Local animators told: raise your game
The international landscape is changing in the visual effects industry, says one Hollywood player, and Asia needs to raise its game to compete
If Asia wants to become a major player in the world of big-screen animation it needs to nurture its own creative talent, says a leading visual effects expert.
Richard Chuang should know. He has been in charge of visual effects for 16 Hollywood productions and oversaw the making of the hugely successful Shrek trilogy.
The 58-year-old pioneer of the computer graphics and digital effects industry co-founded Pacific Data Images, now part of DreamWorks Animation, producer of blockbusters Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, and How to Train Your Dragon.
The American said while he had seen animation studios mushrooming in Asia over the years, they seemed to enjoy only moderate success by offering technical support to overseas productions, while attempts to make 3-D animated films of their own had very often turned into disasters.
"They make many CG [computer graphics] films, but no one knows about them," Chuang told a Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum held in Hong Kong last month.
He said many studios approached the task as if it were easy, and did not understand the challenge of producing creative content.