special effects

Visual effects company Method Studios announced today that it has brought VFX veteran Patrick Davenport on board as Vice President of Operations at its Santa Monica location, where he will be responsible for overseeing Method's facilities in both Los Angeles and New York. "There is a lot happening at Method right now, and we are thrilled to have Patrick join our team to help steer new initiatives," commented Gabby Gourrier, Senior Executive Producer, Method. "Having produced visual effects for both comme  

After accepting an Academy Award earlier this month for his visual effects work on Avatar , Stephen Rosenbaum joins digital production studio Digital Domain as a Visual Effects Supervisor. Rosenbaum comes to Digital Domain from Weta Digital in New Zealand, where he spent the past three years overseeing revolutionary 3D visuals for James Cameron's science fiction blockbuster. He reports to Gloria Borders, Digital Domain president of feature film operations.  

Fields Corp., a maker of pinball and slot machines, will acquire Tsuburaya, the producer of the iconic "Ultraman" sci-fi series, the company announced on Wednesday. Fields has inked a deal with Tsuburaya's parent company TYO, whose core biz is TV commercial production, to acquire its 51% stake in Tsuburaya. The amount of the buy was not revealed, but Fields plans to complete the acquisition by the first part of April.  

This year's Weatherly Hillclimb will end with a bang. Borough council voted 5-0 to approve spending $1,500 toward a $3,000 fireworks display in conjunction with the Weatherly Hillclimb Association, which will pick up the remaining $1,500. Councilmen Harold Farrow and Joseph Cyburt were absent from Monday's meeting, but said previously they were in favor of fireworks as part of the hillclimb, set for June 12 and 13.

The company informed me that it wouldn't change the length of time the fireworks display would continue but it would probably increase the overall intensity of some of the fireworks being used   -Tom Connors

 

Clearly, the people voting don't know what the F--- cinematography is. It is photographing, "painting" with light. It really, really ought only apply to the practical parts.  

The business has been launched by Andrew Lord, who was business development director at RealtimeUK before leaving last week, and Ben Haworth, previously studio head and creative director at Smoothe's Manchester office. It sees the pair reunited having previously worked together at post-production facility Redvision in Manchester. They say their new company's main focus is partnering with digital, advertising and design agencies, as well as production houses and video games studios, to produce digital

We've set-up to offer CGI animation and broadcast visual effects, with an added impetus on partnering and collaborative working to create more unique and rounded CG solutions.   -Andrew Lord

 

Clearly, the people voting don't know what the F--- cinematography is. It is photographing, "painting" with light. It really, really ought only apply to the practical parts.  

Aliquippa native Joe Letteri earned his fourth Oscar for Best Visual Effects on Sunday, but it was no less thrilling than the first, he said Wednesday. "It's always nice to win, whether it's the first or the fourth," he said. "It's nice to get together with everyone that has been nominated. There was a lot of good work out there."

It's always nice to win, whether it's the first or the fourth   -Joe Letteri

 

James Cameron's blockbuster hit movie "Avatar" may have won big at the 2010 Academy Awards for taking home Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction. But NewTek Inc. officials in San Antonio can bask in the knowledge that the company played a small role in that film's success. Rob Powers, the supervisor of the Virtual Art Department team that created the Academy Award-winning visual effects of Pandora, used NewTek's LightWave 3D system for the animation in the film.

NewTek extends congratulations to all of the teams involved in winning these prestigious Academy Awards, and particularly to the VAD team that was pivotal in enabling James Cameron to fully realize his vision of Pandora   -Jay Roth