Since this will be my last blog post in 2016, I wanted to do a yearly recap of what this year has been like. We’ve delved into a lot of this stuff in previous posts, so this will just be a quick overview of the year. Overall it has been a great year. We got to work on some fantastic projects and I got to attend some really cool events. The business was profitable and we did much better than last year. I am very excited and looking forward to what we will achieve in 2017.
Events and Projects:
MagicMeeMees:
You may have seen the web series we’ve been working on called MagicMeeMee, which is based on the toys of the same name. Our client, Future of Play, asked us to create this web series to help introduce people to their new line of toys. We started working on the series earlier this year and ended up working on the episodes for most of the year. We released the first episode on July 11 and the fourth episode earlier this month. Currently, the four episodes have a combined view count of 173,173 on the client’s YouTube pages. Creating this web series was a great learning experience and I felt like each episode was better than the last. I hope we can work on more of these episodes in the future. Click here to watch the series.
Producers Guild Awards:
On January 23 of this year I attended my second Producers Guild Awards. I was also able to convince my wife, who was pregnant, to be my date. I’m not sure how she was able to wear high heels while pregnant, but somehow she managed it. I think one of the awards should have gone to her for that. It’s always fun to dress up and go to these awards shows to socialize with all the talented people in the industry. It’s also fun to see the movie stars who make an appearance.
Annie Awards:
In February I attended the Annie Awards for the first time and it was a really fun event. This event is very different from the Producers Guild Awards because it is about animation. There is an added excitement to these awards shows when you actually get to know the people receiving the awards. I already have my tickets for both events for next year, so I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.
We launch our Online Store:
In April I was very excited when the company launched its online store. I don’t expect to make millions from the merchandise, but I wanted to offer company-related t-shirts for anyone who wants them.
Updated logo
We also updated our company logo this year. I wanted something that was cleaner and easier to read as I felt the more detailed logo didn’t print well.
My daughter was born:
My wife and I were so excited to welcome our daughter Ayla into the world on May 1st. It has been a great joy and I love seeing her and her older brother start playing together. Even when most of the time it is his brother who takes away his toys. He is already crawling and trying to walk.
UT Alumni Magazine and UT Home Page:
Bink received a lot of love this year from my alma mater, the University of Toledo. It ended up being featured in UT Alumni magazine, UT News, and on the home page of the university’s website a few times this year.
3D World Magazine:
Bink also appeared in 2 issues of 3D World magazine. One before the release of the short teaser in June, and another after.
Bink’s Friends and Family Farewell Party and Screening:
How often can you create something new and exciting? I thought we might as well go big with the release of the first episode of Bink and host a screening and wrap party to thank the whole team for all their hard work. Even with a very bad ankle sprain hours before people showed up, I still had a great time. As a side note: my ankle is still recovering from this incident.
Bink’s debut:
This might have been one of the biggest things for the company this year. After working on the short for over a year, we finally finished it in time to release it on June 28th. We received quite a bit of attention, and even some clients, thanks to the work we did at Bink. While I consider it a success, I still feel like Bink will bring more to the table. We are actively working on a longer episode and hope to release it in 2017.
University of Toledo – University College: Students of the year:
I had the honor of being selected by my university as Student of the Year. I was flown back to the university in Toledo, Ohio, for the Homecoming game and the awards gala where I was presented with the award. It had been a long time since I was in Toledo, so it was really amazing to be able to go back and relive some of my college experiences.
DreamWorks Animation Presentation:
After the release of Bink, DreamWorks Animation invited me to give a presentation to their employees about my company and the projects we’ve been working on. It was exciting to be able to return to the DWA campus and give a talk about what I’ve been working on. I also really enjoyed reconnecting with some of my old coworkers.
ShowReel 2016:
After finishing all the episodes of MagicMeeMee, we updated our showreel to showcase all of our new work. Jared White, who also wrote and directed the web series MagicMeeMees, edited this company showreel together. You can check it below.
The World Animation and VFX Summit:
In October I attended the World Animation and VFX Summit, which was the second time I attended this event. I went last year and got a lot out of it. This event is aimed at producers and studio heads, so all the presentations are very relevant to what I’m doing. I had a great time at this year’s event and hope to return next year. I just hope they don’t reschedule it for Halloween. Check out our blog post about this year’s event.
CTNX:
In November I attended my third CTNX animation expo held each year in Burbank, CA. This is always a great event and is much more artist-focused than the World Animation and VFX Summit. I always meet many great artists and animators and learn a lot from the panels and presentations. Check out our blog post on CTNX from this year.
Honda Project:
The last project we worked on were 2 videos we made for Honda. One was used at the Los Angeles Auto Show and the other will be used at CES next month. Unfortunately we do not have permission to share them online. If you’re going to CES, let me know if you see our video.
UPDATES:
Blog Post Data:
In fact I have two blogs. I use this one more as a personal journal of my journey to starting an animation company, and we have one for the company too. Here is information on both.
blog.milleranimation (this one):
2016 total views: 6,657
Top Blog Post 2016: Building an Animation Company Leadership Team (961 views)
Total subscribers: 54
milleranimation.com/blog (the company blog):
2016 total views: 5,195
Top Blog Post of 2016: Featured Talent: Introducing Violette Sacre (494 views)
Total subscribers: 42
Website details:
2016 total views: 32,645
2016 Home Page: Bink (2,632 visits)
Social networks and marketing:
This year we created a Social Media Marketing Coordinator position and have had a few people in this position. They are responsible for daily posts on all of our social media accounts, weekly blog posts, quarterly newsletters, and a few other tasks. This has helped us stay active on all of our social media accounts and create amazing content for our website.
Facebook:
Network size: 4,833 likes
2016 Growth: +407 Likes
Twitter:
Network size: 1,044 followers
2016 growth: +522 followers
Instagram:
Network size: 707 followers
2016 growth: +466 followers
YouTube:
Network size: 287 subscribers
2016 growth: +278 subscribers
Most popular video: Bink: New Arrival – Preview (5,881 views)
Total channel views: 10,005
Video:
Network size: 27 followers
Growth 2016: +15 followers
Most popular video: Bink – Teaser (514 views)
Google+:
Network size: 20 followers
2016 growth: 4 followers
Society of Creative Professionals:
While technically the Society of Creative Professionals is not part of the company and is only hosted by me, I still wanted to include it in this update. We ended up having a meeting every month this year with a range in the number of attendees. Our biggest event this year was in April, which was held at the Robin Hood British Pub in Sherman Oaks. We had more than 35 people present at this event. If you are interested in attending our mixers, please join the group’s Facebook page.
In conclusion:
Overall I think this was a great year. I was able to attend a lot of great events and meet a lot of new people. These connections will help me continue to grow the company. I look forward to the next few years. I wish you all a very happy and successful new year!
If you haven’t already, I hope you’ll join me on my journey by subscribing to my blog. If you have any ideas or tips, I’d love to hear what you have to say, so feel free to leave me any comments below. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@MillerAnimation). Only time will tell.