Hey everyone, I’m an LA-based freelance editor and colorist that’s currently learning VFX (Fusion/AE). I’m in my late 20s and have been considering leaving the film industry while I’m still young since I keep hearing about VFX dying. I recently learned that (senior) Flame artists can make a pretty good living working in commericials and there’s a decent demand for them.
Questions:
Is this a viable career path for someoen in their late 20s considering the state of the industry. (I think advertising/commercials will always be recession proof compared to film/tv.)
Please recommend learning resources
Should I learn on my own or join a post-house as an assistant (and grind my way up for 3-4 years)?
Yeah, I think it’s a viable career. I would not say it’s a SAFE career as it struggles with all the same issues that the rest of VFX does, and ad budgets continue to be decimated by general race-to-the-bottom capitalism stuff. Ads may be more resilient in some ways, but they do ride the economy overall. When things tank, marketing budgets are an easy way to cut costs. Between the stock market teetering on the promise of “AI”, and a US president who’s understanding of economic matters leaves a lot to be desired, the odds of things getting worse are high.
The Flame Learning Channel, Logik Live, Logik Academy, FXPHD, Joel Osis’ youtube, Austin Campell’s youtube. Also, and I mean this sincerely, please ask every dumb question you can think of here on the forums. I do not care how dumb. I would love to see more general issue conversations about like, how to blur stuff. So if you can afford all of us the opportunity to share what we know via asking dumb questions that would be wonderful.
Get into a shop and grind. Half of getting work as a flame op is being known as a flame op. You could be the best self-taught person in the world and still have a harder time getting work than someone who knows twenty other flame ops due to working at a facility.
Echoing what @andy_dill said. It’s a viable career, but like all careers in the new economies, it rewards being flexible, it rewards people who are nice and participate in supportive communities, who network, and who know how to get things done.
And while Flame is an exceptional piece of software, the reason it’s a viable path is only half the software. The other half is the type of people that drive it, their ability to solve hard problems and do so fast. The software landscape keeps shifting, but the skills behind driving any of these apps are the same.
I would definitely encourage you to start by working in any capacity on-site at a facility. You can learn tons from all the online videos and this forum — but in my experience learning from others in person is critical when you’re starting.
And as mentioned, working there you will become known as a Flame artist, and not just someone with Flame on their Mac at home.
Nice job making Flame look like dudes with a chip on their shoulder that rather not welcome interested young artists unless they pledge allegiance to old school thinking.
Suggesting that a facility is a great place to start is fine and fair. Degrading everyone that doesn’t think like you is not helpful.
It’s getting old.
If you feel so strongly, suggest to ADSK that they should discontinue selling Flame licenses on the website and that the only option should be enterprise sales with a minimum quantity of 5. Teradici used to be this way.
I didn’t mean to suggest that working from home on a Mac is not very valuable in the right hands. What I am encouraging him to do is to try to learn on site in person as much as possible.
There are plenty of Flame artists in their 50’s. There are quite a few Flame artists in their 40’s. There are some Flame artists in their 30’s. There are very few Flame artists in their 20’s.
It’s either a dying profession or a golden opportunity.
Because it doesn’t come across as a humorous observation, but instead as a labeling of those artists as third grade artists and devaluation of what Flame is supposed to stand for.
I don’t care what someone wears, or if someone wears anything at all. I just would like a bit more inclusive and encouraging conversation in changing times.
