Phosphene, the New York-based independent VFX and design house, has named Rebecca Dunn to the newly created post of Head of Operations and Strategy, it was jointly announced by company CEO and Executive Producer Vivian Connolly and CCO and Senior VFX Supervisor John Bair.
Dunn moved to the United States from Australia in 2012 and joined the Phosphene family as Visual Effects Producer/Compositing Supervisor. She established herself as an invaluable addition to the team producing effects for numerous Phosphene television projects including Forever, Boardwalk Empire (Seasons 3-4-5), The Knick, and The Americans (Season 1); and the feature films Equals, The Fault in Our Stars, and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
“Beck is a singular talent who came to Phosphene with an unbelievably unique balance of creative and technical expertise. Having started as a compositor, she has the perfect vantage point from which to help expand the company and strategize for the future,” explained Connolly. “Beck is currently producing a number of projects for the company and, as her schedule permits, will continue to produce to keep her skills sharp and to ensure her new strategies and approaches run smoothly and seamlessly,” added Bair.
On her expanded responsibilities Dunn stated, “I am very excited about this new phase. Moving into the Head of Operations and Strategy role allows me to use my combined experience working with Phosphene's talented artists and producers over the past 3 years, and my previous experience in operations, to help ensure that as we grow Phosphene’s clients will continue to receive the same high level of visual effects and design services for which the company is known."
Prior to joining Phosphene, Dunn was Visual Effects Producer at Postmodern Sydney (now Method, Deluxe Group) where she worked on features including The Hunter and A Few Best Men, and commercial spots including 361-Running/Basketball (TVC; Ogilvy & Mather) and Sprite – Skateboard (TVC; BBH China).
At EFILM Australia (Deluxe Group), in Digital Intermediate Operations, and earlier as Digital Supervisor, Dunn contributed her talents to the features of the county’s leading directors including Oranges and Sunshine (Jim Loach director), The Way Back (Peter Weir director), Animal Kingdom (David Michôd director), Australia (Baz Luhrmann director), Mao's Last Dancer (Bruce Beresford director), Bright Star (Jane Campion director), Samson and Delilah (Warwick Thornton director), and Death Defying Acts (Gillian Armstrong director).
Earlier in her career, Dunn was Senior Compositor at Atlab (Deluxe Group) and a Compositor at Capital FX (London, Deluxe Group).
She is currently a Board Member of the Visual Effect Society (New York) and a member/Special Visual Effects of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Dunn, whose projects have garnered numerous industry awards, and her colleagues from Phosphene, were recently nominated for a Visual Effects Society award, for their contribution to The Knick/Abigail's Nose.
About PHOSPHENE
Phosphene is a New York-based independent design and visual effects house led by founders/co-owners John Bair and Vivian Connolly.
In 2010, Bair and Connolly launched Phosphene with visual effects for Barry Levinson’s You Don’t Know Jack, Phillip Noyce’s Salt, George Nolfi’s The Adjustment Bureau, Jodie Foster’s The Beaver and Brad Anderson’s Vanishing on 7th Street. Phosphene next designed and executed elaborate CG environments for Brett Ratner’s action-comedy Tower Heist, Stephen Daldry’s two-time Academy Award® nominated Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and Jason Reitman’s Young Adult.
Phosphene was a VFX partner on The Bourne Legacy, 2013 Golden Globe® nominee Hope Springs, and Stephen Frears’ Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight before teaming up with director Sebastián Cordero to create over three hundred shots for the acclaimed science fiction thriller Europa Report.
Later, Phosphene partnered with Bill Condon and DreamWorks on The Fifth Estate and with Alfonso Cuarón on the Warner Bros./NBC pilot Believe and was a visual effects partner on Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine, Ben Stiller’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, John Turturro’s Fading Gigolo, Josh Boone’s The Fault in our Stars, and Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher.
The company recently completed FX work for the Netflix TV drama series Marco Polo, Bill Condon’s Mr. Holmes, HBO’s fifth and final season of Boardwalk Empire, Tom McCarthy’s The Cobbler, Craig Zobel’s Z for Zachariah, and is currently working on Drake Doremus’ Equals, George Tillman Jr.’s. The Longest Ride, and ABC-TV’s series Forever.
Phosphene received a Visual Effects Society nomination for their work on The Knick, and a Visual Effects Society Award and an Emmy nomination for their work on Boardwalk Empire. In addition to their Emmy®-nominated work for Todd Haynes’ HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce, Phosphene was the VFX partner on all four seasons of Treme, NBC’s 30 Rock, ABC’s Pan Am, CBS’s Blue Bloods, FX’s The Americans, Cary Fukunaga’s True Detective and Ryan Murphy’s The Normal Heart for HBO. In a departure from their television and film work, Phosphene designed and animated a six-minute projection for the Broadway production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Phosphene is located at 180 Varick Street, Suite 1621, New York, NY 10014. Phone (646) 350-3370; Fax (212) 671-1734; website www.phosphenefx.com.
