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Business Plan Development

My original goal for this class was to gain knowledge on how to correctly put together a complete business plan. I wanted to learn as much as possible on how to put together financial business projections as well for my business. This course did indeed meet my goal as it did show me all those things I wanted to know and then some more that I wasn’t expecting.  For example, the instructor went into depth on the concept of starting up a business and then selling it off once it was established fully. To me, this is a brilliant idea because I genuinely had no idea that it was a common practice and that it could be very profitable as well. I also had not realized the complexity of the three-year projection there was much more than I had to take into consideration that when I did my proforma in my previous finance class. This was an eye opener for me because there were many aspects to my business plan that I had to change completely but it made my business plan solid which I’m grateful for. I know that I don’t want to put together the business that I am laying out in my business plan. To me, it is merely just for academic purposes, but I know how to go about putting together a business plan for the future. I also now know that I could probably use this knowledge in a consulting position at a business firm in a professional environment. This class also thought me how to search for prices that correspond to a marketing aspect of a business and this is something that I can use in a marketing or branding position in my career. Ultimately, this class has given me tools and knowledge that I will be able to apply for the rest of my life in my professional career, and I am thankful for that.

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VFX Industry’s Current Role and Future Expectation

         Currently, the VFX industry is one of the fastest growing job markets I the world. It is not just Hollywood that is employing VFX artist to do work on their films but also the Video Game industry as well and Various other job sectors such as VR, the medical field, the military, NASA, construction, and engineering fields alike. Visual effects may be a very well used term in the movie and game industry but it if a title that encompasses many different types of roles that are not honestly talking about. One of these roles is the most well-known one called Computer Animation which is where an artist may create an animation from scratch or clean up a motion captured animation which is the current trend for animating highly complicated human interactions. Then there are some fewer public roles such as Look Development Artist who create the digital environments from props to building to entire landscapes. These guys are the ones who make the cities that we see our favorite superheroes destroy in the big blockbuster every year. They are the ones who make the fancy CGI ships, and all the cool worlds that the audience knows aren’t really in the slightest. Another less well-known role by name would be Character Artist, who are the ones who make all the cool robots, aliens, monsters, and digital superheroes. They are the ones who take the likeness of a deceased former actor and create CGI versions of them so that they can act in new movies. The role that’s probably the most obscure to the ordinary person would be the Compositor. These artists are the ones who take the CGI and composite it into the live-action recordings of any film. Another cool role that they serve is going through the film and color correction everything. Many times, all these guys fall into what is called Post-Production in films. Without artist such as these guys, the modern movies would not be as glamorous and as crisp in visual fidelity. This entire industry worldwide is currently worth billions of dollars, and it is only increasing in value every single year. The current global cost of the industry is estimated at around US$ 254 billion and by 2020 its expected to reach at least US$ 270 billion (Research and, M. (1).). This is indeed a ridiculous amount of money but the traction that the big summer blockbuster has accumulated and the over the top US$ 200 mil games that are released every couple of months it’s no wonder that this global number keeps increasing.

           There is a big downside to this industry and it honestly only relevant to the movie industry part of VFX and that is in the amount of credit given to these artists. When a movie ends the credits roll and everyone who worked on the film is named and aptly given thanks in a way. What they don’t tell the audience is the pecking order of those credits. Everyone who had anything to do in the slightest with the movies will be named including people who barely had a role in its creation get credit before the VFX artist do who are the real stars of these movies because without them the film would look horrible. They are also the largest cost of the movie’s budget and yes, even a more significant cost than that of the highest paid actors (Keegan, 2010). The other face to this coin that also is not well known amongst the public is the massive VFX sweatshops abroad in places like New Zealand, India and China (Keegan, 2010). The more well-known ones are companies such as ILM (Industrial Light and Magic), Rhythm and Hues, and Sony Pictures Imageworks all here in the USA (Keegan, 2010). When the term sweatshops are used for these VFX companies and locations it is because they tend to be underpaid for the level of work that they do, they are not unionized so they have no real protection, and as mentioned before they are not indeed recognized for their work. Post-Production work, VFX, and Animation for any movie are jobs that don’t stop for anything. In these studios big or small they don’t stop till the deadline is met, this includes working over 24 hours straight to get a scene done for a movie and god forbid that director or studio require reshoots. If the scenes being reshot had previously had digital work done on them again well, it’s going to have to be done yet. These are the guys who don’t sleep to make sure the massive movie audiences have their primary visual effects completed. As extensive as this industry is these artists should be recognized more, paid more, and have better working schedules.

