Adventures in Visual Effects, No. 73:In Which the Studios Send More Jobs Overseas

I'm in post on a movie, working on one of the studio lots. One of my longtime acquaintances in the Studio's IT Dept - or MIS Dept - or whatever it's called... was among those let go... In fact, the whole department is going to be outsourced. That's right. This guy, who's worked at this studio for 13 years is packing his bags in a couple months and someone in (get this!) POLAND will be answering calls at the Help Desk. POLAND. The rest of the MIS dept that doesn't have to be on-site will be in INDIA. I'm not kidding.


What's wrong with this picture? It's not the Studio's fault that sending jobs abroad saves their bottom line... but participation in this outsourcing epidemic has got to be curbed. What do we do? This is NOT helping the economy recover (is it?) Is it okay to do this if it means the overall company as an entity will stay viable? Isn't there any sort of incentive program the government could institute with all this bailout money, that would reward Corporate America for NOT outsourcing?

Should I brush up on my Polish?

I feel so helpless in this financial crisis... not only on a personal level, but in the big scheme of things, as well. I do feel a great sense of pride that we put a really, really smart man - a man of true greatness - a doer - in the White House. But aside from electing Mr. Obama, I am beside myself as to how to effect change.

Adventures in Visual Effects, No. 72:In Which a Trip to the Academy's VFX BakeoffInspires and Enthralls

Last Thursday evening, our entire VFX team
(PA included) left work early and went to the
VFX Bakeoff, which is held every year at the Motion Picture Academy. For the uninitiated, the contest does not entail muffins or bundt cakes; it is the annual gathering of the VFX community to whittle down seven films to the three* that will be the Oscar nominees, for the upcoming Academy Awards.

I have to admit that I went with some prejudice, wondering how in the world the VFX Steering Committee came up with the seven films it did (from fifteen original contenders**). I suppose this feeling cannot be avoided, though; everyone has an opinion (and those of you who know me well, know I am always among the opinionated).

My skepticism was replaced with sheer giddiness, however, once I walked through the door. All my coworkers, former bosses, almost bosses, and potential bosses were there... Every VFX position was represented there: supervisors, producers, coordinators and the like, CG artists, VFX editors, studio executives... all in one room! I was like a schoolgirl, running from one end of the theater to the other, just to say hello to everyone I knew.

I recognized a few people that I was sure I didn’t know... then realized—geek that I am—I was seeing people who had given interviews for supplementary material on DVDs. That’s right: I watch all that stuff. I admit it. So when I saw John Nelson and John Berton... their faces were familiar, but I was sure I hadn’t worked with either of them. Ah, yes... then I made the connection: they were both in the bonus material on my i, Robot DVD (VFX Sup and DigFX Sup, respectively). It sounds silly, but I had a few nerdy-fan moments before we were all entreated to sit down so the evening could begin.

The seven movies that made the Bakeoff were:

Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Australia

This is the order (drawn by lot) in which we saw the presentations.

My not having seen all the movies before I went to the Bakeoff, did not (I am ashamed to admit) prevent me from being sure*** which three movies should win the nominations. Before the evening started, I wanted to see Iron Man, Dark Knight, and Button win. After viewing all the reels and hearing all the presentations, though, I am hoping that Iron Man, Hellboy, and Mummy comprise the nominees.

I shan’t be surprised, though, if Journey makes the cut instead of Mummy, as there were innumerable advances for them to master, in creating the first feature film shot entirely in stereo. Although I was impressed with the technology, I can’t imagine having to sit through more than the 15 minutes I did. 3D is not for the headache-prone, that’s for sure.

Nor should I be surprised if Dark Knight makes it instead of Mummy, as quite frequently a stellar performance by an actor colors one's overall opinion of a film. The VFX were pretty awesome and that, combined with Heath Ledger's masterful (and sadly, his last) performance, may just win the slot.

One of the coolest parts of going to any screening at the Academy is the fact that the projection and sound systems are incredible (as they should be). On occasion, I found myself thinking about how amazing the sound design was (when, in fact, I was supposed to be thinking about the VFX)!

Despite the fact that some films were jilted (having not made the Bakeoff at all) while others did not deserve to be on the list (due to some abysmal effects, in my humble opinion), I found myself surprisingly inspired by the evening. It was a real reminder to me of why I love what we do... a reminder of how much I adore movies... and an inspiration to be the best little cog in the process, that I can be.

