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LOS ANGELES, CA (March 31, 2002) The four editor/founders of popular industry resource, The Little Black Book of Visual Effects (LBB), have joined forces with Web experts, Razorview Inc., to create lbbvfx.com, a visual effects website that allows industry professionals to access its almost 5,000 member database for free. The print version of LBB, which debuted in 1999, was the brainchild of four visual effects professionals: Bernice Kenton-Briggs, Michele Linse Jeffers, Janette Shew, and Tamara Watts Kent. Frustrated that there was no centralized resource for producers and coordinators to speedily locate qualified visual effects talent, the four women used their own finances and limited free time to create The Little Black Book of Visual Effects, which sold 2500 copies its first year. Every company or individual that applied had to have verifiable credits and references before being given a listing in the book, and this qualification will hold over as a requirement for addition to the website. All of the approximately 4,900 visual effects professionals and entities that are currently in the book have been automatically accepted for the online resource free of charge. Any new applicants are provided with a basic listing for free, once their references have been vetted. Most importantly, anyone throughout the world can search the website for talent as long as they register with just an email address and name.
During the process of building the first book, a few of LBB’s editors had worked professionally with visual effects producer Bob O’Haver, who branched into Internet development as founding owner of visualfx.com and later, as a Web publisher and marketing executive with Creative Planet. Al Walton, an executive producer with 15 years experience in post-production, also ended up as an executive at Creative Planet. After leaving Creative Planet last March, O’Haver and Walton formed Razorview Inc. to consult entertainment companies in implementing effective web applications. They talked with the LBB group about a joint venture that would bring the book online. A year later, they are launching lbbvfx.com.
“Because of our production backgrounds, and the experience Bob and I gained at Creative Planet, it became clear to us that entertainment companies could greatly benefit from the Web as a business tool when it’s efficiently integrated into a business and marketing plan,” Walton explains. “That’s what we’ve set out to do with our consulting efforts at Razorview. LBB is a great example of how the Internet can distribute information and create customer interaction on a much greater level — and have a positive effect on the bottom line.”
For the overall look and design of the site, O’Haver and Walton were fortunate to tap Michael Zak of Zak/Paperno Design as creative director, just as he completed the design of the high definition displays for the Tokyo Museum of National History and the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Razorview has created a sleek, appealing site appropriate to a visually-based industry. Yet despite its extensive database and text-driven nature, lbbv.com is fast and responsive with a very easy user interface.
What makes the website even more effective as a research tool is the availability of online portfolios that can showcase both photographic stills and video samples of visual effects work, along with a more extensive resume. If visual effects companies and individual professionals want more than just a basic listing, they can opt for different premium levels so they can upload photos or video along with their bios, credits and an inventory of visual skills. This gives members the chance to have their own mini-website to promote themselves on LBB. Razorview Inc.’s simple Web design allows for members to easily upload their work, and expand and revise it as their career grows.
O’Haver and the four editors, who continue to be involved in the development of The Little Black Book of Visual Effects, are all active members of the Visual Effects Society. Kenton-Briggs is currently Head of Production at Hunter/Sauleda; Janette Shew’s credits include The Devil’s Advocate, Pleasantville and Armegeddon with stints at Digital Domain and Digital Magic, among others. Linse Jeffers, who has worked with Dream Quest Images and on blockbusters like The Rock and Con Air, has recently turned to producing. Freelancer Watts Kent, who also worked at Dream Quest Images, has gone on to produce visual effects for numerous films, including Titanic, The Fifth Element and Bless the Child.