Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1300552
PEOPLE www.postmagazine.com 31 POST SEPT/OCT 2020 RUTH WARDELL London VFX company Okay Studio recently wel- comed colorist Ruth Wardell to its growing team. She comes to the studio from Electric Theatre Collective and adds more fire power to its color department, working alongside senior colorist Stef Colosi. Okay Studio is based in East London and special- izes in offline and online editing, color and motion retouching. Wardell cut her teeth at post production company The Look before joining Electric Theatre Collective in 2015. Starting in their DMC department, she caught the attention of the color department quickly and was promoted to color assist after only six months. She was promoted to colorist in 2019. Her credits include work for Nike, Gucci and Adidas, as well as music videos for Sam Smith, Mabel and Jorja Smith. MIKE FLATHERS Mike Flathers has joined Lexington, MA's Signiant in the newly-created role of chief solutions officer, reporting directly to CEO Margaret Craig. Signiant's SDCX (Software Defined Content Exchange) SaaS platform is designed for media companies looking to adapt their workflows to adjust to new industry dynamics and a multi-cloud, hybrid-cloud world. Flathers will support growing customer demand for deep engagement on how to best employ this platform to address emerging technical and opera- tional challenges. He will also connect this exchange of ideas directly into the company's product development team. Flathers joins Signiant from IBM Aspera, where he was most recently Aspera CTO and an IBM Distinguished Engineer. MUSA BROOKER Musa Brooker, an animation pro with a two-decade career spanning stop-motion and 2D, has been named creative director at LA-based animation studio Six Point Harness. Brooker joined Six Point Harness in 2019 to provide creative and artistic leadership on an upcoming animated streaming series, and quickly became a valued part of the team, particularly as the company transitioned to remote production. He will continue leading creative direction on that series, for which Six Point Harness is providing animation production. He will also oversee the development and production of additional upcoming projects. Brooker has held positions at Will Vinton Studios, Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, Shadowmachine and MTV Animation. ANNABELLE DUNBAR-WHITTAKER Vaudeville Sound Group (www.vaudeville.tv), which specializes in creative sound design and mixing across digital platforms, commercials, broad- cast and film, has appointed Annabelle Dunbar- Whittaker executive producer of its Los Angeles facility. She was previously head of production at Cut+Run, where she was responsible for a large post team, scheduling, budgeting and delivery. In her new role, Dunbar-Whittaker will be tasked with overseeing Vaudeville's slate of creative content, with a focus on short-form work. The studio looks to build on success in the short-form space, having collaborating on commercials for global brands such as Apple Music, Sony, Amazon, Adidas and Bentley. Dunbar-Whittaker brings over a decade of industry experience, with com- mercial credits that include work for Expedia, Nike, Adidas, Geico, Facebook, Louis Vuitton, Microsoft, Samsung and Audi. EDWARD LINE The bi-coastal editorial house Exile has added editor Edward Line to its roster. He boasts more than a decade of experience in commercial, music video and narrative editing. Born to British and Malaysian parents, and having traveled extensively, Line has an appreciation of mu- sic, film and cuisine from around the world. He's also a proud member of the LGBTQ community and offers a multicultural perspective to his craft. On the commercial side, Line has worked with top agencies, including Wieden+Kennedy, Droga5 and Goodby Silverstein, and crafted work for Ancestry, EA Sports, Booking.com, Covergirl and Guinness. His music video credits include work for Usher, Sia and Ed Sheeran. MATT DARNALL Richmond, VA's Hue&Cry has bolstered its manage- ment team with the recent appointment of Matt Darnall, who joins the animation and design house as creative director. Having spent nearly seven years at The Mill, Darnall relocates from Chicago to join the Richmond studio. With more than 10 years in the animation and de- sign field, Darnall has worked as an illustrator, animator, designer, creative direc- tor and animation director. He cut his teeth freelancing in studios such as Digital Kitchen, Filmograph, Vitamin, Daily Planet, Sarofsky and Radar before taking a full-time design post at the expanding Mill office in Chicago in 2014. He was the first hire for the design department, and quickly emerged as a key player. His credits include work for Sony Playstation, Jack Daniels, Coors Light, Mike's Hard Lemonade, McDonald's, Extra Gum, Nike, State Farm, Visa, Tag Heuer, Chicago Bulls, HBO and The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences. SOPHIE GUNN Builders Club has expanded its London team with the recent hiring of Sophie Gunn, who joins the creative production agency as executive producer. She comes to the company from MPC, where over the past five years, she helped grow MPC Creative, working across a diverse range of projects, both direct-to-brand and alongside agencies. Her time there included collaborations with Palace, Burberry, Ralph Lauren, Adidas, Audi and Asics, among many others. Gunn also oversaw the successful growth of the MPC's motion design studio, growing it from a handful of designers into a bustling department of over 20 artists. This led to her promotion to executive producer of the London office's MPC Creative. Prior to MPC, Gunn worked at HHCL Agency, crossing over to work as a VFX producer. COREY SMITH ReDefine, the Montreal animation and visual effects services company that is part of the Dneg family, has appointed Corey Smith North American creative supervisor. Smith will play a leading part in the studio's creative direction, providing guidance, oversight and support for the projects going through ReDefine's Montreal hub. He will also work closely with ReDefine's global creative leadership team and support the development of new projects, co-productions and internal intellectual property in North America. Smith joins ReDefine from Dneg, where he was head of CG in Montreal. Prior to that, he worked as part of Dneg's feature animation team, having previously spent many years at Walt Disney Animation Studios, where he worked on proj- ects such as Dinosaur, Chicken Little, Tinker Bell and Meet the Robinsons.