Philadelphia, Penn. - Shooters Post & Transfer, an award-winning
visual effects, design, and postproduction facility, has announced the
launch of DIVE, a new visual effects and film finishing house led by
veteran visual effects supervisor Mark Forker, who recently held the post of visual effects supervisor at Digital Domain in Los Angeles.
The new company will focus on
providing the film community with visual effects, digital
intermediates, finishing, and titles. Forker will provide
visual effects supervision services to studios and filmmakers via his
existing relationships with visual effects facilities worldwide.
"At a time when the box office and independent film markets are
experiencing a tremendous shift to an all digital workflow, and visual
effects a part every film, we felt it was time to add someone with
Mark's expertise and talent to position us best in this changing world
of motion pictures," Ray Carballada, Shooters Post & Transfer COO, explains. "The launch of DIVE and the fact that it will be helmed by such a
prominent and respected name in the filmmaking community sends a clear
message to producers and directors that the company is serious in its
commitment. With independent films a big issue is always the post budget. In DIVE we have developed a model to provide independent
filmmakers a level of finishing that in the past was unattainable. They
also face many difficult creative choices when it comes to visual
effects and finishing. With Mark they have a resource they can turn to
that can provide studio level picture expertise."
Fresh from a 12 year run at Digital Domain, the seminal visual
effects company founded by James Cameron and Stan Winston, Forker has
contributed his talents as a digital compositor and visual effects
supervisor to such films as Apollo 13, Titanic, Cinderella Man, Lord of
the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and most recently in the theaters, the kid superhero
comedy Zoom.
Despite his high-profile credits, however, Forker admits
to being excited about working with independent filmmakers and smaller
projects in general.
"Increasingly, I've found that some of the most satisfying jobs I've
worked on were smaller in scale," Forker notes. "Independent
filmmakers tend to spend more time working on the creative and often
need someone with experience to help them realize their vision from the
post side of things. When Ray told me that several independent
filmmakers had already approached him, I was immediately interested in
being a part of it."
"I've known Ray Carballada for many years," Forker continues, "and I've
watched Shooters grow steadily into the impressive company they are
today. Knowing what I know, it was a complete no-brainer for me to come
aboard. They are creative risk-takers but they always have their
clients' best interests at heart. They'll step out onto limbs to make
things work and usually succeed. I'm happy to be a part of what they're
building."