Rogue State, a post production facility specializing in the creation and production of visual effects for indie film, feature, and TV projects, has just completed over 100 VFX shots for the upcoming TV movie “Dragon Wasps,” which is slated to air this summer on the Syfy cable television network. Scott Wheeler, Rogue State’s Founder and VFX Supervisor, made the announcement.
“Dragon Wasps” follows on the heels of three other very recent TV movies for which Rogue State provided a large number of VFX shots. These include “Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island” (which aired on Syfy in March 2012, becoming that network’s 6th highest rated tele-film to date), and “Jabberwock,” (which aired on Syfy in September 2011). The company also both co-produced and provided VFX for the just released DVD “Sand Sharks,” a film slated to air on Syfy later this year.
For “Dragon Wasps,” Rogue State created and produced over 100 VFX shots. These included depictions of 8′ tall, 3D Wasps, along with massive wasp swarming shots, blood augmentation for bullet hits, muzzle flashes, full CG avatars of lead characters for wasp attack scenes, and various wasp hive set extensions.
Shot on location in Belize, the film tells the story of a young scientist looking for her missing father, a man who is working on genetic mutations and DNA research. The missing man has been modifying insects that have been mutating, becoming extremely large and wasp-like. The film was produced by Little Dragon Productions via American World Pictures.
Syfy recently aired “Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island,” which was produced by K2 Pictures and Leverage Entertainment. For that project, Rogue State produced 120 VFX shots depicting the famous Nautilus submarine, as well as digital islands, digital people, small creatures, various underwater effects, and landscape matte paintings. Filmed on location in Louisiana, this cinematic adaptation of Jules Verne’s 1874 classic novel marked the directorial debut of Mark Sheppard ("Battlestar Galactica," "Supernatural.”)
Said the film’s Producer George Kostuch, “Syfy’s ‘Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island’ was the second time K2 Pictures and Rogue State have worked together. This time we relied even more on their expertise, by having them edit, color time, and do all the visual effects, as well as some second unit and plate photography, for the movie. As before, their attention to detail, coupled with a confident and friendly working demeanor, made every aspect of finishing ‘Mysterious Island’ run smoothly and quickly. During production, their input on a variety of production related topics also helped us to keep costs low and production quality high.”
“As with ‘Xtinction,’ our first project together, the visual effects produced by Rogue State were more than we could have hoped for, for the money. In fact, they even added shots to that film to help make the story flow better or add more punch to a scene. More than just a VFX house which comes in merely to oversee that portion of production, they take a personal stake in the successful completion of each film on which they are involved. In short, I can’t imagine doing another movie without the Rogue State team,” concludes Kostuch.
“Jabberwock” featured over 130 VFX shots from Rogue State, which included the creation of a fully CG Jabberwock/dragon like creature. Other VFX involved Rogue State producing full CG character replacements for attack and carry sequences, 3D environments to match practical locations, and digital gore for attack sequences.
Produced by American World Pictures, “Jabberwock” featured the horrifying Jabberwock creature from the classic “Alice in Wonderland” stories by Lewis Carroll. The creature is a black-eyed, winged monster with the body of a dragon and the head of a gruesome insect.
Rogue State co-produced, along with American World Pictures and Remember Dreaming Productions, the direct-to-DVD movie “Sand Sharks,” also providing over 160 VFX shots. Rogue State produced the digital Sand Sharks creatures, along with flame thrower FX, crowd attack sequences with multiple sand sharks, a pier attack sequence, and a sand shark jumping through a pier to kill people.
Described as “Piranha 3D” meets “Blood Beach,” “Sand Sharks” revolves around spring break party-goers who have gathered for the annual “Sandman Festival,” which is interrupted by a species of prehistoric sand tiger sharks.
About ROGUE STATE
Founded in 2009 in Burbank, CA, by VFX Supervisor and Producer Scott Wheeler, the focus of Rogue State is to create an environment where producers of indie film, feature, and television projects can access Visual Effects, Editorial, and Color Timing, all under one roof.
Since its founding, the company has been responsible for the visual effects and post production on several productions for Syfy, including the above cited “Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island,” which was that cable TV network’s 6th highest rated movie ever. For that project, Rogue State teamed with K2 Pictures and provided all of the editorial, visual effects and color timing, as well as on-set VFX supervision, second unit and plate photography.
Rogue State has also been a producer of original content, having recently co-produced “Sand Sharks,” for which it also provided editorial services and visual effects. In 2009, Rogue State completed “YES I Speak English,” a full 3D program designed to teach English to foreign language speaking children. Rogue State’s client Mind Activa was able to utilize Rogue State’s pre-production planning services, 3D character animations, visual effects and editorial skills, in the production of this two-set DVD product.
Rogue State’s additional credits include providing post production and VFX shots to “Xtinction: Predator X,” “Mega Piranha,” “The 7 Adventures of Sinbad,” “Airline Disaster,” “Battle Force,” “Dragon Wasps,” “Celebrity Sex Tape” and “Zombie Hamlet,” among others. Rogue State is located at 4110 West Magnolia Blvd, Burbank, CA, 91505. The phone is 800/709-9984 and the web is www.roguestate.cc.
