Author | Coconut Tree Snow Night Maple Scales
"It's hard to do film and television or dry games, in fact, many people's hearts are swinging and jumping," Xiao Wang, who just left the previous game company, told Blowfish Film and Television Archives.
Since last year, the "Internet winter" rhetoric has been everywhere, the epidemic has slowed down the economic growth, and the entire environment is not optimistic. Among them, the film and television and game industries, as two areas with frequent personnel flows, are more obviously affected by capital and policies.
Falling in love and killing each other can basically sum up the relationship between these two industries. In school, the professional study of film and television animation technology and game technology is often not separated; after graduation, high salaries can attract a group of talents for the game industry, but there are also people who are willing to accumulate experience in the film and television special effects and post-production industries in order to love it; in the middle of the way, the game industry almost never stops digging people in the film and television animation industry, but the tightening of the game version number once or twice makes the film and television people who jump ship discouraged and left...
Interestingly, a number of outsourcing companies in the industry have been spawned to thrive as a result. There are projects, there is a demand for people, the salary is not low, and the degree of flexibility is higher. Although the welfare and stability are not as good as some large factories and companies, in the current environment, the already unstable nature of outsourcing companies seems to have become a certain stability.
Xiao Wang told Blowfish Jun that for most middle-aged workers like him who jumped from the film and television industry to the game industry and eventually left their jobs, there are nothing more than three roads in front of them: continue to find opportunities to jump jobs, go to outsourcing companies or go back to their hometowns to do something else.
01 Animators and game people, once a family
There are three differences between animation, film and television, and game special effects
Strictly speaking, it is actually the group of people and gamers who do animation in the film and television industry, and it is difficult to give up in the initial professional study. This has also led to the frequent flow of talent in the two industries from the source.
As far as the animation industry is concerned, "it is difficult to do animation, and it is even more difficult to do original animation" has become a consensus or common sense in the eyes of outsiders. But for real industry practitioners, as long as there is sufficient financial and technical support, the "difficulty" mentioned above will not be too difficult, and the exit rate, industry situation or work will not be too bad.
Only in recent years, the industry environment has become farther and farther away from the ideal state.
Yang Lei, vice president of Ruosen Digital, told Blowfish Film and Television Archives, "Around 2015, there was a capital boom that poured into the animation field, and many companies were relatively smooth in financing, which correspondingly gave many original animation teams opportunities." However, once there is no way to continue to create profits, the funds raised will always be spent one day. In this case, coupled with the influence of the general environment, capital began to slowly withdraw, and animation companies also lost supplies.
Works produced by Josén Digital
As far as the field of drama is concerned, the most obvious change caused by this is that the productivity of many animation companies has begun to shift from self-made or other businesses to mainly serving the platform. "Because the platform invested in a number of animation companies, the attributes of some companies have changed, and now they are equivalent to the business model of TO B." Yang Lei said.
Teams working on original animation are starting to get fewer and harder.
At the same time, the game industry's poaching campaign continues. "They often dig people at double or even triple the price," Weng Shihua, production director of Ruosen Digital, told Blowfish Jun, "the talent in the whole process is flowing very frequently, and animation is relatively exercised", which also leads to the "hot hand" of high-quality animation talents.
The phrase "you can do art, but you don't need it" is often active in the self-deprecation of many film and television creators. For the animation industry, the same is true, "some people really feel that he does not need to go", a practitioner told Xiaoyu, "are doing the same thing, for many workers, who will not be able to live with money?" ”
Talent is being poached, and the animation and related film and television special effects industries are more thirsty. Some time ago, Xiao Gao, the owner of the up who was on the first of the hot list with his personal two-and-a-half-year self-made CG short film on the B station, revealed to Entertainment Capital that there have been many related companies in the circle who have handed him olive branches, including many well-known teams in the industry.
On the other hand, the version number that was thought to be tightened again in the game industry may have some talent return. But this is not the case.
"I see a lot of people who have left the game company on the recruitment website, and their psychological expectation salary has not completely decreased, so there may still be a situation of continuing to jump jobs, looking forward to whether there will be a next game company, or enter the platform, but in fact, the platform layoffs are also severe." Weng Shihua said, "In the game industry, if projects are cut very frequently, it is actually normal for a person to jump ship three times in a year. ”
But are these people who are wandering around the door of the game industry, or who have not yet left in a game company, really better than in the original industry?
02 Escape to the gaming industry, not necessarily better
Animation and film and television special effects talents have a considerable overlap rate, and in the eyes of most film and television people, behind the loss of this part of the talent, there are often game companies looking at the tiger, and even the game companies will be regarded as the initiators of the slow process of film and television industrialization. However, the truth is not as black and white as imagined.
Chengdu's full-time production of game special effects outsourcing told Blowfish Jun that when the epidemic was at its worst in 2020, they had received a large number of job applications from film and television special effects. On average, about 2-3 out of 10 resumes are from the film and television industry.
A game special effects artist recruitment requirements
Game companies at the time were able to offer many attractive high salaries. In beijing's film and television companies, the salaries of junior employees range from 6,000 to 10,000. But as mentioned earlier, game companies will directly dig people at 2-3 times the price. A junior employee of film and television special effects jumps to a game company and can get up to 30,000 monthly salaries.
