With visual effects becoming an important element, especially in big budget films these days, it makes sense that filmmakers are looking at hiring visual effect (VFX) companies that not only offer high-calibre artists but also at a competitive price.
In the past decade or so, Hollywood producers have started outsourcing this work to VFX companies in Asia, mainly China and India, for those very reasons.
As it turns out, Malaysia has taken a bite into that large piece of pie as well.
This is in part thanks to the Film In Malaysia Incentive (FIMI) from the government which gives a 30% cash rebate on productions done in Malaysia, including for post-production work like visual effects.
One of the first success stories is the work done by Base Digital Production, a studio in Kuala Lumpur owned by Base FX, a visual effects and animation company in China.
Base FX was founded in Beijing in 2003, and it has studios in Wuxi, Xiamen and since 2018, in Kuala Lumpur. Base FX is reported to have a long-standing relationship with the American VFX giant Industrial Light & Magic, resulting in its participation in films like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Transformers: Age Of Extinction, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Aquaman.
In turn, this relationship has resulted in the KL studio working on its first big Hollywood project: Michael Bay’s action flick 6 Underground starring Ryan Reynolds, Melanie Laurent and Dave France.
The US$150mil (RM624mil) film, which was released on Netflix in December last year, has almost 2,000 visual effect shots within the film.
Base Digital Production was responsible for producing 80 of those shots. A total of 68 VFX artists were involved, 35 of which are Malaysians.
This was revealed during a Q&A session at Malaysian National Film Development Corporation (Finas) office in Petaling Jaya in September.
Sailash Kumar, Base Digital Production’s general manager, shared: “Our main office in Beijing has been collaborating on big Hollywood films successfully over the years. And we saw Malaysia as a great opportunity.
“One of the main reasons for us to venture into Malaysia is because of the support from Finas and the FIMI rebate by the Malaysian government. These were attractive enough for Base FX to want to run a studio in KL.
“Another reason for starting a studio in KL is because Base FX has always been interested in developing local talents, homegrown talents. And Malaysia, as we know has a huge number of talents involved in animation.
“So, with the Malaysian government and Finas, we want to grow and nurture local talents and to get Malaysians to do full-fledged Hollywood productions.”
Sailash added: “6 Underground proves Malaysia has the talent and the capability to do Hollywood projects. Hopefully this would entice Malaysians working abroad to come back home because the opportunities are here in Malaysia as well.
“It’s your time to capture that opportunity and grow together.”
He also pointed out that there are a few more projects in the pipeline involving big-budget productions by his company that will be revealed soon.
Base FX’s studio executive producer Aaron Cowan, who joined the Q&A session virtually from Sabah, agreed there is a large creative talent in Malaysia.
Cowan has worked in the visual effects field for over 20 years, and was previously a producer with Weta Digital, working together with directors like Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg and James Cameron on their respective films.
He was the contact person between Base Digital team in KL and director Bay, in Los Angeles, as they worked on the 80 VFX shots. Cowan worked around the clock with the artists to meet every detail that Bay wanted.
“We had a couple of shots in the film, like we had to roll a big dice,” said Cowan. “And we had to tidy up some shots (because) Bay likes to keep everything as practical as possible, so he doesn’t like too much CG in the shot. So, we clean up as much as possible.
“Another shot we are proud of is we had to build an entire road, add trees, add other cars that are moving, and incorporate that with the original scene of a guy in a car that’s not moving and he falls out the door.”
Cowan added: “Malaysia has put in a lot of work in pushing innovation and creativity. Right now, that allows us to piggyback on the back of that knowledge in as many ways as we can.”
FIMI, an incentive that has been around for more than six years now, gives a rebate to producers who either film in Malaysia or for a production that hires a local company to do post-production work.
Ahmad Idham explained: “Through FIMI, we want to encourage foreign companies and producers to invest in Malaysia, and create job opportunities to the locals.
“If the company spends X amount, it is entitled to a reimbursement by the government. For example, if your production’s cost is RM5mil and you shoot and spend that in Malaysia, you get back RM1.5mil, which means you’ve only used RM3.5mil in the end.
“Of course, there are criteria a production has to meet first to get the grant.
“Finas is behind this as we want to encourage local talents to get into international productions.
“By highlighting Malaysians’ involvement in 6 Underground, we want to publicise to other companies out there that Malaysia has the talents, the skills as well as an attractive grant, and that they should invest in Malaysia.”
Idham said the hope is to get more Malaysians to return home and, in the long run, help grow the local film industry.
Along the line, Sailash spoke of how Base FX grew from being a company with supervisors and seniors made up of foreigners, to one where the locals have taken over these roles. He sees a similar growth within the company in Malaysia.
He elaborated: “Base FX had supervisors and seniors from studios from all over the world in the beginning because we needed to build the foundation and the framework for the local artists, and future talents.
“Where we are right now is, we have the local guys as leaders and supervisors, heading different departments. It goes to show how much they have absorbed from the experts and how much they have developed.”
Sailash continued: “(Similarly, in Malaysia), we want to work with the government to develop locals here, so they would stay and grow here.”
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