After accepting an Academy Award earlier this month for his visual effects work on Avatar, Stephen Rosenbaum joins digital production studio Digital Domain as a Visual Effects Supervisor. Rosenbaum comes to Digital Domain from Weta Digital in New Zealand, where he spent the past three years overseeing revolutionary 3D visuals for James Cameron’s science fiction blockbuster. He reports to Gloria Borders, Digital Domain president of feature film operations.
Rosenbaum is a 22-year veteran of the visual effects industry and has worked with top directors including Bryan Singer, Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, Brett Ratner, Wolfgang Petersen and Barry Sonnenfeld. In addition to his most recent Academy Award for Avatar, Rosenbaum was honored with an Oscar for visual effects on Forrest Gump and also won BAFTA awards for special visual effects on both Avatar and Gump. Other film credits include visual effects work on I, Robot, X2: X-Men United, The Perfect Storm, Contact, Jurassic Park, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Die Hard 2 and The Abyss.
Digital Domain CEO Cliff Plumer said, “Only the most innovative minds in visual effects receive an Academy Award for their achievements, and Stephen has done it twice. His background and awards speak for themselves, so we are extremely fortunate to have Stephen on board as a leading member of the team.”
On Avatar, Rosenbaum spent the first two years of production working directly with Cameron on the performance capture process in Playa Vista, California and on principal photography in Wellington, New Zealand. In 2009 he returned to the Weta offices to oversee a number of visual effects sequences, working closely with Cameron and fellow visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri.
“Over the last few years, Digital Domain has become a technological and creative force in the movement to generate completely realistic digital characters,” Rosenbaum commented. “Building off the success of Benjamin Button, this company is redefining audience expectations and making it possible to tell stories that never could have made it to the screen before now. It’s thrilling to continue this company’s tradition of excellence.”
Digital Domain earned a 2009 Academy Award for achievement in visual effects on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and is currently in production on visual effects for Tron Legacy, The A-Team, Real Steel and Thor.
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