Chris Eckardt and Elad Offer, the founders of two-year-old Santa Monica visual effects house Moneyshots, are adding another skill to their post-production repertoire: live-action directing.

Eckardt and Offer feel the expertise they've gained in the post realm will help differentiate them as directors.

"What we do with Moneyshots is collaborate with directors and help them come up with ideas, figure out problems and provide solutions," says Offer. "We feel with our experience we have some things to offer in terms of treatments and ideas."

Eckardt concurs: "What we've been doing has been directing in one way or another. We do a hell of a lot behind the scenes."

Despite their background - Eckardt has been in the business for 10 years and currently teaches computer graphics while Offer has worked on features such as Moulin Rouge and Pearl Harbor - the pair insists they will not be branded as visual effects directors. "Our advantage is that we know right away where we can do things with visual effects that allow us to tell a story better. We're not fans of using visuals as an excuse for not telling a story," says Offer.

During its lifetime, Moneyshots has produced visual effects for videos for OutKast, Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, Linkin Park and Celine Dion. Their commercial reel includes work for Reebok.

However, both insist that with this move, the regular operations of Moneyshots will remain the same. "The nice thing about directing is that, with the exception of a few days, you can do it from anywhere," says Offer. "As owners, we're very hands on, but we do have people to do work for us."

The pair are as yet unnamed as a directorial duo and are considering options for representation.

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