Indian entertainment company Reliance MediaWorks and Los Angeles-based studio Digital Domain Productions plan to launch joint visual effects and 3D stereo production services studios in Mumbai and London.
The new studio in Navi Mumbai will employ up to 650 artists while Digital Domain will co-locate a visual effects team within Reliance MediaWork's existing London facility. The Mumbai and London studios will both be connected to Digital Domain's L.A. facility through a high-speed fibre-optic network.
"Filmmaking has become a global enterprise," Digital Domain Productions chief executive Cliff Plumer said in a statement, "and a partnership with Reliance MediaWorks will allow our clients to realise the benefits of a digital production pipeline that makes efficient use of resources and talent located around the world".
The new studios will provide services to motion picture, television, commercial, and stereo 3D conversion projects beginning in August.
The launch continues a trend of VFX outsourcing across countries such as India, China, Korea and Singapore, where labour costs are lower. Australian VFX houses such as Fuel VFX, Rising Sun Pictures and Animal Logic also regularly attract international projects although they are increasingly hamstrung by the strong value of the local currency.
Reliance MediaWorks already employs more than 500 artists working on visual effects and 3D conversion, and also runs India's biggest cinema chain, BIG Cinemas.
Digital Domain was founded in 1993 and has worked on films such as Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Titanic and TRON: Legacy. It is attempting to raise up to $US115 million to fund a foray into live-action and animated feature film production, as well as expand its 3D and education business divisions.