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Report on
How Bangladesh can become an outsourcing hub for global Visual effects and CGI industry
By
Rafiul Kabir Tamim
ID – 15104129
An internship report submitted to the BRAC Business School in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Bachelors of Business Administration
BRAC Business School
BRAC University
2nd January, 2022
© 2022. BRAC University
All rights reserved
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Declaration
It is hereby declared that
1- While pursuing a degree at BRAC University, I've submitted this internship report and
this is my own unique work.
2- The report does not include any previously published or written content by a third party,
unless it is properly credited with complete and correct referencing.
3- The report does not include any information that has been approved or submitted for any
other university or other institution's degree or diploma.
4- I've acknowledged all major sources of information.
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Student’s Full Name & Signature:
___________________________________________
Rafiul Kabir Tamim
15104129
Supervisor’s Full Name & Signature:
_________________________________________
Md. Hasan Maksud Chowdhury
Assistant Professor
BRAC Business School
BRAC University
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Letter of Transmittal
January 2, 2022
To,
Md. Hasan Maksud Chowdhury
Assistant Professor
BRAC Business School
BRAC University
Subject: Submission of Internship Report
Dear Sir,
It gives me great pleasure to be able to present to you the internship report that I created based on
my experience working with Million dreams Studios as a project coordinator. I consider myself
lucky to be able to work in such a growing production house like Million dreams Studios. To
compile my internship report, I have contributed my talents, time, and effort. I attempted to
follow my supervisors' instructions and satisfy all of the course's criteria. This internship
program allowed me to use my academic knowledge in a practical environment, which will
undoubtedly benefit me in my future profession.
I'd want to thank you for all of your advice and for responding to all of my concerns on report
writing, as well as for your support and guidance. For the writing of this report, I gave it my all.
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If you find this report beneficial, please let me know. Any suggestions for my report would be
gratefully received.
Sincerely yours,
Rafiul Kabir Tamim
ID - 15104129
BRAC Business School
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Acknowledgement
First and foremost, I'd want to thank Md. Hasan Maksud Chowdhury, my internship supervisor
and faculty member, for permitting me to choose an unique topic for my report. Throughout my
internship, he gave me excellent advice and pointed me in the right way. I'm pleased that he was
always accessible to answer my questions concerning my report, and with his assistance, advice,
and recommendations, I was able to finish it successfully.
Until now, the work opportunity I had with Million Dreams Studios was a two-month
experience. For me, it was a beneficial learning and practical experience that aided in
progression of my career. I consider myself lucky to for the chance to work there and meet so
many talented artists. I'd want to express my appreciation to everyone who assisted and led me in
preparing my internship report. I was able to effectively complete this report with their assistance
and instruction.
I'd also want express my gratitude to Mr. Nohel Shakib (Director/Project Manager, Million
Dreams Studio) for his support. I'm also grateful to Million Dreams Studio's VFX and motion
graphics team for contributing their important knowledge and market insights, which helped me
perform this study.
Finally, I'd want to express my gratitude to all of my faculty members who have made a
substantial contribution to whatever success I've had in the academic journey. They served as my
mentors and supplied me with significant business knowledge that I can now use effectively.
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Executive summary
The worldwide visual effects and CGI business has been significantly impacted by the recent
transformation in the streaming media and entertainment sector. The global demand for visual
effects is growing at a rapid pace, as is the market size. Bangladesh's local streaming media and
entertainment business is booming, thanks to the recent development of 3G and broadband
internet access. India and Taiwan are the most popular outsourcing destinations for Hollywood
post production work in the worldwide VFX business.
The entertainment industry has grown dramatically in recent years, to the point that it now
accounts for 2.1 trillion dollars in revenue. The visual effects sector is worth 26.64 billion
dollars, whereas the computer graphics industry is worth 16.64 billion dollars. Many emerging
nations have already established a high-quality visual effects and computer graphics industry,
which has aided their economic progress. These nations can develop high-quality visual effects
and computer graphics at a reasonable cost because of their low labor expenses.
This study is aimed to determine how we might use Bangladeshi labor force with very
rudimentary computer skills to work in the global visual effects industry, allowing us to compete
with neighboring and other Asian nations. Also, how industry veterans have succeeded in this
field while working from Bangladesh, as well as the pitfalls and remedies.
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Table of Contents
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Chapter – 1: Overview of the internship
1.1 Student Information
Name: Rafiul Kabir Tamim
ID: 15104129
Program: Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA)
Major: E-commerce
Minor: Computer Information Management (CIM)
1.2 Internship information
1.2.1 Period, Company, Department and Address:
On September 1st, 2021, I’ve started my job at Million Dreams Studio. Million Dreams Studio is
a growing film/television studio in Bangladesh. The studio began operations in 2020. The
address of the company is Road 8/A, House 479, Baridhara DOHS 1206, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
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1.2.2 Internship Company Supervisor’s Information: Name and Position
I'm a member of the Motion Graphics and Visual Effects department's project management team.
Nohel Shakib, the Director/Co-Founder/Project Manager of Million Dreams Studios, supervises
the project management team. Mr. Nohel Shakib assigned the majority of my work. He was quite
helpful in making me grasp projects so that I could accomplish them more quickly.
