Good Things Come in Threes
The final season of His Dark Materials features some of the most ambitious VFX you’ll see on the small screen, from photoreal creatures – real and imagined – to incredible environments and epic battles. A huge congratulations to Creative Director (Television) Russell Dodgson, VFX Supervisor Damien Stumpf and the teams in LDN, MTL and MUM whose beautiful, brilliant work has seen the show nominated for its THIRD Special, Visual and Graphic Effects BAFTA. Finger’s crossed we will soon add a third award to our collection!
Academy Technical Achievement Award
The LDN studio celebrated our Scientific & Technical Achievement Academy Award with a glass of prosecco and a toast with honourees Jim Vanns and Mark Hills who developed FQ at Framestore.
For the Sci-Tech Awards show The Academy created a video introducing FQ, the problem that it solves and the advantages it brings. Watch it on FTV here and check out Jim and Marks acceptance speech below.
Sea-ing is Believing
Disney dropped this official reaction video from the cast of The Little Mermaid, following the release of the trailer last week. It’s good to know they’re as excited as we are to see the film grace the big screen in just two months time!
Welcome to OFFF Barcelona
EVP Advertising USA, Krystina Wilson, Creative Director, Design, Jake Cuddihy, and Art Director, Christopher Friesen took to the stage at OFFF Barcelona 2023 to present the festival’s Opening Film, created by Framestore’s Design Studio. With an open brief and total creative freedom, ‘Coalesce’ is inspired by the idea of letting go of control, and the beautiful and unexpected things that can happen when you do. Centred around collaboration, the project encompasses the talents of the whole US Design team, bringing together their array of styles and disciplines.
If you would like to see more of the team at this year’s OFFF (or our design projects) then make sure to follow the Framestore Design Studio’s Instagram account.
Who Let The Beavers Out
Directed by Framestore Pictures’ Murray Butler with Andy Rowan-Robinson, YellaWood’s wily beaver ensemble continue their attempts to secure pressure-treated pine in the brand’s newest campaign. The project marks the second partnership between Framestore and Brunner for YellaWood since first creating the five unique beaver personalities in 2019, cementing their role as brand icons.
Overcoming Challenges with Age UK
Directed by Molly Burdett, the LDN IA team worked on Age UK’s heartbreaking campaign which highlights the agonising challenges facing many older people this winter. The spot also received 5 starts from David Reviews.
Press
Sky News
Founder and Chairman FC3, Sir William Sargent sat down with Sky News to discuss the effects of the Audio/Visual Tax Relief announced by the UK Government and explained his vision for the future of CGI.
NVIDIA GTC
Creative Technologist Johannes Saam shared his thoughts on ‘How Generative AI will Transform the Fashion Industry’ at NVIDIA’s GTC Developer Conference this week. Collaborating with Fashion Innovation Agency (FIA), Johannes (aka digital artist Atara) combined cutting-edge AI-generated images and VFX technology to create a hyper-realistic meta catwalk. Learn more about how the immersive experience showcases the unlimited potential of digital image manipulation and offers a glimpse into a future where fashion designers and technologists work to push the boundaries of self-expression and creativity here.
FRAMED
Visual Development Artist, MTL
This week, we’re excited to introduce you to Luke Drummond-Hay who needs a daily hipster coffee to unlock his creativity, and whose career highlight was working on Blade Runner 2049. Luke is a VFX enthusiast who has worked at Framestore for an impressive 29 years, which is due to our outstanding visuals and the great artists that make them happen.
In other news
Prashant Nair at VAM Summit & Awards
At this years VAM Summit & Awards 2023, CG Supervisor Prashant Nair joined a panel of industry professionals to discuss the fundamentals and challenges behind creating VFX-heavy content for OTT. He also delivered an inspiring talk during which he took the audience behind the scenes of our work on Thor: Love & Thunder.
VFX 101 & Refresher Session
Framestore and Company 3 invited agency producers to the first in a series of ‘VFX 101 & Refresher Sessions’ at the LDN studio. The event offered an in-depth look at the latest post production process covering VFX, CG and colour grading, plus breakdowns of some of our award-winning commercials.
Spark FX in VAN
Framestore had a great turnout at the Spark FX Career Fair in Vancouver, BC. Barry Crossan, Senior Recruitment Manager, along with Noël Hoffman, Head of Operations, Jahangir Patil, Lead Animator, Tim Riley, Head of CG, and Ana Sofia, Lead Compositor, met aspiring artists, answered their questions, and sparked their interest in joining our teams.
Inclusive Leadership Panel with the QFTC
The Quebec Film and Television Council (QFTC) launched a leadership training program aimed at promoting equity and well-being for talent working in the industry. Over the course of several weeks, 25 VFX and animation artists were taught practices related to inclusive leadership. To conclude the program, QFTC hosted a panel that focused on the significance of networking and its impact, featuring speakers from diverse studios. Bonnie Dorais, Global Talent Development Manager, was among the panelists and shared her insights and provided guidance on leveraging networking for career and learning advancement.
Hockey Night with Framestore Connect
As part of the Framestore Connect program, an HR initiative aimed at helping our international employees feel at home, the MTL studio organised a group activity where employees gathered to watch the Habs play against Tampa Bay Lightning. The Habs won 3-2 and the event was filled with lots of cheering, laughter, and even dancing. It was such a fun night and one of our team even landed on the jumbo screen! Take a look at the pictures below from this electric evening!
St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations
MTL celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with a fun (and green beer) filled Friday.
The VAN studio had a blast at their St. Patrick’s Day Social Friday and Sip and Sketch event! A big shoutout goes to Digital Matte Painter Michal Fryzlewicz and Lead Lighting TD Sarah Johnson for impressing our judge with their outstanding drawings.
Cultural Diversity Week in MEL
Last week was Cultural Diversity Week in MEL and the team had a potluck to celebrate! People shared food which was significant to their culture – from German donuts to French tarts, samosas to vegemite scrolls – the team was spoiled with options! They also took Cultural Diversity Week as an opportunity to visually see how global the MEL studio is. Using an interactive map, they all pinned down their home towns or country.
A visit to Oz
Associate Producer/Head of Traffic (LDN) Danielle Nadal is currently on holiday Down Under, and decided to pay a visit to our MEL studio. Enjoying a tasty meal with her are HR Business Partner Chris Street, Studio Operations Lead Jane Lovell, Content Manager Margaret Phillips and Senior Recruitment Manager Lindsay Cowie. Have an amazing time Danielle!
Framestore Podcast
In celebration of Women’s History Month, we invited NY-based Creative Director, Vicky Osborn and MTL-based co-host and VFX Production Coordinator, Lisa Ceccarelli onto the podcast. The pair will explore Vicky’s career journey and discuss the day-to-day of her role as Creative Director. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
That’s it for this week folks! We hope that our colleagues in MUM enjoyed their annual party and we can’t wait to see the pictures next week.
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