Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/69535
RUNNING A POST BUSINESS [ Cont.from 19 ] explains. "It sounds idealistic, but I believe it's true. Your passion feeds off onto your projects and makes everything you do better. You never stop learning and you can always be better." JANIMATION Dallas-based Janimation (www.janimation.com), which offers animation, visual effects, design services and more, opened its doors way back in 1993. Staying successful, and privately owned, after 20 years is not an easy feat, especially in these challenging economic times. According to founder/CEO/chief cre- ative director Steve Gaçonnier, diversity and the ability to evolve to meet clients' needs was and still is key. "We have supported a diverse client base — com- mercial, game and feature film work — and provided diversity in our style and offering," he explains. "We have created a studio that provides whatever the cli- ent needs: stage, live action, motion capture, editorial, audio, Website development, award-winning creative and, of course, bad-ass anima- tion. None of it possible without our clients." A big issue for today's studios is figuring out what they have to charge per job to stay in business. Janima- tion tends to bid the projects out as "a firm bid," according to Gaçonnier, "so it's important that our EP sees a reasonable margin for each project, and it's the producers job to keep the project scope in check." He loosely defines scope by the number of artists multiplied by the number of days required to accom- plish the project to the clients' satisfaction. Regardless, the work has to be high quality: "Good work ain't cheap, and cheap work ain't good,' I think that was a Norman Collins quote. It's a great feeling to have for- mer clients come back to the studio specifically for our quality and professionalism." In terms of ROI, every project becomes a window to what is needed to produce faster, smarter, higher you must have filled, and a few that you only need for certain situations. More gridiron analogies include always keep- ing your eye out for a first round draft pick that would be a good fit for your team, bringing in a proven free agent when it's clear you have a weakness in a position. In addition, we are always mentoring and training undrafted free agents in hopes to find someone spe- cial. Our interns are the practice squad, and you never know when you might get called up to play." Janimation's Steve Gaconnier: supporting a diverse client base. technical solutions, quality work, he says. "While hindsight is 20/20, it isn't always clear what is needed… until it's needed. Keep- ing abreast of the latest technology allows us to find solutions for clients that may have been out of their price range last year but due to a new innovation or tools may be possible this year." And the value of the people running those tools has become even more important these days since some clients are taking advantage of the lower cost of tools and are bringing tools in-house. Sometimes it means competing with your client. "They may have an editor or an After Effects guy, but there will always be needs that are above and outside of whatever the 'in- house' team can accomplish. You need talent, and sometimes a lot of it. Regarding choosing talent, there is one thing to keep in mind, owning a paintbrush does not make you an artist." So acquiring the right talent is of huge importance. Gaçonnier compares talent to a professional football team. "You have your franchise players, positions that Janimation is also giving a little back. This summer they are offering an ani- mation camp for kids ages 9-12. No computers necessary, says Gaçonnier. "We will teach the kids the fundamen- tals of story, motion, light, composition, sound and organization...we will teach them that its not about the gear, it's about the vision." Janimation's talent recently produced a tomato character for NatureSweet through agency The Rich- ards Group. They used Softimage for 3D, Arnold for rendering, Nuke for compositing and plenty of Photo- shop running on mostly Dell workstations with Nvidia graphics cards. Glenn Dady, Wade Sturdivant and Dan Calhoun at The Richards Group approached Janimation about creating character animation for "Tim the Tomato" for NatureSweet. "They had already produced great spots like Triage, featuring Aardman-style animation, so we had the opportunity to jump in and collaborate on the new spokes-fruit, or is it a vegetable? I can never remember. Anyway, we were stoked." The animation is running on broadcast, at POS and on the home page of their Website (www.nature- sweet.com). Light Iron: tips for success By Peter and Michael Cioni • www.lightiron.com How we keep overhead low and profits high ■ Find "swiss army knife" tools and pair them with "swiss army knife" artists. ■ Hire employees that have an open mind for new business models and practices. ■ Manage client opportunities on margin, not nec- essarily on revenues. How we remain healthy in a tough economy ■ Embrace obsolescence, both with equipment and with business models. ■ Not afraid to say "no" to a potential client assign- ment. There is an opportunity cost in every deci- sion we make; sometimes agreeing to an assign- ment is more detrimental than walking away. ■ Focus on our core competencies, refraining from providing every service that a client may need, even if they ask for it. ■ Do our research. Diligent in looking for news/ 44 Post • June 2012 www.postmagazine.com developments/technologies that affect our busi- ness and our competitors. Pay attention to tan- gentially-related industries. ■ Favor social networking and other alternative marketing strategies of business development over more traditional "salesman" techniques. How we keep employees happy ■ Keep staff apprised of company developments. ■ Maintain an open door policy. ■ Promote the entrepreneurial spirit. ■ Give them appropriate opportunities to take ownership of projects/tasks/problem solving. ■ Invite them to participate in out-of-house social events, screenings, expos, training, etc. Create opportunities for colleagues to relax and unwind, within the business setting. ■ Family, friend event parties throughout the year. ■ Beer on tap.