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Eric Miller Animation Aug 2016 Company Update

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Lately I have found it rather difficult to keep up with these weekly blog posts, but I wanted to at least give the monthly Eric Miller Animation Aug 2016 Company Update.

Bink:
There are two things I’m working on with Bink, and the first is getting our writers together to work out the rest of the Bink shorts stories.  I want to take the ideas I have for Bink, and work them out with the writers to get a full script and storyboard.  I would like to do it in a way we could then break it up into smaller episodes, since I don’t think I have the money to do them all at once.

The other thing is working on the fur again.  We got the fur to work for the first episode, but it required a lot of work for the lighter getting it to work in each shot.  We are looking to get the fur to behave a little more reliably, so it will be easier going forward.  I plan to bring on a fur expert to help with this task.

MagicMeeMees:
This is our client project we have been working on since the beginning of the year.  We have completed two episodes, and are working on completing the 3rd and 4th episode.  I’m really excited about these future episodes, and think each episode ends up being better then the last.

Social Media & Marketing:
A few weeks ago I brought on Marta to help us as our new Social Media and Marketing Coordinator.  Brittany was handling this for us before, but she moved to New York city for another opportunity.  Marta has been doing a great job, so very excited to have someone helping out again.  She handles posting and responding to comments for all our social media accounts, writes the company’s weekly blog, sends out the quarterly newsletter, and a few other things.

Finding Clients:
This is what I spend most of my time each day doing, and sometimes I wonder if I know what I’m doing.  I have been going at this from a few different angles.

Interacting with potential clients through social media is one of the ways I’m doing this.  Basically I try and find those people I consider to be my target market and like/respond to their comments and posts.  This is a very subtle approach, and the logic behind it is to simply get them familiar with your brand.  If they like what you have to say they might follow you back, or look into finding out more about you.  The big thing though is when I reach out to them to see if they could use our services they will be more likely to respond because they know our brand.

Another way I have been looking for clients is by getting on different websites for finding freelance/production work.  I have a profile on a lot of sites now, so hopefully someone looking for animation services might come across my profile.  I also look through these sites to find postings of projects we might be interested in.

Networking is always a big one for me for finding clients.  I have been reaching out to people in my target market, and trying to set up face to face meetings.  I also try and attend different networking events where I can find potential clients.

I also do some paid marketing, but this is one I don’t do a lot of at the moment.  I need to find the right places to do this kind of marketing, because sometimes it backfires.  I’m offering high end 3D animation services, and this normally requires larger budgets then most companies have.  Marketing in the wrong place gets me a lot of leads, but I end up wasting a lot of time bidding projects to clients without a realistic budget.

There are a few other things I do, but I’m always trying new approaches.  If any of you have any suggestions I would love to hear them.

 

Well this about sums everything up of what I have been working on lately.  I will try and do a better job of keeping up with my weekly blog posts.

 

If you have not already, please join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog.  Also, 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.

The Challenges In Starting An Animation Company

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In my blog posts I often give updates on what my company is working on, and things I’m doing to try and grow it.  It might seem like starting an animation company is easy, so I wanted to share with you the challenges I face.

Building a Brand:
You might ask why building a brand is important, but as a service company it is very important.  Making animation is extremely expensive, and for my clients is a huge investment.  They want to make sure they can trust the company they are investing in to create their commercial, web series, or other animated video.  This has been a huge challenge for me, because I don’t have much of a reputation yet.  I have talked to a lot of other owners of animation or VFX companies, and many of them said it took awhile(around 10 years) before they started getting steady work.  I’m sure some of this had to do with them figuring out their business and target market, but they tell me a huge part was simply building their brand’s reputation. Sure they might have had enough smaller projects to keep the lights on, but it took awhile until the bigger opportunities started to reveal themselves.

Competition:
As you might have guessed there is a lot of competition in this space.  I’m competing against well established companies who are in a much better position to win jobs.  They already have their feet firmly through the doors of the bigger clients.

The other competition is from companies outside the US.  First, there is Canada with their amazing tax credits, and then you have areas like India, Korea, China, and South America to name a few with much less expensive labor costs.  The talent there is also getting better and better all the time.  I often get emails from foreign companies offering their animation and VFX services if I want to outsource any of my work to them.  I always ask them for what their rates are to see how they compare to US rates.  If I tried to match their rates with US workers I would not only not be able to pay the artists what they are asking for, but also not be making any kind of a profit.

