World leading VFX studio MPC, a Technicolor company, has announced the opening of a purpose-built studio in Bangalore, India. The opening represents significant expansion for the company and takes advantage of MPC’s globally integrated pipeline and international production network. As always, talent remains key and the creative team working at MPC Bangalore will ensure that the end product is of the highest quality and remains consistent with other MPC locations. MPC Bangalore will reach a capacity of 150 artists by November 2010. MPC Bangalore will be housed within Technicolor’s existing facility in Bangalore.
MPC Bangalore officially opened today and will be run by Akhauri Sinha. Akhauri joins MPC from Nimbus Communications, where he was Executive Vice President and Head of Filmed Entertainment. Before that, Akhauri was part of Percept Picture Company and UTV Software Communications, working on feature films, television and animation.
Present at the launch were MPC Film Managing Director Christian Roberton, MPC Head Mark Benson, Technicolor India Country Head Biren Ghose. Showcasing the stunning MPC reels of the commercials and film work, Mark Benson shared, “We are here in Bangalore because there is a fantastic opportunity for MPC to grow its family. The Big VFX movies require enormous amounts of work in shorter periods of time, the demands are on the highest standards of creativity and quality run in parallel with tighter timelines in which we have to deliver. And that is where we look to leverage our global resources. We are not here in outsourcing context but MPC Bangalore will be seamlessly a part of the MPC Family. We have 130 artists working with us. With the support of Technicolor from an Infrastructure, Technology and Investment perspective, we are here and absolutely committed to excellence and passion as MPC in London and Vancouver.”
Christian shared, “Our goal is to be only involved with the top end Visual Effects in the world. And to do that you have to be on top of the game and so much of it is based on the close relationships we have with the best film makers and directors in the world. We are very lucky in London doing this for 8-9 years, we will be looking at doing full visual effects sequences here in Bangalore. Its a long term vision to produce full quality, high end visual effects that will integrate the work being done at London and Vancouver with here seamlessly.”
He further added that “We worked on the latest Narnia movie recently where Animation was done in Vancouver, compositing in London and roto and matchmove done here in Bangalore. By that example we proved that we can integrate the work of all 3 sites together. But that takes time and that skill develops with time. We have already invested in our pipeline and the artists here in Bangalore have full access to all our proprietary toolsets at MPC. This is an artist focused group that we have. Bangalore will be majorly film business focused, with 105 of the artists being involved in the film side while close to 25 artists will work on the commercials part of the business. Our advertising projects are extremely high end and they also have the advantage of having access to the advanced tools and pipelines that we have created for the film division.
On being asked if there were plans to commercially release their software and tools, Chrisitian replied that the discussions in VFX globally was rather on the opensourcing approach where standards could be created.
Biren Ghose, spoke about the incubation efforts and initiatives that Technicolor and MPC took up with Frameboxx. Wherein faculty was mentored and students were brought up to the mark and now close to 23 students have been nurtured in this manner. “And we will continue to nurture and train them even after they join the company. And this kind of working along with schools is not something that we are doing only in India, we aredoing it in all our locations. For the UK studio we have been heavily involved in working with schools not only from UK but with schools and colleges from all over Western Europe, ” added Mark.
He further added, “MPC has always taken the view that our creative, production and technology talent are our most highly valued assets. Our team in India very much reflects this priority, and we are thrilled to be taking this significant and exciting step forward as we continue to stimulate and develop MPC and Technicolor’s global aspirations that reflect the more diverse and broader creative and production expectations of our Clients.”