The music video I made isn't out yet, but made sure you're subbed so you don't miss the breakdown / debrief of how it was created! Also, any other questions you have after hearing the story? :)
I was working at Spacestation Animation and was excited to meet you when we had booths right next to each other, that was a fun weekend. I was one of the modelers. You were defaulted to the producer role, was it your first time doing all that? After your experience and hindsight, it would be easier the next time, no? My question is, would you want to produce if the opportunity was presented, or is an animation lead that is better suited for you? I'm excited to have more content from you, Sir!
Thanks for sharing Sir! I'm really interested in your animation/mocap experience in unreal. I imagine being able to see animations realtime is a nice benefit, but setting things up has always been tricky for me
I took the plunge 10 years ago, form working as a freelance to starting my own studio. The original idea was to use commercial work to fund personal projects. Listening to your experience I can relate to all of those struggles and the hardest lesson we learned was that you could have a profitable company or your dream studio, but not both. At least for the first few years. We've gotten better at handling teams, planning and budgeting time and money correctly. But that took us A LOT of time. And it's taken me getting used to doing more management work and less creative stuff, but I'm happy to see the team happy and us still standing strong all these years later. Right now we let people choose what project they want to lead and the team members they want for it, and everyone chips in from the initial brainstorming all the way to feedback and suggestions, but the leader for each project has final say on what gets done. That's what's worked better for us and has led to happy teams and better results, and we're chugging along those dream projects we wanted to make. Sorry for the ramble, you have surely gained much experience that will help you on anything you want to make so don't get disheartened and keep on making what you love!
Any team of a significant size NEEDS a manager and every company, reagardless of size, needs an accountant (They can both be the same person). They dont have to be full time in these rolls but in my experiance companies where there is a "free for all" style of managment, fail. You have to have someone at the top saying "you do this" "you do this" you do this" otherwise everything turns into a bee-line of progress. Sounds to me like enthusiasm got a bit ahead of you in this project, not a critisim, it happens to everyone.
So say you want to start an Animation film studio but you don't have the money to do so but you still want to pay your people the amount they deserve also make the company last a long time where should you start. I'm just interested seems you know a lot about it
@@TheBeastoftheNight In that situation, i would say that you dont want to be employing people at all. You cant conjure money from thin air. You want to find some like minded people who want the same things as you and are willing to work in their spare time (for a share of the profits) while working another "proper" paying job. There are lots of them out there. After your first success which brings in some cash flow, create a more formal arrangment. You could also do a few solo projects, but thats a whole can of worms.
Illumination and Blue Sky Studios are identical to Pixar and DreamWorks Animation, Sony Pictures Animation and the Warner Animation Group are identical to Walt Disney Animation Studios. Universal Animation Studios is identical to DisneyToon Studios and Walt Disney Television Animation.
I think showing where you failed is good! More people should do this. We all fail and the internet tends to look like everyone is allways happy and succesfull. That waht most people show but Failing means learning (or failing from learning from your failures) and learning from others mistakes is helpful.
Right. Focusing only the one who succeed is falacy. We need to know about who failed to prove that who succed didn't make mistakes but succed anyway by chance.
In my country they say that failure is the mother of success! If you fail it means you will learn and grow from the experience. We've all made mistakes but they only give us more chance to do better. I am exhausted managing a freelance animation team and it will only get exhausting once I've done figuring things out. Good luck to everyone who is building a work team out there!
We are slowly building a specialist animation studio, definitely great advice. One key thing I've learned the hard way is not to take on a project that you aren't or won't be passionate about. Its really hard to turn down big projects, but when you know it's not quite right for you and your team, taking it on anyway will make you wish you didn't. I guess the difference is we're starting really small, probably too small but it's my dream and I want to build it properly. Good luck on your next adventure, failure and learning from it is a huge part of the journey.
5:51 So no lead or director. Last summer, I was part of an adult video game summer camp. The goal was to experience the process of what it takes to make a video game and make a presentation of it. I was officially assigned as the sole animator of the group. After the first meetup, I also became the producer of the group. I almost became the conductor making the music since one member had a family emergency. I wore multiple hats trying to keep things together, but as time went on, some of the members became a little less active. However, we were able to come up with a concept of a game. Looking back at it now, I wish there was more involvement on making the end result better. On my end, my only regret was not improving my skills prior and it showed. The team might come back at a later date and make something better out of it, but not until I improve my animation skills. It just feels too stiff and slow.
If the anytime feels stuff like robotics I try adding more key frames and make some of those extra key frames kind of exaggerated but not to much and put those in between parts where the animation seems a stiff this might not work for fingers all the time tho
It seems like most of these problems stem from a lack of leadership. It may sound harsh, but when you hire people, you have to be the boss. When you say that your project got delayed because everyone had a different vision, it sounds like your team didn't know that they were hired to develop your vision. The reality about small studios and short budgets is that resources have to be managed and optimized properly, and most of the time that means that there is little space for creative freedom throughout the project. People are hired to perform a task, they aren't hired to bring their own vision to life, and this can be seen even in large productions that are now flopping because people are carrying too much of their personal baggage into the project. Take Peter Jackson as an example, when he planned the LOTR movies, he talked to his team and they all agreed that they will leave their personal baggage outside of the movies and that they would focus on representing well the things that were important for Tolkien. This could have been such an easy point to address with your team from the beginning and everyone would have been focused on finishing the task at hand. Of course, you should actively listen to your team, but also learn when to just say "no". It isn't about getting it perfect, it is about getting it done.
We are starting an animation studio just at this time with a group of friends... this video is really very useful and comes at a very good time, everything you say is to consider it seriously, thanks for sharing your experience!
"It's really time consuming and extremely expensive" - I wish more people thought about this when calling every new animated film a "cash grab". Starting any business is tough, but starting an animation studio with the goal of paying people fairly, creating good work, and reaching profitability is EXTREMELY tough. Applaud you for trying.
Thanks for sharing this. It's easy to say "if you don't like working in the industry, just go indie!" But few people understand how difficult that can be
Taking on projects that you're not passionate about is something I believe everyone does at least once. There are many I have done (and still do) because mouths need to be fed and bills to pay. I feel its a skill to learn how to prepare your mindset when working on those jobs. Sometimes those "soul sucking" jobs lead to something truly amazing! Thanks for sharing your experience. Very important stuff here.
I am a Data Engineer by profession (or by peer pressure you could say) but I’ve always wanted to build my own Animation studio. I have made a road map, let me know if this looks sensible and practical. 1. Learn Animation skill (currently pursuing) 2. Get registered as a business. 3. Start off with some small projects such as 2D educational videos, corporate training videos etc. 4. Create my own content (TH-cam) to try and make some name and polish the skills 5. Build a team and approach bigger projects such as TV commercials, music videos, movies (film industry) Also, if you can tell me how to get projects (even if they are soul sucking)?
Yep, managing people is a very different thing. Like one can be a good chef, but managing a buffet is a very different thing. I have a cousin, very good cook, lots of experience in various restaurants, who started his own restaurant and discovered how different it is managing the entire thing.
Talking about your failed project is very hard but it is such a good practice. This is setting a good example of realizing why and where stuff fails. I'm sure it's just a small hiccup on your animation journey. Great video, keep it up!
damn, I really wish I could've heard about this studio. I would've LOVED the opportunity to work with you! It's unfortunate that the studio went under, but I think you know to take it as a learning experience. All in all, such experiences will have led you to be a better leader overall. If there's ever another opportunity for you to try again, I have no doubts that you'll be better than before
First, I’m insanely grateful for this. Second, I feel this reflects my current experience of leading a game team… almost down to a “T”. Looks like I’ll be watching this video a few more times this week.😅 Thank you so much, it’s not easy to talk about failing. But in doing so, it helps refine the knowledge of what we should and should not do to find success.