The 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thu, 22-Jan, at 5:30 a.m. PT on ABC, from the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

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* Sadly, the VFX Oscar category is only allotted 3 nominees, rather than 5. I have never gotten a straight answer on why this is. Rather boggling, considering the ever-growing prevalence of VFX in our business.

** The fifteen contenders, from which the seven Bakeoff choices were made, are the following:

Australia
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Cloverfield
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Hancock
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Incredible Hulk
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Quantum of Solace
The Spiderwick Chronicles

Notably absent from the list: Speed Racer and Wanted.

*** Mental notes on the feeling of Assuredness... Have you seen Doubt yet?? Brilliant and provocative, sparking all sorts of fascinating discussion on—not only what was true within the context of story—but also on the very nature of doubt, assuredness, truth, obligation, and compassion.

Adventures in Visual Effects, No. 71:In Which a FileMaker Conundrum Remains Unsolved

Another geeky post, sorry. One of these days I'll return to pondrances on the Famous with whom I come in contact... or some other, more sexy topic. In the meantime, here's one for the database geeks who might be lurking about these halls...

There is a specific database issue, unique to what we do, that can rear its ugly head if certain circumstances exist during production. Really, it all comes down to how well-controlled the slating is (i.e., how consistently and accurately potential VFX shots get put on the camera slate) and how good Scripty* is at her job.

The issue has to do with reconciling data from the Editorial dailies database (the "Codebook") and the VFX database. In a nutshell here is the dilemma: From a VFX standpoint, there are VFX shots which consist of any number of filmed elements. For example, there might be a background plate, and a few different greenscreen elements, all which need to be put together during post-production. In this sense, the parent database file is the VFX shots database and the filmed elements file is a child, in related terms. In most instances, this is a simple many-to-one relationship.**

In normal database design, strict control is maintained, in such a way that child records can only be created through the parent database. The relationship is seamless, and done with unseen serial keys (that is, the match ID is never the shot name or some other bit of data).

The problem:
The Editorial Codebook is it's own deal. This is always a stand-alone database that belongs to Editorial, the data for which is generated by an export of data directly representing all footage that has rolled through the cameras (the vast majority of which is usually non-VFX related). If Scripty is not at the top of her game or if you have rogue camera assistants who are not earnest in their VFX slating, then footage can be shot (elements) for which the VFX database has no corresponding parent shot record.

There is a flip-side to the problem, as well:
What if you have shots you know were filmed, but no filmed elements are pulling through to your shots database (i.e., the child records have not been "tagged" to the appropriate shots... or might not have been tagged at all). This problem came about when I realized I was getting JPGs from our VFX Editor (who supplied daily images of the VFX material, in order that I could import those pictures into our database) but elements never showed up in my shots file. Normally if you have shots in the database and nothing pulls through the elements portal, it would be because that shot was nixed: not actually shot, even though it was planned or budgeted. The existence of a JPG from dailies, however, confirms that's not the case, though.

Why is this a problem?
You might think: so what... won't it all get sorted when you start looking at the cut? Yes, it will. However, the Studio will always want to know from the VFX Producer how close to on-budget each sequence is. Studios don't like surprises. So... if a director ends up shooting a lot more shots than are budgeted for a certain sequence, then it is imperative that the producer have an accurate picture much sooner than when a sequence is finally cut. So really, this database reconciliation issue is only a problem during the middle and end of filming. By the time you get to post-production, a producer has at least some idea of where the sequences are, just by analyzing the cut.

What is the solution?
I'd be very interested to learn how this has been handled on other shows. As I said before, if you have awesome people on-set, it may never be an issue. If, however, that is not the case, then, well... there you have it. So the task I set myself to was twofold:
1. To find child records (filmed elements) for which no parent (no VFX shots) existed in the VFX database, and
2. To find shots for which no filmed elements were showing up.

Thank goodness there are smart Filemaker gurus who love to answer questions like this. Following is my post of the problem on an online forum:

Here are the answers I received:

And:
I was able to create flags for both problems, thanks to these answers. However, the whole endeavor seems like a clumsy way to deal with a problem that may have a more elegant, systemic solution. Any thoughts or suggestions on this would be welcome.
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* That's a term of endearment for the script supervisor.
** Footage reuse in multiple shots is another issue, altogether.
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Idiot Checks

This day refuses to end. So whilst I wait... let me summarize what I have learned today:

Do your idiot check before you go to bed, the night before you travel. This, in case you only sleep 3 hours and have an even harder time thinking, upon waking. Concentrate on the bare necessities. What would I REALLY need if I was, say—stranded in my connecting city, due to blizzard conditions?

