Global animation studios eyeing Cebu for expansion

CEBU, Philippines — Global animation studios are looking at Cebu as good expansion site noting the wealth of talents in the province.

According to Brian Rausch, chief executive officer and founder of House Moves, his company wants to bring in Hollywood level Motion Capture and Virtual Production in Asia.

The Philippines, particularly Cebu, has been chosen as the right location to host a Motion Capture facility.

He noted that the Philippines has the creative talent to get this done, adding that the Philippines has to grab this opportunity to have this technology brought here. Otherwise, the country will ‘miss the boat.’

Rausch started in Sony, working on several PlayStation2 games such a God of War and SOCOM. The House of Moves is one of the world’s leading Motion Capture and Virtual Production studios, which has done several AAA game titles and Hollywood Blockbusters. Works include Resident Evil 7, Titanic, Marvel’s Ant Man, Spiderman: Far from Home, and others.

“The talent and skills that are already in Cebu make it ready for the next step”, affirmed Marla Rausch, Chief Executive Officer and President of Animation Vertigo.

Established over 10 years ago, Animation Vertigo is a leader in motion capture tracking, editing and animation outsourcing. It provides high quality motion capture data to some of the biggest publishers, developers and animation companies in North America and in Europe.

“It might be baby steps for you, but technology is fast and we all have to use it. I think this is something that is needed, necessary because we don’t want to be left behind,” Ms Rausch said during the Animation Forum.

She stressed that Cebu needs to act now to be able to access the animation market.

“The last thing that we need right now, after the devastating pandemic, is to have ourselves hiding behind the door and trying to break down that door. The pandemic brings one big thing. And that is we are all on equal footing. Everybody is trying to get back on its feet. So, let’s not wait,” Ms. Rausch added.

However, she noted that it would take people working together to be able to achieve this. “It takes studios; it takes students, professionals so we can come together and create this creative hub in the Philippines.”

Likewise, Nestor Palabrica, vice president of Toei Animation Philippines Inc., said his company is considering Cebu as a site for expansion for their operation and production.

“We have plans to expand outside of Manila. If that will be materialized, we cannot think of any other place than Cebu, Cebu is teeming with talents” Palabrica said.

Palabrica also mentioned how Toei Philippines started as a joint venture between construction company Engineering Equipment Inc. and Toei Animation Co. Ltd of  Japan and eventually became the latter’s wholly-owned subsidiary. It is now doing 70 to 80 percent of Toei’s production work.

He explained that local animation companies could also partner with Japanese firms as long as they find the right partner.

“Aside from having passionate people, it’s also important that you can find the right partner. I know there are many Japanese studios who would like to have partnership with local studios here. What they just want to be assured of is that their partner would have the quality they require and can perform at the level they expect from us,” Palabrica added.

For his part, Juan Miguel Del Rosario, President of ACPI and Toon City (Morph Animation Inc.), stressed the potential of Filipinos as far as the creative industry is concerned.

“It’s really in the DNA of Filipinos to produce world-class artistry. I’m very, very proud of that. This is the reason why we at ACPI, are advocating countryside development of animation studios. We want studios to go outside of Manila because we want to say that Manila does not have the monopoly of artistic capability,” Del Rosario pointed out.

He disclosed that Japan is waiting for the Philippines.

“There has been a study made by them about the potential of the Philippines working for Japanese anime. And there’s none of that in Manila, except for TOEI Philippines. Let’s make Cebu the anime capital of Asia,” Del Rosario added.