What a great question to pose to the group @randy… I’ve genuinely enjoyed reading everyone’s responses & background stories.
I’ve personally never met a Flame artist who’s gone to school for Flame. Seems we’ve all kindof fell into this… If you were lucky enough to be given the opportunity to learn, apprentice, or tinker around with one of the fabled unicorn machines, you’d be remiss not to accept. Things have come a long way since…
School-wise, did a 4 year BA in Business/Economics w/ a minor in Music (cello performance) & New Media (film dept’s catchall for anything “digital”, photoshop, NLE, and Flash). Found myself spending more time and interest on my minor than my major, screwing around making videos w/ my dormmates & pushing each other to learn new things & make cool shit. (We’re all now in the industry) Then 2 years of post-grad taking night classes at ArtCenter while working for a nonprofit, studying Graphic Design, Animation, & 3D… Ah, class critiques… The veritable thunderdome of youth angst & bullshittery… Honestly though, it was invaluable (and terrifying) having to articulate yourself amongst your critical peers.
The “desktop computerization” of both film/video and music/audio was the coolest thing in the world to me. Photoshop, Premiere/FCP, After Effects, 3D, Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Reason, it was all new and uncharted and accessible. I still remember getting my first capture card and thinking how cool it was that I could digitize hi8 & miniDV, record audio… My stack of Computer Arts, Res, & Stash were pretty deep. When I got to Imaginary Forces as a young Designer/Animator, I was intrigued by the dark suites downstairs where “all the magic happened.” Once an opportunity presented itself to learn Flame, the rest is history. I remember there were some FXPhd lessons on the server as well as trying to pick up as much as I could from my supervisor & flame artists that came and went, and a healthy serving of trial and error… Once learning and understanding “modular” node-based compositing, it also opened up a deep interest in modular synthesis as well. Connecting the dots…
All that being said, I think @kirk hit the nail on the head when he talked about us fundamentally having a customer service job. But I also think it’s more than that, since the “product” and expectation of said product can be infinitely varied and completely subjective. And malleable (sometimes, thankfully). People and communication skills are so incredibly valuable in what we do, and so hard to teach. Anyone can learn the software, but watch a talented flame artist “run the room”, listen to and articulate/support the client’s intentions, facilitate difficult conversations & solve problems w/ directors/producers/artists… And yes, compartmentalize stress & project those confidently calm zen vibes… All those I’ve admired and respect to this day… Unicorns, just like falling upon the opportunity to use a flame back in the day…
I used to have these existential crises in my early 20s about choosing a path & figuring out what it was I wanted to do. Having so many diverse interests, and not one career goal. That uncertainty and doubt was certainly a huge achilles’ heel for me. Later in life, I’ve realized that through following my interests & keeping inspired, humble, and willing to fail at new things, my path revealed itself and eventually chose me. It still is… Certainly something I wish I could’ve told my younger self…
Thankful for this community & braintrust. Let’s keep learning together.