• If I had done this, I would have not packed Kitty’s health certificate in my luggage (luckily, I wasn’t asked for it).

• If I had done this, I would have packed some insulin needles in her carrying case, not just her insulin.

• If I had done this, I would have brought a small amount of dry cat food in a baggie.

• More absorbent pads for her kennel and more baggies to contain the soiled pads would be useful to have on-hand.

• A portable water-dish would help. [Kitty finally decided she was thirsty enough to drink out of a paper cup (after traveling 13 hours (and counting)). I’m sure I’ll regret encouraging her to drink, since it means having to clean up when it comes out the other end!

• A phone charger would be a good item to include on the “must” list... in case you drain your phone battery talking to the production office, the studio travel agent, your sister, your mom, your other sister, the production office again, the friend overseeing your subletter’s move-out, the production office a third time... etc. all whilst standing in the airline Customer Service line for 2 hours and 30 minutes.

• When packing, and it seems “all this crap will just NOT fit,” do not give in and pack more boxes or bins. Do not acquiesce to pay all those extra baggage fees that are running amok these days. When all is said and done, that could be some very expensive Christmas ribbon.

On a side note: remember how much of your packing space will be usurped by any hard drives you have to hand-carry. Not only are they HEAVY... but it means going with less, in an emergency.

• Animals are very smart; they know something’s up, when you are in “packing mode.” Put your pet where you can find them, when it is time to kennel them and go. Otherwise, you may spend 10 minutes looking the animal and another 10 trying to get them out from a hiding place.

Well, did I learn anything relatively positive? Yes:

• Some airports have what is called “family restrooms,” which are single rooms (not stalls). This is a brilliant thing to use when traveling with a pet, because you’ve GOT to let them out of their carrier to walk around, drink, etc.

Aside from 3 hours of unavoidable shut-eye, I have not slept since Wednesday at 6 am. [It’s now Thursday night, 9 pm... and I’m still waiting for my connecting flight! (Poor kitty!!)] My kingdom for a hotel room!!
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I hit a wall just after I wrote this and decided to throw in the towel and see if there were any flights in the morning. All I wanted was a hotel room... even if I had no litter box. Just as I was about to ask, they called for us to board and I sucked it up and got on the plane.

By the time I arrived at my sister’s house, it was about 3:30 am. What a day. 5 hours of travel turned into 20.

We’ve now recovered nicely and it’s wonderful to finally be with my family, whom I get to see so infrequently. Oh, how I love them so!

I’m only doing spurts of work. I still need to decide on a PA and narrow the pool of coordinators, so I can get some conference call interviews done next week with my producer. Also trying to button up the new offices plan, phones, furniture, etc... and coordinating the delivery of all the Editorial and VFX boxes arriving at the studio on Monday (where I won’t be). Not sure where we’re going to put all the boxes... VFX alone totaled 56, when all was said and done. How is that possible!!

I have lots of half-written posts that I will try to revisit over the holidays. More to come...

Adventures in Visual Effects, No. 70:In Which Another Lesson is Learned

No, I am not dead. Just terribly neglectful of pretty much everything that is not work. (Eht-hemmn! This was not what we agreed to, is it?!) I thought I might have a Doogie Howser moment and actually write a short post on my "Doh!" moment.

On every show for the past 3 or 4 years, I suppose, I have followed the same routine: going through several massage therapists when I first get to location, and then settling on the one right for me. Things are so stressful and intense that I end up having to basically keep a standing weekly appointment, just to keep the knots and stress toxins at bay.

I didn't do that on this movie. Why? Because the people are awesome, the work is good, the atmosphere is positive, healthy, and pleasant (albeit busy)... and basically, I didn't have the physical pain that comes with being wound so tightly. This is good.

So what lesson did I learn today? That even in the best of circumstances, it's important to have a plan that you know works for you. I have found that generally, you can get a good massage therapist to come to your room after work (late if need-be) so long as you contract them apart from a hotel spa. I KNOW this. And even though I was given a recommendation for someone to call, early on, when I first got here... I never did.

