Understanding the Spotlight Effect on 3D Artists
Unlock more confidence and bravery
The first days of working in this industry are something I will never forget. After years of training and hoping to get a shot in a major animation studio, I had finally made it and it was everything I desired. Great people and stunning work that was getting churned out at an incredible clip.
But there was one guy that intimidated the crap out of me. The Lighting Supervisor.
Haji.
Now…Haji wasn’t a mean man by any stretch of the imagination (and today he is someone I consider a mentor and dear friend). But at the time, I saw him as a surly, brilliant dude who had an aesthetic sensibility and technical skill I had never experienced. He would sit for hours in a dark screening room, barking out note after note while the army of talented lighters worked their witchcraft to bring his visions to life.
It was stunning to watch. And I wanted to be a part of it. And to do that, I needed to impress Haji.
Fast forward a year, and we are wrapping up production. I worked harder on that film than any other project in my life. I sat in on countless lighting rounds and worked tirelessly to do my job well to build enough trust to nab a couple of lighting shots and earn my first film credit.
To celebrate the film's end, one of the Lighters approached me and said we were all dressing up like Haji the next day.
I was confused. How do you dress like Haji…he just wears like…I don’t know…regular clothes?
I stood there looking at her puzzled and she said, “You know…the whole black t-shirt, jeans and Converse thing.”
As someone trying to get a job based on my strong visual eye, I didn’t want to admit I hadn’t seen that, but I had no idea. How could I not see that? How could I possibly have gone a full year of keeping my eye on this dude and never noticed that he dressed the same every day?
Simple. The Spotlight Effect.
The Spotlight Effect is the theory that individuals overestimate the degree to which others notice, pay attention to, or judge their appearance, behavior, or performance in social situations. Basically, we always think we are Player 1.
We assume everyone is watching how we walk, what we say, and how many pimples we have on our faces.
But the truth is, they don’t. Or if they do, they soon forget. But probably not. They just don’t care.
Even in the case of a dude I admired for a year, I still didn’t notice that he was pulling a Homer Simpson and dressing the same way every day.
How does the Spotlight Effect Hurt People?
The Spotlight Effect has downsides. It can cause social anxiety. When people believe that others are paying close attention to their every move, they may become self-conscious and anxious in social situations. This can lead them to avoid social situations altogether or to engage in behaviors that they believe will help them avoid negative scrutiny. Avoiding these situations in your career can lead to missed opportunities.
It can easily lead to self-criticism. People who are overly focused on the perceived spotlight effect may be excessively critical of their own appearance, behavior, or performance, leading to feelings of low self-esteem and self-doubt.But probably the biggest problem for a creative professional is that it can lead to conformity. To avoid negative evaluation or embarrassment, people may conform to social norms and expectations even if they don't align with their beliefs or values. This can lead to losing authenticity and disconnection from one's true voice.
Constantly feeling under the spotlight and scrutinized can lead to burnout and exhaustion, as employees may feel like they have to be "on" and perform at their best in every situation.
Stagnating Self-Promotion
Another side effect is that you assume people will pay attention if you do something well.
Someone might say, “I just completed all these essential tasks at work. I even skipped my vacation to get these done on time. I’m good at my job. I don’t need to be arrogant and go around thumping my chest. If I keep my head down and do my job, people will notice.”
The truth is supervisors may overlook the incredible work you’ve been doing. And if you keep your head down and continue to plow along, this will exasperate the effect. Supervisors may need to pay attention to the work of 30 other people and their tasks and they could have missed noticing your amazing accomplishments.
So what do you do?
Promote yourself!
Email your accomplishments out to your team. Did you make an incredible render? Show it off! Share it internally to Slack channels or in presentations. If appropriate, put that stuff on social media and get some love. When it comes time for a performance review, tell them all the awesome things you’ve accomplished. You need to champion it.
And don’t feel like you are being too arrogant and self-centered and others will think poorly of you. That’s the spotlight effect talking! The most successful people in this industry are not afraid to share their accomplishments early and often until the point is driven home.
How to Avoid The Negative Influence of The Spotlight Effect
Honestly, the first step is just being aware that it exists and recognizing how it can influence your mood and actions. Remember that most people are primarily concerned with their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. They are less likely to be scrutinizing or judging you than you might think.
Stop Being Interesting…Be Interested!
But the best advice I’ve read about combating this issue is simply this. Stop putting pressure on yourself to be interesting to others. In reality, most won’t notice and it will just waste your time and energy.
Instead, focus on being curious. Ask others what they are doing. Try new things. Put yourself out there. Experience a new place you’ve never been to.
Stop focusing on how others view you and start focusing on embracing the world around you and all the mysteries you can unlock.
Be a Player 2 sometimes. Or better yet, go full NP :)
3D News of the Week
A roundup of interesting 3D related news you may have missed this week.
Unity's incredible shrinking growth story - gamesindustry.biz
Imageworks breaks down ‘The Sea Beast’ - beforesandafter.com
Marmoset Toolbag 4.06 Released in Beta - 80.lv
F3D 2.0 is a free, lightweight ray traced 3D model viewer - cgchannel.com
Breaking: OpenAI has quietly released research for their new text-to-3D model, Shap-E. - twitter.com
Artist of the Week
3D Tutorials
3D Job Spreadsheet
Link to Google Doc With A TON of Jobs in Animation (not operated by me)
Michael Tanzillo has been a Senior Artist on animated films at Blue Sky Studios/Disney with credits including three Ice Age movies, two Rios, Peanuts, Ferdinand, Spies in Disguise, and Epic. Currently, Michael is a Head of Technical Artists with the Substance 3D Growth team at Adobe.
In addition to his work as an artist, Michael is the Co-Author of the book Lighting for Animation: The Visual Art of Storytelling and the Co-Founder of The Academy of Animated Art, an online school that has helped hundreds of artists around the world begin careers in Animation, Visual Effects, and Digital Imaging.
www.michaeltanzillo.com
Free 3D Tutorials on the Michael Tanzillo YouTube Channel
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