This is a must Watch Playlist - India’s VFX Revolution - YouTube
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Global Market Size & Growth
According to a report by Mordor Intelligence, the global VFX market size was valued at USD 13.5 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 24.7 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 9.2% over the forecast period (2021-2026)
Indian Market Size & Growth
I found a report by KPMG India that says the Indian VFX industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.2% between 2021 and 2026. The report also states that the Indian VFX industry was valued at INR 67.9 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach INR 151.3 billion by 2026.
So in conclusion industry is growing at a very fast pace.
But contrary to popular belief Phantom was not the principal company which did VFX in “RRR”. 18 vfx studios created vfx effects for “RRR”
Also, Makuta VFX which is based out of Hyderabad was chosen as principal visual effects studio and was responsible for more than 50% of the computer-generated imagery in the ‘Bahubali’.
Also very big and well funded players are competing with the company. Incomplete list of competition -
Prime focus
Tata Elxsi
Red Chillies
DNEG India
Anibrain
Makuta vfx
Prana studio
Disclosure - Not invested. I don’t know how many players can survive and compete in the industry. Is there some space for non-specialised, small time shops like Phantom? But the space is very interesting and watching.
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Perfect ! Settles the debate of their ability to get large orders from marquee customers !
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As an investor, I will try to talk to the employees of particular company which I am going to invest. When it comes to Manufacturing kind of sector employees are just part of the ecosystem (no offense). Where success of the company is not majorly dependend upon employees.
But in Service based sector, Particularly in Vfx sector employees are the backbone of the company. I strongly believe work culture really matters here. Till now i have personally spoken to many employees of different companies. For examply if i speak with 4 employees of a particular company, 2 people will rate positive and another 2 will rate as negative. Most cases 50 - 70% rate positive feedback will come.
When it comes to phantom i spoke with 4 employees who are working in phantom. Surprisingly all are highly rating the work culture in phantom. You may feel like these are exaggerated things. Just sharing my personal experience. No work pressure,work life balance are good in phantom. Salary is just 20 to 30% below when it compared with MNC companies located in India. Due to better work culture most employess are feeling so comfortable to work in phantom.In recent interview bejoy told like attrition rate is 8%. I strongly feel they may retain talented people for long period of time. Interesting times ahead…
Disclaimer - Invested.
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Thanks for sharing your scuttlebutt. Can you please also share any more details that the employees shared ? Maybe anonymised to protect their privacy. For example , what are their salaries. What is their reason for joining. Anything they have seen about promoter. What is their day to day work. Are they creatives or doing just stroke work. Are they working on domestic projects or international ones ? What are the timelines like for the project ?
Thanks a lot again for sharing
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My checks are dated(25th April) but would like to chip in my inputs
When i asked about salaries,
Junior : max 50k < 2 years
Lead : 75k >2< 6 year
Senior 1.1lac >6 year
Attrition : 5-7%
they were in plans to revise pay range.
The EE i spoke to had joined from redchillies, he has seen Phantom grow on daily basis, and believes in 1-2 years, can become one of the biggest VFX producers in mumbai.
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EPFO data shows as of May’23 => 344 employees with EPF payment of 1108618. Considering 12% contribution by employer average salary is less than Rs 27000. This is basic salary. CTC could be higher. Is this normal?
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Just out of curiosity, how do you approach the employees. Do you tell that you are an investor, or put up a story? How easy was it to get a response from them?
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Lot size for Phantom is 600 now.
A typical vfx company will consist of multiple teams like Roto team, compositing team, FX team, Lighting team. Salary is dependent upon the artist category. For example Roto/Paint and Matchmove artist jobs are entry level jobs in vfx and low pay too. They will do remove unwanted things in the scenes, basic colour grade adding, adding basic elements in scenes etc…
Most people enter in this jobs and will work for 1 or 2 years. Later based on their interest level and skill level they will move into other category like Compositing or lighting teams.
Important Note – In this industry skill is the ultimate thing. Some people will join fresher as Roto artist. But within 2 to 4 years they will reach Supervisor level.
I have collected some approximate salary level. These salary details based on chennai. May be Bangalore or Mumbai based artists may get extra upto 10k based on their role.
For
roto and paint for juniors - 15k
Mid - 30k to 40k
Senior or heigher - above 45k
Comp -
Junior - 20k to 25k
Mid - 40k to 60k
Senior - around 70k
Sup and leads - near 1L
Fx -
Junior - 20k to 30k
Mid - 40k to 60k
Senior - min 70k to 1L
Sup and leads - 1L to 1.5L
Lighting
Junior - 15k to 20k
Mid - 35k to 50k
Senior - 70k to 80k
Sup or leads - above or near 1L
Animation
Junior - 20k to 30k
Mid - 40k to 60k
Senior - min 70k to 1L
Sup and leads - 1L to 1.5L
Match move and rotoanimation -
Junior - 15k to 25k
Mid - around 40k
Senior - around 50k
Sup and leads - above 70k
Reason for joining in phantom
- Brand Reputation is there.
