I Remember back in 2010 when I took active steps to build my Vfx and 3D skills . This exercise opened my eyes, as to how technology has greatly evolved. I got to see film production from a whole new and greater light.

We are trying to master the art of making digital movies with DSLR and Red cameras while our colleagues in the international market are out there producing movies shot stereoscopically with 3d fusion cameras, custom made to replicate the way our eyes look at objects .

We are still trying to advance our 3D graphic and animation industry, while producing 3d movies, with high degree of photorealism and human like movements in now a norm out there. When it comes to visual effects, we are nowhere close to replicating the basic fx shots in Smallville. Here Shooting on Film is a big deal.

Looking at all this i feel like there is no time to waste. Research and study should be the other of our day. This discovery's makes me see how far behind we are.

We all know that our CGI industry faces diverse challenges like piracy, Poor distribution network, lack of good infrastructure and absence of sufficient technical expertise. Moreover my focus in this blog update is not to address this numerous issues, but to take a more narrow look as to how Digital media artist in the business are indirectly contributing in retarding the growth of our industry through what I call...

[size=18pt]::THE ALL MAN FOR HIMSELF SYNDROME[/size]

NB: "All man for himself" is an expression used to communicate the idea of a state whereby individuals in a society are solely concerned about their well being even if it is in the detriment of others, a system or the society at large"


When i look at the attitude of most Digital Media Artist in the industry including my former self, I discover that we eschew creative collaboration. We care less about revolutionizing Nollywood, what we do care about is revolutionizing Nollywood all alone. We want to receive all the credit for been the first to single handedly do a 3d movie or shoot the first film that won an Oscar. We care less about the structure that Nollywood runs on. A structure that is presently run on greed, sabotage, nepotism and technical deficiency. We are blinded by the 'me, I " mentality.

We have not come to realizes the power of collaboration gleaned from the fact that the big budget movies we look up to emulating ,were not a one man show, made up of a bunch of 2,3, 4 fame hungry artist, but is instead a collaboration of hundreds and even thousand of artist spread across different vfx facilities, all working on a particular project. So what you see at the end of the day is a powerful mash-up of creative ingenuity.

This "syndrome" is evident in the way we research, download tutorials and then go on to hoard this tutorial. It is not foreign for Digital artist to snub their fellow artist when it comes to rendering production tips and advice. Mainly because we want to prevent them from becoming better than us, So as to protect our relevance.

This "syndrome" has giving rise to the absence of a knowledge sharing culture. Over the length of my career I've been privileged to met quite a number of digital media professionals as Digital media artist my self. It is quite interesting to note that I gauge and place value on the skill level of a digital media artist, not only on how complex creative and beautiful his/her vfx shots are, but as to how much technical and creative information/tips they are willing to let go, because I believe you can't give what you don't have, and the more of something you have, the more likely you are to give more out.

Changing the state of this industry is no easy task, But i believe
if we come together more often, and are willing to share ideas, collaborate more on projects without sabotaging each other, we will go a long way in pushing the quality of content produced in our industry. I think it would be beneficial, if we encourage specialization, and promote a system that encourages the deployment of production pipelines. Pipelines where everyone contribute his/her bit to making the whole picture, as opposed to a situation where a person tries to make the whole picture alone, which sadly is presently the norm.

To kill this syndrome Solid vfx community and unions need to be formed made up of professional vfx cinematographers, 2d and 3d animators, match movers,technical directors,compositors, colorist and a whole lot of artist in the vfx and post production pipeline, so as to deliberate on issues ranging from establishing standard costing for various vfx tasks, deciding retirement benefits for artist, validation of professionals, and to help promote a culture of collaboration and knowledge sharing. This community if established would hasten the development of not just Nollywood but the quality of content she churns out. Moreover I give kudos to likes of Animation West Africa, Comicpanel for championing initiatives that could help create the needed structure in the industry.

Finally it's quite glaring that "One key thing we lack in our industry is a structure that supports innovation and talent discovery. An ecosystem that helps ideas meet execution ".

Building this structure to me is more important than infrastructure and unlike infrastructure, structure is more dependant on we the people coming together to build it and less about the role of the government.

The sad thing is that few people are willing to come together for once to build this structure which is still as a result of " the all man for himself mentality" They shy out when it comes to taking real responsibility.

I know we have little film budgets and the poorest of infrastructure, but i think we stand a better chance by working together than living in our various islands.

Moreover in conclusion if we all stakeholders in the CG industry at large can eschew this mentality, Nollywood in the not too distant future will compete in international markets in terms of quality of content produced.

Best Regards
#Mathew briggs

yeah. Good talk
but the thing is...most of us...we 3d people know this.
1. There is no structure in place that ll accomodate this people...a client or sponsor need to know there is a structure in place, before giving out money...every worker got to eat something as they work...lol...tell an animator to keep keyframing,after 1 month nothing still comes, the confidence drops.
2. We got to specialize. I see an average nigerian thats into 3d as up to if not better than most white guys. We learn everything, they dont...when we specialize we ll be better...animate and forget about lighting and the rest...the other guy should light the scene and forget about animating and so on..
3. When we follow step 1 and 2 we can then create a team....when we create a team where each person knows his job...thats a stepping stone.
4. development takes place...we define a workflow....i d have love to upload a picture of a typical workflow or Animation production pipeline but nairaland doesnt like files above 200kb...lol..sorry....but...u get the idea.

