Learning Outcomes

WII 1 Understand job roles, career structures and business models across the games,

animation and VFX industries

WII 2 Know the regulatory, ethical and legal requirements applicable to the games, animation

and VFX industries

WII 3 Understand how products in the games, animation and VFX industries are taken to

market

Games, animation and VFX Infographics

Games, animation and VFX business models

Games

Animation

VFX

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Regulatory, ethical and legal requirements in the Games, Animation, and VFX Industry

Games

Regulatory requirements

In the UK, the games industry is regulated by the Video Standards Council (VSC) and the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) system.

Ethical Requirements

In the UK, the games industry is expected to adhere to ethical standards set by organizations such as UKIE (UK Interactive Entertainment) and TIGA (The Independent Game Developers' Association). These standards include guidelines for the representation of sensitive topics such as violence, race, and gender in games.

Legal Requirements

In the UK, games companies must comply with copyright and trademark laws related to the use of intellectual property in their games.

Animation

Regulatory requirements

The animation industry in the UK falls under the jurisdiction of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), which is responsible for classifying and certifying films and videos for public exhibition. The animation industry is also subject to the regulations of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which oversees the content of advertisements and ensures that they are legal, decent, honest and truthful.

Ethical Requirements

The animation industry is expected to follow principles of honesty, integrity, and respect for animators in the production and distribution of animation content however their is no current governing body to regulate this

The industry should also ensure that the representation of characters and themes in animation is culturally sensitive and appropriate for the intended audience.

Legal Requirements

The animation industry must comply with copyright and trademark laws in the production and distribution of animation content. The industry must also comply with data protection laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the handling of personal data. The industry should also be aware of laws related to discrimination, harassment, and other forms of misconduct in the workplace.

VFX

Regulatory requirements

The VFX industry in the UK falls under the jurisdiction of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), which is responsible for classifying and certifying films and videos for public exhibition. The VFX industry is also subject to the regulations of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which oversees the content of advertisements and ensures that they are legal, decent, honest and truthful.

Ethical Requirements

The VFX industry should ensure that the visual effects are not used to mislead or deceive the audience. The industry should also consider the impact of visual effects on the environment and the welfare of animals, if any however there is no current governing body to regulate this. The industry should also consider the ethical implications of using visual effects to depict violence, and ensure that the content is appropriate for the intended audience.

Legal Requirements

The VFX industry must comply with copyright and trademark laws in the production and distribution of visual effects content. The industry must also comply with data protection laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the handling of personal data. The industry should also be aware of laws related to discrimination, harassment, and other forms of misconduct in the workplace. The industry should also be aware of laws related to working hours, health and safety, and other employment regulations.

How products in the games animation and VFX market are taken to market

1. Idea. The first step of making a game is to come up with the idea for it.

2. GGD/Gameboard: After the idea is formed it can be developed and planned out in a team using game boards. gameboards are a great way to share ideas in a visual way quickly, and cost effective as they save money later on in production

1. Development: The next step in taking a game to market is the development process, where a team of game developers creates the game using programming languages, game engines and other tools. This process can take several months or even years, depending on the complexity of the game.

4. Testing: After the game has been developed, it goes through a testing phase, where it is played and evaluated

5. Marketing: Once the game has been tested and is ready for release, a marketing campaign is launched to generate interest and excitement around the game. This can include advertising, social media promotion, and press coverage.

6. Distribution: The final step in taking a game to market is distribution, where the game is made available to players through various channels such as digital storefronts like Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, or via physical retailers.

7. release: After all the steps are done, the game is released to the public and it becomes available for purchase or download.

1. Idea. The first step of making a animation is to come up with the idea to use.

2. Storyboard/Animatic: After the idea is formed it can be developed and planned out using storyboards. Storyboards are a great way to share ideas in a visual way quickly, and cost effective as they save money later on in production

3. Rough animations: whether you are making your animations 2d or 3d it is good practice to make rough versions to plan and develop shots. if you are making a 2d animation this could be making rough sketches of characters to focus on the action and is your making 3d animations this could be using premade asset/characters and focussing planning out the primary actions they take and the composition of the scene

4. Clean up: Cleaning up the animation is important to insure you have a nice polished end result. for 2d animations this could be making the final line layer and for 3d this could be finalising the animation.

5. colour: for 2d animations now you could add colour to the shots however for most 3d animations the texturing is done in the modelling stage

6. Rendering and editing: for both 2d and 3d animations the files must be rendered to get the final result. 2d rendering is often quick due to not much processing power being needed however 3d animations are known to be very time consuming with companies such as Pixar sharing that it takes them at least 24 hours to render one frame. after the frames are rendered into images they must be combined together using editing software producing the final shots

7. Sound and FX: now sound effects must be added over the animations. this can be anything from dialog, foley and even procedural sounds.

8. release: After all the steps are done, the animation is released to the public.

1. Bidding: The first stage of VFX is bidding for jobs. As the funding for VFX productions comes from the film industry the VFX houses must bid against each other to get shots in films.

2. Research: Once a VFX House has secured a job for a agreed price the team must get together and decide how they will create the directors vision

3. Now Storyboarding and planning: Now that everyone has an idea how they will complete the shots they can make storyboards along side the director and assign different tasks to different people

4. Previs: previs is often done by a different team and is similar to a animatic. It is often helpful for the director to see it and make changes before production properly starts

5. On set production: this must be done when filming is happening and is useful to capture things in the enviroment such as HDRIs to get realistic lighting and scanning objects for previs and later production

6. Modelling, texturing, rigging/animation etc: now all the models and scenes can be put together and rendered with the help of on set production assets to match lighting and colours. After everything is completed the scenes can be rendered into different passes to be later assembled onto footage with compositing

7. Editing: Now all the renderd passes can be composoted together to produce the final shot. in this stage compositors can also do things such as remove noise, colour correct shots, and get rid of unwanted objects/people on set

8. release: After all the shot/shots are completed they can be sent back to the film makers to add in their film