Doug Robbins, president/executive producer of New York-based production house Zero 2 Sixty, and visual effects designer/editor/director Thor Raxlen have teamed to launch Guerilla FX, an independent design, effects and post finishing company.
The new Manhattan-based venture grew out of a job Robbins and Raxlen collaborated on at Zero 2 Sixty, where the latter artisan is a director. They turned out a Bell South spot which Raxlen helmed. But with Raxlen’s additional expertise in visual effects and editing, he and Robbin found they had the vertical capability of handling not only the production, but also carrying the project through to digital effects and post. The twosome worked so well together that they decided to form Guerilla FX and have since wraped several assignments, including ads for Crayola, MTV, Hamburger Helper and Champs.
Raxlen’s broad-based experience was honed at Chelsea Digital, Chelsea Pictures’ New York-based, in-house post finishing boutique. As head editor/visual effects designer there, he completed effects and editorial work on spots for assorted agencies and clients. Raxlen also directed a number of commercials during his Chelsea Digital tenure, which brought him to Robbins’ attention and led to Raxlen coming aboard Zero 2 Sixty’s directorial roster.
“With the creation of Guerilla FX, Zero 2 Sixty is now in the unique position of being a production company that has effects and editorial in house and can readily package live action with effects,” related Raxlen. “In return, Zero 2 Sixty has already enhanced the volume and flow of work with Guerilla FX. We hope to keep in place relationships that existed with Chelsea Pictures [and other outside houses].”
The Guerilla FX team includes post supervisor Julie Snyder, editors Jeff Um and Linda Peters, designers Dan Shapiro and Alex Topaller, compositor Chris Greene, and 3D artists Steve Sullivan and Jesse Holmes.
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