Defunct Canadian animation studio
Meteor Studios
Industry
| Animation
|
---|
Founded
| 2001
; 23 years ago
(
2001
)
|
---|
Founder
| |
---|
Defunct
| 2007
(
2007
)
|
---|
Headquarters
| ,
Canada
|
---|
Meteor Studios
was a Canadian
production company
based in
Montreal
that worked in
computer animation
for many films and TV series. Founded in 2001 by American director Pierre De Lespinois and parent company
Discovery Communications
, the company specialized in creating "realistic
CG
on TV budgets".
[1]
In 2002, it won an
Emmy Award
in association with the
Discovery Channel
for
Walking With Prehistoric Beasts
.
[2]
[3]
By 2005, it was the largest visual effects studio in eastern Canada.
[4]
Meteor's film credits included movies such as
300
,
Fantastic Four
,
Scooby-Doo 2
, and
Catwoman
.
[5]
[4]
After wrapping its first 3D
VFX
project,
Journey to the Center of the Earth
, the company closed in November 2007 without having paid its workers for three months.
[6]
Background
[
edit
]
The company was co-founded in January 2001 by director Pierre De Lespinois, who was based in Los Angeles, California, and Discovery Communications, based in
Bethesda, Maryland
.
[1]
De Lespinois, who had created the
HDTV
series,
The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne
,
[7]
became president of Meteor Studios, while continuing to run Evergreen Films, his HD live-action company.
[1]
In the early years, he travelled to Montreal once a month but otherwise worked with the Meteor team remotely.
[1]
The initial impetus was to provide a steady supply of cost-effective computer graphics for scientific programming on the Discovery Channel.
[1]
[4]
Meteor Studios built CG libraries of dinosaurs, ancient architecture, and weather phenomena, to create visual effects which had proven popular in movies, for television.
[1]
By 2005, the company had become the largest visual effects studio in eastern Canada, with many major film projects such as
Fantastic Four
, in addition to work for TV.
[4]
Meteor also saved on costs by using "previsualization" tools to produce test composites in the field after each shot.
[8]
Rather than waiting until post-production to see how the computer-generated and drawn elements worked together with the actual background and actors, the director was able to assess immediately whether the desired shots had been captured or not, thereby minimizing film crew costs.
[8]
The main office was housed in the old Northern Electric Building in
Pointe St. Charles
near the
Lachine Canal
in southwestern Montreal, Canada.
[4]
As of July 2005,
The Gazette
in Montreal reported that there was a core group of 80 employees at Meteor Studios, but that projects such as
Fantastic Four
had involved "140 artists working at 'full tilt'".
[4]
Key employees included head of production Francois Garcia, and visual effects supervisors Paul Nightingale
[4]
and Bret St. Clair.
[5]
Projects
[
edit
]
Its highly rated works included
When Dinosaurs Roamed America
on the
Discovery Channel
, which had more than 500 scenes integrating CG into live-action HD.
[1]
In 2002, Meteor Studios shared an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program One Hour or More with the Discovery Channel for
Walking With Prehistoric Beasts
.
[3]
For the live-action film
Fantastic Four
, an adaptation of the
Marvel comic book
, Meteor produced nine minutes and nine seconds of effects, which
Montreal Gazette
said had "elevated the shop to another level".
[4]
The effects included 240 shots for the
Brooklyn Bridge
sequence in
Fantastic Four
, which "was actually greeted with real enthusiasm by the jaded brass at
20th Century-Fox
in L.A."
[4]
For the historical action movie
300
, Meteor Studios posted 250 shots to portray liquids, including a large amount of spraying blood.
[5]
In 2007,
Playback
reported that Meteor Studios was venturing into 3D VFX for the first time, for
Journey to the Center of the Earth
to be released the following year.
[9]
Bankruptcy and aftermath
[
edit
]
In November 2007, Meteor Studios closed down after wrapping its work on
Journey to the Center of the Earth
and filed for bankruptcy, leaving 130 employees and freelancers unpaid after postponing their paychecks for three months.
