Company 3 NY Builds VFX Fantasy for Runaway

Autodesk Flame and Inferno artists help realize Kanye West's vision

New York, NY — November 15, 2010 - Award-winning post production house Company 3 recently completed extensive visual effects for Kanye West’s powerfully imaginative 35-minute self-directed film, “Runaway,” which premiered on MTV and BET October 23. Company 3 NY provided more than 100 VFX shots for the project, including a blazing fireball and a complex sequence featuring co-star Selita Ebanks as a phoenix plummeting to Earth.

Shot in Prague in the Czech Republic by DP Kyle Kibbe using the ARRI Alexa camera, “Runaway” promotes West’s forthcoming studio album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” Company 3 created virtually all of the visual effects in the film, while sister company Beast NY hosted editor Derek Lee while he cut the film under West’s supervision. Beast NY’s Flame artist Scott Bravo also handled cleanup and final conform. “This was a major step for Company 3's visual effects division," commented CO3 NY executive producer Angela Lupo. "Our work has primarily been on commercials until now.”

“It was really a joy to help bring Kanye's vision to life,” said CO3 NY senior visual effects artist Tom McCullough. "He had very definite ideas about wanting the effects to have a look that has something of a graphic novel sensibility, but also a 1970s sci-fi movie feel to them.”

McCullough worked on the film with six other Autodesk Flame and Inferno artists, including Company 3 staffers Stephen Morris, Randie Swanberg and Chris Wiseman. The team handled everything from simple green screen composites and rig removal to explosion elements for the surreal and strikingly beautiful sequence when Ebanks arrives on Earth costumed as a phoenix.