London Calling: Mega-VFX, Financing and Cultural Fusion

Here's an interesting article from VFX World on the current state and success of the UK film and broadcast visual effects business. Quite a lot of jazz about the place where I work at the moment: The Moving Picture Company.


London Calling: Mega-VFX, Financing and Cultural Fusion

I have to admit that when I first arrived in Soho, it was a rush. So many studios (and good ones!) located in such close proximity to each other. You can literally walk from The Mill to Framestore/CFC, to Cinesite, to The Moving Picture Company, to Double Negative, to The Peerless Camera Company in about 15 minutes. It is quite a healthy situation for both employees and the companies. Rarely are good people out of work, and "fair market value" is very easily attained. Dominance of one studio over the others is rare, and there is less evidence of under cutting for contracts. Why under cut the dudes on the nexy block when they might be your staff in a few months?

Some of the shots I worked on for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban were examples of the studios "sharing" the work. I was the Lighting Technical Director on a shot that later included a digital flock of bats produced by Framestore/CFC. We passed off a digital final to them, and they just sat their bats into our grade. The result was really pretty and remarkably easy to do! Many of the shots involving the "interaction" of the Hippogriff and the Werewolf in the film were shared as well between MPC and Framestore/CFC.

Also, it is really true about the "Pub Based Learning" comment. I can't count on fingers and toes how many times I have been introduced to someone from another studio at the pub. Each studio has its own favorite haunt. MPC at The Ship on Wardour, Framestore/CFC at the Coach and Horses on Great Malborough Way, The Mill at The White Horse near Carnaby Street. It seems totally silly, but it's true. The closest pub out the door, that's the crew pub! There really is no comparison to the "social aspect" to the studios here, and in Vancouver. Although, I hope that with the growing East Vancouver scene things will move in the Soho direction!