1.2.3 Job responsibilities
- Keeping track of the project plans and progression, working hours and the deadlines.
- Help project manager for creating the project plan.
- Preparing the presentation and necessary materials to approach the clients.
- Creating the technical pipeline between the VFX and motion graphics team.
- Ensuring the teams are getting necessary materials to complete a project.
- Develop strategies to keep the pipeline procedural and changeable at any point.
- Keep the documentations of the project and related things.
- Assign the team members accordingly.
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1.3 Internship Outcome
1.3.1 Contribution to the Company
I made a contribution to Million Dreams Studio as a full-time employee by assisting every team
as a project coordinator. I had a certain tasks and responsibilities to perform in order to
contribute to the overall success of the organization. My project manager on the other hand, took
into account my previous work experience in the entertainment industry and assigned me a large
number of responsibilities while I was on the job. I had experience in graphics design, games and
advertisement and I was assigned the duty of creating and managing the vfx and motion graphics
pipeline. Also, during the time at Million Dreams Studio I’ve also communicated and contacted
with clients like Bajaj Bangladesh, ICT division of Bangladesh, MetLife Bangladesh. I’ve also
handled international clients like Blank Canvas Studio and Alive Studios from Australia. I also
managed the documentation of all the resources of the projects and I also played the role as on
set visual effects supervisor.
1.3.2 Benefits from the internship
Being a recent graduate credit requirement for BRAC Business School this job aided me in
obtaining the four credits I needed for my undergraduate degree. I was always passionate about
the entertainment industry from the very beginning. I was able to get practical experience about
production on set shooting, giving directions as visual effects supervisor and also gathered
experience by sharing different issues with my colleagues and supervisors. I have improved my
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skill in Autodesk Shotgrid for project management and live tracking and monitoring the status of
a project. I also have to learn some new other software like Foundry Nuke and Foundry Modo.
Moreover, with the assistance of my project manager and motion graphics supervisor I was able
to focus on the best quality of outcome and work properly on my tasks. This job opportunity
aided me in learning more about the local entertainment and advertisement industry as well as
the global visual effects industry. With the continuous reporting and communication with my
seniors I was fortunate to have a more comprehensive grasp of the need of maintaining the
reliability and importance of completing the tasks on time. I have also gathered the skill of
negotiating with the clients and the best ways to approach a client with brief quote. I also learned
to work under pressure. Millions Dreams Studio have provided me a fantastic opportunity to
work with my passion and allowing me to work with some of the most experienced and specialist
artist of Bangladesh.
1.3.3 Problems and difficulties
One of the main problems that I faced is that the team size is not sufficient enough to deal with a
large project. It was very difficult for me to keep track with the schedule. Sometime client
expectations and timelines are quite absurd and I have to change the pipeline and the projects
goals again and again. Also because of the Covid-19 situation on set filming is now quite
difficult. We have to follow and maintain strict restrictions during on set shooting and managing
the team properly under this heavy restriction during on set is quite difficult. Also, the main
problem that is very common in the entertainment industry is the extended working hours and
late-night works. During heavy rush or projects most of the team members have to work
overnight and stay at the office. This are some main problems I’ve faced during my job period.
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1.3.4 Recommendations
Million Dreams Studio is recently trying to get into the global visual effects industry. They are
taking huge number of projects so they also need a bigger team to handle the projects properly.
They can allow fresh graduates to explore the entertainment industry by engaging with their
team. They can also move into a new office with more space. A new pc with higher
configuration can be really helpful for rendering which will definitely help to deliver rush
projects.
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Chapter 2 – Organization part
2.1 Introduction
Visual effects industry in Bangladesh is quite new and in a blooming stage. The current
revolution in the streaming media and entertainment sector has had a huge influence on the
global visual effects and CGI industry. Bangladesh's local streaming media and entertainment
business is booming, thanks to the recent development of 3G and broadband internet access.
There was too much work pressure during my time in the workplace. However, this job helps to
give me a proper environment with a real-world experience. This environment has taught me
many things about the market and also, I got chances to implement the skills.
2.1.2 Objective
One of the main of objective of this report is to explain how I’ve implemented the knowledge of
project management from my e-commerce major subjects into a real-life work environment.
Also, what practical knowledge I have acquired by real world work experience.
