Some people are destined to write their own success story. They possess nerves of steel and the indomitable will to overcome every obstacle and achieve their goal. They are calm, confident, and relentless at the same time. These dedicated personalities give their very best in every task they take up. They never give up during difficult situations and ensure that they provide the audience with lasting experiences.
One such noteworthy individual creating major impact in the VFX Industry is Mohammad Khalik, the Founder of Grizzly Arts. In an Interview with Insights Success, Mr. Khalik shares his journey, opinions, and future plans.
Below are the highlights of the interview between Mr. Khalik and Insights Success:
- Brief our audience about your journey as an artist/entrepreneur.
As a child I grew up watching lots of cartoons, and soon after I found myself sketching my favourite animated characters, and that is exactly when my journey as an artist began. Eventually, that led me to falling in love with CG animation and then filmmaking in common. After my graduation from Whistling Woods International (WWI), I started working in an environment surrounded by creative people and that pushed me even further and enabled me to get better at what I did. Every journey of an entrepreneur starts when there is a certain push in their career. Mine started with a big blow disguised as a push, as the company that I worked for shut down after a year. This leads me to start my own venture, Grizzly Arts, with just two artists doing all that a studio does.
- What is your opinion on the role of artists in creating lasting impact in the society?
In today’s digital world, artists express themselves through their art. This has a lasting impact on the society as there’s no better way of expressing views, but using art as a medium. Talking about lasting impact in the society, according to me the artworks created by artists are shared through multiple social media platforms and are viewed by the society as a whole. This in turn creates debatable topics amongst themselves.
- How pragmatic approach helps in thriving the production industry?
Pragmatism in the production industry will help an artist to excel, as it creates a belief system that relies on facts and values rather than the ‘should haves’ and ‘could haves’. The production industry is already super vast, so having a sensible approach while facing the existing conditions in the industry and just solving that, will help us thrive in the industry rather than trying to figure out the solutions for the conditions which don’t even exist in the present situation.
- Share with us your opinion on the role and potential of technology in the film industry?
With the current situation in filmmaking, it is distinctly agreeable that technology plays a vital role in the Film Industry. The pandemic led to the advancements in the virtual production technology as it had become very difficult to travel around the world to shoot on location. Now with the help of virtual production, we can achieve the same kind of results by just using LED screens or virtual sets that are created in 3D. The advancements in the VFX industry have also paved the way to creating worlds, which are almost impossible to create practically.
- How pragmatic approach helps in thriving the film industry?
The pragmatics in the film industry consider making films with whatever is available at that time, rather than waiting for better things to happen or to be available. In these cases, having a pragmatic approach will help us thrive in the film industry as they don’t wait for some ideal situation. In simple words, ‘do the best with what we’ve got’ is better than ‘wait till we get the best to do the best’.
- What are the business lessons that you have learned over the course of your journey?
The first and foremost lesson that I have learnt during my journey is that we should never say ‘NO’. To explain it further, during the initial days of starting my venture I kept saying no to the projects that I thought we couldn’t handle all by ourselves. Soon enough, I realised that this was a big mistake, and we can’t actually make progress with this approach. After that point, I began saying ‘YES’ to all the projects, and as and when we needed more hands, we hired freelancers whose ideas were in sync with ours. Soon enough we were taking and completing more projects than we expected.
Another important lesson that I learnt was to make use of social media platforms. An active studio on social media has more chances of recognition, compared to others, especially on LinkedIn, as that has paved a way to network better, build lasting relations and getting more clients/projects.
- Kindly add some light on the challenges in the film industry. What is your opinion about overcoming those challenges?
Every field has its equal share of challenges and the film industry is no different. Initially, the major challenge I faced was inadequate amount of work as I was new to the industry. The key to tackle this issue quickly is good networking and relation building. Another challenge I faced was budget inequality, where initial projects are expected to be done on a low budget. But I believe once your deliver high-quality work and gain the trust of your client, then this issue is also addressed immediately for future projects.
- What would be your advice to aspiring artists/entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the film industry?
My advice to the aspiring artists in the film industry is to not give up on your dreams. Dreams are not something that you wake up from, rather dreams are something that wakes you up. No project is big or small, giving the best you’ve got and doing what you love is the ultimate goal in every artist’s life. Hustle throughout, even if it makes you feel tired, but even through that tiredness you’ll feel satisfied and that’s how you know that you have done a good job and most importantly you are happy.
- Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run and what are your future goals?
Through this current pandemic situation, I’ve come to realise that remote work offers more flexibility and autonomy for employees. I envision myself as a digital nomad entrepreneur, working from around the world, while having all my employees work remotely and at the convenience of their homes or anywhere around the globe. Also, my future goal is to create an environment where recent graduates from film and media schools can get hands-on experience in the industry through studios, as I’ve faced a lot of challenges getting into the film industry myself.
The post Mohammad Khalik: An Innovative Artist Revolutionizing the VFX Industry appeared first on Insights Success.
