The spider doll from Night Watch makes a return visit in Day Watch.

BD: What has been the impact of Night Watch on the Russian visual effects industry?

VL: Visual effects are getting better but it's slow. We don't have a lot of specialists. But we are a young industry and we don't have special schools for that. What the Moscow schools teach is software and how to push buttons but they can't teach how to be an artist.

BD: That's a big complaint here too. Dennis Muren of ILM is writing a book that addresses this problem. So where do you get your artists from?

VL: Most of them are self-taught like me. And we take the best of them. Some people come from animation, some from design -- usually art directors. Compositors are not a big problem because that's not as complicated. But renderers and lighters are a big problem. These occupations need to know everything. But we have five renderers at my company. But the movie industry is growing significantly in Russia. Four years ago, we had maybe 40 or 50 movies. But this year we have 300 movies, but not all of them with visual effects. But there is plenty of work: from removal to water simulation to character animation to particle stuff. I think we will grow in the next few years.

BD: How many visual effects companies are there in Russia?

VL: I think it could be 50-100. In Moscow, around 40. But if you're talking about real companies with their own pipelines and software development, there's around five to 10 in Moscow. We are the biggest one with 60 people. The next in size has 35. The next after that has 25 and the next after that has 15.

BD: You're here looking for more work?

VL: Yes, I looking for work in Hollywood for my studio. Producers are starting to look for vendors other than in America. Again, they can get more effects for less money without sacrificing quality. For us, it's very interesting because it gives us a different technical level of creativity. Because Russian movies don't have that variety of effects. And Emporium has been a good experience working with American studio, American headquarters and producers and supervisors. It's not a technological breakthrough, but it's a good start for us.

Bill Desowitz is editor of VFXWorld.