Research for Studio Practice & Business ICA

Before we start working on our business plan in Studio Practice & Business, we are to do some research, both primary and secondary. The pointers we’ve got include:

• Choose an area of the industry to research
• How is that part of the industry structured?
• How has it evolved and changed over the past 5 years and why?
• Is it a growing or declining area of the industry?
• How do I get to where I want to be?

In my case, the area of the industry is pretty straight forward. I wish to work in the visual effects industry so that makes the most sense to research. This is where I run into problems however. By looking at web sites such as skillset.org or news sites such as BBC or The Guardian the visual effects industry doesn’t seem to be that well covered. Or maybe I’m just not looking hard enough. One of the places I’ve managed to find something is on fxguide.com where they have a few of articles about the industry in general:

• Crammed schedules
• The WGA strikes’ impact on the visual effects industry
• The worth of some visual effects facilities
• Unpaid artists on Journey to the Center of the Earth
• The closing down of visual effects facilities

I also found something in Ron Brinkmann’s book, “The Art and Science of Digital Compositing“, about the job hierarchy in a visual effects facility. More about that later.

What I feel I fail to grasp here, at least for the moment, is exactly what we’re meant to find out, what conclusions we’re supposed to draw and whether we’re to do the research solely from the purpose of creating a business plan later or whether this is more to get a general picture of the industry. I also have no clue as to what questions I’m supposed to ask for my primary research. I think I’d better ask the module leaders about it in this weeks practical, which now that I think of it is in just 20 minutes. Got to run!