Renowned character animator Anders Beer has teamed up with Brickyard VFX co-owners Dave Waller and Geoff McAuliffe to launch General Gau, a hybrid animation/production company dedicated to creating custom character-based content.
Press Release from General Gau
Boston, MA (December 12, 2011) -- Renowned character animator Anders Beer has teamed up with Brickyard VFX co-owners Dave Waller and Geoff McAuliffe to launch General Gau, a hybrid animation/production company dedicated to creating custom character-based content. Based out of Brickyard’s Boston office, General Gau offers a specialized talent pool and customized internal pipeline to leverage in-depth, high quality character animation.
Beer, a Boston native, has a background in computer graphics and has focused on character animation throughout his career. He got his start at DreamWorks on character development for “Shrek,” and has since worked at Disney, Digital Domain, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Double Negative and more on character animation for video games and feature films. Beer recently moved back to Boston after working in London as animation supervisor on both Guillermo del Toro’s “Hellboy 2: The Golden Army” and Greg Mottola’s “Paul.”
“I’m so thrilled to be back in Boston and to be launching General Gau,” says Beer. “Character production has always been my focus but in big studios it can sometimes get tied up in bureaucratic logistics. With General Gau I can just really let the artistry drive it and have much more creative freedom. And being able to work with Brickyard as a partner in this effort is great because with the quick timeline of commercial projects, the type of work you can do is always changing and it keeps everything fresh.”
Brickyard just wrapped its first project with General Gau, :30 spot “Goodnight” for Progressive Insurance. Breaking today, the spot showcases Beer’s character animation with a dream sequence cameo featuring a family of festive chipmunks and a feisty thieving squirrel.
“We always used to turn character animation work away because it was something we just couldn’t do as well as we do visual effects,” said Dave Waller, founder, Brickyard VFX. “But we always knew if the right person came along, character animation would make perfect sense for Brickyard—and when we met Anders, and saw his body of work, we knew right away that he was our guy.”
About Brickyard VFXBrickyard is a digital production studio skilled in high-end visual effects, animation, design and creative development for advertising, feature films and emerging media. With shops in Boston and Santa Monica, Brickyard is artist-centric at the core, fostering a close collaboration of not only artist-to-director but the entire creative team. Within a cozy eclectic production space, Brickyard assembles a customized crew of designers, animators, and compositors for every project. Please contact Kirsten with Brickyard VFX Atlantic at (617) 262-3220 or Jeff with Brickyard VFX Pacific at (310) 453-5722, or visit http://www.brickyardvfx.com.
Credits: Progressive "Goodnight" Squirrel Jail :30
Agency: ArnoldMike Lawson, Agency ProducerSean McBride, Creative DirectorJosh Tetrault, Creative DirectorBrian Hayes, CopywriterJim O'Brien, Art DirectorCaroline Foss, CopywriterAlyssa Wilson, Art Director
Production Company: Uber ContentJeffrey Fleisig, DirectorRichard Berman, Line Producer
Editorial: Cutting RoomEditor: Merritt Duff
Audio: SoundtrackEngineer: Mike Secher
Post: Brickyard VFXSenior Producer: Amy AppletonLead VFX Artist: Sean McLean,VFX Artist: Geoff McAuliffeVFX Artist: Henrique Ghersi
Character Design & Animation: General GauAnimation Director & CG Supervisor: Anders J.L. BeerSenior Producer: Amy AppletonDigital Artist: Evan E. RichardsAnimator: Gordana FersiniAdditional Character Designs: Nick ZagamiCharacter Modeler: Chris Cowan
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