And with the tremendous force of D2’s visual effects facility to “bring methodology and tremendous access to talent,” as Cooper puts it, practically any story can be served from beginning to end with integrity. D2’s current development includes Instant Karma, a movie about a man (to be played by The Rock) who has to go through his previous life’s karma by living the lives of animals, from the bottom of the food chain to the top. This film, still in development, should make great use of D2’s ability to create stunning visual effects as well as their new ability to foster and grow a story to fruition.

Cooper is confident that D2’s ability to cultivate a story is made that much more efficient by the fact that D2 can handle almost all aspects of its development, including its art and animation/visual effects work, as well as the ability to pre-visualize the entire film digitally, a concept that is taking hold on large-scale productions — though this task is frequently farmed out to previs and visual effects houses independent of the development studio. By having this ability on hand as the film progresses in the proverbial womb, D2 believes it can foster the best kind of fidelity for the film, and be able to remain fiscally responsible in an age where some movie budgets can easily balloon out-of-control.

While some may wonder why a visual effects house has decided to stretch its legs into the world of feature development, it actually makes perfect sense. By having a project develop within the purview of a central facility, you greatly increase the efficiency of the project and increase its chances of success.

Already a legend in mechanical vfx, Stan Winston started a digital arm to keep projects in house.

In a similar vein, Stan Winston Studios has branched out with a new division as well: Stan Winston Digital. Stan Winston, one of the truly great names in practical creature and make-up effects, has been behind some of the most impressive and legendary film creations over the past 30 years (most recently with Big Fish and Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines).

Frequently these films have incorporated Winston’s creatures with digital versions and digital effects, so it seems quite natural for Stan Winston Studios to branch out into a digital division that would take over those responsibilities and enjoy a higher integrity in the final shot.

Since these practical and mechanical effects need to be joined together with digital effects in an ever-increasing industry relying on digital production, Stan Winston Studios decided to step in and cut out the chance for misinterpretation in the conversion from mechanical creature to a digital one. No matter how good and agile an outside digital studio is, the chances for infidelity between mechanical and digital effects is readily apparent.

And with that notion in mind, visual effects supervisor André Bustanoby and animation director Randall Rosa approached Stan Winston Studios a couple of years ago to set up an in-house division that would handle all the digital creature effects, and, as Rosa puts it, bring “a really balanced approach to solving an issue,” in order to keep the original vision alive.

Rosa adds that their new digital division will integrate tightly with the existing studio structure, and will be able to “have the physical complement the digital,” since a great amount of design work is already done digitally for mechanical creatures.