Animated Travels

Hai capito? Visual culture panelists (l to r) Phil Stenton, Will Wright, Glen Entis and Michael Rubin get some auditory input.

Friday, the final day of the VIEW Conference, and a time for summing up.  Let’s make a list:

Read the rest of this entry »

Aimee McCammon of Park Road.

AnimfxNZ 2008 began with a song.

A contingent of Maori gathered to perform a ‘powhiri’, or New Zealand traditional welcome. The foreign visitors and speakers lined up so the kaumatua could determine if they were friends or foes. Thankfully, there were no enemies among them, and the conference was able to proceed.

Aimee McCammon, the General Manager of Park Road Post Production, explored some of the challenges faced by PRPP and post-production houses in general. It’s a commodity business. The pace of change is phenomenal. High entry costs for the really cool new equipment coexist with the plummeting price of downstream technology, generating a tricky balance between early adoption and ROI.

Consider the Quantel Pablo they bought in late 2006. They started the kit with a chargeout rate of $1600/hr. 18 months later the rate was down to $800/hr, and under continuing and relentless price pressure from competitors. Nonetheless, Aimee is proud of and will continue the company’s policy of being early adopters of technology.

Read the rest of this entry »