Smoke & Mirrors New York Launches To The Forefront Of Color Correction With Eagleton Signing
Smoke & Mirrors New York (SMNY) is thrilled to announce the signing of ace colorist Ben Eagleton who has been listed as one of the top 10 most creatively influential people working in film, TV and new media. The signing will elevate SMNY to the head of the industry by adding Eagleton's capabilities and the methods and processes he pioneered at BEAN; the world's first purely data-centric commercial grading facility.
Frustrated by the inefficient and time consuming process of color grading directly from a telecine, Eagleton opened BEAN in 2007. The company utilized the best DI tools available and applied them to the commercials market, revolutionizing the approach to commercial color grading and making old telecine methods, which often involved watching things over length and out of order, obsolete. The color grading process was flipped around, so that footage was conformed and then graded. Eagleton's process allows the artists in the grading suite access to every single frame of a shoot, instantly. The approach, which also virtually eliminates dirt and scratches also creates huge time and cost savings which can be applied regardless of which format a client has shot on - film, HD tape, or data.
"As the architect of BEAN, Eagleton will be bringing all the advantages of his knowledge and methods to Smoke & Mirrors," noted Smoke & Mirrors Co-Founder and Creative Director Sean Broughton. "On top of that, he'll be developing new and better workflows to give more freedom and flexibility to the creative process. We're extremely fortunate to have such an innovative talent on the team, one that really pushes our stature within the industry."
Eagleton enjoys strong relationships with leading creatives in both London and Australia. He has worked on a broad spectrum of music clips and TV commercials for the auto, fashion and alcohol industries, among many others.
"Smoke & Mirrors has always impressed me with their creativity and forward thinking nature," stated Eagleton. "I'm really looking forward to working with the creatives and leading some exciting innovations."
Eagleton becomes the Head of Telecine & Color Grading for the entire TAG group of companies.
About SMNY:
New York and London-based design, animation and VFX studio, Smoke & Mirrors was founded by Creative Director/VFX Artist Sean Broughton (NY), Penny Verbe (UK) and Mark Wildig (UK). A creative and artist-driven company synonymous with vision and originality since its inception, Smoke & Mirrors has consistently succeeded because of its collaborative approach and ability to build lasting creative relationships with directors, producers, agencies and clients alike.
Production in the New York office is lead by CCO Sean Broughton and MD Jo Morgan. Diverse projects range from work on the Harry Potter and Bond film series, to commercial campaigns for Mercedes, Burger King, Miller Lite and Sirius. Recent music vid clips include Feist's 1 2 3 4, and I Feel It All. Each office is fully networked together with complementary systems allowing the companies to share resources, expanding local capacity. Close involvement with hardware and software manufacturers and developers has kept Smoke & Mirrors at the forefront of innovation and technology.