Rendering:
This might seem odd to anyone who is not in animation, but this is a big hurdle for me.  For those of you who don’t know what rendering is it is the process of the computer figuring out what each pixel will look like to create an image based on the settings you put into the software.  It calculates the models, where the camera is, what kind of lens, how many lights, where they are coming from, their color, intensity, how they interact with the different materials on the objects in frame, and many other things.  For a more detailed explanation go here.

This requires very powerful processors to figure all of this out.  I remember when I was in college, and working on my animation project ChessMate(see image below).  I would work on the project late at night, and before I left I would setup 5 or more computers to work on rendering my project.  I would leave signs begging people not to touch the computers.  After rendering all night I would come back in the morning to check on them.   I did this every night for months until I finally finished.  It would take over 16 hours to render one 2 second shot, and often there would be errors requiring me to start the whole process over again.  Computers are now faster, but the graphics are much more intense.  We also now render in HD at resolutions of 1920 x 1080 if not much higher, and ChessMate was only 728 x 414.

ChessMate Scene 1

 

I’m getting a little off topic, but my point is it takes a lot of computer power and/or time to render animation. So far what I have been doing is having the lighting artist handle the rendering.  This should work for small projects, but as I get more clients I will need to figure out other options.

There are online render services, but they can get very expensive.  The other challenging part is you don’t know how long something will take to render until you can do test renders.  This makes it extremely difficult to bid out a project for a client when there is a big unknown of how much your render costs are going to be.  One frame might take a few hours to render, or it might take a few weeks to render.  Your 5 minute animation will have 9,000 frames, so you can see how those costs could add up very quickly.

If you want to try and control those costs a bit more then you are going to have to build your own render farm.  Now you are buying thousands of dollars worth of hardware which will be outdated, lets be honest, as soon as you buy it.  Not to mention you are going to have to have enough space to keep all this hardware. Have you seen pictures of Pixar’s render farm?  Here is an image I found online.

Data Storage and Transferring:
Now you know all about the rendering challenges, so what will you do with all these images these computers are creating?  One of the 3 second shots for the client project I’m working on is 12GB, and this could have been a lot larger.  Not to mention all the files needed to create these projects.  Anything from photoshop documents, Maya files, Final Cut files, and all the other files needed to make these projects before we even start rendering.

With a remote team I also have to have a way to transfer these files between the different people on the team.  I have been using Dropbox, but I’m quickly outgrowing this.  I had to get a Dropbox Pro which gives me 1TB(1,000 GB) of storage, but found each member of the team who is synced to the project folder also has to have this much storage space.  I need to find a better option, but regardless of what option I go with it is going to be another costly expense.

Staff vs Freelance:
Currently I’m the only full time staff at the company, and everyone else is freelance who is hired based on the work we have.  This works well to keep costs down, but it makes it difficult to build a company.  It is challenging to line up project schedules with freelancers.  You might have a great artist for a project, but you might have to find someone else for your next project because the last one is unavailable.

Freelancers also provide their own workstations and software which can be a good thing, but can also cause issues.  For example one of your artists might be using Maya 2014, and another is using Maya 2016.  Now you have the issue where they can’t open each others files.  Software version incompatibility has been a huge challenge for me. On the Toys’R’Us project we had to have extra versions of After Effects to open and save the files in order for another artist to be able to open the file on a different version of the same software.

Physical Studio Location:
Having an actual studio location would help in many respects.  For starters it would speed up the production of our projects.  Being able to lean over to the person sitting next to you and ask a question or get approval is much more efficient then sending an email, and waiting for a response.  It would also solve some of the other issues I mentioned above.  We could control the workstations, and make sure they are all using the same versions of the software.  There would be less data transferring, and we could actually store the data on our own servers instead of online storage options. This would all be great, but it would be an additional overhead cost.  I would need to make sure the business was bringing in enough projects, and enough income to cover the monthly office expense. Add to this having to buy all the workstations and software licenses, and you can see how quickly it would all add up.

The Unknown:
It is easy to plan for the challenges you are aware of, but what really scares me are the things I’m not aware of.  Running your own company you have to wear many hats, but in no way am I an expert in all these different areas.  I try and reach out to others for help when I can, but you know some things will slip through the cracks.  Anyone of these unknowns could be what brings down the company.

 

As you can see there is plenty to keep me awake at night, and you might think I’m crazy for taking on all these challenges.  Well, I might agree with you, but I also see a lot of opportunities in these challenges.  I have to be creative, and look for other ways to overcome the challenges.  I’m glad it is not easy, because otherwise everyone would be starting their own animation company.  The challenges take out all the people who are not really passionate about this industry.  I only hope the challenges do not also take me out.

