fxGuide's top 10 cool things of 2008

# 1 28-12-2008 , 04:22 PM

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Well, everyone is doing the end-of-year lists, so fxGuide.com put out theirs today.

The last 2 in the list are my worst favorites... as they are for most of us:

https://www.fxguide.com/article519.html

Israel "Izzy" Long
Motion and Title Design for Broadcast-Film-DS
izzylong.com

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# 2 30-12-2008 , 12:54 PM

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Those last two are a shame. I read the stuff on CGTalk about the Meteor Studios stuff, I know these kinds of seedy things happen but jeez that was depressing nonetheless. Good things for 2009 I hope.

- Genny
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# 3 30-12-2008 , 03:51 PM

Acid44

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just really gave it a quick glance but i have to say the "not paying artists trend" is the worst, that's really.... i guess "mean" would be the most politically correct way of saying it...

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# 4 30-12-2008 , 04:03 PM

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How do they get away with it?

https://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/as28g11/

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# 5 30-12-2008 , 08:59 PM

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Sadly Elephant, its quite simple for employers to do this.

The easiest way is to let the employees know the company is hurting financially, so that in the following months, if it ever happens that employees do not receive their checks, they hope that the heartfelt meeting, or others like it will make the employees LESS likely to seek their paychecks immediately.

Thats what the company I recently worked for did, but on a larger, more public scale.
They didn't even need to have a "meeting" as our public stock went from 10 dollars US to less than a dollar US in 7 months user added image

So at that point, getting paid was a luxury.

So, the moral of the story is, no matter how invested you are in a company,
be it financially, emotionally, personally, or otherwise,
NEVER, EVER, EVER think your company loves you or cares for you, or has ANY LOYALTY to you whatsoever.

This is sad but true because the company's job is to make money, and if that means screwing you, the employee, directly or indirectly, they will not hesitate to do so in order to make the REAL people they care about happy....... the investors.

Sounds harsh and cruel, but that is one of the terrible roots of capitalism, and yes, NORMALLY it works fine MOST of the time, but when it does NOT work, the employee is left holding the bag user added image

...and thats why I switched to PORN! hehe....

Israel "Izzy" Long
Motion and Title Design for Broadcast-Film-DS
izzylong.com

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# 6 30-12-2008 , 09:31 PM

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Isn't there a group that regulates this kind of thing?

https://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/as28g11/

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# 7 30-12-2008 , 10:19 PM

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Yes and no. Yes its illegal and action can be taken, no because there's a lot of run around, finger pointing, loopholes and people who are corrupt or just don't care. That's why you have Unions.

Sadly its not that strange for a company to be run into the ground, employees strung along, file bankruptcy so someone you know can buy it for cheap, new name, setup shop and yet another faceless company is up and running while you're up sh*t's creek. I'm not surprised though, most people will try to get away with something if they can, and for as long as they can. Greed will bring the end of humans anyway.

- Genny
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# 8 31-12-2008 , 12:27 AM

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GecT is correct.

Unions are there to make sure the employee gets paid fairly for the work they perform, as well as give you fair warning if work may soon dry up so you can be prepared for a "dry season".

In feature film work, this is the norm.

"Ramp-up, ramp-down" is the way most, if not all feature work gets done.
Unless you are hired as a TD or VFX sup. with a separate contract, nobody is ever hired "full-time".

However, the great thing about union work for features is usually production goes 6 months or longer, so when the "ramp-down" (i.e. layoff) phase begins as post prod. comes to a close on a given project, because an artist worked for 6 months or longer, they/we are allowed by law to apply for unemployment benefits.

Unemployment lasts for only 6 months, but in feature work the chance of you finding a new job within that time is very good depending on your physical location, your status within the union, your past production experience, and your reel.

In the corporate world, (i.e. non-film) most employers laugh at the thought of using union artists, as they feel they have no control over the individual employees pay, benefits, morale, etc.

Employers value having control over these things because it it is a valuable "strongarm-tool" that forces an employee to have misplaced loyalty to a company, and because of that, an employee will go to great lengths to keep his/her job.

In my experience with the corporate world, often people will try to protect their job so much, that they will even go to the extent of reporting other coworkers EXTREMELY trivial infractions of conduct normally accepted by any other company, but because of the situation, a zero-tolerance policy is enacted that makes for a VERY uncomfortable, i.e unproductive and noncreative working environment for all involved.

This is why a LOT of my corporate friends decided to go full-time freelance.
This allows one to feel, work, and perform as if they are working with union protection, but gives them the freedom to speak to the client directly in ways a union and a corporate HR dept. does no allow.

The drawback to freelance is the lack of job security.
One is always behind the 8-ball, not sure where their next meal is coming from.

Also, regarding graphic design or effects-related unions, they are not available in every state.
They are usually found on the east & west coasts here in the US.
The 2 that immedialtly come to my mind are:
https://www.animationguild.org/
https://www.artdirectors.org

Anyhoo, I don't want to sound like working here in the US is like working in a police state, lol
I really gotta move to California, or NY if I'm going to ever stop moaning and groaning, hehe....

Israel "Izzy" Long
Motion and Title Design for Broadcast-Film-DS
izzylong.com

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# 9 31-12-2008 , 06:24 AM

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I didnt know unions were so optional. At royal mail i think almost everyone is part of a union (and a lot of them dont like it because of the constant striking over pay (its ridiculous now, my dad is in middle management and the mail men now get paid nearly as much as he does, which doesn't sound that bad but he had to be a postman for some time to get where he is now))
its the same true of other countries? IE england

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# 10 31-12-2008 , 10:57 AM

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Its up to you if you join a union. Your best off looking into them when you start work as they can be good and they can be a pain as you need the right one for what you do.

Sometimes they can be of help or a hinderence, a lot of people join a specific union for the wrong reason, possibly like in the Royal mail "because everyone else is in it" there then tied to it.

I was in one but it didnt support me at all as I wasn't in their "core" sector.

I should say that they are pretty good if the company you work with values the employees as they can stick up for you regarding your rights and treatement.

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

Last edited by gster123; 31-12-2008 at 11:55 AM.

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