Framestore's Charles Howell on the Visual Effects in Gravity

Framestore is a London visual effects company that recently won an Oscar for its work on Gravity. Charles Howell, head of production, explains why moviemaking is shifting away from the auteur model.

A film’s look has traditionally been the result of two visionaries—the director and the cinematographer. Has the rise of visual effects changed that?
Moviemaking is getting more collaborative. Alfonso [Cuarón], the director of Gravity, always made a point of saying how involved Framestore and the visual effects were and what a huge collaboration the film was. Some directors don’t necessarily have the confidence or humility to acknowledge that. If it’s a really heavy visual effects movie, like, say, Lord of the Rings, you could have more than 900 visual effects artists.