India is getting prominent on the global Visual Effects circuit. Bearing testimony to that was the VFX Plenary session at FRAMES ’07 where speakers included powerhouses like Rhythm & Hues Founder John Hughes, stalwarts like Jon Labrie & Michael Alistair and the extremely knowledgable Maurice Patel (Global Marketing head – Autodesk M&E). The session was moderated by FICCI VEC Chairman N Madhusudhanan.
R&H founder John Hughes shared that he had many locations to choose from when he decided to have an additional facility outside the US and that he was delighted with the way the Indian facility had performed.
“I had many destinations to choose from and chose India because India has a strong culture in art and technology, because English is a widespread language here and the laws are similar to that of the US”
“When we started we had two objectives, to create world class entertainment and to create an environment where everyone will enjoy working. In the past five years the artists in Mumbai have worked on over 25 films and have constantly been growing their capabilities”
He also showcased a reel from Night at the Musuem and the other films that R&H had worked on in the past year.
Jon Labrie, the erstwhile CTO of Weta Digital where he worked on the LOTR trilogy and one of the most respected and well known VFX professionals spoke next.
“The lines between CG, VFX and Live Action are blurring” shared Jon, “Animation studios are making a transition to VFX and VFX studios are making a transition to Animation”
“Another trend I see in VFX globally is that of VFX houses coming in as co producers just like in the case of the movie Panâ€?s Labryinth where Cafe VFX from Santa Barbara got in as co producer. Something like that might happen in India” added Jon.
Jon also spoke about how 3D digital stereoscopy was going to happen in a big way and that a lot of Cinemas in the US were going digital. This said Jon would mean the re releasing of many classics in the Digital 3D Stereoscopic format.
Making a case for VFX enhancements = Greater ROI, Autodeskâ€?s Maurice Patel pointed out that data and statistics show that VFX movies make greater Box Office magic. “75% of the top movies in Hollywood are VFX intensive” he said. “And if you look at movies like Dhoom2, then probably the same trend is coming to India”
“DI is another thing which has grown real big in India” shared Maurice, “And that hasnâ€?t just happened over night, but it is because we did a lot of initiatives at educating the film community about the benefits of DI and we saw a rapid adoption”
The stalwart Michael McAlister showcased a reel from Eragon and explained about some of the technical challenges that were overcome for some of the shots. “Out here he said, referring to the movie, VFX plays a very important role in story telling”
Talking about training and talent, Michael shared, “A person can be trained but it is very difficult to train someone in gaining talent like what is wrong with an image and why does it look fake. Skill comes with experience”
Maurice pointed out that “Identifying talent is a problem worldwide”
“We train our artists on our own software” shared R&H John Hughes. “Overall the quality of CG education needs to improve in India. There has to be a focus on the fundamental aspects”
Talking about how Indian VFX had evolved in the past few years, Jon Labrie shared, “When I came in 2001, I did not have the confidence in India but I feel very encouraged now. The artists here have grown in the pipelines that cater to domestic work and the International work has a different requirement but I am confident that the quality is keeping on improving”
Maurice echoed the sentiments saying, “There is no reason why Indian VFX canâ€?t be as good as the US”