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SpinVFX is Nominated for Outstanding VFX in a Special Venue Project at the 2021 VES Awards

“With Asteroid Hunters, we wanted to immerse the audience in deep space, fly around the Asteroid Belt and put the viewer on the back of a hurtling, fiery asteroid. This was made possible by SpinVFX’s tireless dedication to our film and their endless creativity,” explains Director, W.D. Hogan.

“Since our project was filmed in IMAX and captured in native 3D, the VFX team faced incredible challenges in both stereoscopic shot design and a giant-screen workflow pipeline. SpinVFX truly went above and beyond the call and delivered breathtaking work. It was an honor to collaborate with them and we can’t wait to do it again (and again and again)!”

This breathtaking and visually impactful film blends both science and cinematic storytelling. “Our thanks to David Hogan, Antoine Durr, Philip Groves and Jini Durr, for challenging us to create visually compelling imagery while remaining grounded in science. David wanted the camera to have a hand-held feel as if we were in space shooting these beautiful angles”, Neishaw Ali, SpinVFX President & Executive Producer, reminisces. “This was truly a collaboration between the Filmmakers and Spin.  We had to rethink great ideas displayed on storyboards and how cinematic they look on screen while remaining grounded in science, working closely to achieve the ‘sweet spot’ and thus delivering unique and captivating imagery.”

SpinVFX’s Creative Director Bert Poole and Neishaw Ali, together with VFX Producers,  Sasha Racette and Josa Porter worked with the Spin team who was tireless in perfecting the delicate balance between science and creativity in order to craft this visual delight.  Spin drew on decades of experience to create this epic scale – from sculpting and modelling space rocks, asteroids, and planets under the guidance of Animation Director Peter Gilberti, to the creation of the enormous environments required to get these massive shots, led by Layout Supervisor Chris Ankli.

The FX Department, led by award-winning FX Supervisor Tim Sibley, procedurally developed the colossal explosion and impact simulation, as well as the crumbled earth, smoke, ash, ejecta, and more, to create the terrifying plume caused by the collision. CTO Colin Davies, along with Head of Compositing Eric Doiron, and Lighting Lead Inna Itkin collaborated to meet the challenge of rendering at IMAX 4K stereoscopic quality.

“Supervising the visual effects at Spin involved cultivating a robust scientific integrity and educating our artists so they could deliver an authentic experience without compromising the story. By making sure that every beat is clear and every creative intention of David’s is captured, the team could direct its focus at the complexities in crafting the story of 60 meter asteroids travelling at 16,000 kilometres per second, with all of the precision issues and memory management that it entails. I think it’s safe to say the team managed to serve both masters: education and entertainment.” says Creative Director, Bert Poole.

The film, narrated by Daisy Ridley, premiered on IMAX screens in October 2020.

Hosted annually by the Visual Effects Society, the VES Awards honours excellence in visual effects for film and television. The special venue category recognizes “special installation” projects that are not presented on traditional screens.

SpinVFX congratulates all of the nominees recognized at this year’s VES Awards, taking place virtually on April 6th, 2021.

Special thanks to Director W.D. Hogan, Writer and Executive Producer Phil Groves, Producer Jini Durr and VFX Supervisor Antoine Durr.

About SpinVFX
http://www.spinvfx.com/
With over 30 years in business, SpinVFX is a creative and technically dedicated visual effects studio producing captivating imagery for feature film and television. With an award-winning team of over 250 talented artists, and major credits such as Game of Thrones (HBO), Stranger Things 3 (Netflix), and the recently released blockbuster film Chaos Walking (2021), SpinVFX is one of the most sought after studios in the world.