Shoot, I didn't know we had an animation expo in Utah. I need to get out more. Props to you for making the plunge into starting a studio Sir Wade. It might have went under but it seemed like you learned immensely from it. I'm glad you are still out there for all of us animation folks, looking forward to seeing more!
I tried this animation studio business on my own for 15 years. It didn't work out for many of the same reasons you mentioned. I'm an animator/artist. I don't trust myself to run a business or even manage my own artist self let alone inspire others to stick with me on the long run. I'm better off working for some other company that is structured and stable and I don't have to worry about a million things beyond my expertise. Live and learn!
My Art Director (Contract of course) sent this to me. He said, "as soon as he mentioned his goals in the beginning it was clear it would fail..." Now that I've watched it, I'd agree. Specifically Goal #1 was a recipe for failure... First, I absolutely love this video!!!! I've seen this hundreds of times. Here's someone who gets it! Also, if you do want to start a business, get the book "The eMyth Revisited." Three things wrong with the first goal, "Hire a full time creative-team!" 1. "Pay fairly," who decides what's fair? Speaking for myself (as a contract business consultant), I have my retail rate and my discount rate. People who don't ask get my retail rate, and deserve to pay it! You're running a business, you have a budget (well, better have a budget), hire people who fit your budget. If you don't ask, the answer is always no! 2. "Allowed to do the things they want to do,..." DO NOT let people working for you determine their work. You're the boss. Be a boss... "We have this project. We need someone to do x, y, and z on this project! Is that you?" And they should "build new skills" on their own time. You're paying them to finish a project, not learn! If you don't make money, you can't pay them, can you? 3. Don't hire "full-time employees" when you're starting, contract... Payroll is an expense and a pile of regulations and paperwork. Let's say you don't authorize overtime. But an employee works overtime just 1-2 minutes. You get to pay them 1-2 minute of overtime. If you don't, you get fined. Also, if an employee screws up, you just paid them to do it wrong. And now you can pay them to do it right (or wrong again). If a contractor screws up, it's on them! In the end, we get to the truth of it. Most people are not cut out to be Entrepreneurial. It's stressful not knowing where your next check is coming from and determining budgets and negotiating contracts with clients.
I'm not in the animation industry at all, so my experiences is more in general project management. I agree with you soo much! The fact that he tried to hire a full-time team in his first endeavours of creating a business... was definitely a very scary leap of faith! I think it's too big of a step for beginners. It's understandable, but I think he was too starry-eyed in the beginning ☹️. Also the fact that there wasn't really a concrete plan for what one project (it shouldn't be many projects at once!) he wanted to do- also unfortunately a recipe for failure. I'm not sure if he had a very detailed business plan, stating the expected deliverables, legal framework etc in the beginning, but if he didn't have that, understandably it probably would have all fell apart in the end. Also this was supposed to be where his business partner should have jumped in! It felt like he wanted to hang out with fellow animators and do fun creative stuff, as opposed to be a leader with clear vision, goals and precise outcomes. I'm surprised he didn't hire a business consultant like you- but perhaps he thought his friend as a business partner would be enough. That said, it's an incredibly brave thing to publicise your failures so I commend him for this!
@@rosemangofairy Your post is so spot on. You're right, any project fails without a project plan... I got my start in the video game industries in the 80s. Even with good project management, 3 out of 5 video game projects failed. None of mine, it depends on the team and the management. The thing is, he could still make this work, should he decide to try again. The key, as i mentioned, read "The eMyth Revisited," it uncovers the problems most people starting a business run into. Second, learn to manage projects (find out what a Gant chart it), and third (but really first) learn how to sell! If you have no sales, you don't need a product.
You are actually wise beyond your years. A person who can see project issues/mistakes and talk about them during a debrief (military term) will certainly be more successful every time you go back up and fly your plane, so to speak. Even people who are not interested in animation would find your videos (do's and don'ts, project debriefs) incredibly informative, and be able to apply them to their own personal projects. You have a gift, for sure. I spent a LOT of money taking classes from Joe Murray (Rocko's Modern Life and Camp Lazlo). Though he is great with details of crafting animation scripts, etc., there was no "big picture" of how all of this works. I've only seen two of your videos. I'm really impressed with your "big picture" understanding of how everything works and the way you inform viewers about different topics. You really do have something special! Good on ya!
Sir Wade! I feel like this one stands out for me as I'm going into the same understanding with my own production and VFX studio that I've been building for the last 6 months. It's the same as the music video pick which contains a lot of things that need to be fit to the storyboard, overall workflow, as well as rendering and real-time learning on UE. Thank you for sharing; this is gold! Your final chosen aspect to "step back" and acknowledge reality is the mature choice. My own opinion is that you definitely can make it with the right puzzle partners and validation if one day you'll give it a retry. Good luck and thank you for sharing!
me and my buddy just started our studio, im going to help him make his anime, ive made a couple animations on my own but im definitely realizing we are going to need a team im just now getting into motion graphics and man is it a lot lol
This was incredibly insightful information you've shared here and I'm definitely appreciative of your sharing the post-mortem of your studio endeavors. It's good that you all were able to give it a try, learn from it, and still have strong amicable relationships thereafter. Thanks for sharing this.
Relate so much. For those looking to start your own studio should watch this video first! Some of us just better join an established team than starting your own and you need a solid WHY and HOW to start it
😅 I am stuck with my first ever Comic series and only finished 1 chapter out of 10 chapters in last two and a half years. 😅 you guys on the other hand did a substantial job in this time period. Take your own time and produce something that has value in your life ❤
Been following both of you since before the team-up. Sad to hear it didn't work out as planned (or lack thereof), but glad to hear there was a learning experience for both parties. You're good at what you do, excited to see what you do next!
I had a similar experience while directing my first short film for school. We ended up with a decent film, but I was burnt out from making art for a few years. In hindsight, I was focusing so much on the story making sense that we ended up with a long script that could have been simplified and still had good quality. It's important to be realistic with the size of your team and how long the project will take (know when to keep or pitch something). You may not get to add everything you want, but the end product will be something you're proud of. I did learn a lot from it but I don't look back on that time fondly lol
Thank you very much for sharing your experience. The truth is that this experience makes it more straightforward for many people to know where to direct their desires. Animation is an art, and that's why animators are often hired with the belief that they can build an entire animation studio based on their experience. However, no matter how skilled they are, there are times when other tastes and knowledge must be considered. A business administrator would be more experienced in structuring functions, but would not necessarily have all the ability to carry out such a complex task. I wish you many successes in your next project, and once again, thank you very much for sharing your analysis and experience.
I'm super interested in seeing your process of making your demo reel and applying/why you're applying to certain positions and the interview process for the jobs!
I also ones failed at managing a team I'm supposed to follow up and in my case, for a quite some time, I felt really bad about my self until I realized if it wasn't for my failure, I wouldn't have known what it takes to be a leader. so, I've been working on the qualities I lacked back then and, I believe that I'm much better now This video reminded me of that, so, thanks you
I'm glad you followed through with your goals honestly. There's so many people that wonder what if but never come to doing what they want. You went out there with purest intentions, you put your heart into it and came out a wiser man. In moments like these I like to think that there is no such thing as failure. It's either you succeed or you learn 😊.
This was great and very insightful. Thanks for sharing so openly, honestly and for being so vulnerable. The industry needs more content like this. Excited to have you back!
