To provide Visual Effects, or not to provide?

Mattykins

Mattykins

Cute Member
Well, I am an independent 3D compositor and Visual Effects person. I run Maya 8.5, Real Flow 4, Nuke, The full Imagineer suite, Shake, Vue 6 Infinite, and AE on my system. I have been doing some freelance work - but I want to start building my portfolio. I still have some training to do with Nuke and Maya...but I am thinking of starting an independent Visual FX company. It is something I love doing, I have free time, and Visual Effects are always terribly expensive to do high end.

Would there be a demand for a Visual Effects house for Independent film makers on a tight budget?

It's just a general idea I have right now - just seeing if there was any interest. Again - not something I am planning to get going today. But maybe by summer or fall this year?

Thanks and interested to hear your insight,

Matt Watkajtys
 
I think you'd have to figure out the minimum your time is worth and see if Indies can afford it.

I cant afford a big VFX house, a small one, or a good artist from one or the other. I do, however, think that your time is probably worth more than I can pay on a low/no budget.

But that's me.
 
I am thinking of doing it more along the lines of, you tell me what you need done and how much you want it done for...and seeing if something can be worked out.

I don't want to charge a ton of money. I basically want to keep refining my skills. There are only so many things I can come up with to do. I have time. And I understand that it is something a lot of people want - but some can't achieve. I would want to work with the artist, and not kill them in the process. If that makes any sense.

I don't know yet. I was just looking into the possibility.
 
Sounds cool.

Tomorrow, I'll upload a clip. It's about 30 seconds. Not every shot needs work, but there is compositing that needs to be done.

I'm not asking for you to do it, just so I can get an idea of what you would charge.

I'll post in here when it's up tomorrow.
 
I typed about 3 paragraphs as a reply, but thanks to the fact that I'm using a stupid-ass Mac (cause it was within arms reach), I just accidentally went back in my history (command-left arrow when I meant to go back just a word) and lost the entire post. Too bad, cause I had some great advice. Blame the Mac.
 
I do vfx for my own projects. I loathe it enough not to do it for other people.

I'll try to remember what I wrote. :thumbsup:
 
Tom Marshall said:
I typed about 3 paragraphs as a reply, but thanks to the fact that I'm using a stupid-ass Mac (cause it was within arms reach), I just accidentally went back in my history (command-left arrow when I meant to go back just a word) and lost the entire post. Too bad, cause I had some great advice. Blame the Mac.
Click to expand...

user error
 
My advice was regarding Nuke... If you haven't done so, go through the videocopilot tutorials with Nuke. Not all of the, of course. Some are more Motion Graphics centric. You can do about 3/4 of them though. It helps with rotoscoping and, especially, working with some of the timing nodes.
 
I bought a few DVDs. From Gnomon and I've been working through those. So it is psudo-sounding like something to look into then? The thread kinda deviated quickly. But tis okay. And Devon, I will be more than happy to take a look at it for you.

Cheers,

Matt
 
Sorry about the thread degradation. Tommy gets out of control sometimes. I am the picture of perfection.

......working on edit......
 
Tom Marshall said:
I typed about 3 paragraphs as a reply, but thanks to the fact that I'm using a stupid-ass Mac (cause it was within arms reach), I just accidentally went back in my history (command-left arrow when I meant to go back just a word) and lost the entire post. Too bad, cause I had some great advice. Blame the Mac.
Click to expand...

lol. that's classic.
 
I did contemplate once what you are thinking of doing, but my advice would be:

take some semi paid work, i.e. depending on how complex it is, and then slowly built up your portfolia/ skills at the same time.

The only way you will increase your skills in VFX is by actually doing real shots. Tutorials are great to learn the basics in my view. (I'm not saying you do not have skills, in fact I don't know your skill level, can skip this if your level is above this)

As your skill increases, start moving away from semi-paid to freelance, get even more skills, and keep adding to your porfolia, (also remove, your older less skilled work) i.e. raise you bar.

Eventually if you manage to have a wicked body of work to show off, make a demo reel and see if you can work for a VFX house/studio, or remain freelance.

Once you have a few years of experience (Industry + freelance) then it would be easier to think about starting your own VFX company.

My 2 pence

EDIT::

I may have misread your Original Post oops! sorry.
 
Last edited:
Never, ever even think of trying to 'freelance' direct to client until after you've spent
some time in a facility, especially a place where you get a chance to see the 'numbers'.

If you're even a decent artist, entry level is like $60 grand a year at this point... so
although your plan is interesting and a touch altruistic, it may also be a touch of
finanical suicide :)

BTW, pretty much all VFX artists juggle a few side projects for their own, coworker
or indie projects. I've got a few of em going right now.
 
Altruistic, sure...

I don't know - I was just looking to help out some of the indies out there. I've been there. We have all been there. Sure - would I love to get paid more? Absolutely.

But I just figured I could help out some people who need it to make their creative ideas happen.

I wouldn't say it would be financial suicide. But hey, to each his own.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top