Method Studios’ Post

Quick note on film, vfx, and entertainment industry change and collapse. At all times in creative industries, the artists of various sorts are responsible to uphold and not compromise standards. This also means persistant innovation and improvement on all fronts. It also means responsibility to know when to say “no” and push back. Each compromise, surrender of decision making, step into stagnation, deferral of responsibility, rigid specialization (“I only need to know this”), submissive throat baring, acceptance of second class citizenship, and refusal to learn and re-invent business is a step toward decline. Decline will eventually lead to collapse. As the innovators and inventors on the frontiers of what is “creative”, it is important to know when to reinvent, risk, and carve out new frontiers. A signal is usually uniform and shared recognition of poor working environments, hours, pay, and failing work quality. A remedy, for some, and a start, is endeavoring to create your own new models and points of value. As you make what is valuable it might be best not to rely on brokers who’s interest includes you only so long as is necessary. That means you create new businesses, new types of media, new projects. If you are waiting to work, you may as well build your own endeavors as you wait. Sew the seeds of a parallel value you can control and that focuses on the missing pieces and parts who’s absence you have seen deranging the places you previously worked. Like high quality, innovation, and resistance to lag. If you have insights into poor production practices like, waste, lack of decision making, “exploratory development”, political conflicts, “fake it till you make it”, darling placement, lack of creativity and knowledge of process, then you have insights into how to abbreviate timelines, processes, and increase value for yourselves while not having to bother with the tangled value of corporate economics. You don’t need to be Disney to prosper. Remember: “The hand that wounded shall not heal you.” Don’t wait for rescue. Don’t forget to flex your muscles. And cut out that imposter syndrome shit! It is a luxury. Be too terrified and desperate to fail. PS: Stop ruminating together! Sharing woes won’t help. Collaborate and plan together. Don’t waste your time and energy. Aim! And never, ever, trust anyone who can tell you how a thing can’t be done. Most things have a nearly infinite set of how they can’t happen. Experts and effective people will be able to help you coordinate the small set of ways things can happen.

Book Review: To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History— by Lawrence Levy https://amzn.to/4b5Aykx The book describes Pixar's journey from a loss-making unviable venture, into a profit-making, well respected, publicly listed company. An excellent treatise on how a great team can create a miracle and pull a fledgling company out of the depths of near failure. The author of the book, Lawrence Levy, is invited by Steve Jobs to become the CFO of Pixar at a time when it had already burnt a big hole of $50 mn in Jobs's personal pocket. Jobs had been funding Pixar from his personal resources till then. Somewhat unsure of the decision, Levy still agrees to come on board as Pixar's CFO. But after he joins, he is shocked to find so many issues plaguing Pixar: # products are not selling,  # only one of the 3-4 product lines is in profit,  # Steve Jobs is not a people's person, # the team which has spent years building Pixar is completely disgruntled with Jobs himself,  # the lack of stock options for employees is only adding fuel to the fire,  # the company is badly in need of funds to grow, and Steve Jobs isn't interested in infusing more of his of personal funds into the company, # the last but not the least, before Levy came on board, Pixar has signed a hopelessly one-sided contract with Disney to make animation films for the latter, the terms of which almost ensured that Pixar would at best be left with the tiniest possible share of the profits from the movie and from the future movies over the next several years. Then Levy, the magician, gets cracking. The book describes how he identifies and tackles each of these problems, urges Jobs to renegotiate the terms of the contract with Disney, devises a stock option plan. Levy is also largely responsible for taking Pixar public, that too at a handsome valuation, following the hugely successful box office show of "Toy Story". In fact Levy insists that the IPO and its price should only be announced once Toy Story has been released theatrically. And the move does pay off! Pixar doesn't just attract the interest of institutional investors but also is priced handsomely. The IPO lists on the stock exchange at a premium to the issue price, making Steve Jobs a billionaire in the process. Finally, the book describes the sale of Pixar to Disney. This book is an ideal text for MBA students, startup founders and professionals across almost every sector. Also, a lot to learn from how Levy handles the various people he comes across, at Pixar and outside.

