, excuses, I know, I know. So I will simply say have a happy and safe Halloween!
Next week on Monday & Tuesday I will be at The World Animation & VFX Summit, so I will let you know how that goes. Be sure to follow me on Instagram as I’m sure to post photos from the event.
Is it really almost November? This year has been flying by, and will be over before we know it. I guess that is what happens when you are having fun? This year has been a very busy year with running the business. I feel that I’m learning new things everyday, and there is always challenges to overcome. To me the challenges are part of the appeal of running my own company. There is no roadmap that will work for every company, and it requires you to constantly readjusting your strategy. Below is a quick update on some of the things I have been working on lately.
Bink:
It is really great to see everything coming together. All the models for the first episode are now built, and both Bink and the Hand are in-progress on the rigs. I have started to see very early surfacing work on Bink which is awesome to see. I would share the renders, but I think it is a little early for that. We should be able to start animation in November if everything stays on schedule.
The other big thing I have been working on is trying to line up the voice talent. I’m looking for a female voice for a scientist that makes announcements over a PA system, things like “Ready to initiate testing”. As well as the voice for Bink, and this has been much more challenging. I think I have a few options for the female scientist, but nothing for the voice for Bink. I’m looking for a unique voice that is similar to the way minions, or Stitch talks. A unique language that you can’t really understand most of the time, but occasionally there are words you do understand. I recorded my son “talking” to use as an example, since when he talks it is very cute and you can occasionally make out an actual word. If you are anyone you know might be interested please let me know. Here is the link to the VO project.
LA Society of Creative Professionals:
This last Tuesday we had our 4th monthly society mixer, and it was another great turnout. So far our attendance for our events have ranged from 10-50 people. I have been meeting a lot of really great and talented people, and hopefully others are enjoying the events and getting something out of it themselves. I feel that no matter what you do networking is a key to being successful. Plus I just love meeting new people, and learning about their unique lives. I always show up to the mixers early to get things setup, and there is always this fear that no one will show up. So far that has not happened yet, and hopefully it never does.
Corporation:
This week I have been learning a great deal about authorized and issued shares. I have been having a highly debated conversation with my CPA and my attorney on how many shares we should issue, and how many we should save. According to the articles of incorporation for Eric Miller Animation Studios we are authorized to have 100,000 shares. I learned that it is a good idea to not issue all of them, and save some for later. For example my attorney suggested only issuing 100 shares to me. Since there are only 100 shares issued I’m still 100% owner, but it gives me extra to bring on partners, or offer to employees. The debate has been how many shares to issue, 100, 25,000, or some other number. It seems my CPA and attorney had different opinions, so we had to work out each of their reasonings for me to make a decision.
Part of that discussion is also how much I should spend on those initial shares. My attorney explained to me “The greater the capitalization, the stronger EMAS is against an attack that it should be disregarded as an alter ego. Alter ego is a judicial doctrine that says that people should not be able to hide behind a corporate form if the corporation is inadequately capitalized and fails to comply with corporate formalities. If the corporation is found to be your alter ego, then you will be personally liable for its debts. If “the corporate veil is pierced” then a creditor could get a judgment against you individually. This defeats much of the purpose of incorporating.”
So as you see I have some pretty important decisions I’m trying to make. As I mentioned I’m learning so much each day about a variety of different things I would have never learned about if I did not start my own company.
We are having another baby:
My wife and I made the announcement yesterday on Facebook that we are expecting another baby in May of 2016. We are both very excited for the new family member, but it is also very scary. It is very challenging to have one child so having another it will be more of a challenge. Having a house payment, two kids and in the second year of starting my own company is enough to stress anyone out a little. I’m positive we will find a way to make it all work as we did with our first one.
Well, there is a quick run down of some of the things I have going on in my life. Thank you for reading about my journey in starting my business, and as always leave me comments below. I love reading about what is on your minds, and your responses to my posts.
If you have not already, I hope you will join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog. If you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only Time Will Tell.
I wanted to talk about outsourcing of animation that many US companies are doing. The main reason to outsource work and make the experience of producing animation more challenging is because of cost. In my previous roles I had learned the Salary for one US-based artist could pay for 4-5 artists in India. Even if it takes the overseas artist 3 times as long to complete the task it will still be a cost savings.
Outsourcing animation is by no means a new trend, and has been going on for decades. In a 2012 interview Steve Hulett of the Animation Guild said “We instituted strikes over run-away production in 1979 and 1982, winning the first and losing the second.” So you can see this is not a new issue. I believe what we have seen in recent years is technology making it easier and more possible to do business in this way. You can now easily have a video call with artists in India, Malaysia, or China which you could not do as easily a decade ago.
One of the popular arguments I would often hear is that the quality of work is not as good, and your value of production will go down. Unfortunately, that is no longer as strong of an argument as the overseas artists get more talented and more efficient.
