Creative studio Leviathan has brought on board sr. 3D artist Andrew Butterworth, creative technologist Harvey Moon, 2D artist Ely Beyer and associate producer Kelsey Barrentine. Additionally the company has made several key promotions.
Butterworth comes over from Superfad in Seattle, where he spent the past four years serving as the studio’s 3D generalist. Butterworth contributed to projects for Sony’s Bravia HDTV, Google Internet HDTV and Xbox, plus Sprint and other leading consumer brands, as well as Cartoon Network, Fox Sports, Netflix, and Nickelodeon. He was also a member of the 3D team for Superfad’s epic, acclaimed short films “Preguntas Hermosas” from Viau and Costa’s “Tactile Waveforms.”
Moon is an internationally recognized new media artist whose high-tech projects have been exhibited all around the world. Over the past two years, he was part of the team that won the top prize at the 2013 Red Bull Creation Challenge, and he also co-created The BikeSpike, which was successfully crowdfunded through a $150,000 Kickstarter campaign earlier this year.
Over the past year, Beyer has been a freelance artist in the Chicago market, working for many creative shops including Leviathan, where he contributed to projects for John Deere and The North Face, among others.
Barrentine joins Leviathan from agency TPN, where she began in 2012 as an intern and became a key production assistant. Her time at TPN exposed her to all aspects of production, from maintaining schedules, booking talent, negotiating music licenses, producing radio, overseeing V.O. sessions and independently producing the agency’s submission videos for the Reggie and EFFIE Awards.
As for the alluded to promotions, Lauren Shawe rises to senior producer, Ellen Schopler rises to producer, David Brodeur rises to art director, and Gareth Fewel rises to lead designer.
Review: Director Ben Taylor’s “Joy”
Toward the end of Netflix's "Joy," the muffled cry of a newborn baby prompts a man and woman in a hospital to embrace out of pure bliss. They aren't the parents, but they had as much to do with the birth as the mom and dad.
This charming and winning movie charts the decade-long true story of how the world's first IVF baby was born in England in 1978 — a 5-pound, 12-ounce girl who paved the way for millions more. It's an upbeat, very English affair, mixing sober discussion of endometriosis with chocolate biscuits.
The couple embracing that day were pioneering scientist Robert Edwards and Jean Purdy, a young nurse and embryologist. Together with surgeon Patrick Steptoe, the trio succeeded with in vitro fertilization, a method of treating infertility. Edwards would go on to win the Nobel Prize.
"Joy" has been birthed at a time when science is under threat in America — even IVF — so it's downright inspiring to see plucky, smart scientists working hard to change the world. "What we're doing, it matters," says Steptoe, played with quiet economy by Bill Nighy.
"Joy" is the personal stories of the three scientists — mostly through the eyes of Purdy, a polite lab-coated warrior. "If I hear a commotion, I'm not very good at staying out of it," she says. Perfectly played by Thomasin McKenzie, Purdy is both vulnerable and strong, learning through the process to be a better human. James Norton plays Edwards with charm, self-doubt and calm spirit.
Jack Thorne's script nicely explains the massive pressure the trio faced. IVF may have become common and uncontroversial over the last decades, but back in the late '70s it was experimental and shunned. The Anglican church called it a sin, the newspapers labeled it Frankenstein-ish and other... Read More