2.2 Overview of the company
2.2.1 Services
Since 2020, Million Dreams Studio has been working in the advertisement business and also
putting their creative abilities to use on a variety of platforms like visual effects and motion
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graphics industry. They provide one-stop solution for any kind of video content. They can handle
any elements of the advertisement like storyboarding, production, post-production, visual effects
and motion graphics. Recently they have focus on the global visual effects market and they have
started a new visual effects team fully dedicated on the projects from international market. They
are one of the most fastest growing film/television studios in Bangladesh. They have already
worked with giant organization like Bajaj Bangladesh, MetLife Bangladesh, ICT division of
Bangladesh, ACI, Nestle Bangladesh, Robi and many more. They are specialized on creating eye
catching advertisement and other visuals for marketing which helps clients to increase the visual
engagement with their customers. Million Dreams Studio is a firm believer in offering clients
with innovative and unique solutions based on ideas base on creativity and concepts which are
always one step ahead in terms of technological advantage. It also believes that brandings of the
companies should be defined with some eye-catching and unique concepts by which the viewers
and customers will experience an exciting and engaging contents. A successful bradding always
creates a positive impression and which will directly impact the growth of the company. This
studio has also provided services for the international visual effects market. This service includes
rotoscoping, green screen keying, tracking and match moving and CGI compositing. They have
worked with renowned VFX studios like PlanB VFX Ltd, Award winning VFX supervisor Todd,
Graves film production, Canada, Caribbean tales media group, Canada. They have successfully
completed rotoscoping and keying tasks for these clients.
Fig – 2.1
Fig – 2.2
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2.3 Management Practices
2.3.1 Organizational structure
Production team
2.3.2 Administration
Million Dream Studios was an initiate of one and only owner of the studio Mr. Nohel Shakib. He
has experience in the entertainment and music industry over a decade. He also plays the role of
project manager for this studio. Under his supervision all other production teams run their roles.
There are three supervisor and one project coordinator directly works under him. All the artist’s
work under this supervisor in separate teams in their respective departments.
Project
manager/CEO
VFX team
Rotoscoping team
Keying and
painting team
CGI compositing
team
VFX supervisor
Motion Graphics
team
Motion graphics
artists
Motion graphics
compositing
artists
Motion graphics
supervisor
Production team
Production
Supervisor
Director and
Screenwriter
Cinematographer
and Art director
Editor
Project
coordinator
Accounting
Department
Fig – 2.3
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2.3.3 Leadership Style
This studio follows a democratic leadership style in their management process. Every project and
approach are discussed with team leaders at first and the team leaders then discuss various
aspects of this matters with their subordinators. This helps this organization to grow faster
because all the artists and team leaders have experience in this industry for a long time and they
all have a solid understanding of this entertainment field and all of its aspects. So, the project
management and delivery become quite handy as it’s been discussed with the whole team from
the very beginning.
2.4 Marketing practices
The studio uses creative and innovative methods to make certain that their brand is flawlessly
presented to the clients and is distinguishable and appealing from others. In order to ensure that
the firm have been collaborated with some of the most famous influencers in Bangladesh and
have also running marketing campaigns on social media platforms. The studio has a specialized
team with creative talents who handle tasks like copywriting, marketing content planning etc.
This team also collaborates with the clients with questionaries to understand the client needs and
give them suggestions and ideas about how they can approach for further services. This team
also maintains a strong relation with the clients and the influencers.
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2.5 Financial performance and accounting practices
2.5.1 Financial Growth
After the studio has started its journey in 2020 it’s still in a growing stage. In the meantime, it
has made a remarkable growth. From the beginning of this studio, it has ensuring that all
customers are completely pleased and they always keep a good relation with the clients which
helps with the continuous flow of projects.
2.6 Operations Management and Information System Practices
2.6.1 Works on review
The departments always discuss with the whole team before delivering the final project to the
clients. Same goes for any kind of revisions and implementations of ideas. This helps to ensure
the best quality of works in the output. They take reviews and feeds from the clients on each and
every projects. These reviews are documented in the server for future development. This kind of
approaches helps the teams to work on the lacking and increase the productivity and the final
output of future projects.
2.6.2 Use of automation
Use of messaging bots, recording tools and other automated task management technology is very
common in Million Dreams Studio. This kind of technologies are used for automated answering
process, filtering spam messages, documentation of projects and client briefs with voice to text
technology. The chat bot has a significant and direct impact on the development in the
communication with the clients and finding and approaching the new clients. These kinds of
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technologies helped Million Dreams Studio for engaging into market more effectively and
accurately capturing a niche market of client base. They also use data visualization to filter the
data and segment different area of interest to filter out the market and this helps them to find out
the potential client base very easily.
2.6.3 Social Media Engagement and online portfolio
Million Dreams Studio has been actively maintaining their update of portfolio in social media
and in YouTube. After finishing each of the client projects and when the documentations are
done 1-2 minutes of video with cutscenes from the original project is been combined to make a
commercial demo video for that project. All this demo reels are published into the YouTube
channel, social media and stored into google drive with private links only for sending to the
clients. All this demo reels are published with a proper permission from the clients.
2.6.4 Relationship with other studios and agencies
This company maintain a regular communication and corporate relationship with the fellow
studios and agencies. They have recently got into an official partnership with DreamcastBD one
of the biggest Advertising agencies in Bangladesh. These communications help them to keep
track on the market demand and to get new projects up ahead.
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2.6.5 Research and development
Million Dreams Studio always focus on innovation and business development. During the idle
time the team leaders always assign the artist with some new resources to learn. This studio is
also planning on to get in local and international 2d animation and cartoon market. The team
leaders are arranging a pipeline for that and they are also providing training to the artists during
the idle time. Also, they are making more progress on the demo reel whenever they can because
it’s the most vital element to approach a client in the entertainment industry. They have recently
added architectural visualization and 2d animation into the demo reel and just after two days the
reel have been published, they have managed to contact with two giant architecture farms from
Australia.
