Hyper-busy VFX and animation studio DNEG has strengthened its VFX Animation team across North America and the UK, with an exciting series of appointments.
Emile Ghorayeb, Keith Roberts and Spencer Cook are cracking names to have in your crew. Check their histories below. These guys will make the work coming from DNEG in the next few years, turn to visual gold.
DNEG has grown exponentially over the last year or so with contracted work on movies such as Avengers: Endgame, Godzilla: King of the Monsters and the upcoming Men In Black: International. The company’s new hires will bring industry-leading talent and decades of experience to further strengthen the team across DNEG’s key locations.
“It’s a hugely exciting time for the VFX Animation team here at DNEG,” said DNEG’s Global Head of Animation, Robyn Luckham, “and I am particularly pleased to announce the appointments of Emile and Keith in London, and Spencer in Montréal. Their decades of experience in VFX will be of huge benefit to the team as we continue to grow, taking on bigger and more challenging projects. Together, we are building an unbelievable force of VFX creatives who are all capable of driving DNEG’s ambition to become the leading studio in Creature and Character Animation globally.”
Emile Ghorayeb joins DNEG as Head of Animation for its London studio, having previously been Animation Supervisor for Weta Digital on films including Alita: Battle Angel (feature image) and War for the Planet of the Apes, for which he won an Annie Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Live Action Production’. Emile has 20 years of experience as an animator across film, TV, games and feature animation, and other standout projects on his animation credit list include Avengers: Endgame, Jurassic World, Transformers 2, 3 & 4, Halo 3, Shrek 2 & 3 and the Madagascar movies.
Also joining the team in London is VFX veteran and Creature animation specialist, Keith Roberts, as Animation Director. Most recently, Keith has made a significant contribution to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, having been Animation Director on Avengers: Infinity War, Captain America: Civil War, Ant-Man, Thor: The Dark World and both Guardians of the Galaxy films, for which he brought to life Baby Groot and Rocket Raccoon. Earlier in his career, Keith supervised the animation of a number of furry and feathery creatures in family favourites such as Garfield, The Cat in the Hat, Scooby-Doo, Aliens in the Attic and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.
The global team also saw the recent appointment of Animation Director Spencer Cook. Based in Montréal, Spencer boasts an illustrious career spanning more than 30 years, from stop-motion animation for TV commercials through to digital animation on some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, including Alien: Covenant, Beauty and the Beast, Men in Black 3, The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions, and Spider-Man 1, 2 & 3. As a life-long monster movie fan, Spencer joined DNEG after completing work on Godzilla: King of the Monsters as Animation Director. He was a key member of the Sony Pictures Imageworks character animation department in Los Angeles for 14 years, and was nominated for a BAFTA Award, a Saturn Award and two VES Awards for his work as Animation Director on Spider-Man 3.
Wow!
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