Brickyard VFX Santa Monica has brought Benji Davidson on board as VFX supervisor. Davidson’s world-class creative experience includes live action directing, creative directing and VFX supervision, and he is known for bringing highly imaginative concepts to life from storyboard to visual delivery. Davidson joins Brickyard from MPC, where he served as VFX supervisor since 2008.
In his career, Davidson has worked as an on-set VFX supervisor, lead 2D artist, and director, among other capacities. Originally born and raised in England, he got his start at commercial production company HKM/The Directors Bureau before joining MPC LA. His notable projects include Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops III’s “Seize Glory,” EA Sports’ Madden NFL 16 “Madden: The Movie,” Samsung’s “Do What You Can’t,” and Super Bowl spots for Coca Cola and Acura. He also contributed to the Los Angeles Olympics bid, receiving personal praise from Mayor Eric Garcetti.
IAMSTATIC Comes Aboard BODEGA Roster
The recently launched animation division of New York/San Francisco-based content creation studio BODEGA, under the aegis of executive producer Bill Hewes, has added Toronto-based animation shop IAMSTATIC to its roster for U.S. animation projects. IAMSTATIC, which is led by partners/directors Ron Gervais and Dave Green, directs, designs and produces award-winning projects for commercial, film, television and immersive/digital content. The animation boutique has lent their talents to projects for such brands as Target, Mazda, Etsy, and BMW. It has also worked on noteworthy opening title sequences for major films and television series including Guillermo del Toro’s Gothic romance film Crimson Peak for Legendary Pictures, the Netflix/Discovery original Frontier, CTV’s popular drama series Flashpoint and the HBO comedy series Less Than Kind. Most recently, IAMSTATIC worked on an ambitious stunt film for BMW out of Canadian independent agency Cundari.
Mikros Advertising, MPC Join Forces in Paris
Advertising VFX companies MPC and Mikros will integrate their operations in Paris. The two world-class advertising brands will join forces to provide a single source of creative VFX and production services to the French advertising market.
The move provides advertisers in Paris with access to leading creative talent and advanced technologies under a single banner. The new entity will operate as Mikros-MPC Advertising in Paris, and will be part of the global network of MPC Advertising studios. This will not only enable French clients to access MPC Advertising and Mikros talent in Paris, but also leverage top creative and production talent anywhere in the world.
The MPC Advertising team in Paris will join Mikros’ Hauteville studio this month. The Paris team will be led by Julien Meesters.
NOMINT Adds Director Sebastian Baptista
Director Sebastian Baptista (aka Sebas) has joined the roster of London-based NOMINT for commercial representation. Baptista’s is known for his work in 2D and 3D animation, along with live action.
Having worked for brands including Google, Massimo Dutti, CNN and Radisson Blu, the NOMINT team now offers Sebas to advertisers. Baptista is recognized for his minimalist, sophisticated style which uses refined vibrant color and an intelligent use of space and materials in his motion work. Baptista garnered a reputation in 2D animation as co-founder of London-based animation studio, SnC (Sebas&Clim), after building an international career as a motion designer. After mutually parting ways with SnC, Baptista relocated to Barcelona. Here, he turned his hand to live motion and 3D.
