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38 Post • May 2009 www.postmagazine.com Vico also spoke to ar tists who didn't bother to join VES specifically because there is no activity on the East Coast. That's when he and others decided to take the initiative. "Camille Geier, our executive producer here at Rhino and long-time VES member, and myself decided to take it on and organize an East Coast section, so we went to the VES to talk about what's required and how to move forward." The VES said there was another person in New York actively pursuing a New York chapter, Eric Rober tson. "They teamed us up together and we star ted moving for- ward," explains Vico. In terms of requirements, VES executive director Eric Roth says, "Each section re- quires 50 local VES members to sign a peti- tion requesting the formation of a section. They send that to us and the full board needs to approve it." For those wanting to become a VES member, you'll need five years of experi- ence in the industr y and two endorse- ments by existing VES members. So in addition to getting ar tists from the industr y to apply, Vico, Rober tson and oth- ers helped connect current VES members and those now interested in joining. "We know most of the people in the industry in New York, we knew who were members and who were good candidates." For now the section will be called the Nor theast section but Vico says, "Once we have 50 members in New York we can have our own New York sec- tion." And that is okay with VES's Roth. "If over time there's lots more people and they want to break into smaller sections that is fine. It would just be good to have an organized presence for the VES somewhere on the East Coast and the Nor theast." Currently the petition is being signed and will be in with the VES shor tly. "Once I de- termine everything is in order," says Roth, "I'll bring it to the next meeting of the board of directors, which meets ever y two months. Once the board approves, the local section that is tr ying to be born would need to elect eight board members, including a chair and secretary treasurer." Once approved, Vico plans to host a mixer at Rhino, inviting members and po- tential members. The plan is to then gener- ate events like that around the community. "This city is very big, but everybody knows ever ybody," he says. "Having that kind of event and activity available can develop more of a community and create different agendas — it could be educational, net- working and many things." "We absolutely look forward to the eventual creation of a Nor theast section of VES to allow for the incredible talent that exists on the East Coast to come together in ways that allow for much greater net- working and connection with the VES at large," sums up Roth. "We think there are wonderful oppor tunities to bring in great people to speak at events and to have more screenings and to generally raise the VES flag in a much grander way on the East Coast." F E A S T O R FA M I N E Jim Geduldick, a freelance ar tist based in New York, as well co-leader of the New York After Effects User Group (www.aeny .org), has definitely seen some changes in terms of business being done lately. "It's feast or famine," he says. "People are really busy and there are other people taking whatever they could get job wise." Geduldick says it was a slow beginning to 2009, but for him it's gotten busy with more of a variety of work. "People are still tr ying to sell stuff and still trying to market and ad- ver tise, and they are doing it in new ways, like reaching people with online viral spots or Websites versus broadcast." And a lot of that has to do with the budgets being smaller all around. "Because the budgets have been a lot tighter, people are star ting to go the viral route — it's quick and it's cheap, but it still gets the point across." And while many will say you still provide the same work for broadcast projects as the Web, Geduldick (whose blog can be seen at www.finalcutuser.com) admits there are dif- ferences. "If the budget is smaller you have to cut corners at times," but he also ac- knowledges that you still have to pay some people the same no matter where it's airing. "You are not going to pay a VFX supervisor any less if the spot happens to be for broad- cast versus another medium. Certain people are going to get paid what they are normally getting paid, but the junior ar tists are going to get more of the hit." He says pros are now expected to be a jack-of-all-trades. "Editors need to know not just editing, but a little about graphics, about workflows, the cameras, a bit about the pipeline… especially if it involves visual ef- fects. And the same thing goes for some- body who just does rotoscoping; they should be ver y well versed in compositing those images. If you are a compositor that knows 3D really well, you are more likely going to get a job over someone that just knows comping straight up." The After Effects New York User group meets monthly and Geduldick has definitely seen some changes recently, in par ticular Jim Geduldick, who was hired by Tronic as a freelance editor for this intro of Next World with Daniel Libeskind for Discovery, says people have to wear more hats these days to get the work. At Click 3X, we see the current eco- nomic climate converging with the new demands of the business, and so as a re- sult, we see providing end-to-end solu- tions as key. Our newly-rebuilt studio went online this year and includes a dedicated HD shooting stage, an integrated Web team and a separate broadcast design and branding group. Be- cause of these advancements we are better able to serve a broader client base with more comprehensive services. "A significant percentage of Click's recent business is work that will end up exclusively on the Web, and we see this trend growing. For this type of work we always start with HD resolu- tion, then create the codecs from there.A result of this trend is tremendous pressure on data storage and rendering capacity. We practically double online storage and rendering capacity every year! In addition to the HD requirements, the increasing color-space from 8-bit to 12-bit and even higher is also signifi- cant, as our artists find that color space is a major factor in im- proving color correct and keying capabilities." Peter Corbett, director/partner, Click 3X, New York Trends in New York Post

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