People on the Move

Phil Poynter, renowned British photographer, has joined the directorial roster at Mill+.
 
Poynter joins Mill+, The Mill’s content driven collective, to continue building on his long and highly acclaimed career in fashion photography with the addition of moving image direction.
 
In a career spanning 20-plus years, Poynter has had a prolific impact on the world of fashion photography and editorial content. With his strong sense of narrative and conceptual style, the transition into moving image direction is a natural one.  
 
Poynter has a myriad of strong relationships in the fashion world, regularly contributing to Love Magazine, Vogue Italia Interview, Vogue Germany, Vogue Paris, Luomo Vogue, Vanity fair and Garage. His creative highlights include collaborations with Louis Vuitton, Prada, Givenchy, Maybelline, Lacoste, Rolex, Cadillac, Shiseido Prada and Calvin Klein Cartier and Alexander McQueen.  
 
Poynter’s partnership with Mill+ has grown out of years of successful collaboration with The Mill’s Beauty team, leading to creation of Garage Magazine’s interactive AR cover series and contributions to Love Magazine’s annual advent calendar.
 
With his wealth of experience in both stills photography and moving image direction for luxury fashion brands and magazines, Poynter perfectly complements the current Mill+ team of directors across the globe, particularly as the industry sees a rise in demand for high quality branded editorial content.
 
Mill+’s end to end concept to delivery proposition will give Poynter a breadth of opportunities and support him in creating content backed by the scale and expertise of The Mill.

Deluxe has named long-time media technology executive Craig Zerouni to serve as head of technology, Deluxe Visual Effects (VFX). In this role Zerouni will focus on continuing to unify software development and systems architecture across Deluxe’s Method studios in Los Angeles, Vancouver, New York, and India, and its Iloura studios in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as Deluxe VR, based in Los Angeles, to integrate and expand global production capacity.

Based in Los Angeles and reporting to president and GM of Deluxe VFX and VR Ed Ulbrich, Zerouni will lead VFX and VR R&D and software development teams and systems worldwide, working closely with technology teams across Deluxe’s Creative division to benefit from and contribute to the deep pool of IP, knowledge, and resources across the global Deluxe technology organization.

Ulbrich said, “Our VFX work serves both the features world, which is increasingly global, and the advertising community, which is increasingly local. Behind the curtain at Method, Iloura, and Deluxe in general, we have been working to integrate our studios to give clients the ability to tap into integrated global capacity, technology and talent anywhere in the world, while offering a high-quality local experience. Craig’s experience leading global technology organizations and distributed development teams, and building and integrating pipelines is right in line with our focus. He has done amazing work improving workflow and optimizing systems at VFX and animation companies of all sizes, and he’s a great team leader.”

Zerouni has been working in media technology and production for nearly three decades, joining Deluxe most recently from DreamWorks, where he was Director of Technology at its Bangalore, India facility overseeing all technology. Prior to that he spent nine years at Digital Domain, where he was first head of R&D responsible for software strategy and teams in five locations across three countries, then sr. director of technology overseeing all aspects of technology including software, systems, production technology, technical directors and media systems. He has also directed engineering, products and teams at software/tech companies Silicon Grail, Side Effects Software, and Critical Path, and was a co-founder of pioneering London computer animation company CFX. Zerouni’s work has contributed to features including TRON: Legacy, Iron Man 3, Maleficent, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Ender’s Game as well as more than 400 commercials, TV idents and titles. He is a member of BAFTA, ACM/SIGGRAPH, IEEE, the Visual Effects Society, has served on the AMPAS Digital Imaging Technology Subcommittee, and is the author of the technical reference book “Houdini on the Spot.” 

Zerouni said, “I’m excited to come on board with Deluxe right at this time--the company is expanding and integrating its VFX studios around the world and what comes through strongly is a commitment to growth and innovation. There’s a great opportunity to harness all of the worldwide VFX talent and technology skill sets across these companies to support clients on an even bigger, broader scale.”

Artists from Iloura have been recognized with Academy Award nominations for Visual Effects two years running, for Mad Max: Fury Road and Deepwater Horizon, and earned the 2016 VFX Emmy Award for work on Game of Thrones. Recent work from Method Studios includes VFX Academy Award-nominated Doctor Strange, along with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Captain America: Civil War, and award-winning commercials. Method is currently in production on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Knights of the Round Table: King Arthur and other features and advertising projects.

Andy Giles has been hired to serve as managing director of Funworks, a San Francisco ad agency that uses a blend of social science and sketch comedy to guide corporate executives to innovative creative quickly and cost-effectively. 

Giles has spent more than 15 years winning and delivering key branding and advertising engagements for shops including ATTIK and MetaDesign. He has worked with brands including Intel/McAfee, Toyota, Samsung, the New York Philharmonic, along with high-growth startups such as 23andMe and Automatic. In his new role as managing director at Funworks, Giles will be responsible for overseeing client relations, finance operations and business development.
 
Giles began his career at ATTIK where he helped launch Toyota’s Scion brand and led campaigns for Sony, Lexus, and the NFL. He also spent time at MetaDesign and Method, leading strategic branding and digital experience initiatives for clients ranging from tech startups to global brands.  Andy was a finalist for the Cannes Cyber Lions award, as well as a Webby Awards finalist, and a winner of the MI6 Integrated Campaign Gold Award.
 
Funworks is rapidly expanding and in his new role, Giles will be instrumental in scaling the firm to meet the needs of increased client demand. Funworks has produced high profile work for clients such as Pandora, SodaStream, Ubisoft, Credit Karma, Virgin America, Microsoft, HP and Clorox.

Young & Laramore (Y&L) has hired Kyle Klinger as sr. art director, and Jane Brannen and Aiden McKiernan as writers. 

Before joining the Indianapolis-based creative agency, Klinger was at 180LA where he worked with such clients as Expedia, Pepsi, HP, and The Motion Picture Academy. Throughout his career he worked with many leading brands including Sony, Mitsubishi, Adidas, Procter & Gamble, and Match.com. At Y&L, Klinger will work with clients including KraftMaid Cabinetry.
 
Brannen will be working with clients including Brizo Faucets and KraftMaid Cabinetry at Y&L. Prior to joining the agency, she worked at Pivot Marketing with local brands including Visit Bloomington, Arts Council of Indianapolis, and the Indiana Donor Network.
 
McKiernan will be working with clients including Schlage and Farm Bureau Insurance at Y&L. Before joining the team, McKiernan worked at VSA Partners, Detroit, where he worked with brands including Harley-Davidson, Cleveland Clinic, Cache Valley Cheese and Alibaba.