Digital Domain 3.0 has promoted Academy Award®-winning VFX Supervisor Eric Barba to Chief Creative Officer/Senior Visual Effects Supervisor. In his expanded role, Barba, a 17-year Digital Domain veteran, will help to drive the development of creative-side relationships for the company, guide creative practices and oversee the development of branded materials for the company’s marketing efforts. He will continue to work on individual feature films as a VFX Supervisor and on commercials as a VFX Supervisor and Director. Barba reports to CEO Daniel Seah and is based in Los Angeles.
Director David Fincher opined, “FINALLY! Eric Barba is the reason Digital Domain is on my list of the top three visual effects companies in the world.”
Barba was recognized with an Academy Award® in 2009 for his work developing a believable digital human character for Director David Fincher’s Curious Case of Benjamin Button, on which he was the VFX Supervisor. He was the VFX Supervisor on Director Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion and on Kosinski’s first feature, TRON: Legacy, as well as Fincher’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He also contributed his talents to Fincher’s Zodiac.Like many of the top directors he collaborates with, Barba is equally at home working in film and advertising. A graduate of the Art Center College of Design, he started his career at Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Imaging as a digital artist on sci-fi television shows. In 1996 he joined Digital Domain where he supervised visual effects on dozens of commercials for Nike, Heineken, Adidas, Microsoft Xbox/Epic Games, and other leading brands. He has worked on many commercial projects with Fincher, including a multiple-award-winning spot for Adidas, the Nine Inch Nails music video “Only,” and spots for Nike, Motorola and HP. Barba’s own commercial directing credits include Nike’s “Birth of Speed,” Jaguar’s “Pool,” and campaigns for American Express, Cingular and Honda. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
“Digital Domain’s creative leadership is one of the company’s most valuable assets and Eric has been a strong advocate for this talent becoming even more active in shaping the company’s direction,” said CEO Daniel Seah. “With his experience and ability to develop creative relationships across feature films and commercials and a successful track record of introducing fresh approaches to the work, Eric brings a unique and important skill set to the leadership of Digital Domain 3.0 in this changing industry.”
Barba said, “Quality is what Digital Domain was built on and what drives us in this new phase of our company. The core creative leadership here has been in place for more than a decade and has set that bar. I’m looking forward to working with this team of supervisors to mentor the next wave of talent to continue delivering on that promise and that expectation.”
About Digital Domain 3.0
Founded in 1993, the original Digital Domain delivered innovative visuals for more than 100 movies including the Transformers trilogy, Iron Man 3, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Titanic. Its artists earned multiple Academy Awards®. A creative force in advertising, Digital Domain brought its artistry a thousand commercial, videogame and music video productions and was at the forefront of innovation for two decades. The company led the industry in the creation of virtual performers and co-produced the feature film “Ender’s Game.” From facilities in California and Vancouver, BC, Canada, including its own state-of-the-art virtual production studio, the new Digital Domain 3.0 continues the tradition of creating extraordinary visual imagery in entertainment and advertising. Digital Domain 3.0 is majority-owned by Hong Kong company Digital Domain Holdings, LLC (HKSE: 547). www.digitaldomain.com.
