Siggraph 2006: Wednesday August 2

Siggraph Day Four, Part One...Lucas, FedEx, and the Electronic Theater.

Once again, I left J.D. behind and hit the convention center alone. Alone, but carrying almost 20 pounds of books, manuals, leaflets, pamphlets, and give-aways that I had to FedEx home so as not to send my luggage over the weight restrictions. I crammed it all in a couple of snot-slippery Siggraph plastic bags, and, well, the experience was like wrestling a gigantic slug.

Me and the 20 pounds of ephemera made it to the convention center in just enough time to attend a 30-minute session on hiring practices at the LucasArts booth (props to them for using Nelson benches in the booth). I didn't want to sit with the bags on my lap, but I didn't have enough time before the session to mail them, so I decided to stand in the back. The decision definitely worked in my favor. I noticed the guy next to me was crowd-watching (a favorite pasttime of mine) and was highly entertained by it, so I used that to open the networking door. Turned out he's Lucas employee (!), albeit a programmer, who came to work the booth, and he got curious about what the company is telling potential hires. We talked for 10 minutes or so, and I got to find out what it's like to work for the Big L. (Sort of like working for any other corporation, only cooler).

The session was oh-so-informative, although, once again, there was a lot of microphone gargling going on. Five different people spoke, but only two were fearless enough to speak clearly. Yes, dear LucasPeople, and everyone else for that matter, a microphone makes your voice loud. That's the f-ing point! Anyway, Lucas is looking for people doing photo-realistic work for a gaming division they are starting in Singapore. Verrrry interesting. I watched that comment spread disappointment across a lot of faces, though; not many people in the gaming and film industry have the right training and skills to do photo-real. Don't get me wrong. These people turn out a lot of great work, and there's some realism in the work that they do. But few do genuine photo-realistic work. Heck, a lot of them would consider that boring. After all, that's what those of us who work in marketing and advertising do. Needless to say, I was intrigued. :)

The LucasFolk also said they are looking for generalists, a most happy surprise. Totally not expecting to hear that. I mean, I went to the session because I was curious, not because I was thinking of applying. I didn't even bring a demo reel to Siggraph. Heck, I don't even have a demo reel. I'm too busy making animations to, uh, make an animation. But after hearing that, I couldn't help but wonder......maybe one day. Once again, that comment had a physical effect on the crowd. About 2/3 were visibly disappointed, but the other 1/3 were obviously generalists who seemed to be experiencing a larger version of the little giddiness that hit me. Just by watching expressions, I could have told you the background of everyone in the audience.

Still, the LucasUniverse can afford to be picky, very, very picky. The hiring rep said they will occasionally hire someone who just lives in the basement and is a self-taught CG genius, but for the most part, they are looking for degrees, and advanced degrees at that. She said you don't necessarily need a Ph.D. in physics, but if you do, she'd like to talk to you right after the session. Still, it all comes down to demo reels. The degree is just a good deciding factor. So, if you have a killer demo reel, you're in. If you have a killer demo reel and an advanced degree, you're totally in. But if it comes down to someone with a killer demo reel versus someone with a killer demo reel plus a degree, the degree is in. And they prefer demo reels on the web! You don't even need a web site, per se, just a server where you can dump your goods for them to see. Apparently all of the Lucas divisions share applications, and it's easier to share a web link than a single demo reel that has to get inter-officed around. Once again, good to know.

After the session, I took the bag-o'plenty to the FedEx inside the convention center. Oy. First of all, it was like being home. The furniture inside was Bretford with Caper chairs. Apparently we won that contract. There were only two people working behind the desk and about 10 people in line, all of whom had COMPLICATED requests. People printing business cards, a lady from Pixar trying to get 300 copies of a flyer, and general chaos. Considering there were 25, 000 people there for Siggraph, I can't fathom the stupidity behind FedEx's decision NOT to add extra staffing. Still, I'm glad they had one there. I was able to send everything home in two overstuffed boxes for a grand total of $14. Nice.

After that, I met up with J.D. for the Electronic Theater. To her, the Electronic Theater is THE reason to go to Siggraph. It's the best of the best in animation, 2 hours of animation shorts by everyone under the sun. As I've mentioned, J.D. doesn't see a lot of television or movies, so there's a gee-whiz factor in it for her that isn't there for me. It was nice, although I would have been just as happy to watch it all on a DVD at home.

In fact, I would have been much happier watching it at home. The room was absolutely freezing, the coldest one I found at Siggraph. It couldn't have been warmer than 60 degrees in there. Then, the control people had the volume up WAY TOO LOUD. As I told J.D., if I was in a real movie theater, I would have complained to the manager and demanded a refund if the sound wasn't turned down. I don't need to FEEL the audio; what I need to do is hear again tomorrow. I have enough hearing damage as is. And I wasn't the only one with a problem. I saw several other people trying to subtly cover their ears. And, even though all the shorts were cool, and the volume was deafening, I couldn't stay awake and eventually had to walk out. The room was super-dark, waaaay darker than a real movie theater, and I simply can't sit in a dark room for any length of time and stay awake. I do okay in movie theaters because there's a lot of ambient light, and even those usually leave me feeling a little sleepy afterwards. But the Electronic Theater was perfect for overwhelming sleepiness. Oh well. Hopefully some of the shorts that I missed will be on the Siggraph DVD that is coming.

Tag: Siggraph 2006