Today around 4 pm, I recognized the signs of stress manifested physically, and immediately called the spa in my hotel. They were very unhelpful, insisting that the last massage was at 8 pm. When I mentioned having it in my room, I got the impression they don't do that.

So... lesson learned. Build the relationship early, so that if the need arises, there will be someone to call.

We are in our last push to finish shooting in our current location and wrap out of here before the holidays. Lots of pressure on both fronts (the shooting and the wrapping). Today was a 15-hour day, not including commute time. I have about 10 posts (and another 3 poems*) started and never finished over the last 2 months, because sleep overcame me... or I was too exhausted to put words together on the weekend.

*I don't claim to be a good poet, but heck... a poor literary attempt is better than never penning anything.

The good news is: I'll be on hiatus from Dec 19 through Jan 4, which is soonish!! More pondrances and contemplations to come then... and perhaps a discussion or two about VFX-land. Until then... be well.

On Divergence, Happiness, and Approximation

Contemplations on the incongruence between action and intention...

[This post now lives on Get a Chicken. Please go to that link for more thoughts like this:

I have always heard that when it comes to having and wanting, that a person should want what they have, rather than have what they want. Actually, both sides hold merit for me, but being able to see both sides only further complicates the issue. There are only two options, if I am to attempt to narrow the gap between what I WANT for myself and what I actually DO in my life...

...How to embrace an evolving world and how to adapt with it. How to reach your goals before you blink and realize you’re 10 years older and not any farther along in your life.

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS ON THE FULL POST, OVER AT GET A CHICKEN. THANKS!
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Adventures in Visual Effects, No. 69:In Which Automation and Efficiency Prevail

An idea struck me like a lightening bolt this afternoon, just as I was about to ask my PA to start the arduous task of researching, then renaming over 200 images for our database. I had a little victory celebration at my desk, because I’m all for working smart, not hard. (Sometimes the smart solutions don’t always present themselves or pop into our minds before time has been wasted.)

Let me back up, a bit.

We have over 1,000 shots (or will have). Our shots database is filled with storyboards representing each shot. However, we have now started to get in some images from Editorial, which are stills from the actual photography we’ve done. Unfortunately, the Avid likes to output images by naming them the same as the clip, from whence they came... which makes sense. But how to get those into our images database and related to shots, without a lot of ridiculous work?

[E.g., the clip names (and by extension, then: the images) are named things like “VX113E-2 B MOS” whereas our shots are named “DR010.” Of course, both the clip names and the shot names really mean something. In this example, the clip name tells us: V (for VFX shot), shot by 2nd Unit (that's what the X means), scene 113, slate 113E (which would have been the 6th camera setup for that scene), take 2, B-camera, MOS (no sound). The shot name could be the Dead Rat sequence, shot 2 (going in 5’s).]

This is what I did to work around hours of research and renaming:

• Imported into our Images Catalog all the images provided by Editorial (given to us in 30 different directories); I did it in only two clicks, thanks to a nifty bulk-import script!)
• The image filename automatically goes into a “Name” text field for each record.
• Found/replaced “.jpg” with “” in that field (so the filename was now just the Avid clipname)
• Created a File Reference, Table Occurrence, and Relationship between the Images Catalog and Editorial’s Codebook (which we are serving on our FileMaker Server, as well), based on ImageName = ClipName.
• Created a new field in the Images Catalog called “PlateID,” into which a looked-up VFX ID could be pasted for each image.
• Created a loop script that went through each new imported Image, and set the new VFX ID field in the Images Catalog to its corresponding ID, living in the codebook under each ClipName.
• Back in the shots database, I changed the name of the Images Catalog table occurrence to “Storyboards.” I then duplicated it and renamed the duplicate “Plates.” I hooked up PlateID (in Images Catalog) with VFX ID (in Shots file).

• Put a second “Image” field on the shots layout, based on the newly-related table occurrence called “Plates.” (The same field, but from the Storyboard table occurrence, was already there.)
• Et voilà! No need to look up slates, and then rename 220 JPGs with their corresponding shot numbers.

But that’s not all!

I had another happy FileMaker moment when I realized that I could create a calculation that shows the plate, if we have it... and if not, it shows the storyboard. This was a very simple calculation, but for some reason I had never thought to incorporate it into any database of mine. [We are not using my currently under-construction Uber Database of Doom; instead, we are using my boss’ database (which I am modifying a lot).]

