The success of Illusion Arts -- which this year expects revenues of about $3 million -- suggests one way that tiny companies can carve out niches in the special-effects business. By blending new technology with old-fashioned craftsmanship, Illusion Arts competes against better-established competitors without relying solely on computer technology. The company's images have appeared in movies like The Birdcage, Courage Under Fire, Glory, and A Walk in the Clouds. In 1995's Dragonheart, the high-powered digital effects came not just from George Lucas's studios in San Rafael, Calif., but also from Illusion Arts' far-less-storied digs in the San Fernando Valley.
"Everything is becoming an effects movie," says Dutton, standing in his dark, loftlike studio. "It can be simple things like taking off power lines in a shot that's supposed to be the 10th century. ILM is a big place. They don't want to do small movies or specialized shots. We can do it -- and like it."
Studios are increasingly turning to cybergnats for several reasons. For starters, many special-effects jobs in Hollywood are simply too small to justify bringing in one of the high-powered companies. Scott Ross, CEO of leading special-effects producer Digital Domain, not only acknowledges that logic but even recommends cybergnats to clients that have only three or four effects shots in a movie -- as opposed to, say, the roughly 150 used in Apollo 13, which were done by his company .
Cybergnats can also often turn specialized jobs around more quickly, a big lure to producers, who are under the gun to wrap a film on time. When Warner Brothers approached ILM to create the effects for the recent Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Eraser, ILM told the studio it would have to subcontract out some of the work because of previous commitments. So Warner Brothers hired visual-effects supervisor John Sullivan, who decided to use ILM for the most technologically sophisticated shots, but to go to smaller firms for the rest. For a mechanical crocodile, for example, Sullivan went to KNB, a cybergnat based in Chatsworth, Calif., that specializes in animatronics. Some animation and other shots were given out to Mass.Illusion, a company based in Lenox, Mass. And for the shots that called for matte painting, he turned to Illusion Arts. The original models for the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park and the gorillas in Congo came from the animatronics studio of Stan Winston, located just down the block from Illusion Arts.
In Hollywood, where egos rule and personal relationships determine business relationships, the cybergnats' friendlier and more easygoing personae are helping them win work over their more slick and corporate competitors. In some cases, the very success of the people at the helms of the larger companies can get in the way of a deal. Some producers, for example, admit being put off by the visionary arrogance of ILM's George Lucas, who often publicly dismisses the rest of the industry as five years behind his pace. Smaller companies typically also allow producers to exercise greater control over individual shots.
Cybergnats also save producers money. On Courage Under Fire, veteran effects supervisor Alan Munro needed to set up a group of tanks for an important shot -- but he didn't have tanks on the set. A larger special-effects company would have created the entire scene digitally -- for a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. But Munro turned to Illusion Arts, which took a more resourceful approach. The company built a model of a tank, photographed it, and then, using the computer, cloned it. Next, employing an old effects technique, Munro cut and pasted the model tanks into the shot. "What you got was a mixture of painted elements, live action, and computer elements," Munro says. "Its a combination of illusions that's very convincing." And a lot cheaper, too: costs came in under $50,000.
Technology trends favor the cybergnats. The accelerating power of smaller, more affordable, and easier-to-use machines has enabled tiny special-effects companies to match some of the big guns' digital effects. A decade ago, notes former ILM president Tom Smith, now an independent producer, it took a Cray supercomputer to do The Last Starfighter; today that same work could be performed on a high-end Mac or PC. "The days when you needed an $800,000 optical printer to compete with ILM are over," he says.
Smith's latest film, The Arrival, includes a number of effects developed on the cheap, relatively speaking, by a cybergnat called Available Light Ltd. Founded in Burbank in 1983 by John Van Vliet and his partner, Katherine Kean, Available Light now comprises 12 employees armed only with Macs and PCs. Available Light specializes in supernatural effects like ghosts and lightning, rather than giving across-the-board service. That specialization, along with the low staff overhead and low-powered equipment, allows Available Light to save its clients money. The company's work on the upcoming Tales from the Crypt Presents Bordello of Blood cost $350,000 for 30 shots -- about one-fourth of what a better-known house would have charged.
Or take Hammerhead Productions, the cybergnat that won the Showgirls work. Hammerhead was founded by four partners who started with nothing but their personal savings -- and a wealth of experience. At Apogee and later at Pacific Data Images, Dan Chuba had worked on more than 30 feature films, including True Lies, Cliffhanger, and Die Hard II: Die Harder. Partner Jamie Dixon had worked with top directors such as Jim Cameron, Barry Levinson, and John Landis, while partner Rebecca Marie had served as Oliver Stone's visual-effects supervisor on Nixon and Natural Born Killers. A fourth partner, software maven Thad Beier, has remained in Silicon Valley, producing much of the company's high-end effects software.
Chuba and his partners' goal is to keep operating expenses, including salaries, under $5,000 a week -- a good day's lunch bill at the big studios. To meet that goal, they continue to lease their computers -- Silicon Graphic Indys and Indigo 2s -- for $2,500 a month. Instead of hiring high-priced talent, they hire freelance animators for about $2,000 a week on an as-needed basis. "It's a good thing we're all cheap bastards," growls Chuba.
That cheapness has enabled Chuba and his partners to begin production of Shadowbuilder, a full-length feature film, in partnership with independent producer Imperial Entertainment. Hammerhead partner Dixon will direct the film. The deal is simple: Imperial puts up most of the cash, and Hammerhead does the special effects. Imperial thinks it's getting a good deal. "We're getting the ILM or Digital Domain look at a tenth of the cost," observes Ash Shah, Imperial's executive vice-president.
Hammerhead's second film is also in development -- a more elaborate project called Supernova, written by Chuba and to be produced by United Artists. If Chuba and company can keep it up, then Hammerhead may well become the first of the special-effects companies to jump into the big leagues of Hollywood production houses.
That's a morph that Hammerhead's larger special-effects competitors might well envy.
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Joel Kotkin (jkotkin@earthlink.net) is a Los AngelesÑbased John M. Olin Fellow with the Pepperdine Institute for Public Policy and a senior fellow with the Pacific Research Institute.
