Cinesite, a London-based visual effects studio, has grown to become one of the world's largest independent digital entertainment services companies.
Design and deliver fun, entertaining and innovative digital images using proven creative methods. With more than 100 productions and 30 years of experience, Cinesite transforms filmmakers' ideas into spectacular cinematic realities.
Under the Cinemat brand, the visual effects team worked with Image Engine in London and Montreal and Trixter in Berlin to create world-class sequences for film, television and commercials.
Development ideas are at the heart of Cicinesite's work. Cinesite's animation department works closely with filmmakers to bring films from the earliest stages of creative development through to shooting; they bring clients' ideas to life.
Cinesite is a talented international artist and storytelling team that delivers world-class visual effects and animation to the global entertainment industry.
In 1991, Eastman Kodak founded Cinemat in Los Angeles, a subsidiary of visual effects, digital restoration, and mastering based on Cineon technology.
Cinesite's early milestones include a pioneering digital restoration of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) in 1992 and a digital color chronography for The Three Kings (2000), shot by respected photographer Roger Deakins, and was one of the first complete stories to deal with what is now known as the digital intermediate process.
Antony Hunt joined the company as managing director in 2003 and in 2012 led management in the acquisition of then-London-based Cinemat from Kodak, making it an independent business today.
Cinesite has factories in London, Montreal and Vancouver, and has grown rapidly after acquiring Munich and Berlin-based visual effects company Trixter and Vancouver-based Image Engine.
Currently, Cinesite's companies employ a total of 1,500 people while maintaining what Jonesite CEO Hunter calls a "family culture."
"Most of us know each other." Visual effects supervisor Simon Stanley-Clamp said he was an 18-year veteran and director of the company.
He now serves as overall visual effects supervisor for Netflix/Working Title's film Matilda, adding: "I'm not the only one who's been here for 18 years. Some have been working there for 20 to 25 years. So it makes a lot of sense. ”
Today, Cinesite focuses on visual effects and featured animation, which the company entered in 2014 with works including MGM Pictures' The Adams and Adams 2.
Along with the upcoming River Dance: Animated Adventure, Blade Swordsman (inspired by Mel Brooks' Scorching Saddle) and Thugs (voiced by Peter Dinglaki, Lily Singer, Wren Wilson and Rupaul) are part of a nine-film production deal with British content producer Anventure.
The company also produced the animated film Mira for director Cizia Angelini, who was also one of the directors of "The Thugs.".
"It's a very beautiful, very important short film about the impact of war on children." Cinesite Chief Creative Officer Dave Rosenbaum said of Mira. The film has recently won several film festival awards.
"Sadly, when the story was set in World War II, it was as important today as it was then."
Notably, Cinesite recently secured work on the animated series Avayo, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios in collaboration with African entertainment company Kugali, scheduled to premiere at Disney+ in 2023.
Rosenbaum said: "We are very excited and honored to be one of the first studios to participate in disney animation projects outside of Disney. ”
Cinesite's VFX business grew alongside the VFX scene in London, and Stanley-Kramp noted that Lost in Space (1998) was "the catalyst that really got things going." There were 12 facilities used in and around London at the time, small, medium, large, and everyone was doing it."
The community came together again to unite to produce the massive Harry Potter series. Stanley-Kramp added: "Not all of the facilities were making the early Harry Potter, but it did grow to a dozen. ”
Cinesite can make all the Harry Potter films. It has also been one of the suppliers to contribute to the 007 series of films over the years, most recently Time to Die.
A notable part of Cinesite's efforts was the CG Komodo Dragon seen in 2012's 007: Skyfall, which is billed as the first digital creature to appear in a Bond film.
"Since they first started using digital technology in their visual effects work, Cinesite has been involved in every Bond film." Hunter said.
"From an early age, Cinesite did all the scanning and documentation, took film images and converted them into digital files, and then continued to create some amazing visual effects over the years."
It has also produced blockbusters for disney/Marvel's Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Black Widow, Shangqi and Legend of the Ten Rings, and has worked as a major visual effects company on projects such as Matilda and Aretha Franklin's biopic Respect.
Real-time technology that eliminates rendering and speeds up the visual effects and animation process has been an area of recent attention, and Hunter noted that Cinesite has used Epic Games' real-time Unreal Game Engine during the testing phase of animation projects.
