Twenty years of VFX experience at some of the most respected studios in the field, including Industrial Light & Magic, The Mill and FuseFX, has built deep frustration in Joseph Bell about the shortage of clear, objective information about the VFX industry. Rather than let it defeat him, he has decided to defeat it.
Bell has created the Visual Effects World Atlas, a comprehensive overview of the artists who work in a global industry, full of vital information to fuel the creative endeavours of film studios, streamers, and branded content creators.
The Visual Effects World Atlas is available for free in the hope that this project will help foster a sense of global community among the VFX artists working around the world.
Download the VFX World Atlas here or at vfxatlas.com.
Bell explained, “This is the first time a detailed view of the global visual effects industry has been publicly available. Our data doesn’t include every visual effects professional in the world. But we did manage to find a few key data points for over 55,000 of them. That’s roughly half the people working in VFX for film, television and commercials worldwide.
“Technology tends to grab a lot of headlines, but VFX is fundamentally still a talent-driven business. I wanted to chart the people of the visual effects industry, the skillsets they possess, and where in the world they’re located.
“From the beginning, the Atlas was conceived as a free resource for visual effects people around the world, something to help us develop a shared understanding of the global industry in which we work and foster a sense of community across the industry. I didn’t want cost to get in the way of anyone having access to the information and being able to participate in the discussion. A project like this brings people together. It’s been a tough couple of years, and we need that sense of connection more than ever. People have reached out to me from Italy, Egypt, Singapore and many other countries wanting to participate, and you’ll hear from several of them directly in the Atlas.
It was important to make sure emerging markets are represented in the Atlas, not just the biggest hubs and studios that everyone knows. Vietnam, for example, has several thousand people working in Visual Effects. We also talk about the developing ecosystem of VFX and CGI in Africa. Our data includes companies of all sizes, from over 6,000 employees to as few as two or three. What you see in the atlas may surprise you, or it may confirm what you suspected all along. Either way, I hope it serves as a point of reference for everyone from students searching for their first job to policymakers, investors, and industry leaders shaping the future of the visual effects industry.”
