Computer animation/visual effects/live-action shop Rhythm & Hues has added to its commercial production operation with the formation of ToolBox. The new entity will market the Los Angeles-based studio’s animation and visual effects resources to live-action directors at other spot production houses. Stephanie Taylor, formerly executive producer at Venice, Calif.-based CGI boutique Blur Studios, has been named head of production overseeing ToolBox.
While Rhythm & Hues has handled the effects and computer animation portions of several jobs in recent years for outside commercial directors, the ToolBox launch and the hiring of Taylor signal a commitment to actively pursue more of those assignments. At the same time, Rhythm & Hues continues to maintain its own roster of live-action commercial directors, serving as a full-fledged commercial production company involved in combo jobs as well as straight live-action projects. This ensemble of live-action directors consists of Randy Roberts, Mike Patterson, Clark Anderson and Jay Vigon. They work under the "Live" banner, a division which Rhythm & Hues opened in March. Also this past spring, Rhythm & Hues formed "Satellite," an operation representing live-action helmers Charlie Watson and Aaron Greene.
In the computer animation arena, Rhythm & Hues’ directorial lineup comprises Bill Kroyer, Doug Juhn and Craig Talmy. These directors are available to agencies through the recently launched "Studio" division, and to production companies via ToolBox. The Studio division is headed by executive producer Ian Dawson.
At press time, ToolBox was about to embark on its first job: a Hong Kong Telecom project being directed by Paul Walker of Strato Films, Los Angeles.
In addition to animation directors Kroyer, Juhn and Talmy, ToolBox’s talent pool includes Flame compositing artists Colleen Brattasani and Tim Miller, as well as Black Box, a small team of digital artists headed by director Jean Mark Austin.
During her two years at Blur, ToolBox head of production Taylor worked on features (e.g., South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut), theme park ride films, games and spot sequences. Prior to that, she had her first tour of duty at Rhythm & Hues as a producer, contributing to long-form and commercials.
"The opportunity to return to the studio, combined with the potential to do more work with out-of-house directors and production companies, is an exciting and unique challenge," related Taylor, who cited Rhythm & Hues’ Oscar-winning effects work on Babe as having raised the bar for CG animation and visual effects. "I look forward to expanding that business to the broadest possible audience."
Executive producer Michael Crapser continues as the overall head of commercial business at Rhythm & Hues. He noted that ToolBox "won’t compete with all the finishing houses in town. But certain jobs—big jobs with talking animals or automobiles, jobs with lifelike and photo-real computer animation, as well as jobs that involve CG combined with high-end compositing—these are a perfect fit for the studio."
Crapser plans to bring on reps to market ToolBox to the production community. He said that this sales force would be separate from the one that handles Rhythm & Hues’ live-action directors.