2.7 Industry and Competitive analysis
2.7.1 Company analysis according to Porter’s Five Forces Study
The Porter Five Forces Model is a structure that is used to assess characteristics that affect
competitiveness and other aspects that affect agreement ability. This is an understanding of the
occupation and the methods used to gain a competitive advantage. Existing businesses' dispute,
the threat of new participants, and the danger of replacement things are all discussed inside
corporate components.
Competitiveness and rivalry
Recently the entertainment industry has bloom in Bangladesh and with the growth of this
industry the number of agencies and advertisement studios are growing at the same pace. The
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competition is high in case of advertisement industry but few of the studios are specialized in 3d
animation and visual effects. From that perspective Million Dreams Studio have a significant
advantage in the market. They are targeting very sophisticating type of client base who actually
prefer high quality outputs. In this segment competition is not that high.
Threat of new market entrants
The number of skilled artists is increasing in Bangladesh because of the market demand and
availability of free resources. The number of media agencies and studios are also growing.
Though Million Dream Studios have earned a tremendous reputation among the clients and have
well communication and connection but there is always the possibility of new market entrants.
As a result, the risk of new market entrants is considerable in this instance.
Supplier Power
The main suppliers of the for the studios are software and hardware companies. There are a huge
variation of software’s and there are also lots of alternatives. Also, the number of vendors and
companies for software and hardware’s are huge. As a result, the suppliers' bargaining strength
is diminished.
Threat of substitutes
As mentioned above the studio have huge competition in the market. There are other freelancing
agencies and individuals working in this sector. But very few of the competitors are with this
advance level of skills and creative potentials. Most of the studios in Bangladesh and all over the
world prefer quantity over quality. So, the client base with the necessity of very sophisticated
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and quality results is very niche. Though because of the growing numbers of skilled artists the
substitutes pose a significant threat.
Buyers' bargaining strength
As Million Dreams Studio is focusing on high quality works and only on bigger projects, they
are already one step ahead from the other agencies. Also, there are very few studios who can
provide and handle high quality and bigger projects. So, the bargaining power of buyers are low.
In the entertainment and advertisement there are factors that have significant impact on the
possibilities of success and sustainability. First of all, the communication and market reach. A
studio has to always keep excellent communication with the clients and also have to invest on
creative contents for the engagement with new viewers. Also, they have to arrange the teams
with proper pipeline and guidance with relevant team leads which is necessary for the best
outcomes with the available resources. According to the analysis of Million Dreams Studio we
can conclude that this studio is working on a very sophisticated and niche client base. So, they
have less threat of gaining new competitor at this time. But keeping up the creative output and
client engagement is highly necessary because of the competitive market. To keep the dominance
on this field they have to ensure proper client management and viewer engagement.
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2.7.1 SWOT Analysis of Million Dreams Studio
The examination and outcomes of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of an
organization will be included in a SWOT Analysis. As a result, we'll examine the four primary
segmentations to evaluate if they have a promising future.
Strengths
- Experienced and strong management
- Highly skilled artists in every department
- Ensured friendly and flexible work environment for the employees.
- Proper supervision on every team
- Excellent communication and engagement with the clients.
- Significant improvement in company portfolio within a very short period of time.
Weaknesses
- Insufficient number of artists.
- Huge work pressure on employees.
- No proper salary growth structure for the employees.
- Slow growth rate
Opportunity
- Huge engagement and capture of client base.
- Working on a fairly new in local but worldwide demanding field like VFX
- Got communication with huge number of international clients.
- They have strong teams with skilled and experienced members.
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Threats
- Main threat is the unstable situation on entertainment industry due to the pandemic.
- Possibilists of high competition and new entrants in market
Strong management and
highly skilled team who
have engagement with
local and international
Insufficient number of
artists which creates
huge work pressure on
current employees
Local and international
client base which is also
growing because of
excellent portfolio
Threats of new entrants in
market and huge
competition
Fig – 2.4
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2.8 Summary and conclusion
2.8.1 Summary
Million Dreams Studio has done a tremendous rapid expansion in a short amount of time. From
the very beginning of the journey, it has been approaching with success and client satisfaction.
The studio has achieved significant progress in developing connections with local and
international clients. It has also developed connections with well-known influencers and also
government agencies. The studio has created and easy to understand and presentable framework
of modern advertising and media that presents every facet of digital advertising in very simple
and comprehensive way to the clients. To assure excellent quality and keep up the amazing
achievements is having develop its teams in a well-balanced manner which is creating a direct
impact on customer satisfaction and the revenue generation. Million Dreams Studio always
emphasize on visionary ideas and creative development. Recently they are trying to enter into the
global visual effects and CGI market. They are already working on creating an international
quality visual effects studio. They are trying to capture the marketplaces of global visual effects
jobs and also creating a stunning portfolio to ensure the client engagement in the global visual
effects market.
