Compositor salary expectations?

[redwavestudios]

been freelancing for 9 years. now own and have partnerships with 4 companies / per contract / per project deals.

It was extremely hard at first back in 1997/1998 since you are nobody around.
My few tips would be:
Always deliver on-time, Express your ideas (exactly what clients want to hear and much more), Word of Mouth #1 secret.

best

[the ckynus]

I've been staff for almost 5 years....thinking about going freelance. So is there a rule of thumb when it comes to project hire? Do I add 10% or 20% to what I was making at staff?

take into account you no longer have medical insurance, vacation/sick days, or 401k. also its true what redwave said about word of mouth, once you catch on it will be a steady flow of work but at first budget yourself on not working every week.

so 30%-40%

[electrodan]

Yeah, very true. Now I have 5 sick days, 3 personal days, 3 weeks paid vacation, a 401K, health insurance is paid for, very laid back work setting. BUT, I'm not that happy and it's not really the work I want to do. Kinda boring actually. So, maybe I need to spice things up by going freelance. Good to know that I could possibly charge 30 to 40% more.

[harivfx]

Rent+food+beer+weekend club cover+Starbucks coffee+travel+internet fee+cell phone= Salary/month

Plus if you have a date make it simple if you're not established.

[poteon]

Good day to all..
This was the first time I really read a thread, on a topic that I sort information. I must admit I have never posted anything in the 2D/3D community. I recently moved from the Caribbean twin island of Trinidad & Tobago, to the UK, to study 3D Animation and Compositing. I have been a Graphic Designer for the last 15 years, needed an upgrade..lol

I have just admired the assistance given by everyone. This thread has been a great value. It has given me a more rounded view of the this VFX industry...

Special mention to Aruna, girlcompositor, NickJushchyshyn, Andreas.Jablonka
and unxetas. Absolutley fantastic advice/contributions... If all the world's issues could be as frank and open as this...lol And nuff respect to MarkHawk... your situation sparked many solutions/ideas that, I am sure, have assisted so many.. Great thread folks...

Hopefully I would be able to utilise and showcase my work at some later date.
All the best to you all for the New Year..
bless..
trinibuzz

[Andreas.Jablonka]

nice to see this tread helps people )
appreciated!

[harivfx]

We are doing a independent film. The visual effects Supervisor is getting paid $1500/day.
He does exactly what Aruna mentioned. It was a awesome experience to be with him on the set.

[Andreas.Jablonka]

sure 1500 to 2000 is normal for an set supe but dont think that he keeps all of that

[harivfx]

Yep he also has assitants and others who recon the location and come to location couple of days in advance.

[Buggy166]

as a fellow youngin i cannot imagine working for free just for experience with any studio unless it was a feature film type thing (think ILM). if a crappy security job pays 10-12 per hour for, in my case at least, be nice to people and do some work/watch a movie (laptop), a comp job, intern or not, should surpass that.

Most students undersell themselves and thats where they lose, even if you gain some "long term" experience. The tens of thousands of dollars that you owe for schooling...then ad a few tens of thousands because you work for free and mommy dont pay the bills no more and all that so called experience isnt worth it anymore.

id imagine the typical comp job should be at $15 an hour, under $20 for beginners anyways. Anything less, unless the company and more importantly co-workers are amazing, is not worth the bother. Just my 2 cents.

As for what Mark typed a few pages back. Im amazed you're not getting around $30 an hour for that type of stuff. $18 is laghable for the amount of effort and dedication you put in. Most basic entry level jobs pay that and all you have to do generally is sit your butt down and do something mundane like database entry until you gain seniority. I hope you'll find something better eventually and sooner rather than later. cheers.

[MarkHawk]

as a fellow youngin i cannot imagine working for free just for experience with any studio unless it was a feature film type thing (think ILM). if a crappy security job pays 10-12 per hour for, in my case at least, be nice to people and do some work/watch a movie (laptop), a comp job, intern or not, should surpass that.

