VFX Legion and the New Wave of Worldwide VFX

VFX Legion is a post-production facility unlike any other in that, strictly speaking, there is no actual facility. Read on to learn how the world's first fully remote visual effects vendor operates, and how tools like cineSync ensure a harmonious workflow, no matter the geographical distance.

It's no secret that the VFX industry has received its fair share of public attention in recent years, its foundations shaken by internal discord and turmoil that has gradually bubbled to the surface.

Studio closures, redundancies, and reports of unreasonable business practices has tarnished what is otherwise an incredibly creative, inventive and innovative industry - one bursting at the seams with raw artistic talent.

While it can sometimes feel like real solutions are held at bay by the industry's massive, unyielding infrastructure, there are some post-production studios that are finding ways to buck the trend and operate completely outside of the set-ups that have come to be regarded as the norm.

One such studio is VFX Legion, a division of Legion Studios, LLC - a studio that's trying something new.

Founded by VFX supervisor James Hattin and a team of like-minded individuals, Legion is a studio' like few others. While its HQ rests against the mountainous backdrop of Burbank, California, Legion's collective of 50 artists are distributed across the globe, contributing to each new project from wherever they may be in the world. Here, creativity and collaboration does not take place over desks, but over vast expanses of continent and ocean; a truly digital workspace replacing a physical one.

And it's not just new technology that has allowed for this breakthrough in remote collaborative workflows. It's Legion's profound passion for bringing the power back to that one core element that remains unchanging and unflinching in an industry otherwise in constant flux - the artist.

What we're doing at Legion is empowering a new way of working for those on the frontlines of the creative industry, says Hattin. There's no reason why, in the next five years, what we're doing won't be the standard. It makes sense on so many levels - it's just the way things are going.

Worldwide working

In the visual effects industry - or any industry, for that matter - there's long been a standard: people group together in one physical location where collaboration and communication can be achieved quickly, easily and efficiently.

Today, that same collaborative effort no longer requires physical proximity - Moore's Law, technological innovation, and the uptake of superfast broadband are allowing for a new way of remote working; one that Legion has grabbed by the horns.

I remember going to the Epcot Center at Disney World - the area of the park dedicated to technological innovation and human achievements, begins Christopher Sinnott, VFX producer at post-production studio Legion. One of the first things you walk into is a bunch of kids going to school on a computer - instead of walking to school they're sitting at home, interacting with the teacher on the screen. It was the future of schooling . I still remember seeing that because, without sounding too cheesy, that future is now - it's the reality of visual effects today.

But Legion was not solely born out of the fact that a VFX facility could work in such a way - more to the point, that perhaps they should.

Legion started from a desire to be able to work where you live, and not have to be tied down to some of the most expensive cities in the world, explains Sinnott. Being in visual effects is incredibly hard, because it's such a specific industry. Our skill set is so niche that in order to grow and improve - while making enough money to feed your family - you have to go to wherever the work is, which might be India, Vancouver, or San Diego. These places are pretty darn expensive, and can leave a lot to be desired for the VFX artist just leaving university.

Legion was the solution - a disruptive model that goes against the accepted industry trend. At Legion, artists work wherever they may be - whether that's at home, or from a small shared office in their hometown - contributing to projects via the internet and working to their own self-dictated schedules.

It's about getting the best talent available, explains Hattin. Whereas people in the past may have wanted to leave the industry because they would prefer to move to Kansas and be with their families, rather than slog away in a far distant land, there's now another option; a way of leveraging that skillset wherever you are in the world.

This is something that the industry has consistently grown towards and the technology is finally there to support it. This is the disruptive model to what we're living in, and I think it's what VFX needs.

A true VFX legion

Although this distributed model helps Legion save vast amounts of money that would otherwise be funnelled into infrastructure, the company's philosophy is grounded on more than simply making a profit. Legion's true raison d tre - one to which it prescribes a great deal of import - is the empowerment of those responsible for the innovation and creativity so important in the world of visual effects.

There's a book about the finance industry called Let My People Go Surfing, but it might as well be for the VFX industry at this point, says Sinnott. Being a part of your family's lives is so important. At Legion we allow a system where you can see your family and afford to live too. All over the world we have people creating VFX for us, while also being able to walk their kids to school every day. We're allowing that flexibility, and that's important - being artistically creative is not a science; it has to happen organically, not a

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