Lebensfeld To Preside Over Ghost VFX, Ingenuity
Streamland Media has unified the leadership for Ghost VFX and Ingenuity Studios. David Lebensfeld, founder of Ingenuity Studios, will serve as president of both companies, which comprise Streamland Media’s visual effects division. The two award-winning VFX houses have been creating groundbreaking work for a combined 40-plus years.
Ghost VFX, founded in 1999, has studios in London, Copenhagen, Los Angeles, Manchester, Toronto and Vancouver, and is moving its Pune studio into a new, state-of-the-art facility later this year. Recent Ghost VFX credits include titles such as Star Trek Discovery, The Mandalorian and Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
Founded in 2004, Ingenuity Studios has turned out work which can be seen in the Netflix hit series One Piece, acclaimed feature films including Many Saints of Newark and Booksmart, and in Emmy®-nominated series such as Hacks and Cowboy Bebop. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Ingenuity Studios has locations in New York, Vancouver, London and Atlanta.
Lebensfeld brings 20 years of artistic, technical, and business experience in visual effects to his new role and is a member of the Visual Effects Society and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
In addition to Ghost VFX and Ingenuity Studios, Streamland Media’s offerings include customized services from its picture division, Picture Shop; sound division, Formosa Group; and marketing division, Picture Head.
Andy Williams Joins VisualCreatures As Sr. EP
VisualCreatures, a subsidiary of the Russo brothers’ company AGBO, has appointed Andy Williams as sr. executive producer for virtual production, VFX and cinematics. A former executive of DNEG and Outpost VFX, Williams will helm business development and client strategy for VisualCreatures which just completed VFX work on Citadel, a series exec produced by the Russos, and virtual production services on the upcoming feature The Electric State, which was directed by the Russo brothers. At VisualCreatures Williams will be joining a team which includes founders Ryan McNeely and John Cranston, president Ian Unterreiner and industry visualization veteran Scott Meadows.
With a focus on deploying realtime tools in service of narrative filmmaking and game cinematics, Williams will be fostering this mission by leveraging 15+ years in the VFX and virtual production space. His joining coincides with the recent investment in VisualCreatures’ VizLab, a motion capture stage fully integrated with their realtime pipeline and LED volume.
“The opportunity that VisualCreatures offers its clients through its association with AGBO is entirely unique. No other provider of services within the space couples technical innovation with such a strong connection to creative storytellers who are constantly pushing the envelope,” said Williams.
Unterreiner added, “Both respected by the teams he leads and trusted by the clients he has longstanding relationships with, Andy is the perfect fit to share with the world all the exciting things we are developing at VisualCreatures.”
Annie Shaw Named EP for Virtual Production At Realtime
U.K.-based CGI and visual effects studio Realtime has appointed Annie Shaw as executive producer for virtual production.
Shaw joins Realtime from MPC where she was head of virtual production, and before that she was a virtual production and VFX producer working on a broad range of projects across film, TV, game cinematics, and trailers.
With Realtime, which has bases in Manchester, Lancashire, and London, Shaw will help support the growth of virtual production projects across the studio’s games, episodic and automotive divisions.