"I think [real-time technology] will be a natural development process for a company like us that is constantly evolving, and we're going to use real-time technology more in scripted storytelling, especially in the early stages, working with directors, editors and designers."
During the pandemic, the company adopted a remote system that lets artists work from home, and Hunter believes that this is "likely to last a long time."
Ultimately, Hunter sees the industry as a relationship business built on trust. "In general, we are filmmakers." "Establish good practices and a good working environment," he said. I think Cinemat has always done that. ”
Cinesite calendar
1991
Founded in Hollywood, Cinesite is part of Kodak Entertainment Imaging Division.
1992
Digital restoration work began on Disney's 1937 classic film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
1993
Cinesite opened a branch in London, which became the group's headquarters.
1995
Cinesite's team completed the production of 007's GoldenEye, the first Bond film to use digital special effects. Cinesite will contribute to every subsequent film of 007.
1996
Cinesite's London and Los Angeles teams worked together to provide around 1,200 visual effects shots for Slam Dunk in the Air.
Cinesite completed the first full-length digital restoration of a 65mm negative from Disney's Sleeping Beauty (1959).
His team provided 50 visuals for The Adventures of Muppet Treasure Island.
1997
Cinesite helped digitally retouch Disney's Fantasia (1940), restoring four sequences from 35mm negatives, including "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "Night at Bald Mountain."
2000
Hollywood Cinemat was working with Roger Deakins to perform digital intermediate processing (aka digital color grading) for the Coen brothers' Three Kings Of Prison, one of the first major studios to use the process.
2001
Cinesite's work on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone marks the beginning of a collaboration with the series, which will provide special effects for all subsequent seven films.
2002
The visual effects of HBO's World War II series Company of Brothers won a Royal Television Society Award, and Cinesite's contributions included CG parachutes and people landing outside the Dutch town of Eindhoven.
2003
After living on Carlisle Street for 10 years, Cinesite moved to Medius House at 2 Sheraton Street, which houses a 36-seater theater.
Anthony Hunter joined Cinemat to lead the London division; he eventually became Group CEO.
2004
Cinesite produced a 1:24 scale model of Hogwarts for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which is now on display in Warner Bros. Levi's Studio Touring Exhibition.
2005
Cinesite built a 1:24 scale model of the factory and the surrounding wonkaville townscape for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which features 1,500 separate houses and thousands of fiber-optic lights.
2006
The HBO series Roma, which Cinesite co-produced, won an Emmy Award for Visual Effects, the first award Cinesite co-produced.
2007
Cinesite's contributions to The Golden Compass, from patron saint creatures to the aerial ferry gliding over the fantasy London, helped win the Academy Award for Visual Effects and the BAFTA Award.
2009
The HBO miniseries "The Killing Generation" won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries, Film, or Specials for Visual Effects, and Winston Churchill's biopic "Not Afraid of the Storm" was also nominated in that category, both of which are the result of Cinesite's efforts.
2012
Cinesite created special effects for Komodo Dragon's battle in 007: Skyfall, making the film the first film in the 007 series to feature all-CG creatures.
In May, the company acquired Cinemat from Kodak through a management buyout and private investment.
2013
Animation director Emmon Butler joined the London headquarters and plans to expand Cinemat's talent to feature film animation.
2014
Cinesite struck the first production output deal with Comic Animations (later known as Aniventure) to produce family-oriented films.
A deal was made with 3QU Media for multiple films and four animated films including Garden Genie were launched.
With support from Investissement Québec, Cinesite opened a 54,000-square-foot studio at 250 San Antonio West, Montreal.
2015
Cinesite announced the acquisition of Vancouver-based visual effects studio Image Engine.
2016
Former Illustration Vice President of Talent Dave Rosenbaum joined Cinemat as chief creative officer at its Montreal studio.
Cinesite contributed to The Revenant, which won a Visual Effects Society Award.
2017
Cinesite acquired Vancouver animation studio Nitrogen (Sausage Party, Troll Hunter).
2018
Cinesite acquired The German visual effects and animation studio Trixter, which is headquartered in Munich and Berlin.
2019
Cinesite's Vancouver Thematic Animation Division relocated to a 25,000-square-foot studio at 565 Great Northern Road.
2021
Released in the UK and Ireland in May, Dance on the River: An Animated Adventure was the first production by Cinemat's production partners Anventure and River Prods.