@matthew
good points u raised...these r my thots.
so as not to misunderstand me, i believe VERY strongly in synergy and collaboration.
i have however, also come to realize that u cannot divorce urself from the surroundings u live in.
an environment that gives out measly peanuts on an irregular basis keeps u constantly on the borderline of 'want' and 'poverty'....this forces ur survival instincts to kick in.
that instinct is wot u r calling the 'all man 4 himself' syndrome.

i used to rage and get upset at the lack of synergy-minded folks, or mediocre professionals...(and while i still dont condone sloppiness), i also got to see their perspective; and that is crucial if change is to be had.

instintively, a man will fight for his survival employing any and all means HE THINKS will work, his thots not urs. in d digital domain, it will involve any means he deems necessary to stay ahead of competitors.
for some they believe it is thru hoarding tutes, info, undermining fellow colleagues or choosing to work alone, for others it is producing just wot the client is willing to pay for and no more than that, even if its a mediocre output.
arguing his logic or verbally pointing out the alternatives has rarely worked in my experience so far.

but woteva the method ur syndrome manifests, the real enemy lies in the 'why' they do it.

d simple answer is cos we r hungry and need to survive (howeva way we inteprete we can do it).

while synergy is truthfully the way forward, pioneers of the push will have to make the sacrifice of funding the realization process for the majority of the artists. the principles we build on today were sacrificially formulated by our pioneer digital grandfathers.

so...

involve un-professional artists on a funded project CONSISTENTLY and cheerfully.
be willing to absorb the cost of the learning process of ur employees while still keeping them paid.
keep ur spirits up, and wallet still open when, inspite of doing the aforementioned most people still dont appreciate ur efforts and abscond without notice.
do this for long enough, and ur well on ur way to affecting change.

our colleagues abroad have gotten basic survival needs outta d way, giving the ability to unlock creativity and push boundaries without wondering about ur leaky roof or impending fees.
excellence in our field requires time, and that is a scarce resource... cos all u have of it is spent chasing that paper, just to stay alive.

ur narrow look will not be very effective, it is the broader failings that have forced artists to narrow their focus to self. those broader issues need to be addressed or a strategy to negating their effect formulated.
while enlightenment on the obvious 'disadvantages' to ur syndrome is laudable, that alone is insufficient.

my personal strategy is to source good paying jobs and then develop crews to handle them.
sadly the jobs are few n far between, but still i can say i may have mentored a fellow or two.
at the rate im going, in the next 100 years i would have contributed to solving 0.0000004percent of the problem.

again i applaud u

@Peter
hey man...nice to see u on the other thread.
on the jack-of-all-trades thingy, its really a bummer.
but try finding willing artists for a personal learning project with no tangible payoff measured in naira.
ill be around to help u count the grey strands when next u visit ur barber....lol

even our colleagues abroad employ similar practices. they are called 'generalists' and studios especially the smaller ones constantly require generalists, so to the relatively unknown artist...its a plus to be an all-rounder.

but ur logic is largely sound.
if u do a single thing repetitively, chances r ull become very good at it.

cheers.

I‘ve been trying to comment on this thread since it was posted but i find me sleepin each time i try. Whyyyyyy? Cuz of d Jack of all trade syndrome. Not too many Clients or Studio owners share thesame dream or passion as You. Yes, at the end there is money but I‘m talkin keepin d audience truely entertained here. a thing u dont see happen everyday or at all in nollywood. But I‘ve been thinking... What and how much have we done to Promote or create CG awareness in this country?
Coming together to produce something isnt a bad idea but really, after a month or two without sponsors or some sort of finance coming in, not to talk about d problems to arise from synergy, u‘ll soon get bored and low spirited. @All, U r on d right path of thought but like it or not, these are issues that will crop up. Solve these then the syndrome plague might just b over or weakend. then again, some of us are just too busy for anyother form of fusion even if we wanted to b a part of it in d first place, still becuz of d Jack of All Trade Syndrome.

This is a general problem in the Nigerian society. Its pervasive even in school. How many students are willing to really collaborate? How many scientists are willing to share tips they learnt by making mistakes along the way? They'd rather let others make those same mistakes too. Everyone wants to be "the man who single handedly revolutionized Nollywood/Technology in Nigeria". But like Okx said, its all about our quest for survival and continued relevance.

Very well said @okx. Thanks guys for your very valid points and observation s

Interesting. I did meet people who where into CGI (using Maya) back in NIIT. I think some people have said the right thing. Lack of financial motivation is an aspect cripoling CGI.Not much of a problem in Hollywood where the financial structure is in place.

PeterReezer: yeah. Good talk
but the thing is...most of us...we 3d people know this.
1. There is no structure in place that ll accomodate this people...a client or sponsor need to know there is a structure in place, before giving out money...every worker got to eat something as they work...lol...tell an animator to keep keyframing,after 1 month nothing still comes, the confidence drops.
2. We got to specialize. I see an average nigerian thats into 3d as up to if not better than most white guys. We learn everything, they dont...when we specialize we ll be better...animate and forget about lighting and the rest...the other guy should light the scene and forget about animating and so on..
3. When we follow step 1 and 2 we can then create a team....when we create a team where each person knows his job...thats a stepping stone.
4. development takes place...we define a workflow....i d have love to upload a picture of a typical workflow or Animation production pipeline but nairaland doesnt like files above 200kb...lol..sorry....but...u get the idea.

send the files to me 1010@1010studio.com I wil send u the HTML code to post to see ur image here click the link below to see images that is showing on nairaland but not on nairaland server https://www.nairaland.com/1367177/adobe-after-effects-step-step