Radium Hires Five New Staffers

Radium recently welcomed five new members to its team: head of production Dennis Hoffman, CG supervisor Kirk Cadrette, Inferno artist Jon Wank, digital effects artist Chris Biggs and CG artist/matte painter Darin Hilton.

"We are excited to bring these people on board," remarks Jonathan Keeton, creative director and founder of Radium. "It took some time to find the right combination of tenure and talent in each of their fields. We've hired individuals who have worked on some amazing film, commercial and music video projects, and we welcome their input on projects to make our work even better. Radium is only as strong as its talent and we look forward to an exciting 2004."

Hoffman comes to Radium after successful tenures as gm of BWVFX and vp/head of production at Cinesite. During his time at BWVFX, Hoffman was responsible for the overall management of the company, and functioned as producer on a number of high-profile projects, including BULLETPROOF MONK, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, LEGALLY BLONDE 2 and OUT OF TIME. From 1998 - 2002, he oversaw the visual effects division of Cinesite, contributing to such films as ALI, U571, RUSH HOUR 2 and ROAD TO PERDITION, among others.

Hoffman brings a rich and varied background in VFX, having also held positions as visual effects producer/consultant at Warner Bros., vice president/exec producer at Dream Quest Images, sr producer of visual effects for CRIMSON TIDE and EARTH 2, as well as producer of location base ride films in Germany and Korea.

At Radium, Hoffman produces projects, manages the overall Radium production schedule, leads production on all film and episodic work, and will assist in setting up the structure for large-scale projects.

With a background in photography and design, Cadrette graduated from the University of Central Florida's film school in Orlando. Cadrette has worked for over 10 years designing visual effects for films and commercials. He began his career in 1995 as lead animator at Sony Pictures Studios, where he was responsible for the technical direction and animation of visual effects sequences for RAINBOW, the first feature film captured entirely on high-definition and transferred to film.

After that, Cadrette moved into Animator positions at 20th Century Fox to work on the Academy Award-winning film INDEPENDENCE DAY and POP Film to build a 3D department within its film division. Other professional stints for Cadrette include CG supervisor at 525 Studios and director of animation at Digital Commandos.

He has contributed to such feature films as X-Men, Titanic, What Dreams May Come, Braveheart, Star Trek: First Contact, Doctor Doolittle and Flubber. His commercial projects include Disney, AT&T, Coke, Atlantis, Tang, VW, Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Electronic Arts, Direct TV and National Geographic. Cadrette is also an instructor at Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood, and has worked for Alias Singapore. Cadrette's recent projects through Radium include commercial campaigns for Clorox, Chevy, Kool-Aid and Gatorade.

Wank began his career in 1992 as an online editor at Hollywood Digital in Los Angeles. He then went to Bob & Sheila's Edit World in San Francisco where he worked on the Avid and Graphics, including After Effects, Photoshop and Illustrator. After a stint as Graphics Operator, Avid Editor and postproduction supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic in 1996, Wank moved into the commercials department as a Flame compositor and contributed to commercials and films for ILM. Some noteworthy projects include commercials for First Union Bank, Chevy, Coke and Bud Light, as well as the feature films JURASSIC PARK, OCTOBER SKY and 101 DALMATIANS.

Wank also worked in the U.S. and Europe to help develop, test and demo software for Puffin Designs' Commotion. Before coming to Radium in 2004, he was a freelance Inferno and Flame compositor and visual effects supervisor on commercials and films for various companies, including ILM, Digital Domain, Imaginary Forces, Pacific Data Images and Post Logic. He has contributed his talent to the film AI and to spots for Accenture, Dell, XM Radio, Budweiser and Sony.

Biggs joins Radium with a decade of experience as a digital effects artist on major film and television projects. Throughout his career, Biggs has contributed makeup-effects to features such as Point of No RETURN, SUPER MARIO BROS., DEMOLITION MAN and KILLING ZOE, and TV series STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, THE ARSENIO HALL SHOW and MARTIN.

Biggs got his start at Full Moon Digital, where he did compositing and CG modeling for Oblivion and Shrunken Heads via Paramount Pictures. Next was a move to Dream Quest Images and films such as SHANGHAI NOON, SIXTH SENSE and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, as well as TV shows EARTH II and JAG. He enjoyed successful tenures at Walt Disney Feature Animation: The Secret Lab, Sassoon Film Design and Amalgamated Pixel.

More recently, Biggs provided compositing and effects animation on high-profile projects, including PETER PAN at Digital Domain, and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, OUT OF TIME and BULLETPROOF MONK via Boy Wonder VFX.

Before joining Radium, Hilton worked at Digital Domain doing textures and matte paintings for DAY AFTER TOMORROW. From 2001 - 2003, Hilton freelanced as a matte painting, 3D generalist and concept artist for such clients as SimEx Digital Studios, Duck Soup, mOcean, Ring of Fire and Sight Effects. As a CG artist at Radium, he contributes to matte paintings and textures for commercials and music videos.

Keeton and creative director Simon Mowbray founded Radium (www.radium.com) in 1996. An experienced production staff backs the Radium team of artists, recruited from top effects houses, feature film studios and leading postproduction houses from around the country. Radium provides a tremendous resource for its clients by offering superior creative support, an extensive knowledge of current technology, as well as a thorough understanding of the realities of live-action film production.

Radium is located at 321 11th Street in San Francisco and 720 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 200 in Santa Monica.