Animal Logic, the Sydney-based visual effects/animation house, has expanded its commercials and short form studio in Southern California, staffing up and relocating to larger quarters in Santa Monica.
Recent additions to the Santa Monica shop are art directors Ben Walsh and Fletcher Moules, and associate creative director Kevin Fitzgerald. Walsh moved over from Animal Logic’s Sydney studio in June and has directed Toyota Prius’ “Ripple,” an ecologically themed global spot for Dentsu New York in which a digital water droplet hugs the contours of the car before ending up in a stylized CG lake below.
Art director Moules rejoins Animal Logic after two years with Nexus Productions, London. And Fitzgerald came aboard the Santa Monica studio following a five-year tenure as associate creative director at Cartoon Network. Walsh, Moules and Fitzgerald join a core Animal Logic stateside team of VFX supervisors and producers headed by exec producer Maury Strong.
This team of artisans in the Santa Monica boutique-style operation can via a company pipeline tap into the talent and resources of Animal Logic’s headquarters in Sydney, which has some 450-plus artists
Besides the Toyota Prius assignment, Animal Logic’s Santa Monica studio has also recently turned out visual effects for a pair of high profile projects, both directed by Noam Murro of Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles: Kaiser Permanente’s “”Emerald Cities” and “Connected” TV spots for Campbell-Ewald, Warren, Mich.; and HBO’s “Imagine,” a multi-faceted marketing campaign–online, outdoor, TV and digital–out of BBDO New York.
The latter included an outdoor video installation located in New York’s Meatpacking District. A couple of two-minute short films, Open Doors and Heist, are projected onto a large scale video cube. As the scenes unfold, each side of the cube reveals a different camera angle providing the viewer with four unique vantage points.
Animal Logic VFX supervisor Nick Ponzoni, said, “For Heist, the key challenge was to match the action and timing for each of the four panels since each side of the cube was shot separately. To finesse the final images, some of the characters and actions were digitally removed, replaced and re-timed to create the final seamless effect. In Open Doors, the action was shot for each side of the cube simultaneously so set extensions were placed into the scene to hide cameras and act as a point of reference for the viewer to track the unfolding storyline.”
The Animal Logic team also provided post and visual effects for three TV :30s in HBO’s “Imagine” campaign: “Trapped,” “The Big One” and “Happy Kid.” BBDO New York launched the HBO campaign on Sept. 17.
Animal Logic’s commercial/short form division is now being repped on the East Coast and in the Midwest by Andy Arkin and his indie firm BLAH! blah? (Blah…). Exec producer Strong handles the West Coast and Texas.
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More