The industry veteran takes the reigns to optimize the VFX studio's proprietary toolsets including machine learning software and AI-driven creations.
Leading VFX studio Digital Domain has named visualization expert and studio veteran Matt McClurg its new Head of Visualization. McClurg will oversee the VFX studio's full visualization efforts, including comprehensive previs, post viz, and virtual production.
Over the studio’s 30-year history, it has become recognized as a technological innovator due to its research into digital and autonomous humans and advancements in virtual production and visualization. McClurg will leverage Digital Domain’s advanced tools to give clients a visual representation of their final product, giving them a clear path forward.
“Matt has played a pivotal role in propelling Digital Domain’s visualization efforts to unprecedented heights in recent years,” remarked Digital Domain COO and Global President Lala Gavgavian. “We are thrilled to promote him in this leadership position where he can seamlessly drive our visualization offerings to new levels of growth, taking us to the next stage of success.”
Along with overseeing Digital Domain's current and upcoming visualization projects, McClurg will help streamline and incorporate new pipelines that take full advantage of the VFX studio's bespoke toolsets. That includes its proprietary machine learning software and AI-driven creations. McClurg will also continue to lead development of custom systems and processes created within game engines, designed to give filmmakers new ways to watch and edit effects-heavy scenes remotely from anywhere.
McClurg has spent 15 years developing his skills and has emerged as a leading visualization specialist, with a resume including stops at both The Third Floor and 20th Century Fox. In 2014 he was hired by Pixomondo to help create and run its previs department. In 2019, McClurg joined Digital Domain as previs supervisor, overseeing several features, including Marvel Studios' Spider-Man: No Way Home, Steven Spielberg's West Side Story, and the Oscar-nominated Free Guy. He was also involved in several episodic previs projects, including HBO's The Last of Us and Seth MacFarlane's The Orville.
McClurg's promotion is the latest in a series of high-profile hires and promotions by Digital Domain as the studio continues expanding its labor force and services worldwide. Founded in 1993, the award-winning studio prepares to celebrate its 30th anniversary during one of its most successful stretches in three decades. The studio recently completed work on HBO's The Last of Us, Amazon's Carnival Row, and Marvel Studios' Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, with several major projects still underway.
Source: Digital Domain
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
