SWOT: SUPER 78 SEES OPPORTUNITIES ABROAD

Brent Young
Founder/Director
Super78 Studios
Los Angeles/Beijing
www.super78.com

Super 78 is expanding into Asian markets where the demand for special venue media is high. The range of projects includes co-production on 3D-4D attraction films, large format live action films and developing specialty technologies to bring attraction characters to life. Current clients include Universal Studios Singapore and Resorts World, and other Asian theme park, retail and venue developers. 

STRENGTHS: “Our strength is the diversity of our products and services. Really, it comes down to designing new experiences and coming up with new ways to tell stories. We are best know for our attraction and special venue production services — animation and visual effects. But, Super 78 has developed everything from iPhone apps to live interactive character technology.”

WEAKNESSES: “Diversity is fun, exciting and will allow artists and management to grow. But diversity is also difficult to market. For some service work, studios look for hyper-specialization. So we have missed out on some opportunities because of our desires to not be pigeonholed.”

OPPORTUNITIES: “Asia is a hot market. Brazil is also starting to develop some interesting projects. Look outside the US for the interesting creative opportunities.”

THREATS: “I'm sure everyone is wondering how the global economies are going to work themselves out. We try not to focus on it too much because we don't have influence on such things. The only real threat is not working hard enough or acting on opportunities.”

OUTLOOK FOR 2010: “We see our business expanding through next year in some different ways. We are focusing on original content and various co-production deals. I think the industry is strong and it seems it will continue to expand. We look forward to new technologies, faster machines, image manipulation tools, projection and server systems, and cutting edge hand held devices that we can use to tell great stories.”