LOS ANGELES, CA — Method Studios, part of Deluxe Content Creation Group, has named a new president and CTO.
Christian Kubsch has joined the company as president. Kubsch will oversee Method's global operations, including the company's main base in Los Angeles, along with locations in London, Vancouver, Sydney, Melbourne, New York, Chicago, Detroit and Atlanta. Kubsch will report to Stefan Sonnenfeld, president of Creative Services, Deluxe. Meanwhile, Darin Grant has been named Chief Technology Officer of Method Studios and will report to Kubsch.
Method Studios, home to over 500 exceptional artists and technicians, provides creative artistry and award-winning visual effects to projects from feature films and commercials to games and motion graphics. With facilities in the United States, Canada, the UK and Australia - and plans to further expand its footprints in London and Vancouver - Method offers highly integrated workflow solutions across the globe for a full range of visual effects services including conceptual design, look development, on-set supervision, 3D animation/CGI, matte painting, compositing and finishing.
Kubsch and Grant will add their expertise to that of Method's award-winning Visual Effects Supervisor Dan Glass, who will continue in his creative leadership role as chief creative officer, alongside a team of Method's top executives who will share global oversight for enhanced communication and efficiency.
"Chris and Darin both come with world-class skills in the VFX industry," says Sonnenfeld. "We are all very excited to have them join Method. Together with Dan Glass, we now have a team in place that can take the company to new heights of technological and creative innovation."
Kubsch, a highly respected industry veteran, was most recently with Prana Studios, where he oversaw global production of visual effects and animation. Prior to that, he was EVP and general manager of ImageMovers Digital. As the first managing director of Lucasfilm Animation Company in Singapore, Kubsch was responsible for the start-up, initial build out, and talent acquisition for the company's first slate of animated feature films, live action visual effects work and interactive entertainment. His previous experience also included a stint at DreamWorks Animation as a production executive, and he has visual effects production credits on a number of tentpole projects such as "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," "The Matrix Revolutions" and "The Matrix Reloaded," "Mars Attacks!," as well as working at Industrial Light & Magic as a visual effects producer on "The Mask."
Darin Grant comes to Method with a great deal of experience in production technology. His most recent position was chief technology officer at Digital Domain. Prior to that, he spent six years as head of production technology at DreamWorks Animation. Grant is known as one of the leaders in the field, and has contributed to dozens of presentations of innovative techniques at SIGGRAPH, where he has also served as computer animation chair and juror along with several other prestigious positions. He is currently serving on the digital imaging technology sub-committee of the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
Feature films currently in production at Method Studios include titles such as "Iron Man 3," "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," "Red 2," "The Wolverine," "White House Down" and "Mad Max: Fury Road." Recent notable feature releases include "Cloud Atlas," "Argo," "Beautiful Creatures" and "A Good Day To Die Hard." Method's top commercial projects airing during the 2013 Super Bowl included Kia "Space Babies," Soda Stream "Effect" and Kia "Hotbots." In February this year, Method collected the Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Compositing for the Chevy "2012 Silverado" commercial.