Well, I don't even know where to start on this.. It's been quite a while since my last posting, and all sorts of stuff have been happening. I was on a little indie project called The Avengers, which came out last weekend and made $207 million. I had high hopes with Whedon directing, and I was no disappointed. Not too shabby. We'll see what it will do this weekend against some new weekend competition.
Some other big news was that IATSE was actually starting to follow through with organizing VFX. Head to VFXsoldier's site to read more, and there's always the Twitter option. I'm on Twitter as well, but I've been much less vocal than some of my other brethren in the industry, as I'm tied to Digital Domain, and don't talk much about the subject in general. There are other places to get union information, and this site doesn't have much to do with it. Instead, I try to still give you insight into the work that I'm doing and what it means to work as an artist in this industry.
Tupac at Coachella was a huge hit, and it showed that DD still has some chops in making jaws drop. There are other great things happening in the pipe, but I will have to share them later in the year! Because of Tupac, DDMG has rebounded, and is now at $7.79 as of today. You can see the spike, and I attribute it to the performance at Coachella.
After The Avengers I was tasked with helping out the team with G.I. Joe for a little while and then with Jack The Giant Killer (we're listed in IMDB as a vendor). While the movie has been pushed almost a year to March 2013 I will most likely not be on it for the remainder of this year.
Today is a short update, but there will more frequent updates in the near future!
Do you know what I love most about this job? This visual effects one, where I work 45+ hours a week? It because the outcome is cool shit like this.
As many of you are aware, Vancouver is having a wonderful boom for VFX jobs. This benefit is three-fold. Companies get cheaper labor (theoretically), artists get cooler films to work on, and students get a foot in the door. However, the reality is anything but.
I love Vancouver. I lived up there for six years, and I felt at home. Great weather (aside from the rain), easy access to outdoor amenities, and it was just a really great place for an international city that is still in North America, and easily accessible by Californian VFX artists. Making a decision to move up north is not a small feat, especially in this rough and tumble world of the quick buck, cheap labor, and inadequate contracts. Here's one reason to think twice.
Insane. The source for this is the NY Times, link located here. Why is this important? Well, thinking of where to live, and how much it will cost can significantly impact your quality of life. For families, it can be very tough to up and move, even to someplace within a couple hours flight.Demographia, a property-affordability survey published by Illinois-based consultant Wendell Cox, estimates that median real-estate prices in Vancouver are 9.5 times median household income. Only Hong Kong and Sydney are less affordable by that measure. (New York comes in at 5.1.)
The Canadian Real Estate Association says the average house price in Canada in April was C$372,544, up 8% from last year. In Vancouver, it was more than twice that, at C$815,252, up 21% from a year ago.
Far more insidious is the impact housing unaffordability is having on employers and the broader economy.You hear stories of smart, young people leaving for jobs elsewhere. At the same time smart, young people from elsewhere aren't coming here for jobs. The price of real estate and cost of living are too high, while pay is simply too low relative to other parts of the country. Business in Vancouver, a local newsweekly, delves into the dilemma in its latest issue with the story "Home truths hurt talent search."
Which game you say.. The Superbowl! I am not, but I did help create a commercial for the next G.I. Joe film, which supposedly ran right after the National Anthem. Did you miss it? Here it is below, already on Yutube.
I only did one quick shot, and actually helped out a little on another. It was a very quick turnaround.
As it's a new year, I thought I'm mention a bunch of cool new things that I'm doing. I'm currently working on another commercial, this time for the Super Bowl, but it's not with the commercial team this time, it's a trailer for an upcoming movie! I can't mention anything more than that, of course, but be sure and watch the Super Bowl for the commercials. Why else? I don't even know when the game is supposed to be played, but I think it is in a couple of weeks.
My skeleton cube is still going strong, this is the year I finish it! Be sure and follow the Tumblr if you have and account. The website is skeletoncube.com, which is just a fancy redirect to skeletoncube.tumblr.com. I've already decided on my next project, but some people want to see a different one, particularly something like this! I'm deciding on a puzzle box that will encompass the skeleton cube, which is also skeletal. I'm hoping to take the design of a Japanese puzzle box mixed with a Hellraiser box, and create something unique, which will fit the cube. So you need to solve the puzzle box to open it to solve the cube. Am I insane? Time will tell on that front, as I still have a miniature steam engine to complete.
