Archive notice: This article was originally published on August 18, 2015. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Former media students from Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences launched “Visual Effects Germany” on Facebook. The closed group is aimed at VFX artists, motion designers, 3D & game artists, compositing artists, matte painters and all friends of digital moving-image processing from the German-speaking world. Here, news can be exchanged, showreels and current work shown, contacts made and questions asked. You can find the group here. Simply submit a request to join, wait briefly for confirmation of acceptance and you are in.
We spoke with group founder Timo Fecher about the reasons for the new Facebook grouping:
DP: Why did you found this Facebook group?
Timo Fecher: From the perspective of former students, there are too few points of contact online for beginners or amateurs to network with professionals from the industry. In our opinion, the Facebook groups that existed up to now were either too closed off – for example, internal university groups – too focused on just one topic – for example, a specific piece of software – or too general, for example on the subject of “filmmaking”. That is why we wanted to establish a group that operates under the topic of digital moving-image processing; the very general name “Visual Effects Germany” is intended to make it immediately clear that the group is aimed at everyone – beginners as well as professionals – from the industry. On Linkedin or Xing, everyone always tries to show only the best of themselves, which is of course understandable. However, we also wanted a platform where you can simply show a test or a “work in progress” to get opinions and tips from others – simply like casual interaction among colleagues. We noticed this, for example, in the Facebook group “Filmemacher Deutschland”. We wanted to follow this example within the somewhat more specific framework of the visual-effects topic.
DP: What are your goals with the group?
Timo Fecher: Our goal is for the members of the group to regularly speak up about topics important to them: Present themselves and their showreels, introduce current work and news from the VFX industry, look for colleagues for projects and find jobs. We already have specialists from the most renowned companies in Germany in the group, but would like to expand the proportion of established professionals even further to ensure optimal networking. In addition, we hope to establish a platform in which people learn and teach. In the near future, we as administrators also want to post valuable tutorials, educational contributions and tips & tricks.
DP: How many group members would be desirable?
Timo Fecher: For a daily flow of information, a membership in the mid-four-figure range would be optimal. Only then is the number of active users who also write posts themselves high enough. It would be great if the members of the group regularly added their friends and colleagues from the industry to the group themselves, because unfortunately there is no way on Facebook to advertise groups (like pages). We are doing our best to make the group better known in other forums so that it can be found more easily.
DP: How do you ensure that the group does not end up as a joke community in the future? Especially if you ever have a very high number of members?
Timo Fecher: Posts that are not obviously related to the topics of VFX, game & motion design are currently deleted by us immediately. Likewise, any form of product advertising and link dropping. At the moment, such posts are still within limits, and we only accept new members whose profile indicates that they work in the VFX industry. Once the membership is higher, where spam will be unavoidable, we will change the posting system so that posts first have to be confirmed by the group’s admins before they appear in the group. This ensures that posts always remain relevant to the topic and comply with the group guidelines.
In the upcoming DP issue with the focus topic “Plug-ins and Other Workflow Extensions,” which will be published on August 28, we will introduce you to more Facebook groups that might be the right ones for your interests in the VFX and animation industry.
