Things are changing around here. The studio is about to start full production on a show (Mr.Hat or some such shit) and it's to be made completely in Flash. We were on something really small before that so now we have a bunch of new kids and are expecting more.
I've seen some studios that look like they are beautifully ordered. A shiny machine of animation creativity, where everything is as it should be.
This studio, however, has always existed in a state of total chaos. I've noticed that all producers are blind to certain things. It seems part of their job. They end up disconnected in some ways. Different producers are blind to different things.
My current producer, who is generally pretty good with most things, has always been blind to the fact that most of us are working in a bit of a shithole. And, in terms of floor layout, arrangments and facilities, nothing is ever sorted until several months after it was actually needed. So now, with the new guys coming in and new computers and desks arriving, it takes me about half an hour to climb over the crap to my desk. And another half hour to cut my way back out again.
It's messy and I don't like it. Also, I've had to empty my shelves with all my toys on them. That stinks.
What's a telling sign of things to come is that I'm currently having to fight to keep my animation desk. In an animation studio. Oh, that's that wind of change, or whatever that Scorpions song was.
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3 comments:
I know what you mean. The place I work has computer equipment nearly as old as me and it NEVER gets replaced, just repaired so it can break again a month down the line. We aren't an animation studio but we have all the same problems. We have a DVD authoring system that went out of production 3 years ago and our main author left last week. The boss has tried ot replace him but noone knows how to use the system! The boss won't invest in a new one either because he's waiting to go into production of Bluray. Meanwhile us animators are stuck using the ceapest vector animation software on the planet, trying to make it do things that it just can't do. Believe it or not, I long to be allowed to use Flash!
At home I'm wrestling with an ambitious showreel idea so that I can maybe have a chance of getting a 'real' animation job, but I struggle to summon up the energy to do it in the evenings after a depressing day at crappy work!
Sorry for going off on one there, I had more to vent than I expected!!
id ask if youre hiring, but i dont wanna blow your cover.
Enjoyed the rant, Andy. I can totally relate to it. Especially on having out of date software that nobody knows how to use. We had an ink and paint system called Toonz that was by far the most un-user friendly programme I had ever seen. Only one person in the building knew how to use it and, when he left, that was pretty much the end of any decent inking and painting.
I tried it and gave up after about 6 hours of swearing at the screen. What a piece of crap.
I'm really looking forward to seeing what you've got up your sleeve for your showreel!
Sean, we were hiring but spaces filled really quickly. Actually, I'll go into why it happens so fast here in today's post when I get a chance.
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