Excellent video! A lesson I keep learning over and over again is how important it is to spend a lot of time in the planning phase, and to stick to your plan. Thanks a lot for the insight in making an animation studio and some potential pitfalls
i think youtube reccomended me this because it overheard my convo the other day. I'm in a indie studio full of fans working for free as part of a passion project. thankfully part of our saving grace is that theres no money involved and we can still save it. but we have every single one of these issues 0_0
This was very relatable. I too had a similar adventure where I tried to start my own studio or business or whatever but there's soooo much other stuff you need to do, it's unbelievable. Eventually I realized only 10% of my time was spent on actually creating art lol.
Wow that was quite the reality check that I needed. I've been so confused about opening my own Animation Studio. At times I feel I shouldn't think much and just dive into it, facing every hurdle as they come at me. And other times, I'm just bogged down by the number of things I have to take care of once I set the ball rolling. And the exact things you said scare me: managing people, managing their salaries, doing something you don't enjoy etc. Not to mention, chasing clients for payments, thinking of taxes, and stuff (things I'm terrible at). I feel all of this will drain me out creatively and I will start getting demotivated fast. I've also realized that if I work ONLY for money, it never works out for me. If my heart isn't in the project, I get burned out way too easily and the project tends to delay a lot. Also the project turns out to be very substandard and low in quality. And after all this, even the money doesn't excite me anymore. I just get further demotivated. I think what you said about joining a team and just being in control of ONE aspect that I'm good at, is more of my thing. And I'm going to do just that.
Sorry it didn't work out. I hope it is ok to add some of my insights here. I do work in the vfx industry for almost 20 years now and helped building up the studio i work in since more than 11 years. You do outline the points very good but i have the feeling it is not quite on the point. When you create your own studio there is a big trap in the thought process. Get good artists, pay them well and we will create good content. Well the thing is artists will get you like 50% there to finish a project. There is this thing called pipeline, and this does not necessary mean write your own tools. Pipeline is simply the way you do and approach things, and this is the trap, usually as an artist working at a company you only get a little bit in touch with this process (mainly the part that effects you). What we learned over the years that the pipeline is how you sell your company, meaning how you get new projects, because you did setup a workflow which over time proofs more and more that you are able to manage projects and actually finish them. The Artists are the important part to full fill the requested look of the project. So if you do not put focus on pipeline you will end up having good artists doing cool stuff, but struggle like crazy on passing on work from one artist to the next, keeping up deadlines and also the skill issue you mentioned. When you have a defined workflow the hiring process is effected because you are usually able to make a more precise job description and get people which are able to do exactly what you need. So you see the pipeline is sort of the guide which tells everyone what to do and the artists then do their magic. Also one thing to consider, i know this sounds bad now, It s a lot simpler to find artists then setting up a pipeline for the simple fact that there are way more people with the skill to produce amazing art and a lot less people with the skill to build up a workflow for a company. Again sounds very bad but this is what we experience and did keep us going when it comes to hard choices when project is over and you do not have enough follow up projects to keep everyone. So if you are in those situations it is always important to keep in mind this balance and what skill you can get back fast if you really need to let go people. I hope this is helpful, it is always sad when a studio needs to close.
Welcome back! Good lessons learned. I have been through some of those myself and it’s an interesting thing to experience. Always easier to learn from there if you can so thank you for sharing so others don’t need to go through it as much or can more easily recognize when they are.
Sir Wade, This is an awesome experience! Welcome back, first off! But I really am grateful for your moment of sharing this to all of us! This is something to learn about for any other person who ever wishes to create their own studio and learn from the pros and cons of others! I pray for your success! Keep it up! 😃
I went thru something similar in my career life. Did full-time, felt like it doesn't fit me, switched careers, did full-time again, switched to freelancing due to COVID, enjoyed it for a while but now I feel like going back to full-time. I realized I'm not as independent and headstrong as I thought I was. I might freelance once in a while in future but I do want to do a full-time job. Right now, I'm still in turmoil because I'm unable to decide if I should stick to my previous career path or the new one. Hopefully, I can figure it out this year. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. It gives me so much hope when I see that anyone can have flaws and/or make mistakes. What matters is learning from them and moving forward with the lessons learnt. All the very best for your future endeavours! It must have been really stressful for you but because of that, I'm sure you learnt a LOT about what you like and what you want to do. Looking forward to your content! Side note: OMG! You and Jake Tuonto were working together and that too on a Genshin Impact music video! Aaaaaaahhh, I'm so happy, I'm a huge fan of Genshin Impact (daily grinder lol)!! I wish to see that music video even if it wasn't that impressive. I love what fans create because of Genshin Impact, it always touches my heart! ❤
The problem to people like you, or me who love make his art is that we love make art :D When you jump making something that is not strictly connected to art making, but more handling people, schedule or stuff like that make you see your job something like you don't want to do. Something that is too far from what your inner child imagine. What i've learned in 18 years of experience in 3d art is that i work as a war machine if someone give me a task, also the most complex, and in a short time i can figure out to fix it and I can complete alone also something that is usually made by 4/5 people. But when i've to make a complex project that is not scheduled by someone else, but just for me, if is it is longer that 2 weeks it's 100% an unfinished job, because my mind get bored and when i see something else i jump to a different project over and over. Is important to understand his limits and knowing them to be the best version of himself
I had a previous boss who said that after working with me for so many years he figured out that I was a task driven person and not a people managing kind of person. So, I can relate to wanting to focus on doing more than delegating tasks.
that is a gem of a video, 99 percent of videos you find on projects whatever what area their in, is always on success and the guy 99 percent of the time, talks philosophically about success like he's an expert on it, instead of emphasizing the practical stuff he did to get there, it's like someone that don't know a thing about cooking, he do his first decent meal, and he starts telling a story not on cooking but on success in general, not even mentioning the gazillions books on personal development on that subject, all scam, most hard work lead to failing even 99 percent of the time, and those events are never ever documented, it's nice to see a change, this is where you learn, your channel should be in the same spirit, a video you could do an idea you mentioned, is the struggle to learn Unreal Engine, you could talk about the area you struggled in, the areas that are poorly documented etc etc, not to make your channel the failing story bank on YT, but just to show raw what it takes to be successful, genuine stuff, great video.
There are a million how to books and videos and it's the learning experience gained from unsuccessful ventures which is often overlooked. Videos like this are so valuable! I've definitely taken some notes from this. Thank you~♪
Excellent video, the lessons we learn from failures are the best ones. I try to carry those into my classrooms and want to carry them into whatever I do next. Glad you will be doing the same!
Great video love the fact that you talk about your struggle points. We all go through it but don't necessarily share it with our audiences. It's not an easy road to accomplish your vision but reflecting on yourself like you do definitely is part of the process to grow. Wish you the best and may you achieve your goals!
thanks for this video and sharing your lessons. I too am going through a transition phase, where I failed a project, hopefully this new project I can focus on the things I am good at, and the things that I like.
Thanks for sharing! This was fantastic overview of why things can sometimes go wrong. If i could double like this video i would thank you for making such honest content!
Hey SirWade sucks to hear about your dream not working out but i definitely appreciate you sharing what you learned because this is definitely going to help others who are interested in doing the same thing. Definitely like how you explain it as well and break it down. Appreciate you man. This must have been a hard video to make.
Thanks a lot man! Lucky for me, this definitely wasn't a dream of mine - I never really aspired to build my own studio, though I wasn't going to pass on the opportunity to try when it arose!
Pay rating your artists can be a challenging thing though ~ even those who are less popular but just happen to be a better artist than the most popular ones in the industry and you'll never know which of these bunch is the big deal. Also the industry is changing and we all new how payrates can affect a studio itself knowing how ideal a person can get but at the end of the day, just make sure that Artist has enough money to pay his/her rents the bill, the food to eat of the week and other things.