Most students undersell themselves and thats where they lose, even if you gain some "long term" experience. The tens of thousands of dollars that you owe for schooling...then ad a few tens of thousands because you work for free and mommy dont pay the bills no more and all that so called experience isnt worth it anymore.

I do not think I would consider myself being undersold. I know I worked for a time (I have since left that company, now that the project is complete.) for free but it isn't that easy to just get a comp position with no experience other then school. School is your controlled environment and controlled environments offer protection. Real worlds don't. People yell at you for being late, you get fired for not noticing a type-o, wing it and it shows. The Thousands of dollars in education just doesn't cut it because it's training and not really experience. Bottom line you need the experience and you have to be willing to sacrifice somethings now rather then assume you'll someday get the comp job.

From my time where I worked and being a tutor at my school a lot students just assume they will get hired at ILM right out of school (Not really ILM but seem people have big egos). The problem is they all have this attitude that they'll do there best work when they get paid to, but who's going to hire you if your work looks like you do not really care about it? I feel these low paying internships offer a good combination of wisdom, butt kicking and frustration.

id imagine the typical comp job should be at $15 an hour, under $20 for beginners anyways. Anything less, unless the company and more importantly co-workers are amazing, is not worth the bother. Just my 2 cents.

That's around the price I hear but I suggest always leaving any company on good terms. (even one you never worked for ) you never know when I writer strike may get in the way of a mortgage payment.

As for what Mark typed a few pages back. Im amazed you're not getting around $30 an hour for that type of stuff. $18 is laghable for the amount of effort and dedication you put in. Most basic entry level jobs pay that and all you have to do generally is sit your butt down and do something mundane like database entry until you gain seniority. I hope you'll find something better eventually and sooner rather than later. cheers.

I got offered 600.00 a week before I finally left but I held off because I just want to finish school with a little more under my belt. I plan on enrolling in some more FXPHD classes when I get the money and hopefully it all work out. I did get all the 52 once drinks I wanted during crunch month though :-D

chins up everyone

Mark V-

[Mustache]

Hey everyone. I have to first thank you all as this information is inspiring. I started at the first post and read all the way thorough. Great stuff.
OK so here it is, first post. Sorry its kind of a selfish post but some may find an answer useful.
I'm looking for some of your opinions. I just graduated and have been doing an unpaid internship gig at a VFX house in San Francisco. I'm doing some design work which is cool and the company / people are great. I just graduated in December and was offered an internship(Ill leave the company nameless for now) in January, waited for a bit and didn't hear from anyone else so I picked it up. I still have another 2-3 months before I "potentially" get hired in, but I was contacted today by another shop I sent my reel to here that sounds like they would be offering a full time gig if I get the position with pay. Can I use this as leverage to speed up the process at my current place? How would I go about doing that?
I really like the place I'm working for free but.... its for free! I don't know really what the new place will have in store for me, but with either company I would be an assistant / junior artist. If they offer me something good is it wrong of me to split from my current internship after only working for 2 weeks? Should I stick it out or bail? Any advice from you pros out there would settle my mind.


Thanks
-Chris / Mustache... i know its a terrible name. Just think of Tom Selleck.

[cgbub]

The most helpful thread I've ever read. Good job fellow VFX enthusiasts!

One general question though, with all the salary talk, it seems to refer to compositors, or does it include 3D generalists too?

In other words, should I be expecting a similar salary range when it comes to being a compositor versus a 3D generalist?

thanks

[Buggy166]

i would doubt that a guy who can model okay, rig okay, texture okay, animate okay and light okay is gonna have the same salary as a good compositor or a good animator, ligther,etc.

3D generalists 99% of the time arent very good at any one of the things they do and companies prefer to hire 1 amazing modeller for example than a generalist.

its good if you have extra skills, but out of school most if not all students that try to be generalists, they generally suck. Double threats out of school are rare, triple threats are almost unheard of. Great at everything is an imposibility id say.

[cgbub]

ok, i guess i shouldn't say 3D generalist. I understand your point, totally agreed.

If I rephrase the question to salary expectation between 2D Compositor versus 3D Modeler?

I'm simply trying to compare the 2D field versus the 3D field.

Thanks!