CONTACT Magazine (Vol.18 No.2 – September 2018)

THE DIGITAL IMPERATIVE
Starting small
courtesy nicholas maxwell
Nicholas Maxwell
Owner and creative director,
BigShinyPixel
I used to do animation design, VFX
motion graphics, 3D animation and
graphic design as a freelancer, for
advertising companies. But most of the
production houses were doing editing
and they were not pushing animation,
and I always wanted to do more and
one day have a company with my own
employees and a niche in T&T.
There is a lot of competition out
there; I want to figure out how not just
to compete with places like India but
do it better. The clients who come to
me have had their work shown globally:
some of the KFC work we have done has
won gold awards. Stuff for Guardian
Life and Guinness has been premiered
in Latin America and the US, so some
things have gone global.
We have a way to go still. There
is no support from the government,
or private finance, or access to space.
I have to work from home, I can’t
afford to rent a business place, or travel
every day or get a car. Market size is
a challenge. I am still overcoming that
challenge to get the business stable so I
can invest in equipment.
We are in an environment where
the US dollar rules a lot of things,
so we need to work six to ten times
harder to afford the things needed for
our businesses. Creators outside don’t
have that disadvantage because it is
1:1. We have the opportunity to create
our own style and look, but we need to
up the quality of the work to attract
international business.
We need to just keep on pushing
forward and be professional, keep
talking with clients, make use of the
internet and free software, and chat
a lot with people looking to enter the
field.
Andy Berahazar
Director, Coded Arts
Above right Nicholas Maxwell of BigShinyPixel
Above The Coded Arts team with Andy Berahazar (centre)
We have been in business for two and a half years. Coded Arts is the result of a merger
of a team of artists and a team of programmers both producing games under different
banners. The teams started a partnership to develop a video game and quickly realised
the synergies, and decided that the combined resources and skills of the teams would
benefit from a merger.
Our “ah-ha” moment was two years ago at an animation festival where we met
a few international game developers of Trini origin, and we saw a whole world of
opportunities on the international stage.
Our main sector is ICT with a specific focus on video gaming development. We
are carving a section for ourselves outsourcing space. It is a unique market that sees
a huge demand for new talent regularly, and is very underserved in the Englishspeaking
world.
We have done a virtual reality recreation of the UStart Incubator [at UTT], and a
virtual reality recreation of Dr Eric Williams for the national museum. We do regular
training with Cariri to grow interest in game development. We have done work with
Bravo on a book series in Canada and worked with the University of Prince Edward
Island and Parks Canada on VR reconstruction of an important heritage site.
You have to be prepared to work hard, be innovative and adapt to the market.
A major challenge is the acceptance and adaptation of the services we offer. They
would easily be adopted by companies in the North American market. But the size
of the local market and its ability to invest in the services we offer is minimal.
Nicholas Maxwell and Andy Berahazar were talking to Niran Beharry of
Proteus Technologies Limited.
Mark Lyndersay /Lyndersaydigital.com
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Trinidad
and Tobago Chamber
of Industry and Commerce
www.chamber.org.tt/contact-magazine