Coincidentally I was watching videos on making a production/animation studio earlier today since I'm hoping to make one once I get enough experience and skill in screenwriting in the future if need be. Though to be honest, I had to remind myself not to get ahead of myself since I would rather just be a part of a team than lead it & eventually make my own show/shared universe (+anime girl mascot if we agree to that sort of thing). I just started my journey into screenwriting however so I'm going to develop these skills while I'm still in college.
Same thing happened with me around 2002-2004 . it cost me lots at that time . From that day I`ve learning something useful in my next another works . Always find serious buyer first even before make a half baked draft . There are plenty reason why we need that in first place , but that`s how the IRL works Art might be our ways to create money , but like always, everything involving money is business . So understand the core of how actually some project can have benefit for everyone who involved including the buyers, is something we`re artist should mastered it
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Man, if there is a youtube video that reflects how I feel in this business, it is THIS ONE
Wow very interesting and insightful. I'm frustrated, 2 things in this country: we still as a whole think animation is for kids and we think failure is a bad thing. We should not feel bad for admitting nor retelling how we "failed" because you CANNOT have success without. Americans have an ignorant view of that. Shoot I've only really learned this to heart recently! You said it was a learning experience, that's ALL failure is. And you get better. Shoot I want to make my own studio every since I could remember and I would love to bring you in with your experience. I'm not even too familiar with your animation skills but I would Def have you on as a consultant or animation director. Definitely keeping you in mind so you can come work for OUR team in future. I love your stuff sir wade and thank you for this. You'll be hearing from me soon. Making a solo project or rather several.
I'm sad it didn't work out, but part of helping others is sharing what did and didn't work. And even more valuable is knowing why that was. Good luck with what comes next!
lol whoa... this is TOO relatable for me right now. A year ago I accepted a gig creating - just like you - a music video. There were a lot of elements in the project that I knew I would stretch my skills, such as lip syncing, character animation, beat matching, etc.... It paid well compared to my other projects and was quoted to be finished in early summer of 2022. Today, I am STILL working on it, it's been paid in full, just feeling totally defeated by how much I either overworked and / or undercharged. I have it in contract to be compensated if the project takes longer than expected, but the sheer number of hours I spent watching tutorials specifically for this animation has blown out and obscured my hourly rate. The client has been super patient with virtually no revisions or input, despite the fact that animated music videos are a huge element of branding. I appreciate you sharing this story and the lessons you learned along the way. Looks like mumsic videos are a great way to bankrupt ourselves of time, energy, and motivation if we don't charge 10x of the minimum value we *think* we can do it for!
Jeez dude, that’s rough. I feel you and honestly, send me an email or Discord message me. If there’s a way I can help in a small way with the time that I have (probably in a consulting capacity) I’d like to try. I hope you finish soon and can move on to other things!
Oh man I can relate to this a lot. I launched a studio to work on the Spooky Shiba project and became pretty overwhelmed with a lot of stuff. So many of these mistakes are relatable.
just seeing a few shots in this video of the enviroment on your guy's music video. you have done a really amazing job doing the enviroment on your own/lighting it :O Personally I never delt with much enviroment work when I trained as a modeler, but I did go through something similar on a smaller scale (mostly just aranging the enviroment/lights,putting my character model in, which also had mocap on it😅And that all happened due to the project being completely halted and no one wanted to complete it in the end). So, I deeply respect that you were able to do it as i know how time confusing it is. And I am grateful for you for sharing what you went through with this :)
Thank you for this, sir. I'm a content creator running my second startup company. I didn't run into the problem you did with the first one, but this second one could end up the same way, but at least I'll be better prepared to make this one a success thanks to your input and experience.
congrats on experience. in my first job we used to say that " the only person that doesnt make mistakes is the one not working..." thanks for the mature sincere process story, good advice on turbulent mistake attractors..! would you care to talk also a little more about audience and how you intended to reach comercial public to watch animations ? otherwise the story remains on 'creative without marketing'. as I too have failed, you have my sympathies. cheers from Rio. ps. keep the friend after the storm is also a grand achievement.
Sad to hear it 'failed', well obviously it didn't go as planned (for what was planned ;) but it was one way to go about and learn through. I've never even attempted to get into the industry because I never thought I was good enough even thought I do have some basic knowledge, I know I'm far from being an expert, like an earth round trip far but anyone can learn, that's the point. Anyways, I've watched quite a few of your videos and always liked your style and info. Keep it up, the journey ain't over yet ;) GL !
I'm happy to find you again, Sir Wade, and on what a topic! 👏🏼 I just love your adventures. You make great videos, and I can't wait to see more of this cool experience. It seems like a lot happened, I mean, is most animators dream to open its own big studio, right? It's rough it ended, yeah, but you did it and that's soo cool ❤
When I was incharge of an Indie game team I also wanted to do modeling, This caused less management cause i split my time. If you run something its really just 100% into management or you the whole project will fall apart. This is all depending on team size.
Nice video, my 2 cents. I think you shouldn't give up on having your own studio, you learn where you all failed & you should know where you can succeed so yea work with the group gain more knowledge but create your own (I too want to do the same). I saw a fox in a car in the video that could be a great story. He was taken from his home along wit few others to be sold but an accident happen which made him escape in the cite he meets ppl ( a child etc) & other animals who help him find his bros or sis, whilst the same ppl are chasing him & grow from there. I say rather than just music videos make commercials for companies so money comes in & work on creating a story.
I'm sorry to hear you went through this low period. Can't imagine the pressure you must have felt, everything that was on your plate all the while you didn't feel to happy working on this video. Hope things will turn more positive. What I do want to ask, is this a chapter closed now? Like do you now believe this is just not for you, or do you still have the ambition to try again in the future with everything you've learned from this journey? I respect your courage for trying 😊
This is a classic example of a business failing due to lack of measured management. Be glad you have discovered this now and are aware of at least some of the gotchas.
It will be interesting to hear how the industry works for you going forward. There are many studios that are apparently getting squeezed due to profits over art and availability of cheap talent internationally (of course not new problems). It would be insightful for designers to know how much pressure of the industry and studios is the issue compared to companies not effectively controlling their business as was your experience, which probably would be a full time research job
The music video I made isn't out yet, but made sure you're subbed so you don't miss the breakdown / debrief of how it was created! Also, any other questions you have after hearing the story? :)
I was working at Spacestation Animation and was excited to meet you when we had booths right next to each other, that was a fun weekend. I was one of the modelers.
You were defaulted to the producer role, was it your first time doing all that? After your experience and hindsight, it would be easier the next time, no?
My question is, would you want to produce if the opportunity was presented, or is an animation lead that is better suited for you?
I'm excited to have more content from you, Sir!
Thanks for sharing Sir! I'm really interested in your animation/mocap experience in unreal. I imagine being able to see animations realtime is a nice benefit, but setting things up has always been tricky for me
I took the plunge 10 years ago, form working as a freelance to starting my own studio. The original idea was to use commercial work to fund personal projects. Listening to your experience I can relate to all of those struggles and the hardest lesson we learned was that you could have a profitable company or your dream studio, but not both. At least for the first few years.
We've gotten better at handling teams, planning and budgeting time and money correctly. But that took us A LOT of time. And it's taken me getting used to doing more management work and less creative stuff, but I'm happy to see the team happy and us still standing strong all these years later.
Right now we let people choose what project they want to lead and the team members they want for it, and everyone chips in from the initial brainstorming all the way to feedback and suggestions, but the leader for each project has final say on what gets done. That's what's worked better for us and has led to happy teams and better results, and we're chugging along those dream projects we wanted to make.