2.8.2 Conclusion
Million Dreams Studio is a rapidly growing advertisement studio in Bangladesh. After being
established in 2020 the studio has swiftly seized the advertisement market with their creative
aspirations and excellent service to devoted client base whose main preference are mostly high
end and bigger projects. Though the studio is growing smoothly but in terms of producing larger
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financial outcomes and also to compete against the leaders in the market in this sector the have a
long way to go.
2.9 Recommendations
This are my recommendations of Million Dreams Studio –
- They need to increase the team size as they are planning to get into the international
visual effects market. Also, during any bigger projects there is a huge pressure on the
artists. Increasing the team size will help to balance this workload.
- They need to invest more on online marketing. They have to invest more on search
engine optimization and online marketing.
- They can create some breakdown videos of the portfolio reel which will give the clients
ideas about the pipeline and the creative ability of each team.
- As they have some excellent and experienced artists in the studio they can run a training
program on topics like visual effects, advertising, motion graphics etc.
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Chapter 3 Project part - How Bangladesh can become an outsourcing
hub for global Visual effects and CGI industry
3.1 Introduction
Visual effects are the process of creating elements using the processing of imaginary through
computer. Filmmakers and directors often tend to create shot that might not be possible or cost
efficient to shoot in real time. VFX is process of combining the CGI components into the live
action scene to generate a full realistic graphics footage. The demand for high quality contents is
increasing in the entertainment industry and this is one of the major drivers behind the growth of
the visual effects market worldwide. Recently there is bloom in the popularity of video streaming
services like Amazon Prime, Netflix, HBO max, Disney plus and may more. Devices with high
display capacity is also been used to stream these contents.
The creation process of Visual effects and CGI is such a labor-intensive process. It is very
frequent that this works is divided across different studios and individual of different nations and
continents. Today use of visual effects and CGI is very common in every aspect apart from the
movie industry like industrial design, medical visualization, education, architecture etc.
The development of numerous parts of visual technology (for example motion related pictures,
color, sound, and technologies used in films) in the west has mirrored the history of animation.
The worldwide visual effects industry's attention has migrated from the West to Asia. 90 percent
of all American television animation is expected to be created in Asia. A developing trend in the
Asian visual effects business is a greater emphasis on the creation of indigenous animation
material for television as well as animated films. Bangladesh's visual effects and animation
business has shown in a short period of time, to be a promising area. The huge workforce that is
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available in Bangladesh can be used to train up for the visual effects outsource jobs. Some of the
prep works that are needed for visual effects often requires very preliminary level of knowledge
of computers. Which creates more possibility to establish the visual effects industry in
Bangladesh.
3.1.1 Literature review
Animation is the display of static pictures that are interconnected to give the sensation of
movement, a rapid paced sequence was used. In the realm of animation, movement is extremely
important. When one research on animation they should carefully put a strong emphasis on
movement (Malpas, 2014). Animation is a type of art in which the author has complete control
over the look and characters and items in the scene that will move. This mode of communication
is frequently employed to study the link between the representations of media sectors and
cultural identity articulation, as Yoshida (2008) suggests. It's been stated that animation got its
own way of conveying message, codes and procedures for communicating that are distinct from
those used in movie with live action and other forms of entertainment. This provides artists with
unimaginable flexibility, which, when properly utilized, allows them to produce works that are
really unique (Gleicher, 1999). The use of animation in films, television (TV) shows, and ads
increases the beauty of storytelling. Because visual effects or animation improves the impact of
the video, interest, and the standard of production. It has been standard preparation for television
commercials (TVCs) to include any type of animation, motion graphics or visual effects of some
sort. Because animation creation is such a labor-intensive process, work is frequently divided
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across nations and even continents. Because animation is simple to dub, it travels well and
compared to live-action drama, has a significantly smaller geographical aspect (Tim, 2011)
The CGI and visual effects industry in Bangladesh are in quite a young stage. There has been
very little expansion of the CGI business because there are just a few participants in the market
(thefinancialexpress, 2019). The CGI industry in Bangladesh was very little known and there
was no animation or vfx institute until recently. Now some institutes are providing CGI and
animation training along with degrees in some cases with the assistance of other nations such as
India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore such (Md. Baharul Islam et al, 2013).
Recently many Bangladeshi artists are working in Hollywood blockbusters and in many other
renowned visual effects and game studios throughout the world. Among them Wahid Ibn Reza
who works as a production manager on numerous superhero films in Hollywood, is presently
working on Marvel Studios' highly anticipated feature "Spider-Man: No Way Home." (The daily
star, 2021). New artists and visual effects enthusiasts can use the internet to learn about the cg
industry so that they can catch up later. A big drawback for this industry to enter into the
international market is the lack of PayPal, the most well-known global online payment service
provider but nowadays there are some alternative methods for payment which paves the way for
the industry professional to connect with international clients easily (The Daily Star, 2021).
According to statistics, the animation and graphics industry contributes over 40% of
Bangladesh's total information and technology (IT) exports. Experts believe that animation
sector of Bangladesh has matured to the point where it would see a significant volume of exports
in the future, Mr. Khan Monjurul Islam, director of marketing at Visuals Soft Ltd, says.