This idea of the calculated container field came up because we created mini shots binders for our VFX Supervisor and Producer to carry on set with them. My boss had asked me if I could designate what was already filmed (even, at least, partially). What better way than to show the photographed image, if we have it!

So here is my humble calc field in the Shots file:

c_plate_or_storyboard =
If ( IsEmpty ( Plates::PlateID) ; Storyboards::Image ; Plates::Image )

“PlateID” is a text field in the Images Catalog; and
“Plates” and “Storyboards” are the names of table occurrences of the IMAGES CATALOG, which reside in the SHOTS file. These table occurrences use differing fields as match IDs.

It’s as simple as that!
Just wanted to share, since it ended up being so basic and yet so nifty.

Adventures in Visual Effects, No. 68:In Which Geeks Rule!

Geeks are awesome. It’s one of the biggest reasons I love the VFX world. Smart people are helpful, reliable, innovative, and yes... adorable.

Today I needed to tackle a FileMaker problem that I knew had a solution. I had, in the past, created a very cheaty workaround, but now the Real McCoy needed to be implemented. I racked my brain. To those FMP gurus in the know, it’s obvious, basic scripting. To me, however, it was a revelation. The biggest problem with my FileMaker knowledge is that I only know and understand those things I’ve had to muscle-through to implement. Granted, it is a varied array of knowledge... but there are gaping holes in my FileMaker education. One of those holes was scripting with variables.

What I really wanted was a simple way to make the “...of 5” part for page numbering that shows “1 of 5, 2 of 5...” etc. On layouts that have no sliding fields, you can do a simple division calculation with the number of records found, to come up with how many pages you’ll get. But really, that’s not the way to do it.

The layout I had created utilized all sorts of sliding fields that were going to compress to varying heights, depending on how much text was going to be in them. Therefore, a page could have as many as 6 shots listed, should there be minimal shooting notes, or vastly fewer shots per page, where methodology was described in detail.

Enter the FileMaker Café, which is an amazing online community of my favorite geeks... who can solve any problem... and DO, just because they like to. Blessings to “kjoe,” who wrote a post to someone back in March, explaining just the scripting steps I needed. That gave me the umph to read all about variables and to apply his steps to our own database. Yay!! Huzzah to kjoe!!

Also, today... I was having a terrible time getting my computer to see the color printer we successfully hooked up to the network. This is the exact printer I used on my last show... the very same machine, yet I couldn’t for the life of me get it to work. Enter a smart dude with stick-to-itiveness (or stick-to-itivity, if you prefer) and I rested easy that whatever I was doing wrong over and over, would be solved.
He had me printing within 20 minutes.

But my favorite geek moment came at the very end of the day. My producer and I were bantering about who was going to take home the database tonight (yes—there’s a lot of work to do in the next few days!). I suggested that what we REALLY needed to do was to leave the database up on the server; that way, we could both VPN in, from the hotel. His response was, “VPN?!” And in complete unison, a chorale of 4 or 5 geeks chimed in, “Virtual Private Network!”

Now, my producer wasn’t really asking what VPN stood for, but merely stating the fact that on this show, that was never going to happen. So it was unbelievably charming when every geek in the room rose to the occasion, volunteering their awesome knowledge.

For the record, the reason it’s not going to happen is mostly because the hotel rates for VPN connections are EVEN HIGHER than for simple internet connections (for which the Production is NOT paying—see Adventures #67). If I remember: it was closer to $150/mo. Additionally, we’d need some smart I.T. guy to set up the VPN server and our VPN clients and make them all work.

We don’t have any of those, I.T. guys or VPN-stuff, that is. We'd need someone for whom it would be natural, everyday conversation to explain, "The three protocols used by VPN are PPTP (point to point tunneling protocol), L2TP (layer 2 tunneling protocol) and IPSec (Internet protocol security). IPSec is the most common technology in use for creating and operating VPNs. In IPSec tunneling, all packets are completely and securely encapsulated; each packet receives a new header with all address and connection information hidden from public view..." and on and on he would go, happily babbling about the network fairies and how they make it go.

In any case, it was a delightful, geek-filled day. I have about 350 more days just like it, on this show. Fantastic!
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