 

If you have not already, please join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog.  Also, 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.

Realigning the priorities of Eric Miller Animation

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When I was younger, and decided I wanted to start my own animation company I wanted it to rival Walt Disney Animation.  You have to love the naive imagination of a young boy.  I might not have given up on those dreams, but the reality of the difficulty of the goal I set is more apparent.

Around this time a year ago I knew I was planning on leaving my job at DreamWorks Animation, and my last day was quickly approaching.  I had been trying to figure out the best way to start my company, and I finally had a plan.  It might have been a shot in the dark, but it at least had a chance for success.

Since the day I officially starting Eric Miller Animation Studios my strategies have changed many times.  I have also learned a great deal along the way.  As I was trying to find my way I changed who I thought my target clients should be, and what services I should offer.  I was making decision based on bringing money in instead of what I wanted my company to be. I was looking into doing cheap explainer videos, and white board animation videos.  I thought they would be easily marketed, and quick to produce. I never stopped to think if it was something I enjoyed doing, or if it was the best move for my business.

I was also wasting a lot of time talking with “clients” that wanted to make animated videos, but did not understand what went into making them.  They wanted Pixar quality animation, but wanted to get it done for pennies.  Creating bids, and trying to find artists that would be willing to do the work for less in order to hit these unrealistic budgets was taking an incredible amount of my time.  More often then not these projects never even happened.

I was working really hard with no real payoffs, and I knew something needed to change.  I looked at my company, and at what my own goals were.  I asked myself, what kind of work do I want to do?  What will I be proud of, and inspired by?  What do I want my company to be known for?

After thinking hard on each of these questions the solution was very clear to me.  I want to create high-end computer-generated animation, graphics, and stories with heart.  I did no want to worry about being the cheapest, or fastest, but instead I want to offer the highest quality animation.  In addition to offering extremely high quality work I also want to be known for being the most organized with the best client experience possible.

My ideal clients are the larger studios that are looking for smaller animation houses to assist with their feature and episodic projects, as well as marketing, and other needs.  Also ad agencies requiring high-end animation and graphics for commercials, and game companies looking for game cinematics.

I also plan on using the money generated from the service end of the business to fund our own internal animation projects.  This is where my true passion lives, and it is important for me to constantly be creating and telling stories.

As Steve Jobs would always say “There is one more thing…”.  I want to explore the future of entertainment, and I feel the next big thing is in virtual reality, and augmented reality.  I want to create content, and quality entertainment in these areas.  I feel like the future of entertainment is heading in this direction, and computer-generated animation is the perfect medium for it.

I hope refocusing my efforts will lead to more ideal clients, and allow me to do work that I’m proud of.  I might have less clients, but the ones I will get will hopefully be the right ones.  My strategy for the company will continue to evolve, and I’m excited to have this opportunity to follow my dreams.

 

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.

 

My Marketing & Advertising Hat

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As I mentioned before when running your own business you often have to wear many different hats.  The hat that I have been wearing the most lately is my marketing hat… specifically the advertising one.  You might be thinking to yourself that marketing and advertising is the same thing.  Although they are often thought to be two words that describe the same thing they are in fact different.

Before moving on let me quickly explain the difference as best as I understand it.  Think of marketing as the whole pie, and advertising a slice of that pie.  It is often the most expensive slice of the pie followed by public relations and market research, but it is still only a piece of the pie. Marketing consists of market research, public relations, sales strategy, media planning, and the general process of preparing your product or service for the marketplace while advertising is the part of making your product or service known to the marketplace.

If you are still not completely clear on the differences that is OK, and you are not alone.  What is important is that advertising is a big part of any business’s marketing plan, and can be done through many different venues such as print, television, radio, and internet.  Knowing which venues would be best comes from the other pie pieces such as market research.

Although, I’m still working on my overall market strategy I have started to focus on my advertising options.  I first looked at how I was currently finding new clients which has mostly been relying on my website, and word of mouth. Looking at my options based on my target market, and what I can afford I can pretty much rule out radio and television.  I think radio can be a good option for a lot of businesses, but might not be the most successful for my type of business right now.  While I’m able to create my own commercials, airing them on TV would cost more then what I plan to spend right now.  Similar to radio, with television I might be paying for an audience that is very general, and not targeted enough.