Sorry for the ramble, you have surely gained much experience that will help you on anything you want to make so don't get disheartened and keep on making what you love!
is your music video as good as this? th-cam.com/video/PkG0OinHZc0/w-d-xo.html
Any team of a significant size NEEDS a manager and every company, reagardless of size, needs an accountant (They can both be the same person). They dont have to be full time in these rolls but in my experiance companies where there is a "free for all" style of managment, fail. You have to have someone at the top saying "you do this" "you do this" you do this" otherwise everything turns into a bee-line of progress. Sounds to me like enthusiasm got a bit ahead of you in this project, not a critisim, it happens to everyone.
So say you want to start an Animation film studio but you don't have the money to do so but you still want to pay your people the amount they deserve also make the company last a long time where should you start. I'm just interested seems you know a lot about it
@@TheBeastoftheNight In that situation, i would say that you dont want to be employing people at all. You cant conjure money from thin air.
You want to find some like minded people who want the same things as you and are willing to work in their spare time (for a share of the profits) while working another "proper" paying job. There are lots of them out there.
After your first success which brings in some cash flow, create a more formal arrangment.
You could also do a few solo projects, but thats a whole can of worms.
Illumination and Blue Sky Studios are identical to Pixar and DreamWorks Animation, Sony Pictures Animation and the Warner Animation Group are identical to Walt Disney Animation Studios. Universal Animation Studios is identical to DisneyToon Studios and Walt Disney Television Animation.
I think showing where you failed is good! More people should do this. We all fail and the internet tends to look like everyone is allways happy and succesfull. That waht most people show but Failing means learning (or failing from learning from your failures) and learning from others mistakes is helpful.
That’s interesting advice and thank you 😌🙏
Real
Right. Focusing only the one who succeed is falacy. We need to know about who failed to prove that who succed didn't make mistakes but succed anyway by chance.
In my country they say that failure is the mother of success! If you fail it means you will learn and grow from the experience. We've all made mistakes but they only give us more chance to do better. I am exhausted managing a freelance animation team and it will only get exhausting once I've done figuring things out. Good luck to everyone who is building a work team out there!
Ayo, aren't you that one guy?
Rocky the Rakoon
What an inspiring sentiment ⭐
We are slowly building a specialist animation studio, definitely great advice.
One key thing I've learned the hard way is not to take on a project that you aren't or won't be passionate about. Its really hard to turn down big projects, but when you know it's not quite right for you and your team, taking it on anyway will make you wish you didn't.
I guess the difference is we're starting really small, probably too small but it's my dream and I want to build it properly.
Good luck on your next adventure, failure and learning from it is a huge part of the journey.
Hi! Are you looking for new hands? If yes, what kind of talent are you looking for?
5:51 So no lead or director.
Last summer, I was part of an adult video game summer camp. The goal was to experience the process of what it takes to make a video game and make a presentation of it. I was officially assigned as the sole animator of the group. After the first meetup, I also became the producer of the group. I almost became the conductor making the music since one member had a family emergency. I wore multiple hats trying to keep things together, but as time went on, some of the members became a little less active. However, we were able to come up with a concept of a game.
Looking back at it now, I wish there was more involvement on making the end result better. On my end, my only regret was not improving my skills prior and it showed. The team might come back at a later date and make something better out of it, but not until I improve my animation skills. It just feels too stiff and slow.
If the anytime feels stuff like robotics I try adding more key frames and make some of those extra key frames kind of exaggerated but not to much and put those in between parts where the animation seems a stiff this might not work for fingers all the time tho
It seems like most of these problems stem from a lack of leadership. It may sound harsh, but when you hire people, you have to be the boss. When you say that your project got delayed because everyone had a different vision, it sounds like your team didn't know that they were hired to develop your vision. The reality about small studios and short budgets is that resources have to be managed and optimized properly, and most of the time that means that there is little space for creative freedom throughout the project. People are hired to perform a task, they aren't hired to bring their own vision to life, and this can be seen even in large productions that are now flopping because people are carrying too much of their personal baggage into the project. Take Peter Jackson as an example, when he planned the LOTR movies, he talked to his team and they all agreed that they will leave their personal baggage outside of the movies and that they would focus on representing well the things that were important for Tolkien. This could have been such an easy point to address with your team from the beginning and everyone would have been focused on finishing the task at hand. Of course, you should actively listen to your team, but also learn when to just say "no". It isn't about getting it perfect, it is about getting it done.
We are starting an animation studio just at this time with a group of friends... this video is really very useful and comes at a very good time, everything you say is to consider it seriously, thanks for sharing your experience!
"It's really time consuming and extremely expensive" - I wish more people thought about this when calling every new animated film a "cash grab". Starting any business is tough, but starting an animation studio with the goal of paying people fairly, creating good work, and reaching profitability is EXTREMELY tough. Applaud you for trying.
Thanks for sharing this. It's easy to say "if you don't like working in the industry, just go indie!" But few people understand how difficult that can be
Taking on projects that you're not passionate about is something I believe everyone does at least once. There are many I have done (and still do) because mouths need to be fed and bills to pay. I feel its a skill to learn how to prepare your mindset when working on those jobs. Sometimes those "soul sucking" jobs lead to something truly amazing! Thanks for sharing your experience. Very important stuff here.
I am a Data Engineer by profession (or by peer pressure you could say) but I’ve always wanted to build my own Animation studio.
I have made a road map, let me know if this looks sensible and practical.
1. Learn Animation skill (currently pursuing)
2. Get registered as a business.
3. Start off with some small projects such as 2D educational videos, corporate training videos etc.
4. Create my own content (TH-cam) to try and make some name and polish the skills
5. Build a team and approach bigger projects such as TV commercials, music videos, movies (film industry)
Also, if you can tell me how to get projects (even if they are soul sucking)?
Yep, managing people is a very different thing. Like one can be a good chef, but managing a buffet is a very different thing. I have a cousin, very good cook, lots of experience in various restaurants, who started his own restaurant and discovered how different it is managing the entire thing.
Thanks for sharing this one Sir Wade, It's great to look back on past failures and learn from them. That's the only way to grow.
Talking about your failed project is very hard but it is such a good practice. This is setting a good example of realizing why and where stuff fails. I'm sure it's just a small hiccup on your animation journey. Great video, keep it up!
damn, I really wish I could've heard about this studio. I would've LOVED the opportunity to work with you! It's unfortunate that the studio went under, but I think you know to take it as a learning experience. All in all, such experiences will have led you to be a better leader overall. If there's ever another opportunity for you to try again, I have no doubts that you'll be better than before
First, I’m insanely grateful for this.
Second, I feel this reflects my current experience of leading a game team… almost down to a “T”.
Looks like I’ll be watching this video a few more times this week.😅
Thank you so much, it’s not easy to talk about failing. But in doing so, it helps refine the knowledge of what we should and should not do to find success.
Shoot, I didn't know we had an animation expo in Utah. I need to get out more. Props to you for making the plunge into starting a studio Sir Wade. It might have went under but it seemed like you learned immensely from it. I'm glad you are still out there for all of us animation folks, looking forward to seeing more!
I tried this animation studio business on my own for 15 years. It didn't work out for many of the same reasons you mentioned. I'm an animator/artist. I don't trust myself to run a business or even manage my own artist self let alone inspire others to stick with me on the long run. I'm better off working for some other company that is structured and stable and I don't have to worry about a million things beyond my expertise. Live and learn!
My Art Director (Contract of course) sent this to me. He said, "as soon as he mentioned his goals in the beginning it was clear it would fail..." Now that I've watched it, I'd agree. Specifically Goal #1 was a recipe for failure...