🚨 Kaedim3d.com is HIRING 🚨 Send resumes to recruiting3d@kaedim.com Neo blocking bullets in The Matrix: Resurrections | Image: Warner Bros. Pictures Lana Wachowki will executive produce, but it will be the first film in the franchise without one (or both) of the sisters directing It’s time to re-enter the Matrix, only this time with a new director. The Matrix is coming back for a fifth entry, directed and written by Drew Goddard, Warner Bros. announced on Wednesday. Goddard has previously directed Cabin in the Woods and Bad Times at the El Royale. He has even more experience as a writer, with credits like Cloverfield, The Martian, and Netflix’s Daredevil. In a statement about the movie’s announcement, Warner Bros. president of production Jesse Ehrman said, “Drew came to Warner Bros. with a new idea that we all believe would be an incredible way to continue the Matrix world, by both honoring what Lana and Lilly began over 25 years ago and offering a unique perspective based on his own love of the series and characters. The entire team at Warner Bros. Discovery is thrilled for Drew to be making this new ‘Matrix’ film, adding his vision to the cinematic canon the Wachowskis’ spent a quarter of a century building here at the studio.” While this will be the first Matrix movie without a Wachowski at the helm, they won’t be completely uninvolved. Lana Wachowski, who directed The Matrix Resurrections in 2021, will be back as an executive producer on Matrix 5. Lilly Wachowski, who was not involved in the making of the most recent Matrix movie, similarly does not have a role in the upcoming film. There’s no release date for Goddard’s Matrix movie yet. ⭐ The world's best game studios ship 7x faster with Kaedim3d.com - try it today to turn sketches into game assets in minutes #gdc #gdc2024 #a16z #Games #GameIndustryUpdates #IndieGameDev #VideoGameDevelopment #IndieGame

🚨 Kaedim3d.com is HIRING 🚨 Send resumes to recruiting3d@kaedim.com Image: Pixar Oh those terribly big high school emotions After some teases, Pixar has revealed the rest of the new emotions in Inside Out 2. The first trailer introduced Anxiety (Maya Hawke), the bundle of nerves who’s most likely going to guide Riley through her awkward teenage years. And in the new trailer, Anxiety brings her friends: Envy (Ayo Edebiri), who is surprisingly wide-eyed and in awe of everything; Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), who immediately camps out on the couch with a disgruntled huff; and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), a burly figure with a bright pink blush. The existing emotions — Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Tony Hale), Anger (Lewis Black), and Disgust (Liza Lapira) — must navigate Riley’s first year of high school with these newcomers. And these teenage years are not easy. But here’s the thing: where the heck are these other emotions in the adults we see? One of the charming quirks of the first movie was seeing brief glimpses of the emotions governing the other human characters. The trailer shows us a brief glimpse of Riley’s mother’s mind, where we only see the standard five emotions. Does this mean Anxiety, Ennui, Envy, and Embarrassment are confined to the teenage existence? What happens to them after? Do they get absorbed by the main five? Do they disappear? (If so, sign me up for a world where being an adult means not having anxiety!) Anyway, it’s not truly a Pixar movie if the trailers don’t immediately blow open the doors with a million new worldbuilding questions. Maybe this will be addressed over the course of the movie, or maybe Inside Out 2 will be the new Elemental, which is the new Cars. Inside Out 2 hits theaters on June 14. ⭐ The world's best game studios ship 7x faster with Kaedim3d.com - try it today to turn sketches into game assets in minutes #gdc #gdc2024 #a16z #Games #GameNews #IndieGameDev #Gaming #UnrealEngine

🚨 Kaedim3d.com is HIRING 🚨 Send resumes to recruiting3d@kaedim.com Image: Pixar Oh those terribly big high school emotions After some teases, Pixar has revealed the rest of the new emotions in Inside Out 2. The first trailer introduced Anxiety (Maya Hawke), the bundle of nerves who’s most likely going to guide Riley through her awkward teenage years. And in the new trailer, Anxiety brings her friends: Envy (Ayo Edebiri), who is surprisingly wide-eyed and in awe of everything; Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), who immediately camps out on the couch with a disgruntled huff; and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), a burly figure with a bright pink blush. The existing emotions — Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Tony Hale), Anger (Lewis Black), and Disgust (Liza Lapira) — must navigate Riley’s first year of high school with these newcomers. And these teenage years are not easy. But here’s the thing: where the heck are these other emotions in the adults we see? One of the charming quirks of the first movie was seeing brief glimpses of the emotions governing the other human characters. The trailer shows us a brief glimpse of Riley’s mother’s mind, where we only see the standard five emotions. Does this mean Anxiety, Ennui, Envy, and Embarrassment are confined to the teenage existence? What happens to them after? Do they get absorbed by the main five? Do they disappear? (If so, sign me up for a world where being an adult means not having anxiety!) Anyway, it’s not truly a Pixar movie if the trailers don’t immediately blow open the doors with a million new worldbuilding questions. Maybe this will be addressed over the course of the movie, or maybe Inside Out 2 will be the new Elemental, which is the new Cars. Inside Out 2 hits theaters on June 14. ⭐ The world's best game studios ship 7x faster with Kaedim3d.com - try it today to turn sketches into game assets in minutes #gdc #gdc2024 #a16z #VideoGameIndustry #GameDesign #VideoGames #GamingIndustry #Gaming

