Entertaining thoughts.(Editor's Note)

The year 2008 was a good one for visual effects and animated films, especially in terms of variety, and, 2009 looks promising, as well. What is in store for us? Are there any big, new trends? Recently, Tim Sarnoff, president of Sony Pictures Imageworks, provided a glimpse into the studio's current and near-future plans as it gears up for another year of what it does best: entertain.

As 2008 was winding down, Imageworks remained in high gear, releasing the fast-paced Eagle Eye, the spy thriller Body of Lies, and the World War II drama Valkrie. 2009 starts off "super," with the film adaptation of the comic-book series Watchmen, followed by heroes of a different species in G-Force. The animated feature Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will be served up in early fall. "We are active and fully engaged," says Sarnoff, who adds a number of other projects to the list, including Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2012) and Cats & Dogs 2 (2010).

As Sarnoff points out, some of those films will be stereoscopic, including Alice and G-Force. In fact, there are more 3D films in the Imageworks pipeline than ever before, a trend that began with The Polar Express and continued with Monster House and Beowulf. "We are doing more 3D because Imageworks has been one of the innovators in stereo work for animation and live action," he says. "We are utilizing our tools and technology so we can do 3D while we are doing our visual effects. It is a lot easier to do 3D when you are already doing the visual effects work on the film in the first place."

While 3D has come and gone in the past, Sarnoff sees 3D as an industry trend, not a fad, this time around. Because theaters no longer have to drastically change their screening environments to show stereo, there is more opportunity to show stereo. While Sarnoff does not think stereo will completely replace 2D movies, he does believe that "3D will be around from now on." And it will not just be relegated to theaters; it is spreading to the consumer level, on stereo monitors for computers and televisions, and soon cell phones. "With these distribution options, 3D in theaters is just a starting point, not an ending point where it was before," he adds.

Another trend that will continue in 2009, according to Sarnoff, is process innovation. "The innovations are more subtle these days than in the past. Someone was always innovating and doing something new for every film," he explains. "This year and for the foreseeable future, we will be looking to become innovators in terms of the processes by which we create the work. All the shots we are seeing today from everyone are good--the critics aren't even mentioning most of the invisible visual effects work anymore because it is getting so good. People can no longer look at a movie and criticize the work because it is embedded in the movie itself."

Sarnoff attributes that to the slow, gradual process by which visual effects are no longer considered postproduction; they are now considered production. "I do not think there is a film now where we are not in on the very beginning conversations when the film is being set up," he says. "There was a time when a film was set up and, after the shoot, they would get the visual effects done as sort of an afterthought. I think this change has been the best part of what we have been able to accomplish as an industry--that visual effects is a production thought, not an afterthought. It's also now a script thought, where writers are involved in that conversation. We're no longer talking about what can be done, but how it can be done."

At Imageworks, Sarnoff believes the next level of innovation will be in changing the studio's global processes. That includes improved efficiencies and extending the use of assets--a growing trend throughout all walks of life today. "We are looking to improve the number of iterations so we can add more to our shots. The more iterations, the more we can improve on individual shots; this gives artists more time to work on their shots and directors more that they can put into a shot," he adds. "It is not as glamorous or as sexy, but it will have a greater impact on what the audience sees."