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The basic works like rotoscoping, clean plating, matte-painting that are needed in the global
VFX industry don't need so much technical knowledge. Those who are interested in learning
rotoscoping and animation do not need to be familiar with a wide range of software. In reality,
they must learn through a variety of other procedures (Dhakatribune, 2018). The CGI animation
and VFX industry is blooming throughout the whole world. Recently there are some renowned
studios in Bangladesh that have also established their VFX departments to get in the global VFX
industry. New artists are also entering into the market and people now know much about the
global VFX industry. The discussions mentioned above suggest that there is a significant
possibility for artists to get into the global VFX market but there are also some major drawbacks
that are holding these possibilities. For animation, CGI, visual effects, publishing on a computer,
architectural design, and 3D character modeling are among the professions involving animation
and services Bangladesh was chosen as the location for the outsourcing., Bhuiyan claims that
(2009).
In Bangladesh, there are over 100 graphics and animation firms (Islam, Shamsuddin, and
Chowdhury, 2013), with around 50 of them are doing freelancing works for the international
studios. The visual effects market in Bangladesh is in a stage of development and new entrants
are about to enter into the market. Animation is becoming more popular in Bangladeshi films and
television commercials. Ogniroth Studios, Cartoon Bangladesh, The Illusionist BD, Greenfield
Toons, Kento Studios, Pixel Works, Sketch Studio, Toon Bangla, Maverick Studios, and Bangi
Productions are some of the prominent animations and VFX service providers. Also, there are
currently no direct suppliers for the animation business in the nation. All software and hardware
are purchased from a third-party vendor in another country (Tarannum, 2011).
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3.1.2 Objective
Bangladesh is one of the most developing economies in the world with a huge number of active
labor forces. The recent revolution of the streaming media and entertainment industry has created
a significant impact on the global visual effects and CGI industry. The global need for visual
effects is increasing day by day along with market size. With the recent development of 3G and
broadband internet service in Bangladesh the local streaming media and entertainment industry is
also blooming. In the global VFX industry India and Taiwan are the favorite outsourcing
destination for Hollywood post production work. The cost saving and maintenance of industry
grade production standards have made these countries to be a preferred outsourcing location.
In similar ways by using the vast labor force, Bangladesh can also be a destination for
outsourcing works of global visual effects and CGI. Most of the outsource work for this industry
requires very basic computer knowledge. This is why with some basic training and guidance
there is a huge window of opportunity in Bangladesh to use the labor force for getting into the
global visual effects and CGI market. Due to the huge number of available workers, there is a
potential advantage of creating international quality of visual effects and CGI with a very
competitive costing. The main objective of this report is how we can use our labor force to
become an outsourcing hub for global visual effects and CGI related works and what are things
we should keep in mind to introduce and expand this new industry in Bangladesh.
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3.1.3 Significance of the issue
The entertainment market has evolved significantly since recent years and has turned into a 2.1
trillion USD market. Among which the visual effects market holds a market of 26.64 billion
USD and the CGI industry holds a market cap of 16.64 billion USD. Many developing countries
have already created a high-quality visual effects and computer graphics sector, which has
benefited their economic development. Because of their cheap labor costs, these countries have
the ability to produce high-quality visual effects and computer graphics at a reasonable cost. The
visual effects business is quickly becoming an integral aspect of filmmaking, and studios with
cutting-edge work has become an important part of global VFX pipeline.
Demand for animation, visual effects, and video games has risen as a result of the expansion of
the worldwide expansion of electronics sports industry, the accessibility the internet with low
cost, the accessibility of smartphones, and the expanding popularity of video streaming services.
Furthermore, the need for visual effects and motion graphics material to enable imaginable
experiences like augmented and virtual reality is skyrocketing. We're seeing more and more
animation, visual effects, and video game creation taking place on a worldwide scale. Production
activity is growing more global, with nations and regions giving tax benefits, subsidies, financial
assistance, and regionally cheap labor costs, among other things, and firms saving costs by
establishing facilities in these areas.
This research will help to find out how we can use the labor force of Bangladesh with minimum
knowledge of computers to work for the global visual effects market so that we can compete
with the other neighboring and Asian countries. Also, how the industry veterans have achieved
25
success in this industry by working from Bangladesh and also the drawbacks and solutions for
that.
3.2 Methodology
The main research methodology would be collecting data from the artists working in the
entertainment industry and mostly the students of Bangladesh through questionnaires or direct
interviews online. My research would be mainly based on qualitative data.
The questionnaires to the students will be mainly on if they are familiar with the global VFX and
CGI market, if they are aware about the growing VFX market in Bangladesh, do they got basic
skills on computer, if they are interested to work in global visual effects and CGI industry, if a
free training program is conducted with a task-based approach are they interested to join that etc.
For the artists who are working in the Bangladeshi visual effects and CGI market would be like
are they self-taught artist or the have received training from any institute, how they started their
career into this industry, what are their thoughts on the prospects of Visual effects and CGI
market in Bangladesh, what are the problems they are facing in this industry by working from
Bangladesh
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3.3 Findings and analysis
I have conducted a survey on the students and fresh graduates about their interest on visual
effects industry and how much they are likely to train themselves to work in real life visual
effects projects and pursue career in this field.
