What is the Scope for VFX Artist in India? Know All the Sides

Recently I was out for a movie with my friends. Avengers: End Game was on the screens and everyone wants to go for that but they were surprised when they know that I wasn't interested in that. The reason behind my refusal was that I haven’t watched even a single part of it.

So, I was a bit reluctant in going for that particular movie in which I’m least interested. But things changed when I came out of the cinema hall. The movie was insane! Though I didn’t understand the entire concept what left me awestruck was the stunning visual effects.

I was stunned. Those lightening effects, fights, the characters, the background, it seems like I was totally engrossed in the movie. I went back home and finally found out the reasons why it is called one of the biggest movies of the year.

For hours, I searched for the VFX industry. I was fascinated just like a small kid with the readings and what potential VFX has stored in itself for us.

At the same point, what caught my attention was that, whatever the websites I was going through, they all talked about how the VFX has bloomed and has become an essential part of HOLLYWOOD INDUSTRY. There was minimal or no reference to Indian Cinema.

Can Indian animation and VFX industry ever match the level of Hollywood? This question kept on buzzing in my mind.

Obviously, it will be unfair to make a comparison between Hollywood and Bollywood industry because we all know how different these two industries are from each other in terms of financial budget, culture, resources, and content.

But on the other hand, if we go a bit deep inside, we’ll understand that we have an abundance of talent in the Indian VFX industry too!

Here’s a little puzzle for you- solve for brownie information!

What is similar between blockbuster movies like Thor, How to Train Your Dragon, Avatar, Shrek, Interstellar, Maleficent, and Gravity?

Don’t worry if you haven’t cracked it up! I won't keep you waited long for the answer.

All of these movies and (many more like these) include VFX & animation artist from India. Indians artists are contributing lavishly for the mounting success of these blockbuster Hollywood movies.

We have an ocean brimming with talent but the major concern is that the Indian companies receive a lot of outsourcing. It can be budget constraints or resources that can become the strong reason for a relatively less growth for visual effects artists in India than in any other country.

This statement, in any sense, does not imply that there is no scope for artists who want to reside in India only. There are a lot of options available for them too!

Did you remember that jaw-dropping scene from James Bond’s movie Skyfall? If your heart just came out of your mouth after watching that scene, you should thank the team of Indian VFX based in Bangalore who worked as a freelancer for them to create stunning jaw-dropping sequence sequences in the movies.

You can always collaborate with foreign countries and work as a freelance on multiple profiles. (that we’ll discuss later in the section.)

Before getting to know what actually is actually the scope of VFX in India, it is important for you to have a piece of knowledge about the VFX industry of India- From where it all begins, how it has evolved and what is the current state of the industry with growth perspective.

Let’s get started!

The Past, Present & Future of Indian VFX Industry.

We often mention that India is a developing country and in recent years it has become a global powerhouse- be it Healthcare, IT, telecom or any other sector, there’s a significant growth in the economic structure of the country. We are becoming one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

While marking our success and showing the world how much, we have evolved in recent years, we often forget to add the Media and Entertainment industry into the list. Recently, India became the first country in the world in terms of annual film output.

Bollywood, in today’s time, is nothing short of financial and cultural constraints. It is blooming and has become dynamic than it was ever been

The VFX industry has become a key component of Bollywood. In recent years, the industry has been very robust and dynamic. Movies, video games, cartoon shows, take any of them and you’ll see how rich they are with visual effects.

Even companies are also looking up for the new technologies - from 360 degrees elements to virtual reality programs, to explore.

"According to the KPMG India-FICCI, Indian Media and Entertainment Industry Report, 2017, the Indian animation and VFX industry grew at 16.4 percent in 2016 to reach a size of INR59.5 billion, driven majorly by a 31 percent growth in VFX"

Whenever you’ll search Indian animation movies, what you will observe is the most animated movies that we have is taken from epic stories.

Visual effects industry has a very bright future as here directors and filmmakers look more attracted to high-end fantasy stories and as a culture and mythologically rich country we have a plethora of fantasy stories.

Kotha Basi Reddy was the man who presented the digital expertise in this field back in 2003. He owns a VFX and animation studio known as Digiquest and has accorded in the production of more than 400 movies that also comprise Kick, Magadheera, Baahubali, and many more.

While talking about the Indian VFX industry, he echoes,

“Hollywood movies go all over the world with so much CG and special effects because of fantasy. People love it. Indian mythology also has a lot of fantasies to offer. In Indian mythology, there is so much of sci-fi. It's not even funny. We talk about Ravana flying on a plane and taking Sita with him. There are many epic stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata"

Today VFX has become a mature market. The directors have shifted toward the latest trends. There’s constant demand from the audience to inculcate VFX in movies and as a result, our filmmakers have created some of the finest movies that incorporate VFX elements.

