Big Idea kills it's in house animation department

[roger]

I read that on animationnation. :thumbsdow
I feel sorry for all the people that moved out there to work.

[RobertoOrtiz]

Sadly I saw this coming.
Once they started using outside vendors, I knew it was the beginning of the end!

[WillRyan]

yeah, i knew a lot of people who worked there, and the last few months have been a roller coaster. I feel bad in a way too for all the students and artists in the area who looked at Big Idea as the Holy Grail of the midwest. i know a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff made it seem like a tough place to be, but you can't argue how ambitious the company was. I'm not a card-carrying Christian, but I really admired some of their work: especially 3-2-1 Penguins. I guess it is a statement of the talent that resided there when you look at what some of them are working on now: Robots, Ice Age 2, G.I. Joe DTV, etc.

as an aside, does anybody know what project is referred to in the AN thread: Steve Williams is working on an animated feature thru CORE Digital. I know i've read something about it recently, but for the life of me can't remember where.

willryan

[Ckerr812]

Originally posted by WillRyan

Steve Williams is working on an animated feature thru CORE Digital. I know i've read something about it recently, but for the life of me can't remember where.

willryan

Yea..A comedy written by the same guys who wrote something about mary I think. Should be pretty darn funny. That's all I know about it though.

[bentllama]

Bad for Big Idea former employees...my condolences...though the talented people in this mess should land on thier feet...

Good for the Canadian Animation Industry, though I do not want Canadian houses to turn into another "Far-East-outsource-to-me-for-cheap-labour" type of thing...

[AWAKE]

so does that make big idea a small idea?

or a consolidated Idea?

or a get rich idea? oh, they already had that Idea.


heh.:hmm:

[flipnap]

Awake, Im sure all the great people who work at BI and are losing their jobs appreciate your humor; thanks for chiming in :thumbsdow

anyhoo, BI will be sadly missed and my best wishes for a very talented crew. You guys wont be out of jobs for too long..

cheers

[Brettzies]

ugh, this is sad news for several reasons. i feel bad for everyone there that now has to find new jobs, because they'll most likely have to move, which is a whole 'nother pain. i'm not sure chicago has a booming animation industry. i hope they can all find new places to throw down keyframes, move polys, or whatever it is they like to do so well.

anyone know what will happen with BIdea, i assume the head guys are around and may try to rebuild at somepoint?

[Signal2Noise]

I work in an engineering design firm. Unfortunately for others but good for Canadians, because of the dollar rate Canada is becoming on of these "Far-East-outsource-to-me-for-cheap-labour" countries. My firm outsource all over the world as well, especially India, but we are starting to become an attractive market for the US because we're so close and comparatively cheap. We call our Eastern satellite offices "High-value Engineering Centres" or "HVEC" for short. That's what Canada is becoming.

Time to brush up on the resume to get me an animation job! :applause:

[chrisWhite]

Bummer, :cry:

[mrZack]

besides midway, high voltage, chicago is hurting,
and hollywod is not filming in here anymore, cuz its cheaper to shoot in toronto or vancouver.

time to do what my friend said all alone, suicide run to california.

:insane:

[LucentDreams]

Originally posted by bentllama
Bad for Big Idea former employees...my condolences...though the talented people in this mess should land on thier feet...

Good for the Canadian Animation Industry, though I do not want Canadian houses to turn into another "Far-East-outsource-to-me-for-cheap-labour" type of thing...


uhm Bardel Animation, the Ex disney Canada. I think we were, but the thing is we arne't cheap enough thats why disney canada shut down even with its great talent. I'm curious to know how long till we start farming out 3D stuff. Producers are often the ones that kill the projects. I hope we see more productions like Les Triplettes or My little world, pieces that are done for far less, and yet are about the art.

[FloydBishop]

http://www.bigidea.com/other/talktous.htm

Apparently you can let the studio know how you feel about this recent business decision.

[FClub_TDurden]

Yeah that suks!

I remember a few yrs back at Siggraph...they had killer stuff...specially that 321 Penguins....too bad they farmed it out.....

Most of the people that left BigIdea I heard went to BlueSky....they actually joke about it calling BlueSky either BigSky or BlueIdea...since so many of them are there...

[vorlon]

BadIdea

[mikewebb]

The Chicago market sucks. I enjoyed living there for 7 years but everything has dried up. Now this. I had several friends that worked at Big Idea. One still does but doesn't think it will last beyond his current project. I also heard that there was no severance package. They must have bet the farm on their movie and lost.

Mike

[WillRyan]

The Chicago market is really tight right now. Big Idea is creatively dead, Midway is taking a nose dive, and another big name start-up's first game was a flop. The market is flooded with students who will work for nothing, and still can't find anything. But sooner or later, someone is going to realize it, and start something up here. The biggest problem right now is no one is willing to take the leap.

But the amount of talent has hit a crescendo: there are a TON of people out here who are unemployed, or ready to jump from their current job. The few places that are hiring have been able to lowball salaries, just 'cause people want work. I've heard talk of ex-Big Idea guys setting up something similar to Icepond Studios, and then there is a company called Prairie Pix that may have some feature work. The entire community is salivating with the possibility of Dreamation Studios; the rumored-to-be production studio of Paramount. Rumors swirl about this new company being financed to do the CGI for the John Woo produced Mighty Mouse feature. Everyone is just waiting to hear what's gonna happen. But why can't more happen?

[sinistar]

well some of the better animation schools are in Canada so it seems like a good move to me.

[Vladvrz]

Only the talented will survive is my feeling,it's the way of things with everything,oh and the ones willing to take next to nothing.:rolleyes:

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.