Rising Sun Pictures opens new Brisbane studio

Benefiting from a worldwide boom in film and series production, Australian special effects house Rising Sun Pictures opened a production studio in Brisbane in mid-2021. Visual effects supervisor Marc Varisco and supervisor of composition Matt Greig lead the studio's team of artists, while veteran visual effects producer Jayne Herrmann is overseeing the production.

The new South Bank production site offers space for 60 artists working to help the studio keep up with a growing workload and serve local productions. RSP currently has a full slate of feature films and in-house project series and expects demand to continue to increase throughout the new year. Having a physical presence in Queensland allows RSP to better serve film and series shooting in the state.

“There is an abundance of wonderful film and series projects out there right now and opportunities to do a great job,” says Tony Clark, managing director of Rising Sun Pictures. “To take advantage of these opportunities, we need really good people. We worked with some wonderful artists who are based in Brisbane, so it made sense to build a structure around those people. It also puts us adjacent to a very popular global film destination ”.

The Brisbane team will move to a larger studio located in South Bank, the city's arts and entertainment district in the coming months. This new facility, which will be connected to RSP's main studio in Adelaide via secure technology, has the resources to support 60 artists. In addition to workspace for dozens of artists, the facility has rooms for meeting, review sessions, and client use. Plans call for the construction of a 4K projection room by the end of the year. The studio will have direct, high-speed links with RSP's pipeline in Adelaide and will operate in full compliance with TPN protocols.

RSP plans to hire staff for the new studio by hiring experienced local artists and others eager to move to Brisbane as a lifestyle choice.

“There are a lot of very good artists who are originally from Brisbane and want to go back. Other artists want to plant new roots there. Brisbane appeals to people for quality of life reasons, especially those with young families, ”says Jennie Zeiher, Head of Business Development.

Zeiher adds that RSP focuses on hiring artists with exceptional creative and technical skills, who are culturally suited. “We are looking for people whose values ​​reflect ours,” he says. “Marc Varisco, Matt Greig and Jayne Herrmann are very RSP people and we want to continue like this. Our commitment to excellence and service is very important to us ”.

RSP also plans to provide visual effects training in Brisbane. The firm runs an undergraduate and graduate certificate training program in partnership with the University of South Australia (UniSA). Its graduates are in high demand as junior artists in studios across Australia and beyond. Many have entered RSP jobs directly. RSP is expected to begin its educational offerings in the new studio starting in the middle of this year. It is an important philosophy that RSP builds capacity, particularly in the areas in which it operates.

Both Varisco and Greig have a history of working with RSP as a staff and as a freelancer. Varisco was most recently the studio's visual effects supervisor on the Netflix series Cowboy Bebop, doing that work remotely from his home studio in Brisbane. It also includes his over three dozen film and television credits as a supervisor The Mandalorian, Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker¸ Peter Rabbit e Electric dreams. Greig was compositing supervisor for RSP Jungle cruise e Ford versus Ferrari. His experience as a composer spans more than 15 years and includes posts with Animal Logic and Fuel VFX.

“When RSP contacted me to start a studio in Brisbane, I couldn't register fast enough,” remembers Varisco. “Supervising the kind of quality work RSP produces from Queensland is a game changer. Artists can reach our studio in a short drive, spend their days producing great works and go home to have dinner with their families. It couldn't be better ”.

Grieg was equally thrilled to establish an RSP presence in BrisbaneL “I was thrilled to bring world-class visual effects to my hometown,” he says. "Now I'm looking forward to expanding our existing strong team and contributing to the fantastic productions that have filled our list."

New to RSP, Herrmann has been a visual effects professional for 15 years and brings deep ties to the Brisbane production community. Previously she was a visual effects producer at Cutting Edge, Brisbane and held staff positions at Weta Digital, Method Studios, Bazmark Films and Animal Logic. “It was my dream to produce for RSP and to do it in Brisbane, it's great,” he notes. "Brisbane is the perfect place for a property like this."

Herrmann expects the new Brisbane studio to be operational earlier this year and staff to be complete by the middle of the year. “It will be a cracking space. We will have CG review rooms, comp review rooms and, finally, a large projection cinema, ”he says. “It is located in the hub of the local arts community with theaters, museums and restaurants nearby. It is also close to the airport and the Gold Coast, where the Village Roadshow Studios are located ”.

With demand for content at the highest level, Clark says there couldn't be a better time or place for RSP to expand. “This studio represents a substantial commitment to Queensland and the artists who live there,” says Clark. “We look forward to being in Brisbane for a long time and producing a lot of great work there.

rsp.com.au