Made in the UAE

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Oceans Apart, written by Mulder, would cost $ 11m to produce entirely in the UAE.

Director Jacques Mulder and producer Leigh Ferreira are set to launch Muddville Films from Dubai Studio City.

How did you end up working in the Middle East?

JM: I got a call one day from a Saudi prince offering me a job and three days later, I was in Riyadh.

The first month there I was working on the visualisation of a palace which had been waiting for approval for years. We had a team of modellers and animators bringing this to life with animated helicopters flying in, cars passing and camels wandering past.

He loved the animation and he approved it on the spot. It's a powerful tool.

After Saudi I came to Dubai to work with Tim Smythe at Filmworks. I was there for six years as technical director and special effects supervisor.

The industry in Dubai had no infrastructure, no established set up, at this point. I thought it would be a fun challenge to take that on.

How has the animation industry developed since then?

JM: Back then, you had to be able to do everything.

You couldn't just be a character animator or a modeller. It was difficult because some of the staff in the industry at this time couldn't do everything that we wanted them to.

Budgets for TV commercials were tight so if you were on a US $4000 a day shoot, everything had to run smoothly or before you knew it, you would run over budget and lose money.

Over time though, the software has become better and it has made life easier.

What problems does the industry face today?

JM: From the beginning of my time in Dubai, one of the biggest challenges has been convincing the agencies to keep the work local. They would send the work out to Europe, which was frustrating because we had the skills, the people and the equipment right here in Dubai.

As time has gone by, this has improved and it's probably only two out of ten jobs that are leaving the country now. There are some really great concepts out here but there is just not enough of them. There is not always enough creativity here.

Why do you think that is?

Leigh Ferreira : Often this is because they aren't aware of what can be done technically. If people were more aware of what possibilities are available to them then they would have more options and so be more creative.

I think many people have been overworked as well. Staffs have had too many projects to do and there just isn't time to come up with creative, original concepts for every single one.

The sad thing about that is that many creative people who want to do something different or a bit special have missed opportunities to develop their ideas.

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