NEW YORK CITY — Boutique visual effects studio PowerHouse VFX (www.powerhousevfx.com) served as the sole visual effects vendor on M. Night Shyamalan’s new feature, Glass, which opened in theaters on January 18th. The studio, which itself opened in 2017, provided Shyamalan and his team with full-service, completing approximately 300 shots that range from hero CG character animation work and environmental set extensions to bringing The Beast to life in many more scenes than they had done previously in
Split.
“(VFX supervisor) Ed (Mendez) and (VFX executive producer) Bob (Lowery) have been trusted creative partners on several of my films, so when they made the bold decision to form their own company, working with them again became a no-brainer,” says Shyamalan. “Great work and strong, reliable relationships are equally important factors for me in choosing my collaborators. I look forward to seeing PowerHouse grow and prosper so we can do more work together in the future.”
“We founded this company because we were confident that we’d offer a higher level of service than most VFX shops,” notes Lowery. “We work with clients from the get-go to make sure we’re supporting their vision. Serving as sole VFX vendor for a project as complex and ambitious as Glass shows how well that approach works - especially when you consider that we’ve only been in business for a year.”
The PowerHouse team that helped bring Glass to life has grown to include CG/VFX supervisor Dan Bornstein, VFX supervisor Ruben Rodas, general manager Chris Kenneally and senior VFX producer Ryan Cunningham. The team brings decades of experience from companies that include ILM, Dive, Cafe FX, and Zoic. The studio currently has a group of 40 artists and occupies 5,000 square feet at Sixteen19’s headquarters in Chelsea, New York.
In addition to Glass, PowerHouse has worked on the feature films Mary Poppins Returns, A Quiet Place and Night School, as well as on the TV shows
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Purge.