Since 1992, Cutting Edge has built a string of studios that employs over 150 artists and reaches from Brisbane to Sydney. Like most professional shops they can do it all: films (Predestination, The Age of Adaline); commercials and TV series, including Powers, PlayStation Network’s first scripted show that’s based on Marvel’s beloved graphic novel series. What they couldn’t do was run all render requests off a single dispatcher, and the minutes kept adding up.
Oblique FX created 123 visual effects shots for Sicario, the latest film from director Denis Villeneuve. Sicario tells the story of a young FBI agent (Emily Blunt) thrown into the violent and lawless world of the drug trade across the U.S.-Mexico border. A gritty, realistic drama, the story required subtle effects work to blend seamlessly with the cinematography of Roger Deakins.
LipSync Post has provided more than 145 visual effects shots for Peter & Wendy, a TV film based on J.M Barrie’s Peter Pan directed by Diarmuid Lawrence and written by Adrian Hodges. Made in connection with Great Ormond Street Hospital, the TV movie is scheduled for broadcast on ITV over Christmas.
Rising Sun Pictures and the University of South Australia have forged a strategic partnership designed to keep the Australian visual effects industry growing strong.
San Francisco-based motion design studio Swordfish is using Quantum’s StorNext Pro Foundation shared storage system to take on projects involving massive high-resolution media files.
Digital artists will learn how to create realistic explosions, smoke, fire and other dynamic visual effects though a new training class from Rising Sun Pictures. Introduction to Dynamic Effects for Feature Film Using Houdini will introduce students to a software program that has become a standard tool in feature film and high-end television production, especially for working with complex particle systems. The course will be taught by visual effects artist Thomas Cant whose many credits include X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Autodesk has announced new desktop subscription options for Autodesk Flame software. The new subscription pricing for Flame starts at $750 per month and can be accessed annually for as low as $500 per month.
FuseFX recently helped bring life one of the country’s most recognizable college icons. Penn State University’s Nittany Lion statue flexes its muscles and leaps from its stone pedestal in a national television commercial promoting the school and its students as connected for life. The 30-second ad, which airs during televised Penn State athletic events, won an Emmy Award from the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. It earlier won a Telly Award.
Filmworkers’ Rob Churchill has become the go-to visual effects wizard for some of the top directors in advertising. He recently joined director Spike Lee in placing actor Samuel L. Jackson into a series of swanky digital office sets.
The 16th annual View Conference, Italy’s premiere annual gathering of industry professionals presenting the latest news and trends across all areas of the digital arts, including Computer Graphics, Interactive Techniques, Digital Cinema, 2D/3D Animation, Gaming and VFX, has announced that Industrial Light & Magic will present two very special sessions during this year’s event.
