Digital Domain is expanding its business with plans to open a new visual effects outpost in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company also has named veteran production executive Gloria Borders to the position of president, feature film operations, overseeing visual effects production across its Venice, California, and Vancouver studios.
Digital Domain’s expansion is funded by a new infusion of capital from its parent company, Wyndcrest Holdings.
Cliff Plumer, CEO of Digital Domain, said, “The current economic climate has created a new set of challenges for all companies in the entertainment industry. By expanding our talent and resources across multiple locations we are able to offer solutions to production challenges–whether they’re economic, creative, or technical.”
Digital Domain’s main studio in Venice will continue to be the base of the company’s feature film visual effects and advertising production operations. Meanwhile the 20,000 square-foot visual effects studio in Vancouver is being built out with the company in the process of recruiting and hiring 50 to 60 digital artists, primarily from Canada, for an opening in early 2010, The intent is to expand the Vancouver shop’s employee base to 100-plus by the end of that year. The new Vancouver studio will mirror technology and processes at Digital Domain’s Venice headquarters, enabling the company to seamlessly extend feature film visual effects work across identical production pipelines.
By basing its visual effects outpost in Vancouver, Digital Domain is able to take advantage of local production and R&D incentives, and also benefit from the region’s artist talent pool, educational programs, and well-established production industry. The first project Digital Domain will bring to its new studio will be to take on additional visual effects work for Disney’s Tron: Legacy, which is already in production at Digital Domain’s California studio.
As for Borders, she has been working with Digital Domain in a consulting capacity architecting and planning the studio’s global expansion since early ’09. She joined the company from DreamWorks Animation, where she was head of studio, overseeing the productions of Shrek The Third, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and other productions. Prior to DreamWorks she was head of postproduction at Revolution Studios, where she managed all post and visual effects work. Previously, she was VP of Lucas Digital and general manager of Skywalker Sound, where she oversaw soundtracks for Saving Private Ryan, Titanic, Toy Story and Toy Story 2, Fight Club, A Bug’s Life, and others. She received an Academy Award for sound effects editing for Terminator 2: Judgment Day and was nominated for her work on Forrest Gump.
With the expansion, Digital Domain executive Mark Miller will now focus more of his time on development of original content as executive producer. Commercials division president/executive producer Ed Ulbrich continues to oversee the company’s advertising and marketing operations and develop new cross-media projects with filmmakers.
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