Can we learn from our financial history?

By Dalia Hayon and Laurie Gaynes-Basile
Independent Financial Advisors
Working Women’s Retirement Strategies

*In the past 77 years we had more than 12 U.S. recessions and a number of major events occurred:

We had two World Wars; the Oil Crisis in the 70s; Savings and Loans Crisis in the 80s; the Gulf War in 1991; the dot.com bubble burst in 2000 and the terrorists attack on 9/11/2001, to name a few.

We have learned that we have recovered from all of these events; we have also learned that from each recession sprung new safety net such as:

1932 – Unemployment Insurance

1933 – FDIC (Federal Depository Insurance Corporation), which indicates that customers that have deposits in the amount that does not exceed $100,000 in one account, are 100% insured, and as a result of the current financial turbulence, the FDIC have temporarily extended this insurance to $250,000 per account through December 31, 2009, as part of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

1934 – Food Stamps that were later replaced by Welfare.

Present: - The bail out plans, (details are still unfolding).

*This information was obtained at: www.msnbc.com

The most important thing that we have learned from the past is that there are things that we CAN control and things that we CANNOT control.

THINGS THAT WE CANNOT CONTROL:

The economy, the investment markets, the interest rates or the housing market.

THINGS WE CAN CONTROL:

• If employed, make every effort to stay employed. Volunteer for extra projects; don’t complain and steer clear from people who do.
• If you are self-employed, THINK OUT OF THE BOX; network where you see results and make new connections; ask for referrals and testimonials from current clients.
• Keep track of your income and your spending and have a written budget; and find ways to balance your income v. expenses: Once you have figured out your income and expenses, prioritize your needs based on your age, your family status and when invest, tailor your investment to your risk tolerance.
• To have a successful business you need to Prepare: a. build rapport; b. ask a lot of questions (and listen, listen, listen); c. find solutions; d. continue to gain knowledge in your field and always be current; e. be persistent; f. focus; and g. know when to close.

We do wish you a Healthy, Happy, Safe and Prosperous New Year!

Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have, we are available to help with No obligations and No charge.

Laurie Gaynes-Basile (818-674-8308) 9855 Aldea Ave. Northridge, CA 91325 laurie@wwrs.us	Dalia Hayon (818-674-8308) 23280 Keswick St. West Hills, CA 91304 dalia@wwrs.us
www.wwrs.us

Laurie Gaynes-Basile, Dalia Hayon, Registered Representatives. Securities and Investment Advice offered through Capital Financial Services, Inc., Broker/Dealer Investment Advisor Member FINRA/SIPC

FX Fix

by Karen Stein

I know that you started doing animation at the ripe old age of 12. Did you know at the time that you wanted to eventually segue into makeup or did that happen later?
Looking back, that’s such a wild start. I was a nutty and ambitious kid. But it beat doing chores I suppose. I remember wanting to be a director...I just wanted to make movies. As I developed my animation & model building art – and grew up - I became aware of the people behind the monsters and FX that I liked, and I started studying them: Ray Harryhausen, Jim Danforth, Dick Smith, Craig Reardon, Rob Bottin, Rick Baker, Will Vinton, Steve Johnson, etc... I didn’t know that there were industry lines between models and makeups, and was just interested in making cool FX for my movies, whatever that meant. I was doing stop motion models, puppets, prosthetics...all before 15. Eventually I started calling several of my heroes on my list (they were in the phonebook!) I had a deep voice and I think they thought I was older; I struck up some friendships...they explained to me that this was makeup FX and that was camera FX & model animation, etc... and I started my monster-making education.

Did you have any formal FX training?
No. I read whatever book I could find. I continued to call my heroes (who were gracious to take my oodles of questions...), and I learned by failing- and succeeding. I have great parents that really allowed me the space and time to experiment with materials and mess up the kitchen...still amazed at the stuff I was able to do back then. I did apply for art schools: Art Center, CalArts, etc... but I was turned down because I was straight out of high school and they didn’t know what to do with me. They wanted me to be smart, not just creative...told me to got to school first!! I eventually ended up at Cornish, a smaller art school near my hometown, in Seattle. I lasted only a few hours. When they told me that I might be allowed to gesso my own canvases in my 3rd year, I went for the door. It didn’t fit me, I had already been oil painting since 6 or 7, animating professionally by 12, and interning at the local FX house for the last few years, running opticals and animation there. I even had my own graphics company at the time. So I packed my VW bus and said goodbye to my friends, family and Seattle. I was 18 and going to LA with nothing but hope and some phone numbers.

Your first big movie was Predator, right? What kind of projects did you work on before you hit the big time?
Actually the day I arrived in LA, I started at Boss Films, as a PA, on Big Trouble in Little China. I had kept in touch with Steve Johnson, who was running BFC’s creature shop at the time. He and the team there took me in, right off the turnip truck. Eventually Boss started paying me and gave me real things to do. I continued there on a variety of things: Predator, Poltergeist II, Solarbabies, Lost Boys...I also did a lot of other things around town too, assisting on Twilight Zone, Night of the Creeps, Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal.

