A Vancouver entertainment technology company known for making characters from Harry Potter and Iron Man leap off the silver screen is branching out into the world of visual effects.
Gener8, which converts 2D blockbusters like The Amazing Spider-Man into 3D, announced the hiring of former 20th Century Fox studio executive Jennifer Meislohn on February 11.
The L.A.-based executive will serve as managing director of the company's new VFX division, The Feder8tion.
She's been handed the responsibility of securing deals with studios to do effects works on films.
The new division focuses on composite, set extension and environment work.
Tim Bennison, chief operating officer at Gener8, said the move allows the company to diversify its operations and move more freely within the ebbs and flows of the movie industry.
"One of the other reasons we're integrating the effects division into our operation is that our (3D) post-conversion effort is actually very VFX friendly," he told Business In Vancouver.
"It's a natural evolution for us to get into actual visual effects as well because we can offer ourselves…as a total package for a studio."
He added The Feder8tion will hire about 30 new employees by this summer. The new artists are joining a roster of about 200 people at the Mount Pleasant office.
Bennison acknowledged that even though film production seems to be waning in Vancouver, post-production continues to grow.
California-based Industrial Light & Magic announced on February 12 it was expanding its VFX studio in Vancouver
"It's more driven by the talent base. The schools (in Vancouver) pump out a lot of good people," Bennison said.