[6]
[10]
In its bankruptcy filing at Quebec Superior Court, Meteor management blamed the
Writers Guild of America strike
for halting contracts for new projects.
[11]
Dave Rand, former lead effects artist at Meteor, organized the Meteor Employees Union, which filed a
lawsuit
in August 2008 to recover $1 million in
lost wages
.
[11]
By then,
Journey to the Center of the Earth
had grossed
$
102 million at the box office; actor
Brendan Fraser
, who had starred in the 3D action film, tried to intervene on behalf of the ex-Meteor employees, and made calls to both Evergreen and Discovery.
[11]
In September 2008, a new company called Lumiere VFX, Inc. launched in Montreal, after negotiating with Nordelec to take over the old Meteor Studios facility.
[12]
Lumiere hired a core group of ex-Meteor employees, including Aaron Dem, who became Lumiere's president of production.
[12]
In September 2009, 130 mainly Canadian artists accepted an offer to recoup 70 per cent of compensation owed to them by Discovery Trademark Holding Co. Inc. and Evergreen Digital LLC,
[6]
after rejecting two previous offers for 45 per cent and 63 per cent of their missing wages.
[13]
Variety
magazine
noted that Meteor Studios had become "a symbol of the shaky standing of the vfx industry and vfx artists in particular", because they lacked representation by any established union or guild, and the visual effects studios themselves sometimes lacked viable business models.
[13]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Television
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Wolff, Ellen (July 2002).
"Meteor Studios"
.
Millimeter
. Vol. 30, no. 7. pp. 18?22.
ProQuest
227123000
. Retrieved
October 28,
2022
– via
ProQuest
.
- ^
Schneider, Michael (September 22, 2002).
"Emmys' new best 'Friends'
"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
October 30,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Dinos and Futurama Rule at Emmy Awards"
.
Animation World Network
. September 16, 2002
. Retrieved
October 29,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
Griffin, John (July 9, 2005).
"Meteor streaks into effects orbit"
.
The Gazette
. Montreal, Quebec
. Retrieved
October 29,
2022
– via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Davidson, Sean (March 6, 2006).
"Meteor hits 300"
.
Playback: Canada's Broadcast and Production Journal
. p. 18.
ProQuest
196341399
. Retrieved
October 28,
2022
– via
ProQuest
.
- ^
a
b
c
King, Mike (2009).
"Special-effects artists accept pay deal"
.
The Gazette
. Montreal, Quebec.
ProQuest
434851709
. Retrieved
October 28,
2022
.
- ^
Kaufman, Debra (January 6, 2010).
"CES' 3D focus"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. Retrieved
October 29,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
Whitney, Daisy (June 10, 2002).
"Production getting more productive"
.
Electronic Media
. Vol. 21, no. 23. Chicago. p. 10.
ProQuest
203862665
. Retrieved
October 28,
2022
– via
ProQuest
.
- ^
Stewart, Lianne (April 30, 2007).
"How did they do that? Meteor Journeys deep into 3D"
.
Playback: Canada's Broadcast and Production Journal
. p. 31.
ProQuest
196341366
. Retrieved
October 28,
2022
– via
ProQuest
.
- ^
"Ex-Meteor Studios workers seek pay"
. Playback Online. July 21, 2008
. Retrieved
July 6,
2011
.
- ^
a
b
c
King, Mike (August 8, 2008).
"Center of the Earth effects artists file suit to recover their lost wages"
.
The Gazette
. Montreal
. Retrieved
November 2,
2022
– via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
a
b
Desowitz, Bill (September 12, 2008).
"Lumiere VFX Launches in Montreal"
.
Animation World Network
. Retrieved
November 2,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
Kelly, Brendan (September 29, 2009).
"Meteor Studios employees reach deal: F/x artists reach agreement with owners"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
November 2,
2022
.
External links
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]
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companies
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Defunct
companies
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Related topics
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