Are there any lessons that you learned when you were starting out in the business that really helped you?
Probably the best ones are from people that taught me gracious people skills: who you know and how you know them is very important, not just in our biz, but in life. And it’s good to stay connected with people. Not to get preachy, but we all need to practice our skills of patience, love and understanding. I always think of this stuff and how I can be better, around Xmas & the New Year, so forgive me...Peace on Earth dammit!!

What is the process for landing the huge projects you work on? Do most things come to you? Is there a bidding war?
Thankfully, projects come from a variety of directions. We have many return-clients from throughout our 21year. I like to think that’s because we try to be very focused on the individual client needs of each job. We try to approach FX with an ear to the filmmakers needs: there are many ways to create FX, might be a practical this or a digital that...our job is to find the best solution for the client and the show. There is often a bidding war...some more war-like than others. But it’s also a closed-knit group of monster-shop owners and we seem to know what we’re all doing...it always works out, somehow. I think.

What has been your favorite project to work on?
I like projects that allow for some our creative input, and push us to our limits. Slither was certainly that...so was Star Trek First Contact. Both these pushed us into more creative solutions that weren’t just good for the productions’s checkbook, but better for the visuals of the movie itself! Integrated practical & visual FX is a big favorite at our shops: making practical and digital synergize. It isn’t always the best solution, but often it can be production friendly too and your best FX friend.

What has been the most challenging project?
Running these together...Slither gets on that list, but I know that there are others....Demon Knight was next to impossible, so was just about every big Tales from the Crypt episode. We did a TV movie years ago called Hiroshima, that had hundreds of prosthetics and special makeups...on a TV schedule. Also, anytime I’ve stepped into a wild location, that’s always good for some yucks, but who doesn’t have these stories?

What are some of your favorite films?
That we’ve been involved in: Slither, Grosse Point Blank, What Dreams May Come, Star Trek: First Contact, Six Feet Under, True Blood...and I have some guilty pleasure with occasionally watching the really early crap that I worked on: Dracula’s Widow, Blue Monkey, Women on Death Row. Bad movies are sorta good, if aged.

Who were your other heros?
Andy Warhol, Preston Sturges, Obama, Winnie the Pooh, and many artists in our industry...and in our FX studios too. I really love our team in both MFX/LA and MFX/Canada. We’ve been fortunate to retain many amazing people and artists for so long. Many have been around since nearly the inception of our company, we’ve watched each other grow up and develop our skills with this weird stuff we do. Dan Rebert our Producer at our LA shop, is really quite the amazing cool guy and talented artist and leader, definitely another of my heroes.

Now that CGI is such a major part of film making, what do up-and-coming FX artists need to know about integrating practical makeup and computer effects?
Everything. I started in a more optical/animation environment, before getting into practical monsters and FX. So for me, integration of these technologies was a natural progression of what I couldn’t do optically. Understanding modern Visual FX is a lot more than blue screen or green screen, PC or Mac, 3D or 2D, motion capture or key-frame, but it shouldn’t be so ominous and scary either. The best way to approach any FX is to first think of the end result the filmmaker is looking for. I draw it, and we encourage our team at MFX to use visuals for trying to get in the head of the folks making the flick. Once you understand the visual, you can start understanding how to best approach it, and you can ask some informed questions: What is the interaction with live performers and environments? What’s the camera doing? What is the client asking for? And what’s ultimately best for the show? Artists that are new to FX and Visual FX should study FX from the optical days as well as the modern digital days and understand why shots are different then and now. Perhaps explore modern techniques by reading Cinefex or other industry magazines that get specific on Visual FX.

What are some new products/techniques that have really changed the way you work?
We have so many new materials these days, from modern silicones and thermal plastics. We also design certain things digitally. We’ve worked digital design into our pipeline. We still use foam rubber and we rely on the techniques developed by the many artists and techs over the years. Again, makeup FX is a tight community and we fortunately share Dick Smith’s philosophy, the sharing of info to better the craft. We couldn’t have done what we do today without great mold makers, sculptors, painters, makeup artists, that worked so hard beforehand.

What are you working on right now?
The LA shop is doing a music video and starting on season 2 of True Blood. We also have a few shows that are semi-prepped, waiting for the SAG BS to be over-with. The Canada shop has just wrapped Paradox and 2012. They’re starting to think about season 2 of Sanctuary and more Eureka.

Any advice for the rookie FX artists?
If you’re looking for the big bucks, maybe try a cubicle. But if you have a passion for the art of filmmaking and FX, there’s probably a place for you. There’s even some big bucks on some gigs. But it’s more than that for the legions of makeup artists, monster-makers and FX folks in our biz. We’re all just trying to make a better monster and better FX. To honor the work done by the great artists before us, and to ultimately make the best entertainment we can.