Luma Pictures Debuts with EFX for "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle"
Los Angeles Visual Effects House Produces EFX Packages as Vendor for Sony Pictures Imageworks
LOS ANGELES - Luma Pictures, a visual effects company providing computer animation, compositing and digital matte painting services, recently completed a package of more than 60 visual effects shots for the Columbia Pictures release Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Full Throttle is one of several current studio feature film projects for Luma Pictures, which launched last year, and is the first to be released. Luma served as a vendor to lead visual effects house Sony Pictures Imageworks on the project.
Luma Pictures was founded by Payam Shohadai, a visual effects supervisor whose credits include Windtalkers, Rollerball and Hart's War, Jonathan Betuel, screenwriter of the ground-breaking CGI classic The Last Starfighter, and Artaya Boonsoong, a 3D animator and designer formerly with the animation companies Moon Against Man and Fugitives.
Taking aim at an underserved segment of the feature film market, Luma offers the firepower and production capacity of a high-end effects facility with the low-overhead and customer service of a boutique. "We are the sane alternative for studios and independent producers that want studio quality effects but lack the giant budgets often charged to execute them," said Betuel. "Luma offers the perfect visual effects solution for non-FX films-films that did not originally plan or budget for visual effects, but ultimately require matte paintings or other enhancements to maintain continuity or enhance the story."
The company currently employs more than 20 animators and visual effects artists and supplements those with additional freelance talent as needed. "We've assembled a team of artists, each with multiple areas of expertise, and we constantly tweak our production pipeline to maximize throughput," explained Shohadai. "As a result, we can turn out film quality effects at high volume efficiently, without sacrificing creative execution or technical accuracy."
Luma Pictures' technology includes a mix of SGI, Macintosh, and PC workstations, with many of the latter custom-built by its staff. The company also features a proprietary 2K playback system capable of displaying film-resolution data files in real-time. Among the company's arsenal of software tools are Alias|Wavefront's Maya for animation, Apple's Shake and Discreet's Combustion for compositing, and Apple's Final Cut Pro for editing.
Since its founding last year, Luma Pictures has focused on visual effects for feature films, recently completing work for studios such as Columbia Pictures, Lakeshore Entertainment, and Screen Gems. "Luma has handled a high volume of work for us, under severe deadlines, and delivered on time," said Columbia/TriStar executive director of physical production Peter Nelson. "They do a great job."
The bulk of Luma's work on Charlie's Angels involved the film's opening sequnce-a lengthy, seemingly uncut, Steadicam scene where the trio of female stars fight their way into and out of trouble in a Mongolian bar. Compositing, rig removal, lighting and crowd replacement were among the various techniques employed by Luma's team of artists in enhancing the jaw-dropping martial arts stunts featured throughout the film.
Shohadai is a self taught visual effects artist and animator whose skills include character animation, modeling, texturing, complex compositing, and visual effects supervision. He founded the post house Moon Against Man in 1993 and has since created effects for over a dozen films, including Barbershop, National Security and Not Another Teen Movie. He was also credited as visual effects supervisor and digital painter on MGM's Windtalkers. Additionally, his company was the key supplier of character animation for the UPN television series Blockbuster Video's Shockwave Cinema.
In addition to scripting The Last Starfighter, Betuel wrote and directed the films Theodore Rex (starring Whoopi Goldberg) and My Science Project, and the television series Freddy's Nightmares (based on the Nightmare on Elm Street film series). He is involved in packaging effects work for Luma on films by Lakeshore Entertainment, EUE ScreenGems and Hannibal Pictures.
A native of Bangkok, Thailand, Boonsoong has more then 10 years of experience as a Maya animator and designer. He created animation for 17 episodes of Blockbuster Video's Shockwave Cinema. His film credits include, Windtalkers Barbershop, National Security and Not Another Teen Movie. He is also experience in visual effects for television commercials, with credits that include spots for Sketchers and Blockbuster Video.