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PROFILE Cinesite Looking ahead, Hunt says that Cinesite’s focus is on meeting the increasing demand for high quality animation content. The animation market is worth around USD270 billion – up from USD259 billion two years ago – growing around two or three per cent a year, says Hunt. “It’s really accelerating. If there’s any upside of Covid-19, it has been that so many people are home... It has accelerated the need for more animation.” Upcoming Cinesite animation projects include Addams Family 2, Blazing Samurai, Extinct, Riverdance and Hitpig.
VFX house Cinesite celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. CEO Antony Hunt picks out some of the firm’s creative and business highlights of the past 30 years.
CinEsitE grOup CEO Antony Hunt FOundEd 1991 in Los AngeLes As pArt of KodAK's entertAinment imAging, to restore snow wHite And tHe seven dwArfs. OFFiCEs Cinesite is HeAdquArtered in London witH studios in montreAL And vAnCouver ALongside group vfX brAnds imAge engine (vAnCouver) And triXter (muniCH And berLin). CrEdits Space Jam, Band of BrotherS, World War Z, the marvel cinematic UniverSe, pirateS of the cariBBean, the harry potter, X-men and JameS Bond franchiSeS, the revenant. the Golden compaSS and animated filmS like riverdance: the animated adventUre and the addamS family 1 & 2.
t’s 30 years since Cinesite was founded – and the VFX house has come a long way in that time.
With credits spanning James Bond to Harry Potter, London-based Cinesite is one of the handful of post-production houses to have established themselves as major global players in the VFX market in a period when visual effects have become part and parcel of big budget productions. The company was originally launched in the early 1990s, making history with the first digital processing of a feature film, the restoration of Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. CEO Antony Hunt picks out several key creative moments in its 30 year history, beginning with Cinesite’s collaboration with celebrated cinematographer Roger Deakins to create the digital intermediate for the Coen Brothers' O Brother Where Art Thou? It was the first major studio release to use the digital film mastering process. Back in 2004, its models division built the 1:24 scale Hogwarts model for Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban. Then, in 2007 Cinesite created fully CG photorealistic creatures – including a deadly Komodo dragon - for James Bond film Skyfall, the first to feature full CG creatures. 2017 saw Cinesite create the explosive meeting of the Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers in Avengers: Infinity War. As it has stretched its creative muscles, so Cinesite has expanded through a series of acquisitions. A key date for Hunt was May 2012 when Cinesite was sold from Kodak in a management buyout combined with private investment. It has since opened a studio in Montreal, and acquired Vancouver-based vfx studio Imagine Engine and animation studio Nitrogen, as well as Germany's leading visual effects and animation studio Trixter.
Meanwhile, Cinesite has used real time game engine technology on The Bourne Stuntacular (pictured), a stunt-based stage show which opened last year at Universal Studios. An innovative fusion of stagecraft and film, it won Cinesite a VES Award last year for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project. “Now we’re using the skills we’ve learnt to develop a project with Andy Serkis,” says Hunt. WHAt is tHE VFX mArkEt likE At tHE mOmEnt?
“Though the last five to 10 years have been disruptive in the visual effects universe, the industry is currently quite robust. Movies, animation and video games rich with the latest stunning visual effects top box offices and sales charts worldwide. With the current golden age of television, and an explosion of new platforms from Amazon Prime Video to Disney + to Netflix, the need for content has mushroomed and, with it, the need for visual effects of all kinds. “Our industry is exploring new technologies from virtual reality to 360-degree experiences and game engine technology, all of which require the expertise and knowledge base of the visual effects industry.” tHE biggEst CHAngEs yOu’VE sEEn OVEr tHE pAst 30 yEArs?
“I’ve seen so many changes or rather innovations during my career but to mention a few: colour grading, fluid simulations, crowd effects, mocap technology, universal capture, full CGI performances, the advent of the digital backlot - shooting live actors on mostly green- or blue- screen sets. The use of live rendering, and facial capture as large-scale set pieces were being filmed. Honestly the list could go on, we’ve come such a long way in the last three decades it’s quite staggering.”
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