Outsourcing overseas is not the only worry for a US-based artist or animation/VFX company. Our neighbors in Canada are also under bidding US animation companies. I’m sure you have heard of their amazing tax credits, and I have heard for every $1 spent on labor they get $0.60 back. While I have not been able to find anything backing up that claim I have found the Ontario Computer animation & Special Effects Tax Credit is for 18% of eligible labor costs for a Canadian corporation that is Canadian or foreign-owned, has a permanent establishment in Ontario and files an Ontario corporate tax return. Being able to cut 18% of your costs would allow you to save a lot of money when you are talking about project budgets that are $100,000 to $500,000 or more.
The larger studios like DreamWorks Animation, and Disney are also outsourcing a lot of their animation work. In animated TV production they will often have pre-production here in the US, but then outsource all the production work. Many of the Disney Junior and Cartoon Network shows are done in this way.
All this really makes one wonder why anyone would open up an animation production company in the US. These are things you have to come to terms with when we have a global market. There will always be someone that can do it faster, better and cheaper then you can. Even with all the outsourcing the US animation industry is stronger then it has ever been. The budgets for projects might be going down, and that is a reality we all have to come to accept. Labor rates in other countries are increasing, and Canada’s tax credits are getting smaller. I feel this is a natural balancing out that will take place over the next decade. I don’t know if US rates will ever be as low as overseas, but it is not always about price. Having an excellent business experience is a big factor. There is a tipping point where the savings are not enough to give up working with someone next door to you, or at least in the same time zone.
While I plan to work with as many US-based artists as possible I have to be open to working with artists from all over the world. There are a lot of really talented people who live outside of the US, and it would be silly not to work with someone simply based on their location. Hopefully the industry will change to making hiring decisions based on talent, and less about saving money. Regardless of where you are, you have to be able to offer great work, reasonable budgets, and an excellent business experience.
If you have not already, I hope you will join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog. If you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only Time Will Tell.
Is it really October already? Wow this year is flying by. I’m already starting to see Christmas advertisements online and in my email inbox. I have not been doing the best job at posting every week. It is challenging to find the time to think, let alone write a post for my blog. I will do my best to keep posting, so I thought I give you all a quick update on what is going on.
Animated Short:
In my previous post I mentioned I was considering naming the creature character and the short “Bink”. I had a lot of very interesting reactions from different people. While it still seems the majority of people like the name Bink I thought I share the other name I was considering. The name I first I really liked was “Neap”. I liked it because it was different, but also had reference to the ocean. A neap tide is a tide that occurs when the difference between high and low tide is the least. A neap tide comes twice a month in the first and third quarters of the moon. I thought having a name that is in reference to the ocean would tie the creature to his back story about him being a seafaring species. The main reason I kept looking for names was because the need version of the spelling meant “the remnant substance left over from vaporizing marijuana”. I’m not sure how common this word is used, but was not sure it be a good way to go. There is also a character called Meap on Phones and Ferb. I’m still leaning towards Bink, but would love to hear what everyone thinks about Neap as a name option instead.
We are making some great progress with the short, and we have started rig wrecking and surfacing the creature character. For those that don’t know what either of those are here is a quick and simple explanation.
A character TD will take the model and add a “skeleton” with joints to allow the model to move. Then they have to tell the geometry how to behave when a joint is moved. Sometimes when a joint is moved in a certain way it does not look right. Rig Wrecking is the process where an animator tests the rig trying to find things that don’t look right(Trying to wreck the rig). This is then sent back to the Character TD with the animator’s notes of what issues need to be fixed. This image is an example of things that were found during rig wrecking that were sent back to the Character TD to fix. It is not uncommon for this back and forth to happen several times to get it working properly.
Surfacing is the process of adding a texture to the models so that when lighting is added and you render the scene everything looks amazing. This can also be the stage where fur is added, where you define how shinny or reflective the surface is, and many other attributes that influence the final look of the characters and environment.
Both stages are very exciting because the characters become more and more realized. We also will have a lighter that will be starting in November to start getting things ready to be rendered. All surfacing, and animation has to be finished before lighting can do their final renders.
Company Update:
I mentioned earlier our company was changed from a sole proprietorship to an S-Corp, and the corporation started on July 24, 2015. Once the corporation was formed then I needed to elect it to become a s-corp. This process took a little longer, since we had to wait to hear back from the State. I just received word that everything has now gone through, and the S-corp is completely setup. Our first annual meeting will be held January 30, 2016. I’m currently reading through the incredibly interesting corporate bylaws, so that I can sign them. I’m reading sections at a time with breaks in-between to avoid falling asleep.
Client Projects:
I have not talked about client projects for a while now, and there is a good reason. While I’m still getting businesses contacting me about projects I’m not actively pursuing clients. Instead all my energy has been going into the shorts. I believe that it is important to have the shorts finished and in my portfolio before I spend marking money to find clients. If they come to my website looking for 3D animation they won’t see much in my portfolio. Once I have the shorts finished and on my website I will then invest in marketing to find new clients. I’m also learning a great deal from making these shorts, and refining my processes and pipeline.
This is scary and a bit risky, since currently I’m spending more money then I’m bringing in, but I feel it is the smarter way to go. Lets hope I’m right about this.
If you have not already, I hope you will join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog. If you have any thoughts or advice I would love to hear what you have to say, so please feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only Time Will Tell.