Step into the world of good and evil
The School for Good and Evil finally found its way onto our TV screens, featuring amazing work by our LDN, MTL and MUM studios, as well as our hyper-talented FPS crew (and graded by Stefan Sonnenfeld at Company 3). The film follows best friends Sophie and Agatha, who find themselves on opposing sides of a modern fairy tale when they are swept away to an enchanted school where young heroes and villains are trained to protect the balance of good and evil. If you haven’t seen the film yet and need another push then make sure to watch the trailer below and let us know if you’re good… or evil.
Welcome the Royals
Welcome the Royal Family into your homes! Netflix released the official trailer for the hotly anticipated fifth season of The Crown featuring a completely new cast. Our LDN studio was honoured to work on this project showing off their royal-worthy VFX skills. The Crown will arrive on Netflix on 9th November.
Watch it while you can
For those of you seeking a pre-Halloween spooky treat, why not catch His House before it leaves Netflix on October 29th? The BAFTA and BIFA-winning film follows two refugees as they adjust to life in the UK while grappling with ghosts from their past. The skincrawlingly-effective VFX come courtesy of our LDN IA team.
Cadillac ‘Art of You’ Experience
To promote the launch of Cadillac’s new, highly-customisable electric vehicle, the Immersive team spearheaded visuals and content production for the ‘Art of You’ – an interactive experience that allowed participants to design their dream vehicle. The installation utilised Unreal Engine to create dynamic, real-time particle systems based on guest responses to a series of questions asked by Hexagram’s AI system (voiced by Regina King). Participants enjoyed a completely unique experience and walked away with a digital image of their customised car and art piece.
The team also attended the after party alongside Framestore alumni Mike Woods, who we worked with on the project!
The World of Swarovski
Open the wonder in a world full of crystals and holiday magic! We teamed up with renowned fashion directors Mert & Marcus for Swarovski’s new campaign starring supermodel Bella Hadid. Led by VFX Supervisor Alan Woods, the LDN team created stunning photorealistic oversized version of the brand’s most iconic and elegant items in full CG. Yoomin Lee at Company 3 was the colourist.
Awards
Clio Entertainment
We’re thrilled that our work on the title sequence for No Time To Die has been shortlisted for a Clio Entertainment award in the Theatrical/Film: Brand & Film Identity Main Title/Credits category. Congratulations to everyone involved!
Press
Animation World Network
VFX Supervisor Enrik Pavdeja spoke to Animation World Network about our roaring VFX work in Beast and also shared his favourite moment of the film. Read all about it here.
VFX Voice
VFX Voice also spoke to VFX Supervisor Enrik Pavdeja about Beast and our collaboration with other VFX studios. Read more here.
Immortal Awards
Our Chancery Lane office was honoured to welcome European Jury for The Immortal Awards. The jurors were voting on the best European advertising campaigns. Read more here.
In other news
VIEW Conference
Creative Directors, Christian Manz and Vincent Aupetit joined this year’s VIEW Conference alongside Junior Recruiter Pheya Tribelsky, Recruitment Coordinator Skye Chappell, and Talent Partner: Outreach & Inclusion Engy Jarrouj in Turin, Italy. Christian explained the storytelling power of VFX in the Fantastic Beasts films and Vincent shared our god-tier Previs for Marvel’s Moon Knight with the mesmerised audience. The speakers also met some audience members at our recruitment booth to discuss all things VFX.
Black Tech Fest
Framestore’s Lorna Dumba, Technology Strategist, joined the Black Tech Fest last week for a panel discussion on Metaverse.
CHI Anniversary
Happy 5 year anniversary to our Chicago studio, who celebrated this week with a fun-filled evening of cocktails, rooftop views, and a curated concert from Cloud Gate Quartet who serenaded the team with themes from Framestore’s history.
MEL meets LDN
MEL’s Head of VFX, Simon Rosenthal, stopped by at our LDN office this week to get to know and spend valuable time with colleagues from across the globe.
Tristan in MEL
Senior Systems Architect, Tristan Crichton, embarked on a 11-day journey to our MEL office to work with the systems/IT team to lay the foundations for Framestore’s services and pipeline, predominantly the network, connectivity and virtual machine infrastructure. Framestorising a site is no small feat and his work in MEL only laid the groundwork for the hundreds – if not thousands – of systems and pipeline hours to come integrating MEL into the global Framestore team. It was a lovely chance to meet the local teams in person, instilling excitement and intrigue in what’s to come as they align more closely with the ever growing Framestore family. Thank you for showing us the challenges and tasks our systems teams tackle to support all the wonderful work we produce, Tristan!
Diwali Celebrations in MUM
To kick start the Diwali (festival of lights) festivities, our MUM studio organised a diya (small oil lamps) painting competition. Each participant was provided with clay diyas, acrylic paints, brushes, and a palette and had 60 minutes to design their diya in a unique and festive way. The team also hung up lanterns and drew a rangoli in the reception area as part of the studio decorations.
Van Gogh Distortion Exhibition
MTL’s social event team organised an outing to OASIS Immersion, Canada’s largest indoor immersive journey, which featured a stunning and immersive Van Gogh exhibit. Through light projections, sound, and movement, Van Gogh Distortion reinvents more than 225 paintings and sketches of the modernist painter.
Ceramic painting with the Groom Department
The Groom team went for a little artistic moment at the ceramic cafe in MTL, a ceramic painting studio and a café-restaurant offering more than 2000 different ceramic items to paint along with artistic advice to personalise them.
Compositing Social
The MTL Compositing team got together for a social event last Friday to toast the delivery of nearly 3000 shots over the previous 12 months! Congrats everyone!
Halloween Quiz Night
Senior Department Manager Laina Bennani hosted a Halloween quiz night with the Groom, Tracking, Layout, CFX, and Environment departments in MTL. Congratulations to the Tracking team who won the quiz and Tracker, Steven Bartovsky who answered the most questions! Also, thank you to Head of Layout, Benoit Lefebvre, and Olga Velenta for their live performance of The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Framestore Connect
The MTL HR team hosted the Framestore Connect workshop for partners of Framestore employees to familiarize themselves with the job market in Quebec. What a successful event!
Global Pumpkin Carving Competition
Show off your pumpkin carving skills in our ghoulish global contest. Upload a photo of your masterpiece here no later than 2pm (BST) on Thursday 27th October. Judging will be anonymous this year, so upload your photo of only your carving with the filename as the name of your pumpkin. Be sure to take a photo of yourself holding your showpiece – so we know witch is yours – as proof to claim your prize. Our super spooky panel of judges will select the winners who will be announced on Thursday, 27th October. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes to be won!
Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination
You can now get 20% off tickets for Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination by using the code FRAMESTORE when booking online.
ACCESS:VFX expands into Europe
As a key partner of ACCESS:VFX we’re thrilled to say that the non-for-profit organisation launched a new European chapter and extension to its e-mentoring programme. With the help of a new sponsorship with Netflix, ACCESS:VFX is building upon its mission to promote diversity within the VFX industry. Read more about this exciting opportunity here.
James Bond at the Royal Albert Hall
EON Productions host a charity concert at the Royal Albert Hall celebrating the music of Bond, headlined by the legendary Dame Shirley Bassey. Daniel Craig returns to the big screens as 007 in a triple bill of Casino Royale, Skyfall, and Spectre in Concert. Find out more about the event here.
That’s it for this week! Please remember that our colleagues in MUM will enjoy an extra long weekend celebrating Diwali on Monday, 24th October, and Balipratipada on Tuesday, 25th October.