           Now let’s talk a bit about the future of this industry and what software are the ones leading the charge. First, there is Pixologic’s ZBrush, it is well known and probably the most used by the artist previously mentioned for character modeling. This software is the one used to recreate a person’s face by digitally sculpting in 3D space. Recently it has been used for more than just movies and games. Artist by the name of Misha Kovalenko was commissioned by a company in Toronto to sculpt out an eagle that was later created in the real world to be a permanent sculpture on the side of their downtown building (Nibset, 2018). A brand-new version or update to the software was released with all new features that allow for these highly talented artists to do incredible work such as what Misha did. Another astonishing software would have to be Renderman which is a software created by Pixar. Renderman is a texturing and lighting software that is now used in VFX for movies and games to develop a sense of realism to what the audience is able to see on the screen. Recently the newest version was dropped by Pixar called Renderman 22 which is supposed to be much more powerful than before and even more realistic and knowing Pixar it is expected that they will deliver (Pixar, 2018). The last software to be mentioned is probably the most used out of the three and the more well known in the VFX industry, Autodesk’s Maya. This software is where things are animated, and worlds are modeled out with all their props. Maya has always been a very generalized software that mainly focuses on modeling and animation, but it has ever had a clunky side to it. This year's newest version called Mya 2018 is supposed to be more streamlined and efficient and now comes with its very own render plugin called Arnold (Autodesk, 2018). This is all fascinating news for the VFX industry especially knowing that they are the engines used by the artist to deliver the beautiful CGI effects in all the newest movies and games. This software is at the very front of the VFX frontier, and the more they are developed, the more impressive the VFX will be in years to come.

References 

Research and, M. (1). European Animation, VFX & Games Industry Report 2018: Strategies, Trends & Opportunities for the $46.2 Billion Market - ResearchAndMarkets.com. Business Wire (English).

Keegan, R. (2010). Hollywood's VFX Sweatshops. Time, 175(21), 1-2.

Nibset, M. (2018). ZBRUSHER CREATES MASSIVE EAGLE SCULPTURE IN TORONTO. In Pixologic. http://pixologic.com/blog/2018/07/zbrusher-creates-massive-eagle-sculpture-in-toronto/

Pixar Animation Studios Releases RenderMan 22 (2018). In Renderman.Pixar. https://renderman.pixar.com/news/pixar-animation-studios-releases-renderman-22

What's New in Modeling (2018). In Autodesk. https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2018/ENU/Maya-WhatsNewPR/files/GUID-6E87DC1E-3E18-45DD-834D-E34AAE5DA655-htm.html?v=2018

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Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution

In this course, we learned about Publishing and Distribution which are two things that don’t really apply to my business model but were truly interesting. Coming into the class, I had no idea in what to expect from it at all. But, what I have learned as far as publishing I think is exciting to me because I’m thinking about publishing my own book. The process for it is less complicated than expected, but now I know the process and what path to take. Once the instructor said that she had successfully published before and was successful I was thrilled to hear it because now I could actually make it a goal. Because of this, I have taken writing my book much more seriously, and I already have typed out my first chapter and halfway with my second chapter. Right now, I know I am in the very early stages of the writing process for the book, and I do have two editors already helping me along to keep it on track as well. As far as using this in my professional life I have no idea how I would use the information because my business plan is a business to business one. I would be doing direct post-production work for VFX and CGI companies. Publishing and distributing are not at all a part of it but if I end up in a position in which it requires these skills than I will have a proper idea of what to do. Some of the many jobs that I am scoping out deal with a lot of logistics, so I think some of the aspects of licensing for music. The reason I bring this up is that if I ever have to manage an event or a company who is always playing music I need to make sure I have the music licensed to use so that the company does not get sued. Those are the uses that I think I will be able to get out of this class, but I am delighted to have had this class.  

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Advanced Entertainment Law

This class has to be one of my favorites so far in this Master’s Program. It also has to be one of the most useful for my future business ventures. Having all this inside knowledge about contracts and their makeup is something that I have wanted for a long time now. Understanding the purpose of clauses and how to utilize them to protect me and my business is extremely useful. This class also thought me how to avoid getting sued for many easy mistakes in business dealings. Things such as copyright infringement and breach of non-disclosure agreements. As far as copyright my industry is notorious for being sued by people claiming copyright infringement. Just to clarify I am in the movie/gaming industry in the CGI & VFX part of it dealing with pre and post production of computer assets. Companies such as Rockstar Games and Activision have been sued for these many times. Sometimes they are allegations and other times they are strong enough cases to go to litigation in court. Then there are the non-disclosure agreements which are used in every studio to protect company assets and the projects that are being worked on. When one works for any CGI or VFX studio as an employee, there are many levels of non-disclosure agreements to be signed to be able to work on their projects because they need to be protected from the public or from competing studios. Sometimes the path to using content that belongs to someone else, there are licenses that need to be acquired but this is not always followed by these companies or by freelancers, and this is where lawsuits take place. Now having all this knowledge about the matter, I feel much safer when signing contracts and acquiring licensing for content use on my future projects. Overall this class was fantastic, and I feel like I got more from it than I initially expected.

