Academy Award Nomination
Massive congratulations to Ryan Tudhope and Bryan Litson on their Oscar nomination for Top Gun: Maverick. After an intense VFX bakeoff, the final nominees were announced this week via livestream. Maverick will take on some stiff competition – from Pandora to Wakanda and everywhere in between – we’ll keep our fingers crossed!
London’s Top Screaming Service
Netflix’s ghost-hunting teen drama Lockwood & Co. arrives on the streaming platform today – the series follows a small ghost-hunting agency as they try to rid London of a goulish invasion known as The Problem. Our devilishly talented teams from LDN, VAN, and MUM collaborated to bring some sinister spirits to (after)life, under the watchful eye of VFX Supervisors Oli Armstrong and Sean Mathieson. Meet the cast and get some BTS secrets:
Dinosaurs from Down Under
It’s a double feature for trailers this week, starting with sci-fi action thriller 65, showcasing some terrific prehistoric VFX from our MEL team. The film follows a spaceship cargo pilot who crash lands on a strange planet, later revealed to be Earth — 65 million years ago. 65 hits the big screen in just 64 days (17th March).
Shazam! Battle at the Box Office
Second up in our trailer duo was Shazam! Fury of the Gods, giving us a sneak peek at acting royalty Helen Mirren living her best villain life, and a look at the super-powered VFX provided by the VAN studio. Shazam! Fury of the Gods also hits the big screen on 17th March.
RISE
The Design team was thrilled to be working again with Filmmaker Nisha Ganatra on the empowering short film titled ‘RISE,’ supporting with illustrations and delivery. Sponsored by Stacy’s Pita Chips and Produced by Hello Sunshine, ‘RISE’ tells the story of female entrepreneurs as they share their stories of struggle and success, while paying homage to historical strides and setbacks of women in business.
Press
His Dark Materials x The Metro
His Dark Materials VFX Supervisor Russell Dodgson graced the pages of the Metro this week, talking about the creature design of the Mulefas from season three, and why they deviate from the book. Russell also leant his experience to the His Darker Materials podcast, discussing the events of Episode 8, which is available here.
IBC’ing you at the Oscars
IBC spin through the nominees for this year’s VFX Academy Award, including Top Gun: Maverick, breaking down what made the VFX work stand out. Read the full article here.
In other news
MUM Open House
Our MUM studio conducted their second Open House event last weekend, hosting over 60 people for a Q&A with MUM MD Akhauri Sinha, and a presentation from CCO Mike McGee.
MUM Republic Day
In honour of Republic Day (26th Jan) our colleagues in MUM held an India-themed quiz. Everyone dressed in their best ethnic attire to celebrate the diversity in cultures across all the different states in India, and each department nominated 3 people to represent their team in the quiz. No pressure!
Framestore Podcast
This week, the Framestore Podcast continued with Episode 9, featuring Technical Animator Kamila Bianchi (LDN) and Creature Effects TD Harrison Stark (MTL). Both guests form a part of our brand-new Trainer Network, which will enable the training team to build a ‘directory’ of go-to people in Framestore that they can approach for specific training requests. Catch up on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
You’re all caught up for this week!