Manikarnika, Bajirao Mastaani, Robot, 2.0, M.S. Dhoni- The Untold Story, Padmavat, Ra.One, and the much known Baahubali are some examples of this.

The perception that India can only outsource VFX tasks is in the process to become null and void. We are no longer just the country that only outsources. We have gained the self- independence in this field too.

Though there is no denying the fact that the portion we outsource is quite more than we produce, but observing the latest trends, I’m sure we will cover this gap soon.

We have started engaging our indigenous talent in extensive training programs to make them updated with all the latest technologies required to produce perfect output.

Scope of Visual Effects Artists

Till here, we all have understood how much the VFX industry is growing. With such growth, the industry has opened up a lot more career avenues for young minds. It has become a career choice for many people because of the rewards and creativity it has to offer.

There are tons of job opportunities in the industry however, sometimes a lot of aspirants do not even know what positions are available for them to work on.

In this section, we’ll talk about what all roles are available for an artist who wants to dive into the world of visual effects.

1. Layout Artist

As a layout artist, you will be responsible for how the visuals will finally look. This part comes under the pre-production process and visualization process. This profile usually includes the work like interpretation and storyboarding of the scripts. You will be responsible for communicating ideas through visual and textual representation.

Layout artist takes care of the entire scene creation process and provides the final out with different camera angles and lighting effects.

2. Compositing Artist

The work of compositing artists includes blending the visual effects perfectly with the background. A compositor’s job is to take care that there’s not even a single glitch in the video and he also has to eliminate the visual disturbances in the video that can ruin the experience of the viewer.

3. Lighting Artist

Lighting artist is one of the vital players in the industry - whether you talk about the film industry or animation field or any other. s/he is responsible for maintaining the perfect lighting to illuminate the scene. As a lighting artist, you will be responsible for adding lights to all the scenes. They also work with virtual elements like lens flare, to give the illuminating effect to the images.

4. Rendering Artist

Rendering artists are in huge demand in the industry. A person can work as a render artist in VFX studios and production houses. Rendering converts the lifeless things into reality thus to be a render artist, you need to be highly skilled in your field. The entire transformation process of converting the models into real visuals depends heavily on the render artists.

5. Roto Artist

Rotoscoping is considered one of the oldest techniques in the animation process. In visual effects, rotoscoping involves the tracing of all the frames using digital software. It is the actual point where computer graphics meets real life. Roton artist has the freedom to create scenes that would otherwise be impossible to produce.

6. Matte Painter

Matte painter is one of the essential techniques of VFX. Artists mix digital painting and compositing techniques to create stunning visuals that we all see in movies and films.

A matte painter takes inspiration from sketches, digital photographs and uses Adobe Photoshop or other digital software to turn them into digital paintings that look almost real.

7. Match Mover Artist

Matchmoving has become a standard in the Visual effects industry. A match mover artist is basically a person who is an expert in both 2D and 3D. He or she is responsible for matching the live-action camera with a computer graphic camera using track matte options.

As a match mover, you have to ensure that all the movements, proportions blend perfectly with computer graphics without any glitch and give a natal and realistic feel in the end.

The changes we are receiving in the nature of project hints toward the consistent future growth of the visual effects industry. Global markets are embracing the industry and recognizing the need for it. With the bright future, the VFX industry has stored a lot of untapped and unexplored things for us.

VFX has become a dynamic field, without which it seems a little difficult to see the future. It has become the future of our media and entertainment industry with tons of career opportunities to go for.

To be a professional visual effects artist, it is necessary to have a proper understanding of all the digital software that are relevant in the industry. Post Production Institute, an associated partner of ADMEC, offers the fine quality with excellent training methods the best visual effects courses in the town.

Our experienced faculty pays special focus on the overall development of the student. Students are involved in practical training and project on often basis to teach them about how to handle the real-time industry project and pressure.

To keep our students updated with trends, we maintain this blog section regularly. You can find various interesting topics to a regular basis. This will not only increase your knowledge but also provide you the information on very basic yet essential concepts

We have an industry-oriented course for our students who have that zeal and enthusiasm to excel in the industry. Our Visual Effects Master course is a one-year-long diploma program that infuses special artistic and creative skills in the students

Join us to experience the best!

Stay tuned with us to know more about the industry. Till then, Keep Exploring!

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