I usually stick to posting stuff that inspires me on my blog, but this time I have to share a sad story.
I remember I was surprised by the first lecture at Animation Mentor when they said "Don't Steal Other People Shots and Put them on Your Own Showreel". I was thinking...wow, isn't that obvious? Is it really necessary to even tell us that? Who would be THAT stupid?
Well, recently I found out that a guy I used to work with, and whom I thought was a friend, has stolen a couple of my shots and used them on his own animation showreel. After talking to several of my colleagues, it turns out that there's not only my shots on his reel, but others as well.
I don't get it! He may get a job as an animator by putting other peoples work on his reel, but if he could animate himself, he would obviously have used his own shots - so whats the point?
The real problem with this though, is that if any of us apply at the same places he has applied and they see the same shots on our reels, we may be accused of stealing his shots. Luckily the industry is very small. Everybody knows everybody and news like this is all over the place in no time - which is good.
It just makes me sad that somebody is capable of doing these kind of things. Thank God it's very rare!
Kind of Sad when this happens, especially when it is someone you know and trust. Lets hope justice the culprit removes your work and that of others from his reel.
ReplyDeleteIt's not as "rare" as you may think.
ReplyDeleteI can't speak for feature animators' show reels, but for television animation I've seen dozens of thefts over the last 10 years as a director. In fact I've even caught small animation studios stealing clips from OTHER studio reels to place on their own reels, in hopes to get more work out of it.