What you may haven't seen this article about the making of the vfx stuff. Quite comprehensive article (I wish I could write things something like this):
It happened just a few years ago but still with us. Digital Domain and Rhythm & Hues Studios two of the biggest VFX studios in the world bankrupted. They still exist thanks to new investments. But the bankruptcies were the symptoms of an unsustainable business model and that is still with us. Even at Digital Apes a tiny little company in Hungary we can experience the same pressure day by day that the clients want faster and would pay less money for that work with a fix bid.
For me the ultimate question is that: can everybody have similar salary around the world for the same work? Because the global competition of the VFX industry inevitable favors the cheapest labor prices. In the age of open-source movements technology and other factors will equalize in the long term.
Subsidies the other factor of course but it is a very very bad blind practice of governments to galvanize industries. What it means basically they help to make profit for investors by the local taxpayers' money. Okay but it is another topic for another blog...
So here it is the film what I would like to share:
FxGuide has a great interview with Industrial Light & Magic crew members.
For me it was interesting to hear that ILM just started to use Houdini as a major tool for effects like destruction. Also huge that they switched to use Arnold as a primary render solution. I think they had a couple of TD's on board.