With visual effects work needed on a global scale, J. Paul Peszko investigates the rise in VFX throughout the Middle East.
As one might think with oil hovering around $60 a barrel, the Middle East is a region experiencing rapid expansion. Not only buildings but also whole cities are being constructed. What this expansion means for visual effects firms in this part of the world is an unprecedented amount of work in architectural design and TV.
Muharraqi Studios is one of the most active vfx firms in the region. Although the company, located in the Kingdom of Bahrain, is only a year old, it has built an impressive reputation as a premier CG art studio and one of the leading architectural visualizers in the region. Founded by Khalid Muharraqi and his partner Rashad Faraj, the company has worked on some of the largest projects in the Middle East and with some of the leading architects both locally and internationally.
Muharraqis father is Abdulla Al Muharraqi, who is one of the region's pre-eminent artists. Having inherited his father's talents but with a wide variety of interests, Muharraqi studied photography and interior design at the Art Institute of Houston in the early 90s. For the most part, his work in 2D painting with oil and watercolors has always focused on environments with interesting lighting. He believes an artist of any kind should have intensive training in traditional painting.
As the son of an artist, I grew up in an artistic environment, states Muharraqi in an interview with the Arabic MAXforums. When I went to study, I developed my skill in other areas such as photography, design and the visual arts. I then worked for 14 years as a professional in the advertising industry. During this period, I spent a lot of time practicing 3D on my own at home. Eventually, the opportunity arose for me to create a company that focuses only on 3D and that is how Muharraqi Studios began.
Faraq grew up on a steady diet of comic books, graphic novels, cartoons and movies. Later, he studied economics and international relations at Tufts and received an MBA from the London Business School. Before partnering with Muharraqi, Faraq spent his entire business career in banking and finance.
Muharraqi Studios specializes in computer-generated 3D animations, Faraq details. In order to produce a final product, we run the whole range of services from modeling, texturing, lighting, environment building, animating and rendering. Although we edit and composite our final animations, some elements such as the music and voice-overs are outsourced through our network of industry specialists.
The studio utilizes both Mac and Boxx workstations and has a range of monitors from Sony and ViewSonic, a Cintiq Tablet from Wacom as well as professional video editing monitors. They also have a full in-house render farm, which is solely comprised of AMD 64-bit processors.
With regards to software, they use many different packages. They are particularly fond of LightWave, modo and ZBrush for most of their 3D work. These run hand-in-hand with a number of other products such as MotionBuilder, Combustion, After Effects, Photoshop and a whole host of others.
Most of our commercial work has revolved around architectural visualizations and that has led us to produce everything from still renders to animated walkthroughs and flythrough to even producing television commercials, looping animations for presentations and other products that would show off the particular project we are working on, Faraq continues. The Middle East is a growing market for animation in general, both for the real estate developments as well as the growing television series market. There is a lot of room for expansion and we have been very selective about what we want to be working on, but there are certainly very clear movements toward creating an environment for animators and CG artists to develop in the region and a growing awareness of what the potential of this industry can bring.
The studio is also engaged in a number of other projects related to gaming, software development and a full-length animated feature film.
For the studio, Muharraqi attests, the biggest issue we face is making people understand what our work is about and the things that we stand for in taking on creative projects, as opposed to a commercial studio. You can view samples of their work on their website.
Meanwhile, Hedgehog Post Production, located in Beirut, Lebanon, was established in 2003 and specializes in 3D and 2D visual effects. Lately we produced a TVC for AQABA, promoting the construction of a new city in the Aqaba region in Jordan; with L&R as the advertising agency. We also produced a 3D animation for Mirinda Punch with Impact/BBDO, explains general manager George Moufarrej. We are also specialized in TV program branding, and we create and execute concepts for local and pan Arab TVC stations like MBC and LBCI. We also work on international brands like Pepsi, Pantene, Miss Clairol, SAAB (HSBC in KSA).
Hedgehog offers a full range of vfx services, including online and offline non linear editing, audio dubbing, audio recording, 2D motion graphics, 3D animation and modeling, special effects and compositing, media encoding, tape to tape transfer and DVD authoring.
Moufarrej points out that Hedgehog uses high-end equipment and software to produce high quality TV commercials. We lately purchased an Autodesk Smoke HD system. As for our 3D animation, we use Maya and LightWave and for minor compositing projects we use After Effects. We also have three Avid-based edit suites with 4 TB Avid Lanshare.
Although Hedgehog is basically new in the market, it is evolving at a fast pace. We are now moving into a 350sq meter office in the region of Asharafieh, a central business district in Beirut. We are also expanding in Dubai and our target is to start operations in about two months.
Ersin Soyer is the animation supervisor for Tooneffects in Istanbul, Turkey We specialize on cel, 2D, 3D animation and visual effects, compositing, commercials and architectural introduction movies, character design and multimedia. They are also involved as a partner in one cel feature film from Germany. In addition, they have worked on numerous commercials and TV shows in Turkey. We have latest version of workstations, Apple systems and animation equipment. As Soyer explained, their main goal is to be the leading feature animation film and series producer in Anatolia.
Among the other companies of note in the region are Crew 972 and BTS Digital FX. Based in Israel, Crew 972 provides 3D character animation services worldwide to clients in the film, TV and the game industry. Crew 972 also develops its own original animated concepts. They bring a wide range of styles comedy, drama, action and music to character animation. They specialize in projects that require a caricature of human behavior and stylized motion. Whatever the need, they will integrate into a client's pipeline as seamlessly as possible. You can read their updated news and check out their showreel on their website.
BTS Digital FX is a Cairo, Egypt-based brand communications company that formulates corporate brand strategy and implements creative solutions across every medium from print, web and broadcast to event videography. The companys core services include visual effects, production, post-production, multimedia, audio production, web design, DVD production and graphic design. BTS Digital FX has completed numerous launches, redesigns, on air promotions and program packaging for broadcast and cable networks as well as marketing creative solutions for the corporate market.
BTS' visual effects department consists of first-rate producers, vfx artists and compositors, along with the latest in digital technology, which includes Discreet Edit, Discreet Combustion 3, Final Cut Studio, Shake, Power Macintosh G5, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, 3ds Max 7, Brazil Rendering Technology, Macromedia Studio MX 2004, Linear Editing Suite, Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Render, Adobe Encore, Adobe Audition, Soundtrack Digidesign Protools. Their services include visual effects design and implementation, graphic design and implementation, compositing effects, roto-scoping, motion tracking and on location visual effects coordination and supervision Their credits include effects-intensive features, commercials and future film and television episodics and specials. Their website features a showreel.
As long as the possibilities for expansion in the Middle East remain robust, the health of the vfx industry will continue to grow. With more and more international brands and agencies focusing on the region, the prognosis for vfx firms there is definitely a bright one
J. Paul Peszko is a freelance writer and screenwriter living in Los Angeles. He writes various features and reviews as well as short fiction. He has a feature comedy in development and has just completed his second novel. When he isnt writing, he teaches communications courses.