Even in a quasi-first-tier city like Chengdu, the salaries of game companies are also very attractive.
According to Xinhai, chengdu's film and television special effects salary is basically around 6,000 to 8,000. Although these people jump to the game special effects company, they need to go through about a year of training and running time, and the initial salary is not as good as the salary level they have reached, but as long as they have spent this time, the salary increase space of game special effects is obviously better than that of film and television special effects.
However, since last year, the cold winter of the version number has put the game industry in crisis again.
As mentioned in the previous article "235 Days of the "Disappearance" of the Edition Number", when the publication number is not issued, cutting projects has become a common thing. This year, this trend continues.
Giants such as Tencent NetEase are shutting down and turning into unprofitable projects, and companies such as Lilith and iGG are also streamlining their teams, not to mention some companies that have been expanding but their works have been delayed, and reducing the size of the company is their only way out.
The situation of small companies is even more bleak, from last year's version of the suspension to December, a total of 14,000 game-related companies were written off, and small and micro enterprises are the vast majority of them.
In this environment, large companies no longer need more resident special effects personnel, small companies directly go bankrupt, and the flow of animation, film and television special effects talents to the game field has been hindered.
Angie is the HR of a game special effects company. She told Blowfish Jun that the company's attitude towards film and television special effects was very positive, and poaching was commonplace. But this year, in order to tighten the monetary base and save the cost of training employees, they have begun to avoid accepting this part of the employees who have changed careers.
It is worth mentioning that Xinhai heard many peers who jumped to the game special effects complain that although the salary is still good, many people did not get the year-end award last year, which also made them feel knotted.
03 Going back to home or going to an outsourcing company is a problem
Nowadays, going to a game company no longer means getting a good job, and most film and television people who have changed careers are beginning to think about their own way out. According to the observation of Blowfish Jun, returning to work in his hometown and entering an outsourcing company has become the final choice for most animation or film and television special effects people.
Anji told Blowfish Jun that many film and television special effects people leave the original company, and the main motivation is to return to their hometown to work. The pressure of work in big cities is high, and the decline of the film and television industry has gradually made their daily income unable to support normal living expenses. "The return of the leaf to the root is also what most people have to choose", so taking advantage of this seemingly declining moment, many film and television special effects people chose to return to their hometown.
Choosing to go home is accompanied by the next step of employment direction. Xinhai believes that the reason why a large number of film and television talents have flowed into the game industry is because small and medium-sized cities have also begun to have a large number of game companies. Since 2018, game giants such as Tencent and NetEase have begun to capture land in second- and third-tier cities, with Xiamen and Changsha as their main relocation locations.
A large number of film and television companies are still concentrated in first-tier cities. If you want to make a difference in the film and television field, it is obviously impossible to count on the film and television company at your doorstep. Therefore, if you decide to go back to your hometown, then entering the local game studio is the most logical choice.
In addition to local game studios, more animation or film and television special effects people have entered the advertising, wedding and other industries. These two fields are strong in demand throughout the country, and the requirements for design and aesthetics are also in line with the professional ability of this group of film and television people to a certain extent.
Recruitment requirements for an advertising design post
Of course, many people are still holding out, and they choose to stay in the big cities for the time being and enter the special effects outsourcing company. According to Xinhai's introduction, although the game company itself has been controlling the scale, the film and television industry is also in a slump, but there have been many special effects outsourcing companies like them, and capable special effects people can even become freelancers and take over their own work. It's far easier than staying in one company.
Relatively speaking, with the downward trend of regular film and television companies and game companies, these outsourcing companies have been spawned faster. A film and television practitioner who has been living in Party A's company for many years told Blowfish Jun that although the environment is sluggish, there are still many projects. Outsourcing companies appear more or less in various projects, and "the price is getting higher and higher every year".
This batch of outsourcing companies is divided into two categories, one is the company where Xinhai is located, specializing in game special effects outsourcing or film and television special effects outsourcing, and the scope of services is relatively narrow. The other is to take care of both, projects in the film and television industry can be taken over, and special effects production of game projects can also be competent.
For example, at two o'clock, they started by taking on outsourcing work. At present, the main business of two points is to produce original animation, but they have not given up the outsourcing of animation special effects. There are game customers like Glory of Kings, as well as many film and animation projects.
However, outsourcing companies also have their own limitations, that is, the instability of the project.
Blowfish Jun has seen many special effects outsourcing companies in various industry groups solicit orders for their companies, and has also been exposed to various businesses. They complained to Pufferfish Jun that "it's really hard to pull orders now, especially for new customers." As industry risk increases, clients are always more inclined to go to outsourcing companies that have worked with multiple times rather than new partners.
However, for the average animation or film and television special effects person, outsourcing companies that have accidentally "prospered" have indeed become an important path for them to stay in the industry.
Overall, whether in the film and television or game industry, special effects and full-process talent are in a state of instability. Film and television companies can't retain people, game companies can't recruit more people, the two sides are in a pulling situation, and workers are somewhat of NPC situations under the general trend of the industry.
"I think it may be a bad time to enter the industry, but who says outsourcing companies can't give me the next chance to jump ship?" Xiao Wang, who left the game factory, finally thought about it, and after taking a vacation for half a month, he was ready to go to an outsourcing company to join.