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Product and Artist Management

This month I had the pleasure of being in Product and Artist Management. It was a great class that thought me a lot about show business which I had no idea about. The Instructor was incredibly detailed about every lesson and every lecture. I personally have never had the desire to manage artist at all but this class showed me how to appreciate that aspect of business very much. It also thought me a lot about how record deals are cut and their effect on an artist career. The truths about the music industry that I learned in this class have competently baffled me. I honestly did not think that It was an industry that attracted so many people looking to take advantage of the upcoming artists. After all the research I had to do on one of the worst, Lou Perlman, who was probably the worst artist manager that I have seen so far. There are also many others that are great too and go out of their way to help their clients succeed. The product management part I enjoyed much more to be completely honest. I feel like it is much easier to sell a product than to brand an artist. I think this also has to do with the fact that I don’t have a desire to deal with the crazy antics of many artists who have no idea on how reality actually works. The other thing that I was able to take from this class is all the insight on how television networks function. The way that they do advertising and how they sell on TV and the amount of money that is made on sales. Overall this class was not what I expected in any way I thought it was going to be boring and more about numbers and it was not at all. It was indeed a surprise, and I am glad it was so different than what I had in mind.

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Negotiation and Deal-Making

This month’s class, Negotiation and Deal-Making was truly interesting to me. I learned about many things such as the psychology that goes behind making successful negotiations to the laws pertaining to some of it. The instructor was extremely thorough with all the concepts that go into it. I have to say that this course met my expectations and then some. Basically, it blew my mind with the knowledge of how deal making really works. The crazy part about this class is when we were studying the psychology behind the deal-making how much of it was things that instinctually us humans already do. How depending on one’s personality we approach every deal in a different way. Some people can be very commanding and affirmative while others who are much more passive tend to take a back seat and just listen to what is being discussed. This is part of the reason my mind was blown compared to what I expected of this class. My expectation was more of a robotic approach to it almost. Let me explain, what I was expecting was more of formulas on how to land deals. The idea of following a written down way and always the same result would arise. Common sense tells me that isn’t the way negotiations go but it being the school I was looking at it from a mathematical point of view. The class also as previously motioned thought me a lot about the laws that go along with legal negotiations. The fact that people go to court over every little thing is baffling to me and the instructor being a former lawyer drove that point home. Now I know that for everything that involves money I should have a written contract. Overall this class was amazing I learned more than I was expecting to and I look forward to more classes like this one.

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Digital Marketing

The original goal I had for this class was to really learn what Digital Marketing entails. I learned more than I was expecting and because of it, the perspective I had has completely changed. Creating marketing campaigns really feels like something I genuinely want to have a career in. In the Lynda tutorial that I chose for this post I also learned about some really interesting tools that can help me build my social media presence. One of which is called Buffer, I plan on putting together an account and managing my Facebook and Instagram with. Buffer allows me to set up a posting schedule for when content will be posted to the platforms. It also provides me with a queue for posts this way I don’t have a to physically post anything myself the app does it for me. This is extremely helpful because if I am at an event or just busy with life and don’t have time to post the app does it in my place. Another great feature is that it gives me feedback in the way of analytics and this shows me if a post was successful or not. This is really good because it helps me build a more successful social media campaign. These campaigns are alive and constantly changing tools like Buffer allow you to see the progress in real time and adapt to the things that work and don’t. The flexibility that comes with it is really powerful. I will also be using this tool for professional settings as well if I happen to be helping a business build its online presence this could be one of the tools I use to maintain a posting schedule and also the analytics that comes with it will go a long way. My main focus for it now is to build my own social media presence and then build on that for my professional work.

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Business Finance

           This Finance course met my expectations and then some. I not only learned all the things I was expecting too but also a few I had no idea existed. I really appreciated how everything was laid out clear and simple for me to understand fully. I will say that there was a lot of information to take in but it’s a Masters course it should be a lot. Something I truly was not expecting was to get a class devoted to personal finances that truly blew my mind away. I wish when I was in high school I would have gotten a class on personal finance. It would have truly saved me many headaches up to this point in my life when it comes to money and personal budgeting. This was truly one of the highlights of this course for me because now I am much more informed on how I should go about making smarter financial decisions for my life. Another big highlight of the class would be the fact that now I feel confident in the prospect of having to make a business plan. The professor brought to light many things that are overlooked when planning a business. Many important subjects that I had no idea about were explained and elaborated on. The emphasis on things such as having an accountant where explicitly pointed at and reviewed. The importance of having a lawyer look over every single contract and making sure that all things are up to par with the federal and state law. Things like this I honestly can say I wasn’t thinking about when it came to putting my idea on paper for a business. After taking this course I feel like I have a better mental footing when it comes to understanding my own business idea and how I should approach it from a financial point of view.

