Introduction
DOG was originally shot in 2006 and was revived in the summer of 2011. The objective is to have a festival launch by summer of 2012. If you’re inclined to read this blog, you’ll notice that I have an open process approach to Daughter of God. This approach does not apply to you – the members of the VFX team. Your participation in DOG is to remain confidential until I say otherwise, See the NDA below.
There are several clusters of tasks which we’ll be working through, the first is Essentials. I am currently projecting Essentials to take about two months with our current complement of artists. Once I’ve calibrated the Scope of Work, I’ll re-estimate. I expect to bring the completion of Essentials down to three weeks, and will bring on additional contractors/interns as needed.
This is my first pass at hiring and managing a VFX team, so please be patient. We are also a diverse group, mixing interns and pros, so my instructions may seem alternately verbose or mystifying. Please ask for clarification! Professionals, please share any suggestions you have to improve the process.
Communication
You all have my cell and can text with questions. Calling is fine too, but text first to be sure I can talk.
If emailing, preface the subject with “DOG VFX” followed by the actual subject.
Compensation
For the contractors, compensation is based on three things – general expertise (experience doing real world work and fluency with efficient workflows), productivity (speed AND solid results) and commitment (availability in hours/week). Ability to follow instructions and request clarification are prerequisites.
Compensation will be adjusted during the process as results come in.
You cannot be paid until I have a signed contract on file.
We’re using PayPal. Turnaround depends on how quickly work is competently completed. Likely it will take a day or two to check the roto coming in, so it might take as long as net 7 for payment authorization, tho I prefer to have it be much faster. I’ll try to make payment on your first few completed tasks within two days. Again, your patience is appreciated.
Reporting Time on Task
Along with determining compensation/credit, reporting time on task helps to predict project completion. To be part of this project, you must report in one of the following ways, (in order of preference)…
1) When connected to the web go to http://tricksterpictures.com/clock/clock.html. Whenever you begin or end work, select your Artist ID, the task # and whether you’re starting or stopping.
Record your time on task accurately by using the clock. If you are called away or have to answer your phone, stop the clock. Anytime you are not concentrating on a specific task – stop the clock. Be sure to start the clock when you’re back on task. Meticulous attention to starting and stopping the clock is vital to assessing progress and projecting completion. Aside from messing up the scheduling, running the clock off task is problematic for interns and contractors as productivity effects evaluations and compensation. Rapid high quality results are rewarded!
For interns only – there is now a logistics task column to record blogging, communication and tutorials. Research must be pre-approved. The rest of the categories do not apply to internship. (4/9/12)
2) Using your cell phone, text your start or stop time and task #.
3) Generating a text file and emailing/texting later is not ideal and will only be acceptable if pre-approved. This is not to disparage the many great time tracking apps out there, but any file can be spoofed. Reporting over the web let’s me see in real time who is working on what and when.
If you forget to clock in or out, you can send an adjustment email with an explanation. If you make a habit of doing this, you’ll be jettisoned from the project.
Assignments
Artists receive task assignments via email or text. From the FTP site, download the appropriate Quicktime file with the corresponding range of tasks and the task.aep reference file. In tasks.aep are 4 comps with markers for each task.
When you complete a task, upload the results to results/your_name and send a text or email asking for more tasks. If I don’t respond within 5 minutes, call. If you plan on pulling an all nighter, be sure to request enough tasks so you don’t run out of work.
We’re working with AE 5.5. Upload the results in an AE file with masks on a solid layer over the target footage layer. If using Mocha for the roto, import the masks into AE. DO NOT upload footage files, just the AE file.
NDA
I will be sending out a non disclosure agreement, in the interim please remember that this project is confidential and your participation should not be publicized or shared. Keep all your passwords secure. Don’t attach project files to outside emails or post in forums. Do not include examples of this project in demo reels. Do not show this project to friends or peers without my permission in writing.
Completion
All artists will be in the final credits and have access to files AFTER the project is finished. The plan is to send DOG to festivals, maybe iTunes and eventually Creative Commons.
Stay Tuned
I’ll likely add to this page as we go. Good Luck and Happy Rotoing.