Ascent Media Group announced that beginning January 1, 2009, two of its boutique visual effects studios, Riot and Method, will unite operations under the Method name, to offer clients high-end effects for commercials, music videos and feature films.
“By uniting our boutique visual effects studios we are better positioned to provide our clients with the best talent and creative services in the market,” said Jose Royo, CEO of Ascent Media Group. “This move will allow us to better offer our clients the most innovative, industry leading solutions in a rapidly changing advertising and media space.”
Method recently opened its office in New York and will unveil a new, state-of-the-art Big Apple facility in the spring. Industry veteran Aron Hjartarson, previously Head of 3D at The Mill N.Y., will assume the role of creative director, and Matt Hackett will act as animation supervisor in New York. In addition, Gabby Gourrier, who spent nine years at Digital Domain, Venice, Calif., and helped to open The Mill L.A., has come aboard as senior executive producer/VP. Gourrier will be working closely with Helen Hughes, who joins as executive producer and director of production. Hughes has produced assorted commercials including Nike’s lauded “The Next Level” with director Guy Ritchie.
Meanwhile Method’s operations in Los Angeles will be located at what was formerly Riot’s Santa Monica facility. Andy Boyd will serve as the new head of 3D at Method Studios in Santa Monica. He brings a wealth of industry experience as the former head of 3D at Framestore where his work included the Guinness spot “noitulovE” (“Evolution” spelled backwards) for AMV BBDO, London, which won the 2006 film Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. The Guinness commercial also scored such honors as Best of Show at The One Show, the Best of Show GRANDY at the ANDY Awards, as well as two Golds and one Silver at the Clio competition.
Alex Frisch, co-founder and managing director of Method, will continue overseeing operations on both coasts. Since Method’s opening in 1998, Frisch has provided creative leadership and produced high-end visual effects. The integrated operations in both Los Angeles and New York will bolster Method’s unique, collaborative partnership with Company 3, which provides clients around the world with a full spectrum of state-of-the-art postproduction services.
“The integration of Method and Riot gives us the unique ability to package our respective services and offer the highest level of artistry, the most technologically advanced equipment and the most efficient workflows,” said Stefan Sonnenfeld, colorist and Company 3’s co-founder, who additionally cited Method’s management team and talent roster.
Santa Monica-based Ascent Media Group, LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ascent Media Corporation (Nasdaq: ASCMA), which provides creative and technical services to the media and entertainment industries. Through more than 40 facilities in regions of Southern California, New York, Atlanta, London and Singapore, Ascent Media provides effective solutions for the creation, management and distribution of content to major motion picture studios, independent producers, broadcast networks, cable channels, advertising agencies and other companies that produce, own and/or distribute entertainment, news, sports, corporate, educational, industrial and advertising content.
“A Complete Unknown,” “Wicked,” “Sing Sing,” “Baby Reindeer” Among Guild of Music Supervisors Award Winners
The Guild of Music Supervisors held its 15th annual awards ceremony on Sunday night (2/23) at the Wiltern Theatre in L.A., honoring the best achievements in music supervision and songwriting with feature category winners including “Wicked,” “A Complete Unknown,” “I Saw the TV Glow” and “Sing Sing.” Among the TV category winners were “Baby Reindeer,” “English Teacher” and “Agatha All Along.”
Stephen Schwartz was awarded the Icon Award to celebrate his contributions to the music and film industry. Schwartz performed his song “Beautiful City” on stage from his musical “Godspell.” Music producer and supervisor Bonnie Greenberg took to the stage to accept the Legacy Award for her outstanding career in music supervision. Music supervisor and executive at EA Games Steve Schnur won the most awards for the evening with two wins for his work on video games EA Sports FC 25 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
Keeping their promise of live performances from Best Song nominees, Oscar-nominees Abraham Alexander & Adrian Quesada performed their nominated song “Like a Bird” from “Sing Sing,” which took the prize for Best Song Written and/or Recorded for a Film. Danielle Ponder performed her nominated song “Egún” from Apple TV’s “Manhunt,” and the artist Role Model gave a rousing performance of their song “Sally, When The Wine Runs Out” as the Spotlight artist of the evening.
The complete winners list for the 15th Annual Guild of Music Supervisors Awards is as follows.
FILM
Best Music Supervision in Major Budget Films
Maggie Rodford - “Wicked”
Best Music Supervision in Mid-Level Budget Films
Steven Gizicki - “A... Read More