Roadside Assistance – Blender Animated Short Film
Nimble Collective writes:
First time Writer and Director Kathy McNeal teamed up with Nimble Collective and their Pilot Program to create an animated short film. The film is made in Blender and leverages an early version of Nimble’s cloud-based production platform.
Kathy also managed to source a gender equal, 50/50 balance in the team of fifty male and female creatives who worked on the project. An achievement that Women In Animation is hoping all productions can reach by 2025.
This is an early teaser for the film, which is expected to be released fall 2017.
https://vimeo.com/222744242
“Kathy also managed to source a gender equal, 50/50 balance in the team of fifty male and female creatives who worked on the project. ”
Oh boy. Was this a happy coincidence that you realized after analyzing the hiring data, or was this an affirmative action thing?
Hey, Reavenk. It was not initially a set goal, but as the team started coming together, Kathy realized it could be achieved if it was brought into focus – having said that, it certainly wasn’t easy to reach. There is a good Interview with her in Variety, below.
http://variety.com/2016/film/spotlight/women-in-animations-initiatives-aim-to-boost-female-creative-talent-in-the-biz-1201931806/
No. Just no. People should be hired for their talent regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual preference, etc. You can spin it any way you want, but if you’re hiring artists mainly because they’re women (and the interview suggests that’s the case) it’s just as bad as excluding artists because they’re women.
I’m with SHANNON on this one. Purposefully hiring someone based on their gender is the same as discriminating against someone else based on their gender. Side note: statistical disparity doesn’t automatically mean inequality. Personal opinion is that people should be hired based on talent not gender.
Politics aside I didn’t really get the trailer/video clip. Is there supposed to be sound because I couldn’t hear anything. Animation looks fine, a bit simple, but fine none the less.
Anyways I’ll be interested to see how the film turns out.
“Wow, Nick, you have a great resume! And rich experience in industry! It seems that you perfectly fit given position… Said so, I’m really sorry that we have to refuse your application, since you lack a vagina. You see, if we hire you, it’ll destroy our gender balance here, and we’ve been told that this is very important for making a good content… sooo, until next time”
I understand the initial anger of affirmative action based on gender. However how do you address a history of bias against women? For me, there is not an easy answer, but hiring purely based on talent has built in bias from historical practices.
I dealt with these exact issues in South Africa when I was hiring for my motion graphics team, but also included race, and disabilty.
Not sure if everyone saw what is happening at the BBC right now, but there is a massive gender bias in hiring and salaries.
We are not as egalitarian as we like to think we are.
Well, I don’t mean to sound sexist, but here’s bitter news for you – men ARE more talented when it comes to creative and intellectual professions. That’s a historic fact. That’s how nature itself build us, no matter how hard you want to deny that fact. It is as pointless as to deny that men are physically stronger than women.
So, yeah, hiring personnel based solely on a talent and expirience it’s a pretty damn good practice if you want to produce good content.
That *does* sound very sexist.
It doesn’t matter if it is – what matters is that it’s true
That simply is NOT true. The opinion that you should hire based on talent, rather than gender, race, etc. is fine for me, if that is how you feel – but trying to suggest that women are not creative is completely idiotic and makes all of your previous comments moot. You are trying to state an opinion as fact, and it is nothing close to a fact. I work in an creative industry that is very male dominated, and some of the most creative people I know are female. You might have some merit if you were to say that some women have trouble thinking outside the box because society tends to try to keep women in a box, just as you are trying to do, but to say that they are genetically inferior to creativity is just ridiculous.
This is absolutely innacurate, and this speech only gives arguments for this SJW radicalization we face today. You can find more men on technical-related activities, but there’s zero correlation here with real talent.
I think our main concern should be the quality of the narrative and animation, but unfortunately the focus of these days is the SJW agenda. All we need is more art done by good artists, regardless of ethnicity, gender or whatever.
Well this went AWOL :3
Bart, you should have known when you posted the 50/50 gender part.
People, this happens A LOT in many corporations and offices, it IS an inside agenda, some don’t even hide it.
What’s bad about this is that, those women and/or transgender, fluids or whatever that get hired based on this, because they are not that talented (although many are, they will feel as if they got pitty, hired just for their genitals and not their actual skills, this is the bad part, you occupy a position just because they needed a FAG in the team (fag is written with no intention of insult, just for impact)
It will create an unbalance regarding skills and ability to learn further alongside peers, maybe. It will create an unbalance view regarding: why is this person here given his lack of skills etc…why is he/she/zhe paid the same as me, oh, right, genitals and apache helichopper cravings, of course.
No real comments on the gender department. That was the company’s decision and we have to respect everyone’s views- even if it differs from our own (I am neutral in this matter). I personally commend them for encouraging women to create more 3D art. Since the main character is a female, why not have females involved since they can tell the story from that perspective? Gender is beside the point!
As for the trailer…
I like it very much. I would have modeled the car a bit different but overall is great. If I could do half as good as they did, I would be king of the world!
I can’t wait to see the finished project.
I love the scene with the bobble head. It looks great!
It seems to me from Nimble’s comment that the 50/50 thing was just a fun addition to the project since they were close enough anyways.
Why is everyone acting like it was the entire thrust of the project?
How do I contact Kathy McNeal about the possibility of showing her new short in Palm Springs, CA?
You can contact Kathy through her website at http://www.roadsideassistanceshort.com/