3.3.1 Questionnaires and data
3.3.1.1 -What is your age group?
3.3.1.2 -What is your educational status right now?
14.60%
81.50%
3.80%
18-30
21-23
24-26
27-30
Fig 3.1
76.90%
0.80%
18.50%
3.80%
Higher School Certificate (HSC) Undergraduate (Completed)
Post-Graduate (Completed)
Undergraduate (Continuing)
Post-Graduate (Continuing)
Fig 3.2
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3.3.1.3 -Are you familiar with the Hollywood movies and the visual effects that are used these
movies?
3.3.1.4 -How likely are you with the global visual effects industry?
6.90%
30.80%
63.10%
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Neutral
Unlikely
Very Unlikely
Fig 3.4
91.50%
8.50%
Very likely
Somewhat Likely
Neutral
Unlikely
Very Unlikely
Fig 3.3
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3.3.1.5 -Are you familiar with using a desktop computer?
3.3.1.6 -Regarding the use of software like Photoshop, Indicate your level of knowledge
3.10%
40.80%
46.90%
9.20%
Unable to use
Unfamiliar
Familiar
Very familiar
Skilled operator
Fig 3.5
65.4
30.8
3.1
0.8
Unable to use
Unfamiliar
Familiar
Very familiar
Skilled operator
Fig 3.6
29
3.3.1.7 -Are you familiar with any of the following visual effects related work?
3.3.1.8 Are you interested on taking free trainings on the topics mentioned in previous question?
3.3.1.9 Are you interested in working on freelance visual effects projects?
36.20%
5.40%
6.20%
8.50%
59.20%
3.80%
12.30%
Rotoscoping
Clean plating
Set- extension
VFX color matching
Green screen keying
Compositing
Haven’t heard about any of them
Fig 3.7
96.9
3.1
Yes
No
Maybe
Fig 3.8
30
3.3.1.9 Are you interested in working on freelance visual effects projects?
3.3.1.10 -Do you want to peruse career in visual effects and CGI industry?
90%
9.20%
0.80%
Yes
No
Maybe
Fig 3.9
52.3
18.5
29.2
Yes
No
Maybe
Fig 3.10
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3.3.2 Analysis of survey results
The survey named as “Survey on industry perspective of visual effects industry in Bangladesh”
was conducted based on 130 responses from Google form. Based on the information I have
gathered from the survey I've discovered the following findings
- From figure 3.1 and 3.2 we can see that most of the people (81.6%) who have
participated in the survey are belong to the age group of 24-26 and also most of them
(76.9%) are fresh graduates.
- From figure 3.3 and 3.4 I’ve found out that high number of participants (about 91.5%) are
fond of watching Hollywood movies and they are well aware about the visual effects
those are used in this movie but they are not well aware about the visual effects market.
Only a few percentages of participants (6.9%) are well aware about the visual effects
market. So, it’s very clear that people enjoy the Hollywood movies and they are well
aware about the use of visual effects in the movies but they are not well aware about how
these visual effects industry is growing.
- According to figure 3.5 and 3.6 we can see that 40.8% of participants are familiar with
using a desktop computer, 46.9% are very familiar with using the computer and 9.2% are
skilled operator. Among this user of desktop computer 34% participants are familiar with
using editing software like photoshop. So, they have the basic knowledge of image
editing.
- From figure 3.7 we can find out there are different kinds of works in visual effects
pipeline. Among them most participants (about 59.2%) know about green screen keying
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and (36.2%) have idea about rotoscoping, 5.4% know about clean plating, 6.2% know
about set extension, 8.5% know about VFX color matching and 3.8% of them have ideas
about compositing. About 12.3% of people have no idea about any of the aspects of
visual effects pipeline. So, we can see that green screen keying and rotoscoping in the
most known subject of visual effects pipeline. Also, participants also have ideas about
some of the other works of VFX pipeline.
- According to figure 3.8-3.10 I’ve found that most of the participants (about 96.9%) are
willing to join a free training session on any of the sectors of visual effects pipeline. 90%
of them are also willing to work on freelance visual effects projects. About 52.3% of
them want to peruse a careen in visual effects and CGI industry and 47.3% of them are
either not willing to pressure careen on visual effects industry or haven’t decided yet. So,
we can see from this figures that most of the participants are willing to train themselves
up on the skills required for visual effects industry and they are also willing to work on
freelance projects rather than working as full time in this industry.
According to the survey we can conclude that most of the people who are fresh graduates are
interested in the movies and also visual effects. Also, they are well known about the two of the
most demanding sections of visual effects like rotoscoping and green screen keying. The visual
effects industry in Bangladesh is still in a growth stage and people don’t want to get involved in
this job sectors because sometimes they think of it as a risky and unstable sector. That’s why
they people tend to work on visual effects freelance projects rather than pursue it as career. Also,
they are willing to gather skills on visual effects. People who have basic knowledge of computers
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can work as a rotoscoping artist and in green screen keying. Most of the software that are used in
this field are work with highly automated process and are not hard to operate.