🔴 Breaking News: "162 redundant as Axis Studios appoints administrators - Insider.co.uk" 🔴 Breaking News: "162 redundant as Axis Studios appoints administrators - Insider.co.uk" 🔴 Breaking News: "162 redundant as Axis Studios appoints administrators - Insider.co.uk" Exciting news! Axis Studios has appointed administrators as part of its company restructuring. There has been a significant impact on the workforce, with 162 employees being made redundant. This decision comes as a part of a larger strategic move to ensure the company's future success and stability. For more details, check out the complete article on Insider.co.uk. #AxisStudios #CompanyRestructuring #WorkforceImpact https://ift.tt/4baB8nt

🚨 Kaedim3d.com is HIRING 🚨 Send resumes to recruiting3d@kaedim.com Image: Pixar Oh those terribly big high school emotions After some teases, Pixar has revealed the rest of the new emotions in Inside Out 2. The first trailer introduced Anxiety (Maya Hawke), the bundle of nerves who’s most likely going to guide Riley through her awkward teenage years. And in the new trailer, Anxiety brings her friends: Envy (Ayo Edebiri), who is surprisingly wide-eyed and in awe of everything; Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), who immediately camps out on the couch with a disgruntled huff; and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), a burly figure with a bright pink blush. The existing emotions — Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Tony Hale), Anger (Lewis Black), and Disgust (Liza Lapira) — must navigate Riley’s first year of high school with these newcomers. And these teenage years are not easy. But here’s the thing: where the heck are these other emotions in the adults we see? One of the charming quirks of the first movie was seeing brief glimpses of the emotions governing the other human characters. The trailer shows us a brief glimpse of Riley’s mother’s mind, where we only see the standard five emotions. Does this mean Anxiety, Ennui, Envy, and Embarrassment are confined to the teenage existence? What happens to them after? Do they get absorbed by the main five? Do they disappear? (If so, sign me up for a world where being an adult means not having anxiety!) Anyway, it’s not truly a Pixar movie if the trailers don’t immediately blow open the doors with a million new worldbuilding questions. Maybe this will be addressed over the course of the movie, or maybe Inside Out 2 will be the new Elemental, which is the new Cars. Inside Out 2 hits theaters on June 14. ⭐ The world's best game studios ship 7x faster with Kaedim3d.com - try it today to turn sketches into game assets in minutes #gdc #gdc2024 #a16z #Games #VideoGameIndustry #IndieGames #GameDevCommunity #VideoGameDevelopment

Explore the latest VFX trends that are setting new benchmarks in the movie industry, ensuring your productions stand out. What you need to do? Read more in this blog. #VFXInnovations #KickMotion #FutureOfFilm

The VFX scene is rapidly evolving with the recent acquisition of Tippet Studios by India's Fantom VFX. This is another sign of India's rising influence in the VFX world, joining established players like DNEG and the Reliance Entertainment portfolio. India's VFX offerings are highly competitive, even when compared to heavily subsidized countries like Canada and the UK. From my experience, India's VFX talent pool is both skilled and dedicated, whether working in-house or as outsourced vendors. Last year, I had the chance to work with Outpost India team, who did an exceptional job on "The Creator," handling most of our CG requirements with outstanding results. However, this “unfair” advantage might come at the cost of poor working conditions for many workers. Fair treatment should be a goal that all indian companys are striving for. I’ve heard so many horror stories about 18-hour shifts, dodgy contracts with heavy penalties, or inadequate compensation. The ongoing industry downtime, unfortunatly exacerbated by strikes, might set the stage for more consolidation as companies struggle to survive. In any case well played Phantom FX, I hope the Tippet brand will continue shinning in these swiftly changing times.