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.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More