Journal article
Digital Beings: An Opportunity for Australian Visual Effects
Animation Studies, Vol.9, pp.1-6
2014
Abstract
Ongoing innovation in digital animation and visual effects technologies has provided new opportunities for stories to be visually rendered in ways never before possible. Films featuring animation and visual effects continue to perform well at the box office, proving to be highly profitable projects. The Avengers (Whedon, 2012) holds the current record for opening weekend sales, accruing as much as $207,438,708 USD and $623,357,910 USD gross at time of writing. Life of Pi (Lee, 2012) at time of writing has grossed as much as $608,791,063 USD (Box Office Mojo, 2013). With so much creative potential and a demonstrable ability to generate a large amount of revenue, the animation and visual effects industry – otherwise known as the Post, Digital and Visual Effects (PDV) industry – has become significant to the future growth and stability of the Australian film industry as a whole. Despite its importance to filmmakers, however, the industry is not always economically stable, as indicated by the recent bankruptcy and closures of international award-winning visual effects companies. As I will argue, this digital disruption has provided new points of entry for Australia to reposition itself as a world leader in the global PDV industry. The continued need for digital beings that appear in the same diegetic space as live action actors is a niche within the PDV industry that Australia in particular is well-positioned to leverage for its future economic benefit. Digital technologies, promising to simplify and speed up the creative process, have in many ways led instead to a more complicated, interdependent and at times heterogeneous production pipeline that presents some unique challenges to the visual effects industry. Current research activity in the field of PDV is primarily concerned with developing new technologies;; however, a recent study (Dodgson et al., 2010) conducted across a number of London visual effects and post production houses reveals that some of the biggest problems facing the visual effects industry today are not limited to technological development. Knowledge of how, when and to what purpose one may employ certain technologies is proving to be an ongoing issue. More specifically, the study makes it clear that many young digital artists are, in fact, far less knowledgeable about these factors than their non-digital predecessors. Lacking understanding of the purpose of the production pipeline can cause complications and delays for later stages of the production process (Dodgson et al., 2010).
Details
- Title
- Digital Beings: An Opportunity for Australian Visual Effects
- Authors
- Chris Carter (Author) - Queensland University of Technology
- Publication details
- Animation Studies, Vol.9, pp.1-6
- Publisher
- Society for Animation Studies
- Date published
- 2014
- ISSN
- 1930-1928
- Copyright note
- Copyright (c) 2014 Chris Carter. Reproduced here with kind permission of the copyright holder.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Business and Creative Industries; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Creative Industries - Legacy
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99480006902621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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