Engine Room Visual Effects has hired visual effects supervisor Andrew Honacker. An Emmy, BDA and VES award-winner, Honacker has worked as CG supervisor with the company in a freelance capacity on such projects as THE DA VINCI CODE teaser trailer, new theatrical opens for Lionsgate Films, a recent GMC Denali commercial campaign, the upcoming feature film release ALPHA DOG, the Discovery Channel TITANIC promo, a campaign for NASCAR on FOX and THE DREW CAREY GREEN SCREEN SHOW. He joins the company to work hand-in-hand with co-founders Michael Caplan and Dan Schmit to oversee the ongoing development of the studio, its pipeline and projects.
"We are delighted to have Andrew join us here at Engine Room," noted Caplan. "He is an incredibly talented artist and we are very happy with the direction he has already helped us to take our entire CG department. We are certainly looking forward to the future and the continued growth of our visual effects division with Andrew as the centerpiece.
Honacker first came to Engine Room Visual Effects to work as CG supervisor on more than 100 shots (a co-production between Engine Room and Ring of Fire) for the groundbreaking feature film SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW. After collaborating with the team on a number of other projects as a freelancer, he jumped at the opportunity to translate his experience into a fulltime management/creative position.
I have always preferred boutiques, and the flexibility and experimentation that exists at Engine Room makes it an exciting company, added Honacker. I look forward to bringing my experience to evolve the direction and growth of the company. The general enthusiasm for Engine Room is shared by everyone who works here and this made my decision to join an easy one.
He cites a number of key elements as contributing to the strength of the company, including a core team artists with a range of talents (generalists as opposed to specialists in only one area) and the ability to expand and contract to meet demands with dedicated, highly skilled freelancers. Engine Room fuses the lines between production and post-production by integrating the entire production process, both live-action production and post into one streamlined effort. The company features specialty shooting unit and digital effects team under one roof.
"The working methodology that we strive to achieve," added Schmit, dictates that we let the project lead the production and artistic methodologies. If something is better shot, we shoot it. But more and more on the front lines of production we are seeing that it is 3D CG that will give us the necessary control and flexibility. This is where Andrew Honacker as our team leader really shines. He brings a well-rounded sensibility to the team, not to mention the stamina to squeeze the best possible work out of a given situation. He's the real deal."
Honackers credits include such feature titles as THE FOUNTAIN, TITAN A.E., X-MEN, BEHIND ENEMY LINES, MINORITY REPORT, DAREDEVIL, CLOCKSTOPPERS AND STAR TREK INSURRECTION. His experience combines television and film projects with a background in architectural design and rendering. He began working and consulting in the design industry for such distinguished companies as Leo Burnett, Bozell Worldwide and Ernst & Young.
His move into broadcast television led him to the position of art director at WCIU-TV Chicago, where he headed up the department on a number of Emmy award-winning productions. He then joined Oprah Winfreys Harpo as an animation designer, followed by establishing Astropolitan Pictures, a Chicago-based boutique visual effects company. Astropolitan was honored with VES Award in the music video category for its creation SO TO SPEAK for DJ Acucrack. He moved to Los Angeles in 2000, working at such companies as Reality Check and Cinesite before collaborating with the team at Engine Room.
He has also invested much of his career developing and supervising previs. Most recently, he collaborated with Steve Spaz Williams and Clint Goldman on THE WILD, where he designed and oversaw the previs pipeline and its integration into the rest of the production management and editorial processes.
Previs has been a passion of mine for a long time, added Honacker. Its where so much of the magic of storytelling and problem solving happens. On THE WILD, we set up a pipeline with such speed and flexibility that it nearly mimicked the serendipity of being on set. It was the ultimate storytelling playground one in which I hope to continue to improve upon based on my experience on that film here at Engine Room.
Hybrid studio Engine Room (www.engineroomvfx.com) is known for its work for clients in the feature film, teaser/trailers, commercials and broadcast arenas.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
