Australian Screen News Jan 2023: Location Spotlight on NSW's Illawarra, Awards season kicks off, new members: Entertainment Partners Powered by Moneypenny

January 2023

Hi All,

Get ready for an exciting journey down under with this month's issue. 2023 has just started, but we've got all cylinders firing!

This month, we're taking you on a journey to the beautiful Wollongong and Illawarra region in New South Wales. It's a film-lover's paradise with a diverse range of locations.

We've also got some new friends to introduce you to - our newest Ausfilm members, Entertainment Partners Powered by Moneypenny. They're here to help make your production dreams a reality with their range of finance and management services.

Our First Nations Spotlight on Lilla Berry of South Australia's Yankunytjatjara region is inspiring and uplifting.

Some exciting updates await you, like Animal Logic, our superheroes showing us behind the scenes of DC League of Super-Pets; Fin's new showreel showcases innovative storytelling with remarkable visuals, and while you're here, check out SlateVFX's latest reel too! Heliguy's new mobile LIDAR scanner will change the way you capture data. News from ILM, MPC, Rising Sun Pictures, Show Group, Spectrum, and Netflix's hit teen surfing drama Surviving Summer returns for Season 2 filming on Victoria's Great Ocean Road. Plus more news from Screen Queensland, and CATO Location Services share what it's like setting up production in NSW.

Awards season is here 🏆 and the Australian screen industry, including our Ausfilm members have plenty to celebrate. Congratulations to all the exceptional Aussie talent who were nominated or worked on productions nominated for Oscars® at the upcoming 95th Academy Awards®, with a special mention to our very talented friends at Big Bang Sound Design who are up for Best Sound for Elvis, on top of nominations for the CAS and MPSE Awards. Animal Logic, ILM and Rising Sun Pictures celebrate their VES nominations, while some, like Framestore have already secured wins. A big round of applause to all those nominated in this exciting season!

Here's to a great year ahead.
The Ausfilm Team 🐨

LOCATION SPOTLIGHT

NEW SOUTH WALES – WOLLONGONG AND THE ILLAWARRA REGION

Screen NSW invites you to the Illawarra region in this month's Location Spotlight, a film-lover's paradise just a stone's throw away from Sydney. With a diverse range of locations, from sea cliffs to tropical waterways, and abandoned industrial areas. Paired with competitive incentives and top-notch talent, you'll find the perfect setting for your next project.

WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST MEMBERS

Entertainment Partners Powered by Moneypenny are providers of production finance and management services for the global screen industry, including a fully integrated suite of solutions such as online contracting, payroll, production accounting, document management, and archiving.

Meet them

VFX IT IN AUSTRALIA

UNLOCKING ANIMAL LOGIC’S SUPERPOWERS WITH DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS

Animal Logic joined forces with Warner Animation Group to bring the beloved Legion of Super-Pets comics to life on screen. Discover the behind-the-scenes magic of how they did it.

FIN DESIGN + EFFECTS TEAM'S INNOVATIVE STORYTELLING WITH REMARKABLE VISUALS

Fin’s talented team of VFX artists are behind some of the most talked about and recently awarded visual effects. Check out Fin’s latest FX showreel, featuring a selected range of their finest VFX crafted across vastly diverse storytelling genres.

Watch it

FRAMESTORE CELEBRATES MULTIPLE AWARDS FOR VFX IN ELVIS

Framestore ended the year on a high note, winning two awards for their exceptional visual effects in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis. The team earned the AACTA award for Best VFX and the Asian Academy Creative award for Best Visual/Special Effects in a TV/Feature Film.

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH ILM’S LEAD LIGHTING TD, ALANA LENNIE

Alana Lennie is a talented globe-trotting visual effects professional and Lead Lighting TD at Industrial Light and Magic. She brings film scenes to life by creating and placing lights in the final step of the 3D pipeline. Get to know Alana in this fresh Q&A.

MPC CREATES ENCHANTING PHOTOREAL VFX FOR HOCUS POCUS 2

MPC's Global VFX studio delivered over 557 visual effects shots in Disney's Hocus Pocus 2, directed by Anne Fletcher. The team, led by MPC VFX supervisor Malte Sarnes and VFX producer Gillian Howe from MPC Australia, worked to enhance the three witch characters and keep the sequel feeling like the 1993 original. Check out what special ingredients the MPC team put in their cauldron to create their magic.

AN INCREDIBLE YEAR FOR RSP, AND 2023 IS SHAPING UP TO BE EVEN BIGGER!

RSP announce parent brand: Pitch Black Company.
RSPs team receives a VES Award nom for their Outstanding Effects Simulations in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
RSP created over 200 visual effects shots for the hit Star Wars series, Andor. Check out the awesome before and afters, and their Andor reel!

SLATEVFX STUNS WITH THEIR LATEST REEL - A VISUAL FEAST OF INCREDIBLE WORK

SlateVFX shares their latest reel showcasing some of the sensational projects they have worked on during the busy recent years. Notable projects include Three Thousand Years of Longing, Poker Face, Elvis and Irreverent.
Check it out!

Watch it

FIRST NATIONS SPOTLIGHT

LILLA BERRY
OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA'S YANKUNYTJATJARA LAND

Lilla Berry is a Yankunytjatjara artist and award-nominated film producer living on Kaurna Country in South Australia. In this great First Nations Spotlight take a look at Lilla's career, including thoughts on storytelling, working on Black Empire and working with her sister, filmmaker Pearl Berry.

MAKE IT IN AUSTRALIA

CATO LOCATION SERVICES: A SUCCESS STORY IN NEW SOUTH WALES

CATO Location Services is the ultimate behind-the-scenes superhero in New South Wales, making sure productions run smoothly with their top-notch services, from locking down Sydney's CBD for car chase scenes to providing traffic control and security for critically-acclaimed films like The Invisible Man.

HELIGUY UNVEILS THEIR EXCITING NEW MOBILE LIDAR SCANNER

Heliguy is revolutionizing data capture of complex environments, from indoor spaces with challenging light conditions to outdoor film sets. Using dual-layer LIDAR sensors and four cameras, NavVis enables scanning at walking speed while delivering survey-grade point cloud data, up to 10 times faster than the standard terrestrial 3D laser scanning.

SHOW GROUP'S EXPERT INSIGHT ON THE EVOLVING TRAVEL LANDSCAPE

Show Group, the film travel specialists, farewell the challenges of recent years and predict the opportunities that 2023 holds for the screen industry. From sustainability to supply and content, air travel to hotels, the travel landscape is evolving and bringing with it new opportunities for production.

SPECTRUM FILMS EXPANDS INTO VFX AND UNVEILS A NEW LOOK

Spectrum Films, the team of post-production experts, has been running strong for 58 years and continuously expands to meet industry needs. Now providing visual effects services, Spectrum unveils a new logo to mark the occasion of expansion.

QUEENSLAND'S BLACK SNOW MYSTERY-DRAMA SERIES LAUNCHES IN THE US

The six-part series Black Snow will be available in the US on Sundance Now from Feb. Filmed and based in Queensland, a cold-case detective investigates a murder that occurred in a small sugarcane town.

NETFLIX’S SURVIVING SUMMER RETURNS TO VICTORIA’S ICONIC BEACHES FOR S2

Grab your surfboards —the second series of Netflix’s hit teen surfing drama Surviving Summer from Melbourne-based Werner Film Productions has just started filming on Victoria's exquisite Great Ocean Road.