Double Negative

Double Negative, a visual effects company is located in London and formed in 1998 with a team of 30 staff. Since then the company has grown to 750+ staff, making it Europe's largest provider of visual effects for Film. In 2009, Double Negative opened the doors to its Singapore office. Currently, there are over 55 staff in the Singapore office and they work closely with the Double Negative team in London, on selected productions.  With the increase of growth, they have always sought to retain the creative drive and involvement of the artists through all projects, continuing to ensure that they have a close collaboration with clients. This approach ensures films both small and large receive the same high standard of creative and technical service.

Over the past 12 months, Double Negative has completed work on projects including; Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Inception, and Iron Man 2. Currently, they in production are John Carter Of Mars, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Parts 1 &2), Paul, Attack the Block and Captain America: The First Avenger.

Reference-http://www.dneg.com/

Framestore

I have looked into a visual effects company called Framestore. They are based in the UK, and have won numerous Oscar awards for their work.

It formed in 1986 and the company works across several different areas of the media: feature films, commercials, music videos, feature animation and digital.

In 2004, the company set up an office in New York's SoHo district to serve the US advertising market.

Framestore has worked on visual effects from films such as Avatar, The Dark Knight and Harry Potter films.

Framestore is one of the largest visual effects and computer animation studio in Europe.

References-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framestore
http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=186524
http://www.framestore-cfc.com/

Salary Chart

Median Salary by Job

Industry: Media -- Film Visual Effects 

This chart displays Median Salary by Job for Industry: Media -- Film Visual Effects.

The number on the left side shows the amount of income ($) 

Reference- http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Industry=Media_--_Film_Visual_Effects/Salary

Budget

 A budget for films are very important if the industry is to make profit.

Budgets on animated films vary, depending on project characteristics, deadline, staff size, and many other factors.

On average, in 2001, the budget for live-action and animated films was $47.7 million which does not include marketing cost.

Budget range for Animation in Various Media.

Media                                                                            Range

Feature-length film                                                      $4m - $150m

Children's 30-minutes TV                                          $200,000 - $800,000

Video/DVD originals                                                  $60,000- $25m

Interactive console games                                         $500,000-$20m

Internet short                                                               $1,000-$45,000

Information from 'The Animation Businesss Handbook' by Karen Raugust, (page 46-47)

Salary

I decided to look at the salary when getting a job in an animation industry.

The average salary  for animators is about £38,000 annually.

In 2008, the highest-paying employers of animators were information services, film companies, design services, aerospace parts manufacturing and employment agencies. Animators working in these fields averaged between £38,00 and £47,00 annually.

The states with the highest-paid animators were California, Washington, New York and Nevada.

Reference-http://www.ehow.com/facts_5218073_salary-range-animation.html

Visual effects companies

Here is a small list of visual effects companies that we may look in to:

• Framestore (UK)

• Cinesite (UK)

•  Rising Sun Pictures (UK)

• Scanline VFX (Germany)

• Sony Pictures Imagework (California, USA)

• Industrial Light & Magic (California, USA)

•  Moving Picture

Visual Effects: 100 Years of Inspiration

This is a video I found on YouTube, showing popular films known for its visual effects from the last century.

You can see how the technology and visual effects has improved .