Luma Pictures has brought aboard creative director/VFX supervisor Simon Mowbray, formerly of Zoic Studios. The move fortifies Luma in the ad arena in that Mowbray has to his credit spots for assorted brands such as BMW, Target, Nike, Microsoft and Volkswagen as well as music videos for Kanye West, DMX, Missy Elliot and Rihanna, among other artists. Additionally, Luma may look to leverage Mowbray’s VFX and filmmaking acumen into its theatrical feature work.
Prior to Zoic, Mowbray served as creative director at Pixomondo. He has 25 years-plus experience in visual effects. Mowbray began his effects career in 1987, working at a number of top VFX shops in Sydney amid the emerging years of CG and compositing. In 1991, he moved to Montreal where he worked as a product specialist for Softimage. From there, he helped found Discreet Logic in 1992, where he served as a creative director. Two years later, he began as an effects artist at Western Images/Good Pictures, remaining there until opening Radium in 1996 with Jonathan Keeton. The duo sold the boutique design and visual effects company to Reel FX in 2007.
While at Radium, Mowbray contributed as creative director to hundreds of film, music video and commercial projects including several MTV Award-nominated music videos. He moved over to Ntropic where he worked as creative director/VFX supervisor before heading to Pixomondo in 2011
Mowbray’s notable credits include Audi’s “Return to Snake River,” a long-form ad produced by Bandito Brothers for Mediacom USA. The spot featured Audi revisiting Evel Knievel’s failed jump of Snake River Canyon. In a tight 10-day turnaround, Mowbray’s team recreated the practical stunt jump in CG to make it larger and more believable in addition to enlarging the actual base camp with CG tents and vans. A variety of shots were created featuring a completely CG Audi RS5, which traversed across virtual tarmacs and background matte-paintings.
Mowbray was also behind the VFX in Rihanna’s “Only Girl in the World,” one of 2011’s most popular music videos. On a near impossible turnaround of under 48 hours for post, the team rotoscoped Rihanna from every shot to achieve a signature pink style. A field of CG poppies was also conjured, as well as ample design-on-the-fly matte painting work, compositing and tracking of firework elements.
Mowbray has won numerous awards, including a PromaxDBA Award in Digital Effects for his work on the spot “GMC Yukon – Dot Matrix” as well as several International Monitor Awards. Many of his music videos have also been nominated for MTV Music Awards.
Directing and Editing “Conclave”; Insights From Edward Berger and Nick Emerson
It’s been a bruising election year but this time we’re referring to a ballot box struggle that’s more adult than the one you’d typically first think of in 2024. Rather, on the industry awards front, the election being cited is that of the Pope which takes front and center stage in director Edward Berger’s Conclave (Focus Features), based on the 2016 novel of the same title by Robert Harris. Adapted by screenwriter Peter Straugham, Conclave stars Ralph Fiennes as the cardinal leading the conclave that has convened to select the next Pope. While part political thriller, full of backstabbing and behind-closed-door machinations, Conclave also registers as a thoughtful adult drama dealing with themes such as a crisis of faith, weighing the greater good, and engaging in a struggle that’s as much about spirituality as the attainment of power.
Conclave is Berger’s first feature after his heralded All Quiet on the Western Front, winner of four Oscars in 2023, including for Best International Feature Film. And while Conclave would on the surface seem to be quite a departure from that World War I drama, there’s a shared bond of humanity which courses through both films.
For Berger, the heightened awareness of humanity hit home for him by virtue of where he was--in Rome, primarily at the famed Cinecittà studio--to shoot Conclave, sans any involvement from the Vatican. He recalled waking up in Rome to “soak up” the city. While having his morning espresso, Berger recollected looking out a window and seeing a priest walking about with a cigarette in his mouth, a nun having a cup of coffee, an archbishop carrying a briefcase. It dawned on Berger that these were just people going to... Read More