Colorist Mikey Pehanich has joined New York-based visual effects studio Blacksmith. The move marks Blacksmith’s expansion of its capabilities to now offer color grading in addition to VFX.
Pehanich has colored across high-profile brands including Amazon, Samsung, Prada, Nike, New Balance, Marriott, and Carhartt. Most recently, Pehanich worked on Smirnoff’s global “Infamous Since 1864” campaign directed by Rupert Sanders, Volkswagen’s “Look Down in Awe” spot from Garth Davis, Fisher-Price’s “Let’s Be Kids” campaign and Miller Lite’s newly launched “Followers” spot, both directed by Ringan Ledwidge.
Prior to joining Blacksmith, Pehanich was a colorist at The Mill, Chicago, where he spent six years honing his craft. Pehanich was the first local hire when The Mill opened its Chicago studio in 2013. Initially cutting his teeth as color assistant, he quickly worked his way up to becoming a full-fledged colorist, contributing to campaigns including Michelob’s 2019 Super Bowl spot featuring Zoe Kravitz and directed by Emma Westenberg, and music videos including Regina Spektor’s “Black and White.”
Pehanich’s recent longer form work includes Shabier Kirchner’s short film Dadli about an Antiguan boy and his community, and Andre Muir’s short film 4 Corners which tackles Chicago’s gun violence issue. (Muir earned a slot in SHOOT’s 2019 New Directors Showcase on the strength of 4 Corners.)
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More