Rising Sun Pictures is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month, another milestone for the visual effects studio which, from humble beginnings, has gone on to produce ground breaking work for more than 150 motion picture and series productions, including some of the most popular and critically-acclaimed films of the past two decades.
As head of business development and a member of the executive management team at Rising Sun Pictures, Jennie Zeiher leads the team responsible for the visual effects studio’s forward slate of high-quality film and series projects. Zeiher considers staying abreast of the development schedule and saying yes to opportunities as they arise to be key to her company’s success, which is not an easy feat being half a world away from Hollywood. “Over the past several years RSP’s relationships have broadened and through consistent high quality delivery we’re developing new ones,” she says. “It's a virtuous cycle.”
Rising Sun Pictures helped to recreate one of the most thrilling events in the history of auto racing for Ford v Ferrari, the new film from 20th Century Fox and director James Mangold. The studio produced 223 visual effects shots for the film, the majority for an eight-minute sequence depicting the first 24 Hours of Daytona race in 1966. Artists created a historically accurate, digital replica of the famous speedway and filled it with cheering fans.
Rising Sun Pictures delivered more than 100 visual effects shots for Columbia Pictures’ and Marvel Studios’ superhero epic Spider-Man: Far From Home, one of this year’s most anticipated blockbusters. The studio’s work included a memorable holographic sequence that reveals one of the film’s biggest mysteries: the origins of The Elementals, four monstrous creatures from a parallel universe with the ability to control fire, earth, water and wind.
Continuing its association with 20th Century Fox’ acclaimed X-Men franchise, Rising Sun Pictures contributed nearly 150 visual effects shots to the latest film in the superhero saga, Dark Phoenix. RSP’s work on the film spanned nearly 18 months and involved close collaboration with director Simon Kinberg, VFX supervisor Phil Brennan and VFX producer Kurt Williams
Rising Sun Pictures, working in tandem with Weta Digital, the lead visual effects studio, created critical shots for two key sequences in the film, including a furious battle between soldiers from Earth and fearsome cyborg warriors known as Berserkers.
In a project spanning six months, Rising Sun Pictures produced 86 visual effects shots for Animal World, the new fantasy adventure film that debuted to considerable fanfare at this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival and is currently in international release. The work drew on the full gamut of the studio’s core strengths and included everything from a card-playing creature to a loopy dream sequence, a mind-blowing car chase and a moody hero shot of Destiny, the hulking freighter-turned-floating-casino that serves as the film’s primary location.
Australian visual effects studio Rising Sun Pictures produced more than 170 final visual effects shots for Thor: Ragnarok¸ the new film from Marvel Studios. Working under the supervision of director Taika Waititi, production visual effects supervisor Jake Morrison and production visual effects producer Cyndi Ochs, RSP’s team spent more than 18 months helping to craft some of the film’s most memorable, creative and technically challenging scenes. It was RSP’s first project for Marvel.
Responding to demand from aspiring visual effects artists from across Australia and beyond, Rising Sun Pictures is expanding its visual effects educational program, operated in partnership with the University of South Australia. RSP will now offer a Graduate Certificate in Dynamic Effects and Lighting, modeled after its successful Graduate Certificate in Composting and Tracking. It is also adding to its menu of short courses covering 3D modeling, compositing and other subjects.
Rising Sun Pictures has been nominated for Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature in the Visual Effects Society’s 15th Annual VES Awards. The nomination comes for the studio’s work on the Quicksilver Extraction sequence from the 20th Century Fox film X-Men: Apocalypse. Nominees include Alana Newell and compositors Jess Burnheim, Andy Peel and Matthew Shaw.
