Bringing The Beast to Life

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Mon, 01/28/2019 - 11:36 -- Nick Dager

PowerHouse VFX, the New York-based boutique visual effects studio, rounded out its first year in business by serving as the sole visual effects vendor on M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass. PowerHouse completed approximately 300 shots ranging from Hero CG character animation work, environmental set extensions including buildings and cars, to bringing The Beast to life in many more scenes than they had done previously in Split.PowerHouse VFX, the New York-based boutique visual effects studio, rounded out its first year in business by serving as the sole visual effects vendor on M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass. PowerHouse completed approximately 300 shots ranging from Hero CG character animation work, environmental set extensions including buildings and cars, to bringing The Beast to life in many more scenes than they had done previously in Split.

Founded in 2017 by veteran VFX executive producer Bob Lowery and senior VFX supervisor Ed Mendez in partnership with Jonathan Hoffman and Pete Conlin, principals of post services stalwart Sixteen19, PowerHouse provided Shyamalan and his team with the full-service approach that has quickly become the company’s calling card across the industry.

“Ed and Bob have been trusted creative partners on several of my films, so when they made the bold decision to form their own company, working with them again became a no-brainer,” Shyamalan said. “Great work and strong, reliable relationships are equally important factors for me in choosing my collaborators. I look forward to seeing PowerHouse grow and prosper so we can do more work together in the future.”

“We founded this company because we were confident that we’d offer a higher level of service than most VFX shops,” said Lowery. “We work with clients from the get-go to make sure we’re supporting their vision. Unlike many of the modern-day superhero movies, a vast majority of our work will go unnoticed, but we prefer it that way and so does Night and his team.Serving as sole VFX vendor for a project as complex and ambitious as Glass shows how well that approach works, especially when you consider that we’ve only been in business for a year.”

“The deep roster of talented visual storytellers that we’ve brought on in year one enabled us to rise to the technical and creative challenges Glass posed,” said Mendez. “Between that and the relationship we’ve cultivated over the years with Night, it was a natural fit, one that we’re excited to recreate on many more projects going forward.”

The PowerHouse team that helped bring Glass to life has grown to include top-notch talent like CG/VFX supervisor Dan Bornstein, VFX supervisor Ruben Rodas, general manager Chris Kenneally, and senior VFX producer Ryan Cunningham.

PowerHouse VFX www.powerhousevfx.com