Visual effects design, telecine, compositing and finishing house 525 Studios, Santa Monica, has entered into a strategic alliance with Paris-based Buf Compagnie, a leading 3-D/visual effects studio that’s active in spots on both sides of the Atlantic. The relationship is designed to make Buf more readily available stateside, while diversifying 525 more significantly into 3-D effects and animation.
Per the arrangement, Buf’s 3-D effects technology is being integrated into the 525 infrastructure. Pasquale Croce, who had most recently been freelancing in London, joins 525 as a lead 3-D artist to help the shop mesh with Buf. Croce—who had worked at Buf as a visual effects supervisor and 3-D artist for most of his career in Europe—will spearhead 525’s 3-D division, training its artists in the use of Buf’s proprietary 3-D database and resources.
Steve Hendricks, president/ CEO of Virgin Digital Studios (VDS), Santa Monica, the parent company to 525, said the alliance with Buf was pivotal on several levels. 525 can now tap into the more than 100 3-D artists at Buf, and Hendricks added that Croce should prove key in incorporating Buf’s technology and workflow methodology—including collaborations between its 2-D and 3-D teams—into the 525 production pipeline.
Hendricks contended that "Buf’s proprietary software allows it to push the effects envelope in unprecedented ways. We look forward to collaborating on projects with Buf, and bringing them large-scale projects from U.S.-based directors that regularly work with 525. On those large-scale projects that require huge teams of artists, directors will have the comfort of consulting with Pasquale and our 3-D teams here in the Santa Monica office on pre-visualization and animatics. Projects can then be sent to the teams in Paris to carry through on the production work."
Croce’s portfolio, much of which was amassed at Buf, contains effects for commercials, including several directed by Michel Gondry of bicoastal/ international Partizan: Polaroid’s "Living Moments" and Levi’s "Mermaids" for Bartle Bogle Hegarty, London; and Smirnoff’s "World in a Bottle" via Lowe Howard & Spink, London. Among Croce’s other spot credits are work for Reebok directed by Marc Caro via Le Village, Paris, for Heater Advertising, Boston; and Mobil’s "Speed Pass," helmed by Janusz Kaminski of bicoastal/international Chelsea Pictures for DDB New York and Chicago.
Buf’s president/artistic director is Pierre Buffin. The studio recently produced the visual effects for The Gap’s "Mountains" via the client’s in-house San Francisco-based agency. Featuring a colorful, ever-morphing cast of dancers and ice skaters, the Gondry-helmed "Mountains" was named a SHOOT "Top Spot" (12/17/99, p. 14).
While Buf continues to be involved in visual effects production for commercials and music clips produced both in the U.S. and abroad, the company has also made its mark in longform. In ’97, John Dykstra, special effects supervisor of the feature Batman and Robin, hired Buf to complete 56 shots for the film after seeing the studio’s effects work in the French movie The City of Lost Children. Buf also contributed to several effect sequences for the David Fincher-directed Fight Club.
VDS, which is part of the U.K.-based Virgin Group, is parent to 525; Rushes and West One Television, both in London; Lost Boy Studios, Vancouver, B.C.; and Virgin Television de Mexico, Mexico City.
