Hard economic times make people desperate and stupid. As things get worse we focus more and more on our own personal microcosm of existence and forget we live in a larger world. That is the opposite of what we need to do.
Think about it. The entire world economy turned on a dime, mostly because of what happened here in the United States. We’re all part of an international web-work of interdependent economies and humanity. China depends on the US for its mega export business; the US depends on China to buy up its bad debt. Stocks worldwide play off the US Stock Exchange. So what?

I’ll give you my opinion. The film business is changing rapidly. My friend Ray Kurzweil (http://singularity.com/) is always talking and writing about the fact that we have to accept that rapid change is already upon us; and it’s speeding up at a double exponential rate. That means that even now everything is changing faster than we grew up expecting. We have difficulty adjusting to that. We are too slow on the uptake. The 5D Conference (http://www.5dconference.com/) in Long Beach California last October made that all very clear. The cutting edge presentations left no doubt that the traditional ways of making movies — hell, of all media — is rapidly on the way out. New, more technologically and artistically advanced methods are moving in and evolving as you read.

State-of-the-art movie-makers are using collaborative virtual environments to ‘enhance’ every phase of filmmaking. It’s been said that instead of enhance; I should use the word ‘homogenize.’ But what good would that do? Sometimes I feel like the new methods are like “design by committee.” Collaborative design by the moderately talented tends to have a smoothing effect, polishing off the edgy parts of narrative. Everything seems to get blended up into a palatable but uninspired bit of entertainment. It’s a safe way to make entertainment, but may not be the most exciting. I, for one, believe there is still a place for the talented lone writer or designer who is willing to take a risk coming up with the fresh and unexpected. Committees don’t do that very often.

But, alas, resistance is futile. True, we’re just learning to use the new collaborative tools, and how to work in these new creative environments. Entertainment has to be edgy and crisp and exciting and engaging. Most in this business are pretty smart and know that given talented collaborators, we can design those things into entertainment collaboratively. It all depends on where your focus is and who’s ultimately calling the shots. Literally. So I see collaborative, immersive design environments as a double edged sword that can work for good or evil depending on whose hand is upon the hilt.

One of the things rapidly changing in the animation and VFX industries is globalization. US movies are no longer made in Hollywood. They’re made on a world stage. We still seem to hold the corner on content, but with budgets and economics the way they are, if you want to make a movie you have to keep an eye on the bottom line. Same goes for TV drama. We have to achieve more and more on less and less. The convenience of having the VFX done down the street in Marina Del Rey is great, but the costs can be prohibitive. UNLESS, the VFX industry in la wises up and starts thinking globally.

New Thinking

Let me give you an example of how that can be done. We know for a fact that the best VFX houses are based here in the US with perhaps a few in Canada, the UK and Australia. The smart ones have opened studios abroad where they send the everyday work. Anything that is less than cutting edge can now be done fairly cheaply and competently abroad. The really expensive cutting edge stuff that makes a movie stand out; is almost always done right here in the US. Houses like Image Metrics in the UK, Scanline in Munich, and even BBC, have all opened LA production offices. In fact, the BBC now generates the bulk of its revenue outside the UK. Pixion Studio in Mumbai, India, recently bought Emmy and BAFTA nominated Men-from-Mars Company in the UK in their bid to globalize. Even the UK’s beloved Aardman has reached across the big pond in co-production deals with their “Chock Socky Chooks” series, Canada and previous deals with Dreamworks where most of the animation was done in the US. There are many hundreds of examples of our industry expanding across borders to capitalize upon the resources, co-op funds and financial advantages.

All the smart people and companies are looking beyond their local districts to see how the world at large can be effectively used. Perhaps if you’re a talented VFX person who is out of work due to the cutbacks here in the US, you could find employment abroad. Think of the life experience opportunities.

Work Abroad?

The deal is you get paid less, but everything costs less, so you live well. And because you’re a star Hollywood VFX or animation type, you’ll get an eerie kind of respect…perhaps more than you’ve earned so far. If you have a talent for teaching, there are tons of opportunities abroad. You’ll find talented people who needed a break, all over the globe. On my visit to SIGGRAPH Asia I met so many Americans and Brits working in Asia and loving it. The Institute for Digital Design in Beijing recently contacted me looking for well-qualified people to teach character animation and visual effects at their school in Beijing. What an awesome city that is. I found Beijing surprisingly comfortable and easy, filled with wonderful people who went out of their way to be helpful. John Stadler, head of IDD, tells me they’re looking for people to make a year’s commitment. “They’ll be able to live well here in Beijing and go home with some savings at the end.”

I spoke with Ron Bernard one of IDD’s teachers who came from Sevanna College and is a Houdini trainer. Ron is finding his experience in China to be both interesting and rewarding. He’s impressed with how much he’s been able to accomplish with Chinese students, many of whom have had to be trained to think outside the box to come up with great demo reel concepts. “It’s a challenge, but the results so far have been impressive.” I was there to review the graduating class for 2008 in December and I found the graduation reels to be impressively creative and well done.

So don’t let the actual dollar amount you can make mess with your head. Consider how well you will live and how great the experience will be. Before I drop this line of thinking, there are also plenty of opportunities in Eastern Europe for talented Americans to either teach or work production. I recently talked with Scott Coulter at Worldwide VFX in Sophia Bulgaria and he tells me they’re now doing big Hollywood features. Would it not be strange for you to move to Eastern Europe or Asia, take a huge pay cut, move into a great place in a beautiful city, and suddenly find yourself working on the kinds of movies you always wanted? It can happen.

What good is it all?

All this globalization has several good outcomes. First it spreads the wealth. It accelerates the change in a good way by bringing hope to people who for years didn’t feel like a part of the bigger world. It spreads knowledge through the establishment of formal and impromptu schools needed to build a workforce in new places. And, it provides amazing opportunities for Western artists and technicians to share their knowledge while becoming citizens of the world, reveling in new cultures and new ways of thinking. We’re all interlinked now and local thinking is no longer the way to go. Job solutions and production efforts have already moved into the global realm and that trend is accelerating, faster than you likely imagine.