LONDON — Soho-based VFX studio Freefolk (https://freefolk.com) has considerably strengthened its longform offerings with a series of promotions and hirings, an infrastructure upgrade and a new name. Freefolk Film & Episodic is run by a dedicated team that’s separate from Freefolk Commercials. The effort is led by VFX supervisor Steve Murgatroyd, formerly Freefolk’s head of 2D, and VFX executive producer Meg Guidon.
Top photo (L-R): Meg Guidon and Steve Murgatroyd
Harin Hirani serves as head of 3D and the division, which is bolstered by the new hire of senior lead Nuke artist Simon-Pierre, whose credits span film and television, including Gravity, Interstellar, Cursed and The Third Day.
Despite the pandemic, the facility has seen an upturn in their work, and in the past 18 months they have contributed to Cursed (Netflix), The Third Day (Sky/HBO) and Pennyworth. Freefolk Film & Episodic’s Steve Murgatroyd says it was the right time to invest further in this side of the business.
“We now have an impressive credit list, a strong team and a fully upgraded technical set up, specifically designed for this type of work. We are now in a position to scale up to 100-pus artists, have the ability to deliver at 8k and are excited about the continued growth of Freefolk Film & Episodic.”
Photo (L-R): Harin Hirani & Simon-Pierre
The studio made a considerable investment in their infrastructure and are fully security compliant with best practices for VFX.
“We have a bespoke VFX pipeline that is constantly developed to enable us to work more efficiently and creatively,” notes CTO, Paul Wright. “When it became clear last year that we would have to work from home due to Coronavirus, we built a secure and safe WFH solution for remote artists and staff. This means that only pixels and not data leave the facility.
“We also realized the need for a color accurate, realtime remote viewing solution that was incredibly secure for clients content and yet easy for clients and producers to use,” Wright continues. “We chose to invest in a Sohonet ClearView to stream sessions or reviews to anyone anywhere, and we utilize Ftrack shot and asset management software from project inception to final delivery. It is fully integrated with the pipeline. We have recently upgraded to a new Pixit Media Pixstor production server, this allows us to support more artists and more intense workflows.”