The Orphanage recently completed six months of vfx work on THE HOST, South Koreas most ambitious movie to date, which will have its world premiere on May 21 in the Directors Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival (which runs May 18-21).
Directors Fortnight artistic director Oliver Pere said: "(I am) delighted to present this remarkable new work by one of the most-gifted contemporary directors, which boasts the spectacular qualities of the best fantasy cinema, treated with the directorial style, emotion, irony and political satire that we have come to expect from [director] Bong Joon-ho."
THE HOST, produced by Chungeorahm Films, contains more than 100 vfx shots from The Orphanage, which was the lead house. The Orphanage team was led by veteran vfx supervisor Kevin Rafferty, exec producer Marc Sadeghi, CG supervisor Shadi Almassizadeh and vfx producer Arin Finger. THE HOST tells the story of a toxic monster that emerges from the depths of the Han River to terrorize the citizens of Seoul. Orphanage vp Sadeghi remarked: It is a great honor to work on such an important project for the Korean film industry and were delighted its unveiling at the premier film festival in the world.
Rafferty, who joined The Orphanage after more than 20 years at other major vfx and animation companies, including DreamWorks, where he was the lead CGI supervisor on SHARK TALE, and ILM, where he supervised several Oscar-nominated films, including STAR WARS: EPISODE I, THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK and DRAGONHEART.
In addition to extensive CG modeling and creature work, digital doubles, wind, fire, smoke and rain, The Orphanage oversaw the creation of a practical puppet fabricated in Australia at the Oscar-winning John Cox Creature Workshop (BABE).
Founded in 1999, The Orphanages (www.theorphanage.com) state-of-the-art vfx post facility in San Franciscos picturesque Presidio Park continues its steady growth from boutique shop to a facility capable of handling studio tent poles, including the recent and upcoming SUPERMAN RETURNS (Warner Bros.), PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MANS CHEST (Disney), HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE (Warner Bros.), AEON FLUX (Paramount), SIN CITY (Dimension) THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW (Fox), HELLBOY (Sony/Revolution Studios) and HERO (Miramax).
The companys commercial division is experiencing a banner year with spots for Comcast, Ruby Tuesdays, Toshiba, Dolby, among others. A pioneer in filmmaking technology development, The Orphanages award-winning Magic Bullet software is bundled with numerous popular filmmaking products from Adobe, Sony & Panasonic.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
