From
http://www.KennyRoy.com
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I think I just figured it all out. Outsourcing projects, production foibles, overblown budgets; everything plaguing the animation industry in our age. Everything responsible for the deep wrinkles marring the noble brows of perilous pixel pushers everywhere.
Everything, and I do mean everything, boils down to one, SINGLE concept. If addressed, conformed, and alleviated, consider the industry saved:
Client Discipline
This is not an accusation of clients, rather of studios. Allow me to explain. The first thing that an animation company does when bidding a job is to figure out how much it will cost them to produce the work, then tack-on overhead and profit, to come up with a 'bid'. This bid is compared to other bids from other animation companies, and the client chooses a vendor on the basis of price and performance (as demonstrated by a demo reel, or test created specifically for the project.) It all seems quite cut and dry thus far; compared to other production activities in related industries. But that's just the problem. Animation is NOT like other visual mediums. We don't have a cutting room floor - work is contracted and shots are created to specs. Scores of directors from film backgrounds are faced with the problem of having to know exactly what they want BEFORE they see it when foraying into the animation world. Like I said this is not an accusation of clients; studios need to change this dilemma. It is solely our responsibility to educate clients on how they can control costs by being informed of the issues that arise in production. Who else is going to teach them?
House of Moves is a motion capture studio in Los Angeles. They've got the right idea - read here an excerpt from their services page:
"Meet Scott Gagain. Scott will work with you to ensure that you capture the data you need at a price that is reasonable. He will work with you to clearly define your needs, and present you with an estimate that will be accurate. In addition, we will negotiate a rate with you that will be applied to any moves that fall outside the original scope of work - giving you the tools to control your costs throughout the process."
Having experience with clients with less than a perfect working knowledge of the animation process, I have seen that there arise moments in production during which the client just wastes their money. It can be as complex as misunderstanding the scope of the work, or as simple as late changes. It can be as innocent as being ignorant to the sensitive chronological nature of an animation pipeline, or as stingy as a client trying to fit overages in under the wire, metaphorically speaking. Currently, the only way an animation studio has to make sure that moments like these don't obliterate all profit margins, is to submit a bid that has some amount of overages built into it. This way, a vendor doesn't have to face-off with a needy client who may be innocently causing higher costs than were scoped in the original bid. Changes occur, the vendor abides, and the client goes on thinking that this is as easy-going as the animation process just IS. They don't know that they are paying to be kept out of the loop. This effect drives the price of animation up. See, the other way to do it, (and the way I bid my projects, and it seems that at least HOM has devised) is to include only PURE costs in my bid, and then follow up my bid with a discussion with the client on how to control costs; this difference in approach that sets my company apart is made evident merely by comparing my price to other bids. So far I offer similar quality at 1/2 the price. If you ask me, I'll bet if informed of the stigma of overbidding for protection, a client would much rather be taught discipline than to pay to enjoy the bliss of ignorance. They'd much rather be shown the respect of controlling their own costs.
Essentially, animation is costing twice as much than it has to, but the price cannot be lowered until clients around the world are educated in the process - thereby protecting an animation studio that has a very firm bottom line. If this can be done, everyone wins; animation will be affordable enough to preserve state-side production. Clients will pay bottom dollar. And the craft will survive.
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Read that awhile back, good stuff.
Claymation 600 posts14 Jun 2007
