Pixomondo London adds two to VFX staff
July 10, 2012

Pixomondo London adds two to VFX staff

LONDON — Pixomondo (http://www.pixomondo.com), which has offices worldwide, has added executive producer Roma O’Connor and VFX supervisor Joern Grosshans to its London studio.

“Having the right combination of cutting-edge flair and production experience is vital to achieving the perfect dynamic at each studio,” says Christoph Malessa, COO/executive producer, Pixomondo London. “Roma and Joern each bring excellent and diverse strengths to our facility.”

A VFX industry vet of nearly two decades, Roma O'Connor is well-versed in all aspects of feature film and television production, having worked on a number of Oscar-winning films and Emmy Award-winning series as one of London's foremost senior visual effects producers. She comes to Pixomondo from Cinesite where she most recently oversaw Disney’s John Carter. O’Connor has also lent her expertise to a number of blockbusters, including Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Slumdog Millionaire and Golden Compass. In addition to various freelance projects, she has held executive producer and head of production roles at The Mill, CIS London, Rainmaker UK and Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.

“What really drew me to Pixomondo was their studio structure,” says O’Connor. “The efficiency of creating boutique, high level facilities around the world works on both a local and global level. We can offer our clients the flexibility and one-on-one attention of a boutique facility as well as tackle larger projects by linking up our studios to draw on our pool of global talent. This allows us to operate without the need for huge recruitment drives in a specific country thereby avoiding inefficiencies that can come with a sudden increase of artists. From an artist viewpoint, it can sometimes feel you are just a small cog in a large wheel but, at Pixomondo, everyone is important and has a chance to develop.”

With eight years experience under his belt, Grosshans comes to Pixomondo’s London studio from Pixomondo Stuttgart where he was instrumental in helping develop talent and infrastructure whilst gaining experience as a VFX supervisor. His understanding of the visual effects process led him to supervise work on the second season of HBO’s Game of Thrones, VFX shots on Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, for which Pixomondo artists won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, as well as on Red Tails, Sucker Punch, Fast Five and Ghost Rider. He also supervised the first stereo commercial for Panasonic 3D TV screens for theatrical distribution.

“We are a young company but growing fast thanks to our base of very talented artists and unique facility infrastructure,” he says. “The London office not only gives us the opportunity to build a great boutique facility but also provides a platform to showcase Pixomondo worldwide to the prestigious UK film and television markets.”