Business_CardsPrint is one of the avenues I’m currently exploring.  The business cards I had printed are a form of advertising, since it is a way of getting my company name and services out to potential clients.  I upgraded from my home printed cards, since it was important for me to send the message that we are a professional company where quality is important to us..  They are printed in full color on both sides on a heavy card stock with a silky finish.  I have attached an image of them, but you only really feel the quality when you hold one.

Also in the realm of print advertising I have been looking to get direct mail fliers printed that I could send to ad agencies.  I will start by finding what ad agencies work in animation that don’t currently have an in-house animation group.  I would then find who at the ad agencies is responsible for bringing in outside production services, so I could send it directly to them.

I have not looked into getting into printed magazines yet, but if I did I would focus on magazines that are targeted towards people in the marketing and advertising industries.

The last venue is internet.  I have been focusing on this venue since it is often the least expensive, and is the best suited for targeting a specific market.  I have been using my Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter accounts to market, but I feel those are mostly for branding and public relations.  The free services may get me a client or two, but once you start getting into target marketing is when you have to start paying.  Which might be a good option for my business.  I have already signed up for the free listing in the online YellowPages as well as looking into some other online listing services such as LA411 where they specifically list production companies.

Today I was looking at Google AdWords.  I was a little surprised how difficult it was to get a price for what it would cost.  They kept saying it only costs you when someone clicks on your ad.  That’s nice and all, but how much does it cost me when someone does click on my ad?  I finally got an average of what a click would cost.  I guess it changes based on how much money Google wants to make off you that day, or something silly like that.  I was told it would be around $4 a click for my business in the target markets that I’m looking at.  I was expecting it to be a few cents per click, so I was a little shocked to hear that amount.  If I did this I would have to include on the ad a message saying, “If you already know me, please don’t click this!”  I can just see having over 100 clicks from my very proud parents.  I love you Mom & Dad, but you just cost me $400!

Well, this all gives me some things to thank about, and a lot of decisions to make.  I might try a few different approaches to see what works the best.  I will set a monthly budget for what I can spend per month on marketing and advertising, and make sure I stick to that.  I can easily see this getting out of control if you don’t watch it.  Who knows, maybe I will learn that it is more cost effective to keep with word of mouth only.  I feel like I might have to start with some marketing to get my brand out there, and then maybe I can rely strictly on word of mouth.

I would love to hear anyones feedback on marketing and advertising.  If you have any suggestions of on this topic that you would be willing to share please leave them in the comments.

 

If you have not already, please join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog.  Also, 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.

Target Market

Who’s My Target Market?

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I finally started working on my business plan which has been helpful for me in evaluating my company.  I have always had a general plan of what I was doing, but writing it down really brings clarity to what my goals are, and what I need to figure out.  One of the things I have been doing a lot of thinking on is who my target market is.

Figuring out who our target market is, and who I should be marketing to will help me focus my efforts in finding new clients.  When I first started I was trying to find new clients everywhere, and my efforts were slit.  I often get contacted by independent filmmakers, small companies, and individuals wanting to make an animation.  Which is great, but most of them have little or no budget.  I spend a lot of time and effort trying to work with their limited budget to make things work, but in the end it is just not possible for me to be involved.

I can only reduce my rates so far until I’m taking a loss on the project, and if it was a great opportunity that would help build my portfolio I might consider it.  Issue is that they are working with such limited budgets that the end project would end up looking cheap, and that is not the kind of work I want to be putting out there.  These groups are often better off working directly with the artist or animator, and don’t need someone like me to produce it.

I realized that my company is best suited for projects that require larger teams and more moving parts that needs someone to keep it organized.  This is why advertising agencies and studios are my target market, since they have the budgets that can support larger projects.

I don’t know much about advertising agencies, so I started doing a lot of research on them.  I wanted to know who hired outside production companies, so I would know who the best person to contact is.  I have been doing everything from contacting people that work at ad agencies to watching The Pitch TV series on Netflix.  Watching the show actually has given me a better understanding of the inner workings of an advertising agency, but I would love to hear from anyone that works at an ad agency how accurate the show is to reality.

I have also started the search for a commercial representative.  They are like an agent for production companies that help bring clients and their projects to the companies they represent.  I’m looking for a representative that does not have a monthly fee, and only takes a percent of the revenue from a project.  That way if they are not bringing any work to the studio it won’t cost me any money.  If they do find clients I’m happy to give them a percent, since it is work I would not have had without them.  If anyone knows of a good hardworking reps please let me know.

These are some of the things I’m working on to help grow my business.  There never seems to be enough time in each day to get everything done.

 

If you have not already, please join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog.  Also, 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.