From arch-viz to visual effects, Mark Ramshaw meets the studios that made their mark on the CG industry in the last year. This week, Storm Studios…
Formed in 1996, Storm Studios is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, animation facilities in Scandinavia, although it wasn’t until 2006, with Free Jimmy (the region’s first CG-animated movie) and Peter & the Wolf, that the studio began to attract serious attention in its native Norway and abroad. Since then, feature film visual effects work has been Storm’s bread and butter, with a merger between Storm and Nordisk Film in 2010 further strengthening its industry position.
▲ Storm’s matte painting expertise at work in Mathias Calmeyer’s movie Captain Sabertooth
“Merging Storm’s effects knowledge with Nordisk Film’s long traditions and post-production expertise, we’ve achieved our dream of creating a one-stop shop,” says managing director Kristin Hellebust. “We’ve also helped design one of the finest post-production facilities in Europe, in the form of Nordisk Film Shortcut, which has recently expanded to a second studio in Stockholm.”
While there are some foreign projects currently in development, Hellebust says that tangible results from acclaim for internationally well-known projects such as Max Manus and The Troll Hunter have yet to appear. The Norwegian film industry, meanwhile, remains very budget-conscious.
“It’s also often expected that the visual effects company invest 50 per cent of the honorarium in the film, with the risk of never getting a direct return on this investment,” explains Hellebust. “Of course, with a population of just five million, it’s understandable that budgets are small, and one positive consequence is that we’re used to being extremely efficient and creative.”
Following a year of investment on internal R&D, and the development of efficient pipelines, Hellebust says one of the next things is going to be to enjoy the benefits of the brand-new facilities shared with Shortcut. On the work side, in 2012 Storm will continue its recent push into commercials, while feature work will include CG environments for three children’s movies, plus a sizeable contribution to the Scandinavian/British production Kon-Tiki.
Visit www.stormstudios.no to discover what the studio is working on right now.