Visual effects company Digital Domain inaugurated its first Indian studio recently at Hyderabad which is its tenth location for a global studio. Within a few months of operations, the studio got to work on several international projects. The details of the projects have not been disclosed yet.
A media invite was recently organized at their facility in WaveRock SEZ, Hyderabad. Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Digital Domain Amit Chopra & Head of Digital Studio, India, Sudhir Reddy addressed the media representatives.
Some of the latest features Digital Domain has worked on are Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Fate Of The Furious, Power Rangers, & Beauty and The Beast.
In addition to Hyderabad, Digital Domain has global presence in Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Vancouver, London, Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei and Hong Kong.
Digital Domain management was appreciative of Telangana Government’s support in offering encouraging benefits through their existing image policy for animation, gaming and visual effects industry.
Amit Chopra revealed to Animation Xpress, “There are several large projects we are working on right now, including a few in collaboration with North America, and a few in collaboration with our China studios.
He added, “It is an achievement to say that in a few months, Digital Domain India has worked on approximately 6000 VFX shots. Our multiple locations are seeing more collaboration with each other than we initially thought would be the case so early on.”
He also added, “India has been our dream for the last 5 years and now it has come true. It is a true testament to our people what we have been able to achieve in a very short period of time.” Chopra hopes that in the next five years, 3-5 percent of its global revenue will come from India and the Hyderabad studio will rake in around $15 million for the company.
“We have designed our Hyderabad office like our North American offices to give the sense of actually working out of a Digital Domain facility to anyone traveling across continents or future cross pollination of internal resources” added Reddy.
Reddy and Chopra both said that the facility is designed to provide comfortable working space for all artists and support staff. In addition to the exciting projects and work opportunities, its open environment & work culture will make people want to work here and help the company retain people as part of their long term career growth plan.
The Digital Domain team explained the reason behind choosing Hyderabad over Mumbai.Reddy said, “It took a lot of hard work to do this. A lot of people from Hyderabad had left their homes to work in Mumbai, Bangalore and other cities. We wanted them to come back to their own city and work here, living with their families.”
Chopra also says, “Hyderabad is rather a different place and people think differently here. We see a good work-life balance in this city and expect our employees to stay here for long.”
The studio plans to focus more on the global feature film based projects. Regarding working on Indian films, he said, “We are keen and open to doing them”
Amit Chopra explained that Digital Domain’s strength lies in the details. It is well known for its destruction simulation and digital human work. He also spoke about how the company has created a lot of digital human and spoke about films like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
A breathtaking 2017 VFX reel was showcased followed by a quick studio tour. The studio has been built with an investment of around $3-5 million. The studio has a staff of 205 currently with a capacity to grow to 500. Chief executive officer, Daniel Seah said that with a capacity of 500 professionals, the studio would be the second largest for the company after its Vancouver studio.
Initially Digital Domain had planned to open the studio in Mumbai and there were a lot of talks with several studios for collaborations. Later on, Digital Domain decided to create the company from scratch and ruled out any studio acquisitions.
“Digital Domain Hyderabad’s current focus is features, commercials and TV Series and by mid 2018 it will start building on its AR and VR capabilities” said Reddy.
Majority of the current staff working in Digital Domain have experience in working on both local and international projects. However it plans to have interns on board in future. Reddy said, “We are planning to work with VFX schools on their final year module and offer a 3 month internship program to help build bench strength for us and the industry in general”.
Digital Domain plans to bring VFX supervisors from abroad only if the situation demands but there is no such plans right now.There was a media tour of the whole office and all the departments were shown. The design is a mix of Indian as well as western. The Digital Domain office at Hyderabad has some spectacular interiors which has been designed similar to the LA and Vancouver office. It also has some spectacular interiors reflecting the legacy of Digital Domain in the form of poster frames of international movies and some amazing art work on the walls.
