New Direction and Stories From the Industry

In the last few weeks, my thesis project has gone through multiple changes in form and function. The thesis film was originally comprised of four previously shot short films with the addition of a new film to fill in some missing gaps. However, I have decided to continue this project without the use of additional filming. Multiple factors contributed to this decision including the availability of actors from previous films the time needed to fully finish the product.

The main challenge ahead now lies in the re-editing of footage from all four films into a single cohesive theme driven film. This will still be (by my calculations) the largest project ever carried out in both concept and project management. The footage alone will likely amount to over 300gb without any additional project files and visual effects work. Cataloging will most likely start next week with footage and project files being consolidated and prepared for ingestion into my own personal editing workflow.

This week’s topic for my thesis class is ethical practice in our industry. Immediately, I was reminded of a story I heard first hand from my associates at DreamWorks Animation during my internship there. Over the summer of 2016, the adult animated film Sausage Party was released and caused controversy over the way the animators were treated throughout production. Only after the film was released did information come out about under payed employees and overworked animators from what was apparently a nightmare of a production. In addition, some animators were even threatened with losing accreditation on the film.

Obviously, the production company and those handling the production were at fault for creating such an unprofessional work environment and the unethical treatment of creatives. In my time at DreamWorks Animation, the environment was entirely on the other end of the spectrum. Employees and Animators were treated astoundingly well and in turn the company received quality and work from them over a much longer period.

Granted, these situation are entirely different being from both the point of view of a well established animation company and a contracted post production company. However, they both are obligated by the same ethical standards for fairness and compensation.

(Source/Read more on sausage party ethics)

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/sausage-party-animators-unpaid-overtime-1201838425/