First, I absolutely love this video!!!! I've seen this hundreds of times. Here's someone who gets it!
Also, if you do want to start a business, get the book "The eMyth Revisited."
Three things wrong with the first goal, "Hire a full time creative-team!"
1. "Pay fairly," who decides what's fair? Speaking for myself (as a contract business consultant), I have my retail rate and my discount rate. People who don't ask get my retail rate, and deserve to pay it! You're running a business, you have a budget (well, better have a budget), hire people who fit your budget. If you don't ask, the answer is always no!
2. "Allowed to do the things they want to do,..." DO NOT let people working for you determine their work. You're the boss. Be a boss... "We have this project. We need someone to do x, y, and z on this project! Is that you?" And they should "build new skills" on their own time. You're paying them to finish a project, not learn! If you don't make money, you can't pay them, can you?
3. Don't hire "full-time employees" when you're starting, contract... Payroll is an expense and a pile of regulations and paperwork. Let's say you don't authorize overtime. But an employee works overtime just 1-2 minutes. You get to pay them 1-2 minute of overtime. If you don't, you get fined.
Also, if an employee screws up, you just paid them to do it wrong. And now you can pay them to do it right (or wrong again). If a contractor screws up, it's on them!
In the end, we get to the truth of it. Most people are not cut out to be Entrepreneurial. It's stressful not knowing where your next check is coming from and determining budgets and negotiating contracts with clients.
I'm not in the animation industry at all, so my experiences is more in general project management. I agree with you soo much!
The fact that he tried to hire a full-time team in his first endeavours of creating a business... was definitely a very scary leap of faith! I think it's too big of a step for beginners. It's understandable, but I think he was too starry-eyed in the beginning ☹️.
Also the fact that there wasn't really a concrete plan for what one project (it shouldn't be many projects at once!) he wanted to do- also unfortunately a recipe for failure. I'm not sure if he had a very detailed business plan, stating the expected deliverables, legal framework etc in the beginning, but if he didn't have that, understandably it probably would have all fell apart in the end. Also this was supposed to be where his business partner should have jumped in!
It felt like he wanted to hang out with fellow animators and do fun creative stuff, as opposed to be a leader with clear vision, goals and precise outcomes. I'm surprised he didn't hire a business consultant like you- but perhaps he thought his friend as a business partner would be enough.
That said, it's an incredibly brave thing to publicise your failures so I commend him for this!
@@rosemangofairy Your post is so spot on. You're right, any project fails without a project plan... I got my start in the video game industries in the 80s. Even with good project management, 3 out of 5 video game projects failed. None of mine, it depends on the team and the management.
The thing is, he could still make this work, should he decide to try again. The key, as i mentioned, read "The eMyth Revisited," it uncovers the problems most people starting a business run into. Second, learn to manage projects (find out what a Gant chart it), and third (but really first) learn how to sell! If you have no sales, you don't need a product.
You are actually wise beyond your years. A person who can see project issues/mistakes and talk about them during a debrief (military term) will certainly be more successful every time you go back up and fly your plane, so to speak. Even people who are not interested in animation would find your videos (do's and don'ts, project debriefs) incredibly informative, and be able to apply them to their own personal projects. You have a gift, for sure. I spent a LOT of money taking classes from Joe Murray (Rocko's Modern Life and Camp Lazlo). Though he is great with details of crafting animation scripts, etc., there was no "big picture" of how all of this works. I've only seen two of your videos. I'm really impressed with your "big picture" understanding of how everything works and the way you inform viewers about different topics. You really do have something special! Good on ya!
I wouldn't say he was "wise beyond his year" since he clearly failed.
However admitting it and gaining insite is very good.
Sir Wade! I feel like this one stands out for me as I'm going into the same understanding with my own production and VFX studio that I've been building for the last 6 months. It's the same as the music video pick which contains a lot of things that need to be fit to the storyboard, overall workflow, as well as rendering and real-time learning on UE.
Thank you for sharing; this is gold! Your final chosen aspect to "step back" and acknowledge reality is the mature choice.
My own opinion is that you definitely can make it with the right puzzle partners and validation if one day you'll give it a retry.
Good luck and thank you for sharing!
me and my buddy just started our studio, im going to help him make his anime, ive made a couple animations on my own but im definitely realizing we are going to need a team im just now getting into motion graphics and man is it a lot lol
This was incredibly insightful information you've shared here and I'm definitely appreciative of your sharing the post-mortem of your studio endeavors. It's good that you all were able to give it a try, learn from it, and still have strong amicable relationships thereafter. Thanks for sharing this.
Relate so much. For those looking to start your own studio should watch this video first! Some of us just better join an established team than starting your own and you need a solid WHY and HOW to start it
😅 I am stuck with my first ever Comic series and only finished 1 chapter out of 10 chapters in last two and a half years. 😅 you guys on the other hand did a substantial job in this time period. Take your own time and produce something that has value in your life ❤
Been following both of you since before the team-up. Sad to hear it didn't work out as planned (or lack thereof), but glad to hear there was a learning experience for both parties. You're good at what you do, excited to see what you do next!
I had a similar experience while directing my first short film for school. We ended up with a decent film, but I was burnt out from making art for a few years. In hindsight, I was focusing so much on the story making sense that we ended up with a long script that could have been simplified and still had good quality. It's important to be realistic with the size of your team and how long the project will take (know when to keep or pitch something). You may not get to add everything you want, but the end product will be something you're proud of. I did learn a lot from it but I don't look back on that time fondly lol
Thank you very much for sharing your experience. The truth is that this experience makes it more straightforward for many people to know where to direct their desires. Animation is an art, and that's why animators are often hired with the belief that they can build an entire animation studio based on their experience. However, no matter how skilled they are, there are times when other tastes and knowledge must be considered. A business administrator would be more experienced in structuring functions, but would not necessarily have all the ability to carry out such a complex task. I wish you many successes in your next project, and once again, thank you very much for sharing your analysis and experience.
I'm super interested in seeing your process of making your demo reel and applying/why you're applying to certain positions and the interview process for the jobs!
I also ones failed at managing a team I'm supposed to follow up and in my case, for a quite some time, I felt really bad about my self until I realized if it wasn't for my failure, I wouldn't have known what it takes to be a leader. so, I've been working on the qualities I lacked back then and, I believe that I'm much better now
This video reminded me of that, so, thanks you
I'm glad you followed through with your goals honestly. There's so many people that wonder what if but never come to doing what they want. You went out there with purest intentions, you put your heart into it and came out a wiser man. In moments like these I like to think that there is no such thing as failure. It's either you succeed or you learn 😊.
Thank you for sharing this! I know it wasn't easy. Thank you!
This was great and very insightful. Thanks for sharing so openly, honestly and for being so vulnerable. The industry needs more content like this. Excited to have you back!
Excellent video! A lesson I keep learning over and over again is how important it is to spend a lot of time in the planning phase, and to stick to your plan. Thanks a lot for the insight in making an animation studio and some potential pitfalls
i think youtube reccomended me this because it overheard my convo the other day. I'm in a indie studio full of fans working for free as part of a passion project. thankfully part of our saving grace is that theres no money involved and we can still save it. but we have every single one of these issues 0_0
This was very relatable. I too had a similar adventure where I tried to start my own studio or business or whatever but there's soooo much other stuff you need to do, it's unbelievable. Eventually I realized only 10% of my time was spent on actually creating art lol.
