Phantom Digital Effects Limited

Hi All,

I spoke to two friends working in two of the bigger VFX/Animation Studios in the country. The first one works in MPC (a part of the Technicolor Group that also owns The Mill). MPC concentrates on international movies and shows, while The Mill concentrates on advertising work. The other is an Artist in Prime Focus.
The salient points that came out from these conversations are as follows.

Is AI an Industry Killer?
No. It is not. ‘You guys are talking about AI for the last six months. We have been using it for a few years now.’ They see AI as a collaborative tool that aids creativity. Not something that will replace them.

How will AI affect the Industry?
Base level jobs like ageing/deageing or rotoscopy can now be completely done by AI. That means that a lot of small VFX firms that specialised in these kinds of manual jobs will be in trouble. But bigger jobs that require human creativity (World Building and World Creation) still needs Human Input and will continue to do so regardless of the improvements in the AI Softwares. Yes. These jobs will progressively be completed faster with fewer people. This will make for quicker turn around times and smaller teams per job.
AI is a boon for the industry considering the sheer volume of Domestic and International Content that is being produced and paucity of trained VFX work force to execute those jobs.

Will AI make certain section of the Work Force Obsolete?
That is a real fear. That is why almost all VFX Firms are training their workforce to effectively use the latest versions of AI Softwares. The same will soon be a part of the curriculum of almost Animation/VFX schools in the country.

One gave an example that I found really interesting.
When Film Cameras were replaced by Digital Cameras and the entire eco-system around the filming process transformed with migration from film stock to memory cards, the people who lost their jobs were the ancillary members in the camera crew who were supposed to take care of the stock, process the stock etc. The Camera Man and Light Man were there in 1920s. They are still here in 2023.

My Take: From these conversations I got the feeling that the industry is going through a transformation. VFX firms up the value chain will make a killing due to smaller work force requirements and greater work volume. VFX firms lower down the value chain will perish (if they fail to adapt).
I am not sure if Phantom is really that big a player in the game. I have my doubts if it can survive the churn.

Hope this helps.

Not Invested.