[Variety]

Pixomondo adapted f/x process for ‘Hugo’

Holdouts and traditionalists may be sticking with 35mm film, but the digital revolution has triumphed.

You probably knew that, even if you don’t like it. What you may not have fully grasped yet, though, is that this revolution means more than doing the same things you’ve always done but now with digital gear. It means changing the way you think about your work, the way you do your work, and, in many cases, the way your work is billed and paid for.

Consider Martin Scorsese’s 3D pic “Hugo” and visual effects company Pixomondo.

In the analog world, f/x were “post.” The editor and director locked their cut and handed it over to visual effects, hoping they’d have no regrets when they saw the result. Changes late in the game were difficult and expensive. Most visual effects studios still charge on a flat-bid model left over from those days, based on cost per shot.

Digital editing is more fluid, though. It starts earlier — on some pics rough cutting starts before a scene is done shooting — and continues later. That shift thrown the vfx business model for a loop. Since the cut isn’t locked early, vfx studios are coping with continuous adds and changes that weren’t in their flat bid.  …

Read the full story here: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118047168