Perth’s Boogie Monster creates visual effects for Columbia Pictures ‘The Shallows’

Audiences around Australia have been treated to some spectacular scenes in the latest release from Sony Pictures The Shallows playing in cinemas throughout Australia, thanks in part to the creative work of West Australian production facility, Boogie Monster.

The Perth-based boutique production house created over 130 graphically-driven visual effects shots for the new Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures Entertainment thriller that stars Blake Lively.

The film, which is currently playing in cinemas, has already engaged international audiences with box office earnings at AUD$123 million to date.

What started out as a small portfolio of visual effects shots, quickly turned into a much larger project, with the film’s director, Jaume Collet-Serra embracing the creative elements that the Boogie Monster team designed and created under the watchful eye of visual effects supervisor Nathan McGuinness. The local team went on to edge-out a number of internationally renowned companies to win the bid for the opening and closing main title sequences of the film, a decision that was testament to the hard work and trust built up between the US-based producers and the WA production company.

Boogie Monster’s leading VFX artist Phil Hew said “it was inspiring to be part of something truly international and to be working with a director on the other side of the world who trusted us with his vision”.

The project is a historic first, with Boogie Monster the first West Australian based facility to have worked on a big-budget Hollywood studio film.

Moving large amounts of data from the west coast of USA to the west coast of Australia (and back) posed no real challenge due to Boogie Monster’s investment in the latest technology and infrastructure. The workflow used their in-house Gigabit fibre network in conjunction with high-speed file transfer technology to move files seamlessly between Los Angeles and Perth.

“The time difference between LA and Perth was perfectly suited as we were able to get a brief in the morning, work locally the whole day and then send work files into the evening, ready for viewing as soon as the director got in for the morning LA time” said Boogie Monster Managing Director Steve Vojkovic.

Boogie Monster are no stranger to the feature post-production landscape, having worked on locally shot features Son Of A Gun and A Few Less Men.

“We hope this is the start of larger projects looking to the west coast of Australia for finishing. We have the talent and know how to not only do great work, but deliver it on time and on limited budgets which, given the challenging economic times, is just as important,” said Vojkovic.