3.3.2 Analysis of interview with artists
I interviewed two renowned artists of Bangladesh who has been working in this industry for
many years. One of them an Ashik Ahmed Leo, motion designer in Million Dreams Studio and
Anik Zaman, concept artist and illustrator. Both of them are self-taught artists. I’ve talked with
them about how they entered into this industry, about the prospects and the problems they are
facing while working in this industry. Ashik Ahmed Leo has been working as motion graphics
artist for last 8 years. He started his career as a freelance video editor. Since then, he has
significantly trained himself from all available resources and landed on his first job at Ognirodh
Studios. After that he joined MVRK studios and lastly, he’s now working in Million Dreams
Studio as motion graphics supervisor. He said that Bangladesh is doing a very good progress in
visual effects sector. Many of the self-taught artists are now working in the global visual effects
industry and also some of the giant studios like MPC, Method Studios etc. He also mentioned
that there is a lack of proper training institute in Bangladesh. New artists and entrants are often
finding it hard to collect proper guidelines and also there is no proper artists community in
Bangladesh. Leo also mentioned that the main challenge for working as freelancer or with direct
client from Bangladesh is the lack of proper payment gateway.
Another artist Anik Zaman is working in entertainment industry as concept artist and illustrator
for last 3 years. He started his career in MVRK studio as concept artist. He told us about some
challenges he has faced during his working in this industry. One of the major problems is when
34
clients are not fully informed about the complexities of the visual process, when working on a
project, it might be tough to come to an agreement. There is also a scarcity of excellent artists in
the business right now, so things get incredibly stressful when jobs start stacking up. He also
mentioned the issue about the unavailability of PayPal as he faces difficulties to get payments
from the international clients.
3.3.3 Freelance sectors with possibility for Bangladesh
3.3.3.1 Rotoscoping
Rotoscoping is a method used by animators to trace over motion picture film frame by frame in
order to create realistic action. Animators used to sketch over the movie frames on a panel of
glass. Developed by Polish-American animator Max Fleischer, this projection apparatus is
known as a rotoscope. Although computers subsequently supplanted this equipment, the method
is still known as rotoscoping. Every feature film now a days needs massive amount of
rotoscoping. Outsourcing feature visual effects work from Hollywood, sometimes through pure
work-for-hire agreements and other times through co-productions or joint ventures, is a relatively
recent practice. Due to the industry's lack of expertise with high-end effects, the original focus
was on labor-intensive activities such as wire removal and rotoscoping. Some popular software
for rotoscoping is silhouettefx, NukeX, After Effects etc.
35
3.3.3.2 Green Screen Keying
The green screen key technique is a technique for removing a certain color from a picture and
replacing that piece of the image. This color can be any solid hue, although the most popular
choices are blue and green. The act of eliminating a solid color from a picture is referred to as
chroma keying. After effects and NukeX are the industry standard and easy to use green screen
keying software. Green screen keying is not only use in Hollywood feature films but also in
everywhere. Marketing videos, Local film and advertisement industry also use green screen
videos and keying for their projects.
Fig – 3.11
Fig – 3.12
36
3.3.3.3 Set extension and Clean Plating
Set extension is the process of creating a CG environment for a shot that was not filmed during
real-time. They can boost a scene's production value, transforming even the most mundane shot
into something epic and engaging. They're also one of the first visual effects gimmicks in film
history.
Fig – 3.13
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3.4 Summary and conclusion
By analyzing the survey data and the interview with artists it’s quite clear that the new
generation is interested in getting into the global visual effects industry. Most of them are very
familiar with Hollywood movies and also, they are very much aware about the fact that there is a
huge number of visual effects used in these feature films. Though they are well aware about the
making of the feature films and visual effects, they have less idea about the visual effects market
and how this visual effects and CGI works are done and distributed globally. As most of them
are well familiar with computers and some of them have experience in image editing these skills
can be easily converted into demandable sectors for visual effects like rotoscoping, keying and
clean plating. As they are interested in doing freelance work the outsource visual effects jobs can
be distributed among them. Also, there is a need of proper training on this sector in our country.
The community is not so helpful towards the newcomers and this often makes it hard for the new
artists who are trying to enter into this industry.
3.5 Recommendations
As there are many newcomers who are interested in taking training and getting into the global
visual effects market there should be some proper training programs for them. Organizations
who are already working in this sector for a long time and local artists who have been working in
this industry can arrange training programs. This will help these organizations to build a whole
new industry and they can enter into the global visual effects industry. Also, the available
payment systems are not suitable according to international standards. Clients throughout the
whole world prefer PayPal as a standard payment system which is not available in Bangladesh.
Also, the available and alternative payment systems like Payoneer and Xoom should be
38
introduced to the freelancers. There is a lack of community support in Bangladesh in the
entertainment industry. So, creating a community forum or website can help the new artists to
get connected with the industry veterans. The clients will likely approach artists who have been
working in this industry for a long time and also have experience in similar works. So, the
experienced artists can take the outsource jobs from the clients and can distribute them among
the newer artists.
39
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