Computer Graphics World

44 January 2009 n n n n Knowledge & Career ity. With the boom in the Internet as a marketing ve- hicle, along with the move away from the traditional 30-second commercials, there is a hybrid activity that will evolve which uses all of the high-end skills for much 'lowlier' output. For the [boutiques], there will be a great deal of work flying their way. And with the global economy in the state it's in, there's oppor- tunity for people, having acquired certain skills, to be useful not just to postproduction, or the games industry, or the visualization industry, but across them all." Threats: "It's hard to imagine, but I see a potential slowdown in the media industry, with less content being produced in general. There's always a sorting of the wheat from the chaff in terms of the level of talent that's available. The entertainment industry has done well in times of economic strife, but I do think that less stuff is go- ing to be produced." Outlook for 2009: "It's going to be a challenging year, but then again, when isn't it? We've all got to keep the levels of quality and creativity high and try and enjoy what we're doing. Otherwise, what's the point?" Dennis Hoffman Senior vice president and general manager CIS Vancouver Vancouver, Canada www.cis-vancouver.com Last January, Deluxe acquired Rainmaker's visual effects and postpro- duction facilities in London and Vancouver. Renamed CIS, the shops joined Hollywood's CIS studio. Hoffman oversees recruiting for the Vancouver location. Strengths: "Finding strong leadership and talented people in all aspects of visual effects is a requirement for us to grow ourselves, our tool sets, and our stature within the VFX community. We look in the local community school systems, which are very good, for growing artists. We look more to the US and London for seasoned artists, to help grow the whole facility—and there's New Zealand and Australia, as well. Higher-end artists learn of CIS Vancouver via word of mouth, advertising, and our knowing where people are and when their projects are coming to an end, and then actively nurturing those relationships." Weaknesses: "One challenge is the artist's interest in moving to a new location. As VFX has matured and grown more global, the artist base is much more open to going to different places. One 'trap' when you are looking at somebody's reel is ascertaining what he or she really was responsible for on the reel. Also, as schedules get tighter and tighter, you have to make faster and faster decisions. You can't go through a long process. If we want to meet face to face, with London and Los Angeles, one of the weaknesses is not being able to sit across the table from somebody." Opportunities: "With VFX, the education process never stops—more mature artists help teach the young artists. The work can go global—you can be considered for stuff you wouldn't have been [considered for] in the past. It's an opportunity for Van- couver. And we're in the same time zone as Hollywood—studio people like the idea of not having to coordinate a 3 am phone call. Moreover, we have relationships with other facilities in other countries for simpler things, like roto and matchmoving, and this exposes us to other people who we may then be able to bring over to our facility." Threats: "The opportunity is that we're a global industry, and the threat is that we're global. You either ignore it—in which case it truly becomes a threat—or you figure out how to make it part of how you run your business. We work in a creative environment, so the recruiting of people is the key factor in the longevity and strength that you build within your facility. The success of that goes back to how effective you are in recruiting the right people." Outlook for 2009: "The year looks to be filled with lots of op- portunities. I anticipate the first half to be slower than normal due to the delay at the end of this summer because of the anticipated SAG strike. However, we are currently seeing an impressive increase in bidding for features and television, and we project that VFX work will be robust from April through the end of the year." CIS Vancouver's Dennis Hoffman: As schedules get tighter and tighter, you have to make faster and faster decisions.

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