In this months Digital Eye column, Sony Pictures Imageworks Jenny Fulle describes how globalization is enriching the VFX experience that filmmakers bring to their work here and abroad.
Our language is spoken everywhere. When editor Bill Desowitz called and said that the focus of this months coverage is globalization, the first thing I thought of OK, maybe the second thing is that the name and affiliation of this publication say it all VFXWorld, an Animation World Network publication.
Our work is visual people see what we do and, for the most part, our work translates well because it is a visual language, as opposed to a verbal one. You see our work around the world, because entertainment is universal in its appeal. In addition, when you consider the expansion of the visual effects business, neither the work nor the workforce is limited by borders. Around the globe, you find great work and great people.
This brings me to another influential contributor to globalization: the Internet. Of course, the Internet has been the great facilitator of communications and collaborations. In that the Internets original design enabled scientific collaboration, it does not require a major leap of faith to realize the collaborative possibilities in our field. However, it is not just the Internet that connects our business. The entire infrastructure of hardware and software and its attendant technology is the basis of a common ground in this visual art.
There was a time when visual effects were an entirely proprietary enterprise. Surely, we continue to have proprietary tools and processes that distinguish the ordinary from the extraordinary. At Sony Pictures Imageworks, for example, we develop and tailor special tools and techniques to satisfy the specific demands of a given character or image. But the underlying animation software is likely to be a well-known software package, such as Maya. Similarly, much of the hardware runs the Linux operating system on processors and boxes from a variety of manufacturers. In almost all cases, the common denominator is the technology.
Where technology may be the passport to global enterprise, the talent and the work itself tend to revolve around global hubs. For example, London developed as a hub, due in large measure to the number of productions based in the U.K. The same holds true for Australia and New Zealand, production strongholds that developed substantial visual effects industries to support local filmmakers. The tools may be similar from place to place, but it is how those tools are used that makes the difference. It is important to remember that as wondrous and advanced as the technology may be in our world, it always comes down to the people who apply it. At the highest levels of our industry, it comes down to artistry and experience. Processors and software licenses are fine but they do not create the images. People do.
The work we do is highly collaborative with many people working cooperatively to bring a filmmakers vision to the screen. It is the nature of the enterprise. For Imageworks, globalization is not simply about dispatching work to be performed, but is more about working with filmmakers who engage visual effects talent here in the U.S. and overseas. Thus, globalization is certainly about people bringing a global perspective and sensibility to the workforce here in the U.S. Our business, and the visual effects industry overall, is richer for the insight and experience that people bring to their work.
Globalization has also introduced the 24-hour production cycle. When we have a project shooting in Australia, for example, as we did recently with Ghost Rider and Red Sun, our visual effects supervisors were on the ground in Australia while their crews were back in Culver City, California. When the Australian production crew is finishing their day, the Culver City crew is starting theirs. The same was true during production in New Zealand and Europe for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, as well as, most likely, for any other international productions.
We started to see this transglobal interaction about five years ago, complete with elaborate teleconferencing and data transfer protocols specifically set up to facilitate the work. Today, there is little difference between the way we work with an American filmmaker across town and a production based on the other side of the world. Shots can be viewed, conferences held and work exchanged with surprising efficiency. The main difference is the time on the clock.
A cautionary note, if there need be one, is to understand that within a global production environment there are regional influences, perspectives and sensibilities. This is also a point of inspiration. Work, especially in character animation where the subtlety of performance is key, will always be cast based on the specific requirements, with the companies or individuals best suited to the job selected for the role.
Where years ago there was rarely a connection or any interaction between one visual effects company and another, now it is common for many participants to work together on the same productions and sometimes even contributing elements to the same shots. Talent and ideas are born around the world. Our business, though complicated and highly specialized, is able to enjoy the same globalization that we see in many fields.
Long before globalization became a trend, the movies were international stars they dont have world premieres for nothing. As the visual effects and digital character animation business matures, aided by a dynamic talent base, easier communication and more mutually adaptable technology, it now mirrors the filmmaking community that it serves.
Jenny Fulle, evp of production and executive producer for Sony Pictures Imageworks, joined the company in 1997. Fulle served as executive producer on the Academy Award-winning film Spider-Man 2, Big Fish, Bad Boys II, The Haunted Mansion, Stuart Little 2, the Academy Award and BAFTA nominated Spider-Man, as well as The ChubbChubbs, Imageworks first animated short film and the Oscar winner for Best Animated Short Film in 2002.
Currently, Fulle is in production on the live-action feature films The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Zathura, Ghost Rider and Spider-Man 3. Additionally, she is in production on the first two fully animated CG feature films from Sony Pictures Animation, Open Season and Surfs Up.
