Computer Cafe has opened a full service studio in Santa Monica. The 1,400 square foot site, in the heart of the city’s burgeoning media district, will be staffed by art director/digital artist Ron Honn who’s relocating from the company’s Santa Maria headquarters, and producer Jonathan Stone, who joins the company from Saban Entertainment, Burbank.
Artists from the Santa Maria facility will staff the Santa Monica studio on a project basis, and the company will also staff the new site with local talent. Computer Cafe specializes in 3-D animation for feature films, commercials, broadcast promos, music videos and other media. And the company has secured independent spot rep Dan O’Brien to handle the West Coast and the Midwest.
"A majority of our work originates in Southern California and having a local presence will make it easier for our clients there, especially when deadlines are tight," said Computer Cafe chief executive officer Jeff Barnes. "The Santa Monica studio will also help us to extend our services to new clients." Originally, Computer Cafe planned on having a Westside base of operation at 525 Studios, Santa Monica (SHOOT, 7/24/98, p. 7). But ultimately, Computer Cafe decided to strike out on its own with a Santa Monica presence.
The Santa Monica studio includes computer graphics workstations for 3-D animation and visual effects. The studio is also equipped with high-speed phone lines to allow it to quickly exchange digital video and audio files with the Santa Maria facility. "The studios are set up to allow the two groups of artists to work together as if they were in the next room," said Barnes.
Honn has been with Computer Cafe since shortly after the company was formed in ’93. His experience runs from the films Armageddon and Flubber to television promos, commercials and music videos. Among his recent credits are a series of promos for NBC (Lee Hunt Associates, New York) and TNN (Pittard Sullivan, bicoastal/international). He also art directed a McDonald’s logo for a new series of commercials out of Leo Burnett Co., Chicago. In addition, he worked on a Mervyn’s campaign centering on a group of digital penguins, and the Aerosmith video-"I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing" from the Armageddon soundtrack-which reached number one on MTV.
Stone has already produced several projects for Computer Cafe, most recently effects for a Wendy’s spot via Santa Monica design company Studio V12. He comes to Computer Cafe with a background in commercials, episodic television and corporate media. He joins the team after four years with Saban Entertainment where he coordinated postproduction on four different effects-oriented television series. Previously, he was a partner with Los Angeles-based commercial production company, Right Brain Films, where he co-produced spots for Cohen-Johnson and other Southern California advertising agencies. His background also includes freelance work as an assistant director and coordinator on film, television and corporate media projects, including a 70mm film for BMW and global identity films for FedEx and Compaq Computers.
-Millie Takaki