- They will give enough time for an artist to perform a task. In vfx 2 things matter. One is money and another one is time. Even if you pour 100 crores of money and expecting a great output within short period of time doesn’t work here.
- Strong pipeline is there. Infra is at par with mnc’s. ILM kind of companies develop their own software or tools for their work. Phantom is still developing on technical side. Trainings will be there. artists will get regular chance to work on more complex projects like international projects.
- work timing is at par. There are vfx studios who torture the employees to work on extended time basis.
Day to work nature
Its not like that for a particular time period all artists will work for a single project. In a typical day usually they work on multiple projects. A comp artist work for an advertisement project. A roto artist at the same time working for an internation movie project. Next day they will work for different project.Generally they will decide these no of tasks (comp,paint,3d, matchmove etc) to be completed in these much time.
While speaking with them they said mostly they work on creative part. Sometimes if they choose to take the whole project, in that sense you need to do basic vfx tasks also. Take example Baahubali, the statue scene or the fight scene may require heavy vfx work. But some scenes just require patch work.
Regarding the domestic or international projects employess must not disclose the projects which they are working currently. But they said recently they are getting more work from vancouver and dubai. When i asked about the this question they are not comfortable to answer (nda policy there)
time line
domestic mostly 3 to 4 months. when it comes to international projects till now they are getting multiple scenes of the movie ( so it depends upon the complexity of the scenes). Offcourse in past they took few whole projects. But presently they are mostly working in sub vendors category in hollywood.
If you have anyother questions feel free to ask. I will try get the answers as muh as possible. 
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By next year they are targeting to double there staff, which is very good for the growth of the company.
Plus the role of VFX in gaming and Edtec industry is rising.
Also the outsourcing business of such skills in India will boom in coming years.
This company will definitely benefit from all this tail winds coming to this company.
recently the founder also was part of lunch with UK prime minister and media moguls, which is very important in this business. Networking is key in movie business.
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I was in discussion with an EE of studio which does hollywood movies.
He highlighted about writer’s strike currently going on hollywood. Possibly actors will also strike for compensation.
shift to streaming has reduced compensation for them
One of the risks one should be aware. such strikes can delay shows/movies.
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Liquidity is the only concern I see as a late comer, though it doesn’t appear overvalued even at this stage.
Company needs as SME for two years before it can switch to main board. (PDEL got listed in Oct 22). And lot size is considered for change once in 6 months as far as i know.
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Senior hiring in PhantomFX… Mohinder Subramaniam with 20yrs experience joined as Creative Head …He has worked for many Hollywood films like Harry Potter, Terminator, Transformers, Avengers etc; and Indian movies like Bahubali 2, KGF etc;
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The VFX industry has surged due to an infusion of visual effects in almost all films and series, the expansion of the streamers, a boom in animation, and the growth of video games and immersive formats.
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VFX is now an integral component of cinematic narrative in film, episodic, commercials and themed entertainment. VFX is increasingly accessible to all levels of complexity and budgets in storytelling.
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Streaming platforms Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max, Peacock and Paramount+ launched between 2019 and 2021, joining Netflix and Amazon Prime, collectively boosting production. Because of the streamers, there is a lot more episodic content than there was five years ago.
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The streamers have generated plenty of filmmaking work in domestic production centers across Europe and Asia, from Oslo to Seoul, which in turn has generated more VFX work around the world.
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VFX work has continued to expand across the planet. The globalization of the VFX business has been happening for a while, but the opportunities for remote working that have been accelerated by the pandemic with artists and teams able to collaborate ever more easily and effectively across geographies
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India has become an especially important pole of visual effects with many foreign-owned and locally-owned VFX houses working at full throttle in India.
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VFX global market revenue will climb from $26.3 billion in 2021 to $48.9 billion in 2028, growing at a CAGR of 10.9%.
Source: VFX INDUSTRY – GROWTH, GLOBALIZATION AND CHANGE - VFX Voice MagazineVFX Voice Magazine (thanks to @spartan for the link)
Disc: Small % allocation; no transactions in last 30 days
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When you say MNCs, which kind of companies do you mean? If you mean regular MNCs (say Google, MS) then it’s a different skill altogether.
I am just trying to understand if there are VFX centric MNCs. Perhaps there aren’t many currently.
Interesting read on ongoing Hollywood strike. Protection against AI is one of the concerns. This may not be an (immediate) concern for VFX firms. Tech world currently believes that AI is an assistant in pretty much all spheres but the pace of change is so fast that one must track it closely.
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There are many vfx exclusive companies who have their studios in india. For example ILM, MPC, Framestore etc…
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They are hiring python Developers, seems they want to leverage Aritificial Intellegence(AI) capabilities, to upscale their VFX work, which is positive sign as company is using all technological advances in the field and upgrading themselves to avoid risk of getting outdated in the industry, In the AGM one can ask update on this skill professionals hiring.
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