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Branding and Storytelling Class

`This course has met my original objective in many productive ways. I have learned insights into how brands go out of their way to make themselves known to the public. Different strategies on how to brand myself for future employment opportunities. Creating my own personal website was something I had no idea on how to do it and now I have one essentially built and almost ready for publish. I feel like this was one of the most crucial things accomplished in this class. The other big thing that I have to give this class credit on is the fact that now I have an actual business plan in the works. I also learned a few things about myself while in the process of coming up with my business plan. I have another business idea that might actually be feasible if I go for it and that one I can actually get started on now. I would have never realized this unless I had this class. It was quite insightful and now I know how to poke holes in my own ideas and find solutions before I had an idea of the concepts but not an idea of the right answers. I have a better understanding on how to utilize a business model canvas and the importance of visualizing the different components of your plan. It really shows you if the idea even has the real footing, to begin with, and helps you figure out what research is essential. All this knowledge that I have now acquired I am already implementing with my current business plan but also, I will be applying it to any future business ventures and the second one I already have in the works.  I will be applying what I learned regarding how to build a website for my business plan currently. The website for that will probably be getting designed within the next month or so actually. I will end with this I loved the class and everything that was given to me I can apply to my life and plans right now.

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My December Month Class PTM (Project Team Management)

Going into this month of class I was expecting to learn various team building activities for the entertainment business industry. I was also expecting to learn different types of leadership techniques and styles that could benefit me once I graduate and get a job. I was expecting to work on a really interesting and challenging project with a team made up of Entertainment Business Masters students and Game Design Masters students. In general, I was really expecting to learn many new things about the field that I am attempting to get a Master’s degree in. What the class actually delivered was something completely different than what I was expecting. I remember how excited I was about going to class on day one and how I wanted to apply the concepts that I learned in my previous class. What ended up happening is that I expected too much once class began and things started to unfold. The structure of the class was really weird to me. We had to focus on a coming up with a plan for a future project we might want to work on but also on top of that we had to work on teams for an imaginary project at the same time. The real project plan was a kind of interesting but the imaginary one didn’t really even have a grade to it. Essentially it was supposed to be a simulation but without any real consequences or weight so it had no feel of importance at all. The main project plan that obviously had a real purpose but the directions were confusing and unclear as well. At times, I had no idea what to even after asking plenty of questions. After class I would ask other students for clarity but they all seemed to be as confused as I was. I can say I feel like I didn’t really learn anything new from doing all the project planning. I also don’t feel like I learned anything I didn't previously know about leading. At times, what we were being taught actually contradicted what we were thought in pervious classes. AT the end of the day I was honestly disappointed with the class and I hope my next class is better.

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My thoughts on the quote recently posted by Robert Greene

To me, this truly resonates because I have to work on humility. At times I feel like I know it all when in fact I don't and I have to sit back and listen. Or shut my mind for a few moments because of my inner voice may be louder than that of my instructor.

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To learn requires a sense of humility.

Greene, Robert. Mastery. New York, Penguin Group, 2012, pp. 93-245. 

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My Mastery Journey

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"SUCCESS ISN'T ALWAYS ABOUT GREATNESS. IT's ABOUT CONSISTENCY. CONSISTENT HARD WORK LEADS TO SUCCESS. GREATNESS WILL COME." Dwayne Johnson (Robert, D, 2014).

Citation - Roberts, D. (2014). THE ROCK IN THIS CORNER, DWAYNE JOHNSON. Fortune, 170(7), 144-150. Retrieved from EBSCOhost 

These great words are one of a few quotes I try to live by in my everyday. I know that I am the only one that can get me my achievements in my schooling and any other part of my life. This quote is also something that I can personally say I can prove. When I go to the gym I know that only I can lift the weights and thus I will make the gains. It is the same thing in all other aspects of my life. I feel like this should be something that others should live by as well. That self-realization that one has to do all the work to achieve a goal is something that sets in a bit too late for some people. I have learned to look past my weaknesses and excuses in my life and now I don’t make excuses because making them takes up too much precious time I could be spending bettering my life.

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This is my LinkedIn.com account. Here is a link to it as well.  www.linkedin.com/in/magdiel-sancesario-hogguitt 

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This is my personal brand logo, this is something that is extremely important for self-branding.