Wow that was quite the reality check that I needed. I've been so confused about opening my own Animation Studio. At times I feel I shouldn't think much and just dive into it, facing every hurdle as they come at me. And other times, I'm just bogged down by the number of things I have to take care of once I set the ball rolling. And the exact things you said scare me: managing people, managing their salaries, doing something you don't enjoy etc. Not to mention, chasing clients for payments, thinking of taxes, and stuff (things I'm terrible at). I feel all of this will drain me out creatively and I will start getting demotivated fast. I've also realized that if I work ONLY for money, it never works out for me. If my heart isn't in the project, I get burned out way too easily and the project tends to delay a lot. Also the project turns out to be very substandard and low in quality. And after all this, even the money doesn't excite me anymore. I just get further demotivated.
I think what you said about joining a team and just being in control of ONE aspect that I'm good at, is more of my thing. And I'm going to do just that.
Thank you for sharing this, takes character to make our failures public.
I really appreciate you sharing this! it requires a lot of courage, thank you so much!
Sorry it didn't work out.
I hope it is ok to add some of my insights here. I do work in the vfx industry for almost 20 years now and helped building up the studio i work in since more than 11 years.
You do outline the points very good but i have the feeling it is not quite on the point. When you create your own studio there is a big trap in the thought process.
Get good artists, pay them well and we will create good content. Well the thing is artists will get you like 50% there to finish a project.
There is this thing called pipeline, and this does not necessary mean write your own tools. Pipeline is simply the way you do and approach things, and this is the trap, usually as an artist working at a company you only get a little bit in touch with this process (mainly the part that effects you). What we learned over the years that the pipeline is how you sell your company, meaning how you get new projects, because you did setup a workflow which over time proofs more and more that you are able to manage projects and actually finish them.
The Artists are the important part to full fill the requested look of the project.
So if you do not put focus on pipeline you will end up having good artists doing cool stuff, but struggle like crazy on passing on work from one artist to the next, keeping up deadlines and also the skill issue you mentioned. When you have a defined workflow the hiring process is effected because you are usually able to make a more precise job description and get people which are able to do exactly what you need.
So you see the pipeline is sort of the guide which tells everyone what to do and the artists then do their magic.
Also one thing to consider, i know this sounds bad now, It s a lot simpler to find artists then setting up a pipeline for the simple fact that there are way more people with the skill to produce amazing art and a lot less people with the skill to build up a workflow for a company. Again sounds very bad but this is what we experience and did keep us going when it comes to hard choices when project is over and you do not have enough follow up projects to keep everyone. So if you are in those situations it is always important to keep in mind this balance and what skill you can get back fast if you really need to let go people.
I hope this is helpful, it is always sad when a studio needs to close.
Thank u for sharing ur experience, i a working on my own short qt the moment and needed to hear this to knowhow to deal with the team
Welcome back! Good lessons learned. I have been through some of those myself and it’s an interesting thing to experience. Always easier to learn from there if you can so thank you for sharing so others don’t need to go through it as much or can more easily recognize when they are.
When 1st starting any business paying people what YOU can realistically afford is important.
Hi Sir Wade, sorry to hear that. Also, thank you for being brave and share the ups and down on this project of start an a studio.
Sir Wade, This is an awesome experience! Welcome back, first off! But I really am grateful for your moment of sharing this to all of us! This is something to learn about for any other person who ever wishes to create their own studio and learn from the pros and cons of others! I pray for your success! Keep it up! 😃
I went thru something similar in my career life. Did full-time, felt like it doesn't fit me, switched careers, did full-time again, switched to freelancing due to COVID, enjoyed it for a while but now I feel like going back to full-time. I realized I'm not as independent and headstrong as I thought I was. I might freelance once in a while in future but I do want to do a full-time job. Right now, I'm still in turmoil because I'm unable to decide if I should stick to my previous career path or the new one. Hopefully, I can figure it out this year.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. It gives me so much hope when I see that anyone can have flaws and/or make mistakes. What matters is learning from them and moving forward with the lessons learnt.
All the very best for your future endeavours! It must have been really stressful for you but because of that, I'm sure you learnt a LOT about what you like and what you want to do. Looking forward to your content!
Side note: OMG! You and Jake Tuonto were working together and that too on a Genshin Impact music video!
Aaaaaaahhh, I'm so happy, I'm a huge fan of Genshin Impact (daily grinder lol)!! I wish to see that music video even if it wasn't that impressive. I love what fans create because of Genshin Impact, it always touches my heart! ❤
Thank you so much for this dude
I'm glad you liked it :) Love your videos!
The problem to people like you, or me who love make his art is that we love make art :D When you jump making something that is not strictly connected to art making, but more handling people, schedule or stuff like that make you see your job something like you don't want to do. Something that is too far from what your inner child imagine.
What i've learned in 18 years of experience in 3d art is that i work as a war machine if someone give me a task, also the most complex, and in a short time i can figure out to fix it and I can complete alone also something that is usually made by 4/5 people. But when i've to make a complex project that is not scheduled by someone else, but just for me, if is it is longer that 2 weeks it's 100% an unfinished job, because my mind get bored and when i see something else i jump to a different project over and over.
Is important to understand his limits and knowing them to be the best version of himself
I had a previous boss who said that after working with me for so many years he figured out that I was a task driven person and not a people managing kind of person. So, I can relate to wanting to focus on doing more than delegating tasks.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Secund time will be better.
that is a gem of a video, 99 percent of videos you find on projects whatever what area their in, is always on success and the guy 99 percent of the time, talks philosophically about success like he's an expert on it, instead of emphasizing the practical stuff he did to get there, it's like someone that don't know a thing about cooking, he do his first decent meal, and he starts telling a story not on cooking but on success in general, not even mentioning the gazillions books on personal development on that subject, all scam, most hard work lead to failing even 99 percent of the time, and those events are never ever documented, it's nice to see a change, this is where you learn, your channel should be in the same spirit, a video you could do an idea you mentioned, is the struggle to learn Unreal Engine, you could talk about the area you struggled in, the areas that are poorly documented etc etc, not to make your channel the failing story bank on YT, but just to show raw what it takes to be successful, genuine stuff, great video.
4:54 would love to learn this kind of art style, it looks amazing!
There are a million how to books and videos and it's the learning experience gained from unsuccessful ventures which is often overlooked.
Videos like this are so valuable! I've definitely taken some notes from this. Thank you~♪
Excellent video, the lessons we learn from failures are the best ones. I try to carry those into my classrooms and want to carry them into whatever I do next. Glad you will be doing the same!
Good luck with your new ventures, and thanks for sharing an honest experience. Great channel!
Great video love the fact that you talk about your struggle points. We all go through it but don't necessarily share it with our audiences. It's not an easy road to accomplish your vision but reflecting on yourself like you do definitely is part of the process to grow. Wish you the best and may you achieve your goals!
thanks for this video and sharing your lessons. I too am going through a transition phase, where I failed a project, hopefully this new project I can focus on the things I am good at, and the things that I like.
Thanks for sharing! This was fantastic overview of why things can sometimes go wrong. If i could double like this video i would thank you for making such honest content!
Hey SirWade sucks to hear about your dream not working out but i definitely appreciate you sharing what you learned because this is definitely going to help others who are interested in doing the same thing. Definitely like how you explain it as well and break it down. Appreciate you man. This must have been a hard video to make.
Thanks a lot man! Lucky for me, this definitely wasn't a dream of mine - I never really aspired to build my own studio, though I wasn't going to pass on the opportunity to try when it arose!
@@SirWade I still appreciate you sharing your experience and what you learned.
Pay rating your artists can be a challenging thing though ~ even those who are less popular but just happen to be a better artist than the most popular ones in the industry and you'll never know which of these bunch is the big deal. Also the industry is changing and we all new how payrates can affect a studio itself knowing how ideal a person can get but at the end of the day, just make sure that Artist has enough money to pay his/her rents the bill, the food to eat of the week and other things.
