As part of the company's effort to expand across the US, short-form CG experts Shade have signed new independent sales reps on the West and East Coasts and in the Midwest. Deirdre Rymer of BlushLA will represent Shade on the West Coast, while Julie Vargo & Associates will handle the studio's Midwestern clientele and Think Bank's Henry Hagerty will take care of the East.
The latest deals follow recent commercial growth by Shade, including the hiring of new EP Amy Massingale-Hassler and the industry honor of an AICP Award for Murphy's beer. "Shade's activity is exciting," noted Massingale-Hassler. "With a diverse body of work accomplished in a year's time, Shade is poised for significant growth in the near future. We are flattered to have attracted high profile representation very quickly based on the reaction to our reel."
Since assuming control of Shade's commercial operations, Massingale-Hassler has handled business development and marketing outreach. She joined Shade with a legacy of recognizable work, including a viral campaign for Microsoft Office 2010 via Razorfish and other digital work for Honda from RPA. She has overseen national and international TV campaigns for a variety of notable brands, including Geico, Electronic Arts, Fidelity, Hyundai, and Bing, collaborating with major ad agencies along the way, including Saatchi & Saatchi, Arnold Worldwide Boston, Campbell Mithun and Razorfish.
The Murphy's beer spec spot acts as a showcase for Shade's advanced capabilities. Working closely with outside Director Matt Fischman under severe time and budget constraints, Shade Founder and VFX Director Bryan Godwin worked in Nuke to transform a dark-skinned bar patron at an old-timey Irish pub into a full-blooded, pale Irishman over the course of drinking his brew. Godwin and his team created all the effects, finely adjusting the skin tone for consistency and carefully pacing the action, working through multiple iterations of each transformation as the man slowly transforms with each swig of beer. Throughout the spot, Shade seamed up the plates, soft matted the actor into the background, and integrated the footage with wipes to reveal each scene. Godwin enjoyed the creative partnership on the piece, "particularly how the subtlety and elegance of the effect enhanced the humor that was integral to Matt's direction" Godwin stated.
About Shade:
Santa Monica-based Shade, founded in 2009 by company principal and award-winning VFX Director Bryan Godwin, is a leader in the short-form CG market. The studio is defined by its flexible nature and ability to bring feature film-quality pipelines and workflows to short-format projects in collaboration with outside production companies, providing director- and agency-focused VFX in a comfortable, interactive creative environment that brings their vision to life from planning (boards, animatics), to production (VFX planning, on-set supervision), to post (editorial, animation, effects).
Shade has developed a custom, in-house suite of software that facilitates rapid work flow and maximum flexibility to produce top-quality work more efficiently and cost-effectively than their larger competitors. The current A-level talent roster includes CG/VFX Supervisor Dan Dixon, Head of Production Sheri Patterson, EP Amy Massingale-Hassler, Technical Director John Riddle, and Animator Greg Breitzman. The VES-affiliated team's notable recent efforts include campaigns for Time Warner and Hewlett Packard.
