Digital Domain’s Hyderabad studio working on multiple International projects

Nov 15

Digital Domain’s Hyderabad studio working on multiple International projects

Digital Domain’s newly inaugurated studio at Hyderabad

Global American visual effects company Digital Domain inaugurated its first Indian studio recently at Hyderabad which is its tenth location for the global studio. The studio immediately got to work on several international projects.The details of the projects have not been disclosed yet.

A media invite was recently organised at the WaveRock SEZ, Hyderabad building which was addressed by head of digital studio India – Digital Domain Sudhir Reddy and executive director and chief operating officer of Digital Domain Amit Chopra.

Some of the latest movies for which Digital Domain has done the visual effects includes Deadpool,Beauty and the Beast, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok.

In addition to Hyderabad, Digital Domain has a global presence in Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Vancouver, London, Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei and Hong Kong.

Executive director and chief operating officer of Digital Domain Amit Chopra

Executive director and chief operating officer of Digital Domain Amit Chopra revealed to Animation Xpress, “There are several large projects we are working on right now, including a few in collaboration with North America, and a few in collaboration with our China studios.

He added, “It is an achievement to say that in a few months, Digital Domain India has finished around 6000 VFX shots. Our multiple locations are seeing more collaboration with each other than we initially thought would be the case so early on.”

He added, “India has been our dream for the last 5 years and now it has come true. It is a true testament to our people what we have been able to achieve in a very short period of time.” Chopra hopes that in the next five years, 3-5 percent of its global revenue will come from India and the Hyderabad studio will rake in around $15 million for the company.

One of the biggest criticisms of foreign VFX companies opening shop in India is that they only do the backend monotonous work for a given project hiring cheap talent and working out of cramped offices.

“We have designed our Hyderabad office like our Los Angeles office. This is not a sweatshop,” added Reddy. The office has 100 sq ft per person space and its open environment will make people want to work here, he further added.

Reddy and Chopra both said they are keen on building a studio that can retain employees by giving them a good environment to work in coupled with exciting opportunities.The Digital Domain team explained the reason behind choosing Hyderabad over Mumbai.

Head of Digital Studio India – Digital Domain, Sudhir Reddy

Reddy said, “It took a lot of hard work to do this. A lot of people from Hyderabad had left their homes to work in Mumbai. We wanted them to come back to their own city and work here, stay with their families.”

Chopra also says, “Mumbai is a congested area with a saturation of talent. Hyderabad is a different place and people think differently. We wanted people to love working at Digital Domain. We want to nurture and take care of the people here and we want employees to stay here for long.”

The studio plans to focus more on the global feature film based projects. Regarding working on Indian films, he said, “We are open to doing them but it should appeal to us. We would love to do something of Baabhubali stature.”

Amit Chopra explained that Digital Domain’s strength lies in the details. It is well known for its destruction simulation and digital human work. He also spoke about how the company has created a lot of digital human and spoke about films like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Sudhir Reddy addressing the media

A breathtaking showreel was shown which had animals and creatures. Reddy said, “90 percent of our work is computer generated imagery and 10 percent is live action.” Then, everyone was taken for a tour of the studio.

The studio has been built with an investment of around $3-5 million. It has a staff of 205 currently with a capacity of 420 artists and it is planning to extend it to 500. Chief executive officer Daniel Seah said that with a capacity of 500 professionals, the studio would be the second largest for the company after its Vancouver studio.

Amit Chopra addressing the media

Initially Digital Domain had planned to open the studio in Mumbai and there were a lot of talks with several studios for collaborations. Also, Prime Focus was a partner stakeholder in early stages but Digital Domain purchased its stake back from them and took full control. Later on Digital Domain decided to create the company from scratch and ruled out any studio acquisitions.

The company is also keen working on advertisements and commercials as well. It plans to have a focus of 60 percent on features and 15 percent on commercials. By mid 2018 it will start building AR, VR and 360 degree content, said Reddy.

Currently, the people working in Digital Domain are mostly experienced or mid level ones who have worked in local or international projects. However it plans to have freshers on board in future. Reddy said. “We are approaching schools and planning to have a 3 month internship program. We are also open to other cities in India for talent.”

Digital Domain plans to bring VFX supervisors from abroad only if the situation demands but there is no such plans right now.There was a media tour of the whole office and all the departments were shown. The design is a mix of Indian as well as western. The Digital Domain office at Hyderabad has some spectacular interiors which has been designed similar to the LA and Vancouver office. There were frames of some of the international movies Digital Domain has worked on as well as some amazing art work was present on the walls.