Former MPC VFX Producer has feature credits including ‘The Martian,’ ‘Suicide Squad’ and ‘X-Men Apocalypse.’
BOURNEMOUTH, UK -- Outpost VFX has announced that Geraint Hixson has joined their team as VFX Producer. With extensive production knowledge Hixson brings with him a wealth of experience having worked with some of the most reputable facilities in the UK.
Outpost VFX CEO Duncan McWilliam commented, “We are all very happy that Geraint has joined Outpost VFX, his knowledge and expertise in the VFX production will be invaluable as the company continues to expand to accommodate a growing number of exciting film and commercial projects.”
Hixson joins from MPC and his credits include; The Martian, Suicide Squad and X-Men Apocolypse. Prior to this he was at Rushes working on big brand advertising campaigns including Mercedes and Honda Civic.
“I’ve always respected the guys at Outpost and the work they produce,” Hixson said of his new role. “I’m a graduate of Bournemouth University and love it here. I've always felt like it was my home so having the chance to work in Bournemouth and for a VFX house is pretty perfect.”
Outpost VFX is currently working on some very interesting projects. One of which is Netflix Original, My Beautiful Broken Brain, released last month and currently showing on the internet channel. The film is the story of 34-year-old Lotje Sodderland's personal voyage into the complexity, fragility and wonder of her own brain following a life changing hemorrhagic stroke.
The film by Sodderland, David Lynch and Director Sophie Robinson is beautifully made and contains footage captured by Sodderland in the weeks after she woke up from an induced coma. After regaining consciousness, she was thrown into a new existence of distorted reality where words held no meaning and where her sensory perception had changed.
The project included over 110 VFX shots, all of which were sensitively created by Outpost VFX, Supervised by Elena Estevez Santos. The VFX were essentially used to support the representation of Sodderland’s vision of the world. The team developed two different looks, one for the POV after the stroke that was colorful, timeless and surreal and another for the POV after the seizure, this was nightmarish ghostly and scary.
Both looks were applied across several shots to recreate her right eye-sight. Every shot was being individually crafted to make the most of each scene. Apart from this generic look, in order to recreate this childish new look, most shots had surreal or fantastic elements, e.g. melting clocks, metamorphosis in the shadows, drawings that became alive, trippy warping, deformed faces. The clue is in the detail, so the viewer had the feeling of transitory nature, that he might have or might not have seen the alteration.
The VFX Outpost created were hugely praised by both Sodderland and Robinson.
“I feel so grateful to have found you, and for the almost wordless symbiosis among us all which conspired to create this sensational visual story,” said Sodderland.
“The visuals look completely amazing in the film. They lift it to a whole new level,” added Robinson.
“I’m really proud of what we have achieved and the business is continuing to thrive,” remarked McWilliam. “We are all working incredibly hard to meet the demand for our services and by expanding our business will be able to work more efficiently and continue to create superb VFX that exceed our clients’ expectations.”
Outpost VFX currently has 30 seats, but with space for 45 artists the facility is growing steadily and has some very exciting projects in the pipeline. In the past year the studio has worked on numerous film and commercial projects, recent credits include: 47 Metres Down, Under the Shadow and Electricity.
Source: Outpost VFX
