VFX house The Mission doubles the size of its Venice-based studio and expands their talent roster with the addition of Rick Grandy as CG Supervisor and Raul Dominguez as a Creature Modeler. With over 19 years of experience in the visual effects industry, Grandy comes to The Mission from Pixomondo where he served as a Digital Character and Pipeline Supervisor on top projects including The Amazing Spiderman and Die Hard 5. Former video game artist and cartoonist Dominguez was most recently at Digital Domain, lending his talents to a score of feature films including Iron Man 3 and The Avengers.
Says The Mission EP Michael Pardee, “We’re excited to have the extra space and firepower to be able to bring in such strong new talent and work on VFX-heavy, animated campaigns. Both Rick and Raul’s talents will ideally enhance our internal team for these types of projects.” Adds Grandy, “I’m excited to work with a small group of highly talented individuals and collaborate on the creative aspects as well as the technical ones. At The Mission, I can get back to my generalist roots, and tackle the whole of a challenge, there are no barriers.”
It’s been just over two years since The Mission opened its doors, and Pardee jumped at the opportunity to expand, adding the space next door to their Venice studio. With over 6,000 square feet, the new space doubles their overall studio capacity, allowing for additional artist and client suites. A larger studio allows The Mission to be nimble and to accommodate larger projects.
Inspired by the growing impact of technology in the design space, Grandy dove headfirst into visual effects after seeing a shift in the VFX industry in Jurassic Park. After developing his graphic design acumen while working in the graphics department of an Ohio-based production company, he began his visual effects career at Industrial Light and Magic. There, he worked on the creature development of iconic characters in top Hollywood films including Frankenstein, The Mummy, Jack Frost, Men in Black and numerous others. Journeying south, he lent his talents to such top LA shops as Dreamworks, Rhythm & Hues, Sony Picture Imageworks, Digital Domain, Asylum FX and Method Studios, working on a wide range of projects including Big Fish, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Transformers 2, Captain America, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and The Amazing Spiderman. In addition to his extensive experience as an VFX artist and supervisor with exceptional skillsets in designing multi-package CG pipelines, long-term strategic planning and on-the-box shot work and asset creation, Grandy also taught Maya courses at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects.
Southern California native Raul Dominguez began fine-tuning his design and illustration talents with an emphasis on political cartoons/editorial illustrations at San Jose State University. After spending a few years as a cartoonist and comic book artist, he became engulfed in the flourishing Silicon Valley video game industry and began modeling characters for Electronic Arts. After 8 years in the video game industry, he began perfecting his talents for cinematic work, eventually landing at Digital Domain. He worked as a Senior Modeler and Concept Artist on numerous feature films including Transformers: Revenge of the Fallon, Real Steel, The Avengers, Paradise Lost and Iron Man 3.
About The Mission
The Mission is a high-end visual effects studio specializing in commercials, film and digital
Virginia Scripps Press Kitchen 310.392.6682
“Ǝvolution” Comes Full Circle At The Chelsea Film Festival
The Chelsea Film Festival, running from October 16th through October 20th, 2024, at Regal Cinemas here in Union Square, is set to host the East Coast premiere of Ǝvolution, a thought-provoking experimental micro-short film that proves big ideas can come in small packages and in perfect circles.
In just 1 minute 16 seconds, this cinematic gem by Award-Winning Director Romina Schwedler, with original music by Argentine Composer Ignacio Montoya Carlotto, explores a cycle as old as time: life leads to progress, progress leads to destruction, and destruction, well, leads back to life. But is this vicious circle unbreakable? Ǝvolution suggests the answer is yes, unless we decide to open our eyes.
Inspired by the overwhelming number of recent events that threaten human existence, Ǝvolution, possibly the shortest film in this 12th edition of the festival, plays out entirely through the symbolism of circles, cleverly illustrating —in the blink of an eye— the repeating patterns of history, and confronting viewers with the uncomfortable truth that our so-called “progress” may, in fact, be guiding us to our own ruin.Premiering at the Regal 14 Union Square, New York City, on October 18, 2024, at 11 a.m., Romina Schwedler's micro-short, featuring Leah Young with cinematography by Alan J. Carmona, will be sure to spark conversations longer than the film itself! Forcing viewers to reconsider the true meaning of evolution, not just as a biological process, but as a reflection of our collective journey as humans.
With a string of festival appearances across the globe, including CineGlobe at CERN (Switzerland/France), Oscar®... Read More