Visual effects and animation

Unlocking potential with tailored visual effects and animation consulting

Related expertise

In the every changing world of VFX and animation, achieving production efficiencies is not just an advantage—it's essential. Our consulting services are meticulously crafted to support industry stakeholders, including studios, production companies, and investors, in navigating current challenges and seizing future opportunities. Whether it’s optimizing production workflows, enhancing creative output, or maximizing revenue streams, our team of experts delivers the insights and strategies needed for success.

In the rapidly evolving VFX and animation industry, efficient production processes are critical for maintaining creative quality and competitiveness across media sectors like film, gaming, and advertising.

Portrait of Michael Knott — Michael Knott

Senior Partner

London Office, Western Europe

In today’s fast-paced VFX and animation industry, production efficiencies are no longer just an advantage—they’re essential for survival and success. VFX and animation drive key media verticals such as film, television, video games, immersive entertainment, virtual production, and advertising. As these industries expand and adopt cutting-edge technologies , the complexity and scale of projects continue to rise, demanding a careful balance between pushing creative boundaries and maintaining operational efficiency.

Our consulting services are designed to meet these demands by supporting a diverse range of stakeholders, including VFX and animation studios, production companies, and investors. Whether it’s enhancing production workflows, improving creative output, managing costs, or maximizing revenue, we tailor solutions to the specific challenges you face in today’s digital production landscape. We don’t offer one-size-fits-all advice; instead, we provide strategic, customized guidance that addresses your unique needs and helps you stay competitive in a rapidly changing market.

For studios, we focus on optimizing operations to help you refine internal processes and scale up for larger projects—all without compromising on creative quality. Our solutions help streamline your workflows, adopt new technologies, and ensure that your team delivers top-tier creative results, even as production scales grow.

Investors benefit from our deep industry insights and financial expertise in the VFX and animation sectors. We help identify growth opportunities, mitigate risks, and help provide the insight required to make investment decisions. Whether you're looking to invest in a growing VFX studio or explore new ventures within the industry, our experience in due diligence and market analysis ensures that you capitalize on opportunities with confidence.

In short, whether you're a studio aiming to scale or an investor seeking opportunities in a growing industry, our consulting services provide the insights and strategies you need to thrive in the dynamic world of VFX and animation.

One of our the key attractions for clients is our proprietary database that covers every film and TV show that has ever been released in Western markets since 2018. What makes it unique is that it provides the annualized spending on VFX and animation services taking into consideration budgets, production timelines, payment schedules and market shocks. To the best of our knowledge, this truly is market leading.

Assessing pipeline simulation capabilities is crucial for informed capex investment planning. By understanding a company's simulation strengths in comparison to the market, these assessments can enhance the accuracy of revenue forecasting and improve the probability of winning upcoming sales opportunities. Additionally, identifying core competitors is not only vital for technical evaluations but also for strategic financial planning.

Character and creature

Hair and fur simulation: used to create realistic hair, fur, and feather systems on both human and non-human characters.
Muscle and skin dynamics: focused on replicating realistic muscle movements, skin deformations, and the underlying anatomy.
Facial dynamics and expression: creation of emotive and nuanced facial expressions, including muscle movements, skin deformations, and subtle details like eye movement.
Cloth simulation: the realistic behavior of clothing on characters, including dynamics and interactions with the environment.

Dynamic scene

Rigid body dynamics: creation of realistic interactions and destructions involving solid objects, such as buildings collapsing, vehicles crashing, structural failures, and weapon effects
Soft body dynamics: interactions involving deformable objects, such as flesh impacts, gelatinous creatures, or other non-rigid materials.

Environments

Fluid dynamics: creation of realistic water and fluid interactions, including oceans, rivers, rain, floods, and other fluid-based effects.
Large-scale environment simulations: geological phenomena, weather patterns, landscape transformations, and other large-scale environmental effects.
Particle systems: small-scale, dynamic effects such as smoke, fire, explosions, dust, and magical effects.

Crowd and group dynamics

Crowd simulation: scenes involving large groups of characters or creatures, managing complex behaviors such as flocking, rioting, or large-scale battles.

Portrait of Michael MacLaren — Michael MacLaren

Project Manager & VFX expert

London Office, Western Europe

Our service

1. Strategy and commercial acceleration

Studio Strategies: We develop strategies that support VFX and animation studios of all sizes, aligning with industry trends and technological advancements.

Project-Specific Strategies: We tailor approaches to meet the unique needs of each project, whether it's a high-budget blockbuster or an indie animation, ensuring optimal resource allocation and creative execution.

2. Deals and investments

Investment Strategies: We identify lucrative opportunities in the VFX and animation sector, effectively managing risks, and maximizing returns.

Due Diligence: Our comprehensive commercial and technology assessments support you across all of key investment areas.

3. Project management

PMO Design and Setup: We establish Project Management Offices (PMOs) that drive transformation and instil a culture of delivery.

PMO Operations: Our services enhance project delivery through standardized, action-oriented processes and strategic secondments.

Success stories

- Collaborated with globally renowned VFX and animation studios, as well as mid-sized independents and niche providers, conducting commercial and vendor due diligence.
- Advised private equity firms on acquisition strategies for both globally recognized studios and mid-sized independents, providing guidance on buy-side and sell-side transactions.
- Conducted in-depth technical assessments of VFX pipeline capabilities, including analysis of simulation capabilities, architectural designs, technical debt, and operational management.
- Supported VFX and animation providers from buy-side due diligence through post-merger strategy design to implementation planning for their global operations.
- Carried out investment feasibility studies in emerging markets for government entities.
- Performed market studies for niche industry segments, covering the impact of COVID-19, the 2023 writers' strike, and the technological impact of AI .
- Developed sales pipelines and business plans for building new teams focused on selling work in emerging geographies and industries such as immersive entertainment.

Why choose Roland Berger

What makes us unique is that our consultants combine deep management strategy knowledge with specialized VFX and animation industry insights. This dual proficiency allows us to provide innovative, actionable solutions tailored to our clients' unique needs. Our successful collaborations with top industry players worldwide underscore our ability to guide entities through challenges and capitalize on emerging opportunities.

We have a proven track record of guiding the largest VFX and animation companies through periods of change, overcoming obstacles, and leveraging new opportunities. Our achievements include successful strategic planning, operational model enhancements, and impactful investment analyses.