This is such a valuable educational video, thank you for sharing!
Coincidentally I was watching videos on making a production/animation studio earlier today since I'm hoping to make one once I get enough experience and skill in screenwriting in the future if need be. Though to be honest, I had to remind myself not to get ahead of myself since I would rather just be a part of a team than lead it & eventually make my own show/shared universe (+anime girl mascot if we agree to that sort of thing). I just started my journey into screenwriting however so I'm going to develop these skills while I'm still in college.
Good post mortem. Not enough people understand that goals and nuts and bolts planning is vital to survival.
Same thing happened with me around 2002-2004 . it cost me lots at that time . From that day I`ve learning something useful in my next another works . Always find serious buyer first even before make a half baked draft . There are plenty reason why we need that in first place , but that`s how the IRL works
Art might be our ways to create money , but like always, everything involving money is business . So understand the core of how actually some project can have benefit for everyone who involved including the buyers, is something we`re artist should mastered it
Man, if there is a youtube video that reflects how I feel in this business, it is THIS ONE
Wow very interesting and insightful. I'm frustrated, 2 things in this country: we still as a whole think animation is for kids and we think failure is a bad thing. We should not feel bad for admitting nor retelling how we "failed" because you CANNOT have success without. Americans have an ignorant view of that. Shoot I've only really learned this to heart recently! You said it was a learning experience, that's ALL failure is. And you get better. Shoot I want to make my own studio every since I could remember and I would love to bring you in with your experience. I'm not even too familiar with your animation skills but I would Def have you on as a consultant or animation director. Definitely keeping you in mind so you can come work for OUR team in future. I love your stuff sir wade and thank you for this. You'll be hearing from me soon. Making a solo project or rather several.
I'm sad it didn't work out, but part of helping others is sharing what did and didn't work. And even more valuable is knowing why that was.
Good luck with what comes next!
lol whoa... this is TOO relatable for me right now. A year ago I accepted a gig creating - just like you - a music video. There were a lot of elements in the project that I knew I would stretch my skills, such as lip syncing, character animation, beat matching, etc.... It paid well compared to my other projects and was quoted to be finished in early summer of 2022. Today, I am STILL working on it, it's been paid in full, just feeling totally defeated by how much I either overworked and / or undercharged. I have it in contract to be compensated if the project takes longer than expected, but the sheer number of hours I spent watching tutorials specifically for this animation has blown out and obscured my hourly rate. The client has been super patient with virtually no revisions or input, despite the fact that animated music videos are a huge element of branding.
I appreciate you sharing this story and the lessons you learned along the way. Looks like mumsic videos are a great way to bankrupt ourselves of time, energy, and motivation if we don't charge 10x of the minimum value we *think* we can do it for!
Jeez dude, that’s rough. I feel you and honestly, send me an email or Discord message me. If there’s a way I can help in a small way with the time that I have (probably in a consulting capacity) I’d like to try. I hope you finish soon and can move on to other things!
i'm still chasing the same dream bro... living and working in LA - had a few jobs - best life - for sure
thanks for being so transparent
Thank you thank you for making this video! You are appreciated! Be glad you realized this quick before it got to tricky to get out
That when a good pipeline is ecessary!
Very informative and helpful. Great to see someone be open about what didn't work and why. Thanks Wade!
We’re so happy to have you back ❤
Oh man I can relate to this a lot. I launched a studio to work on the Spooky Shiba project and became pretty overwhelmed with a lot of stuff. So many of these mistakes are relatable.
just seeing a few shots in this video of the enviroment on your guy's music video. you have done a really amazing job doing the enviroment on your own/lighting it :O Personally I never delt with much enviroment work when I trained as a modeler, but I did go through something similar on a smaller scale (mostly just aranging the enviroment/lights,putting my character model in, which also had mocap on it😅And that all happened due to the project being completely halted and no one wanted to complete it in the end).
So, I deeply respect that you were able to do it as i know how time confusing it is. And I am grateful for you for sharing what you went through with this :)
Thank you for this, sir. I'm a content creator running my second startup company. I didn't run into the problem you did with the first one, but this second one could end up the same way, but at least I'll be better prepared to make this one a success thanks to your input and experience.
congrats on experience. in my first job we used to say that " the only person that doesnt make mistakes is the one not working..." thanks for the mature sincere process story, good advice on turbulent mistake attractors..! would you care to talk also a little more about audience and how you intended to reach comercial public to watch animations ? otherwise the story remains on 'creative without marketing'. as I too have failed, you have my sympathies. cheers from Rio.
ps. keep the friend after the storm is also a grand achievement.
Sad to hear it 'failed', well obviously it didn't go as planned (for what was planned ;) but it was one way to go about and learn through. I've never even attempted to get into the industry because I never thought I was good enough even thought I do have some basic knowledge, I know I'm far from being an expert, like an earth round trip far but anyone can learn, that's the point. Anyways, I've watched quite a few of your videos and always liked your style and info.
Keep it up, the journey ain't over yet ;) GL !
That`s so bold video to do indeed !.....sharing such experience , makes me so grateful , wish you all good luck man !
Thank you... To communicate before assuming, is a skill
I'm happy to find you again, Sir Wade, and on what a topic! 👏🏼 I just love your adventures. You make great videos, and I can't wait to see more of this cool experience. It seems like a lot happened, I mean, is most animators dream to open its own big studio, right? It's rough it ended, yeah, but you did it and that's soo cool ❤
Would love to see a video on creating the fox, its so cute!
Thank you very much for sharing this. God bless.
yes please a video about rigging a character!!
Onward and upward. No failures, only lessons. Good luck.
When I was incharge of an Indie game team I also wanted to do modeling, This caused less management cause i split my time. If you run something its really just 100% into management or you the whole project will fall apart. This is all depending on team size.
Nice video, my 2 cents. I think you shouldn't give up on having your own studio, you learn where you all failed & you should know where you can succeed so yea work with the group gain more knowledge but create your own (I too want to do the same). I saw a fox in a car in the video that could be a great story. He was taken from his home along wit few others to be sold but an accident happen which made him escape in the cite he meets ppl ( a child etc) & other animals who help him find his bros or sis, whilst the same ppl are chasing him & grow from there. I say rather than just music videos make commercials for companies so money comes in & work on creating a story.
This was very useful, thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with this. It was great to listen to!
As an owner of a Arch-viz studio this was very very insightful..
I'm sorry to hear you went through this low period. Can't imagine the pressure you must have felt, everything that was on your plate all the while you didn't feel to happy working on this video.
Hope things will turn more positive.
What I do want to ask, is this a chapter closed now? Like do you now believe this is just not for you, or do you still have the ambition to try again in the future with everything you've learned from this journey?
I respect your courage for trying 😊
You didn't fail you just took the first step on the way to success
This is a classic example of a business failing due to lack of measured management. Be glad you have discovered this now and are aware of at least some of the gotchas.
Thanks for sharing and so happy you are back animating
I relate deeply to this for my last album - I HATED making it and I learned a lot and I never want to hear it again
good on you Wade. would love to see your motion capture > unreal process, even your raw data looked good.
It will be interesting to hear how the industry works for you going forward. There are many studios that are apparently getting squeezed due to profits over art and availability of cheap talent internationally (of course not new problems). It would be insightful for designers to know how much pressure of the industry and studios is the issue compared to companies not effectively controlling their business as was your experience, which probably would be a full time research job
Hi Man, Thanks for sharing i have learnt a lot. You are the man.
Your the best teacher - the graphics where good don't blame yourself you're the best