VFX comment

[Simon Edmondson]

A friend spotted this. It might raise a wry smile ?

simon

 

[largento]

I think anyone creative who's dealt with a client can identify.

 

"I'll know what I like when I see it" is one of those phrases that you just want to corner the client on and make them see how preposterous it is.

 

Personally, I'm terrible at coming up with six different versions to show a client. I generally think through the problem and the idea I come up with best solves the problem for me. Yet, that's what clients invariably want ...and they don't realize that normally it takes longer to come up with the design than it will to implement it... so you really are doing much more work.

[robcat2075]

I recall reading of Walt Disney being asked if he approved of a character design. He said, "It's difficult to choose between one."

 

 

But, yeah, I've done my time with people who don't know what they want, but don't want me to tell them what they want either.

[robcat2075]

The thing I really found maddening is that these people can not look at a quick thumbnail and see the premise. They have to see finished quality work before they can decide.

[John Bigboote]

amazingly accurate... I've used the 'chef' analogy for years- told people 'try going into a restaurant and changing your order around like this...' The thing of it is, is that they hold all the cards... and they think our work is easy- a dangerous combination! I am sharing this!

[Simon Edmondson]

I think the problem probably holds true for nearly all commissioned work, not just in VFX . My brother in law worked as a systems designer and co ordinator and did a lot of work in the defence industries. He would often complain that the client would comeback and change the specifications, contradicting the set they changed just weeks before. The BIG difference there would be that the client ends up paying for the changes, that does not appear to be the case in the visual media, unless its a big studio?

simon ( happy not to have been in that position ! )

[robcat2075]

Perhaps the difference is that in military work the client may not have so many options to go elsewhere.

[NancyGormezano]

Perhaps the difference is that in military work the client may not have so many options to go elsewhere.

 

When I was a gubbernunt contractor, we were at the mercy of the contract that we bid, in competition with all the others in the same situation. Some contractors worked smarter, faster, cheaper.

 

The contracts that were most risky for us were "fixed price", one of a kind, R&D. These, as I am gathering, are the type of contracts that VFX studios are bidding? If we underbid (knowingly or not), just to get the contract, we were sure to lose money, but usually were hoping to make it up on the lucrative follow-on projects (crank out copies without the exhorbitant R&D costs), or maintenance projects (yay! overpriced parts & labor forever!).

 

Other projects were Cost Plus. More reasonable. We had to be very careful as to how/what we wrote in the contract & that both sides agreed to in writing, before any work started, and what kind of review process there would be. If there were changes from original contract, then we would be able to negiotiate for more money.

 

And yes, it's a matter of supply & demand. There aren't many big studios with big pockets needing VFX, but there are lots and lots of artists, VFX houses (worldwide) competing for the jobs. And each new film, wants a new look...(better than before)...meaning costly R&D...which is almost impossible to bid enough to cover costs to make money.