Weta’s Shawn Dunn Joins Original Force as Chief Technology Officer

Weta’s Shawn Dunn Joins Original Force as Chief Technology Officer

May 26th, 2016

Jerry Beck

Shawn Dunn has joined Original Force, LTD as Chief Technology Officer, it was announced today by Harley Zhao, president and founder of Original Force.

Dunn will be responsible for overseeing the technology foundation of the company, implementing IT and workflow innovations that support the creative and artistic process for Original Force (Rachet and Clank), including its slate of internally produced original motion pictures currently in production, which include Duck Duck Goose, Oldzilla and QQ Speed, as well as their games and animation divisions. Original Force has nearly 1,200 employees across its Los Angeles, Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai and Chengdu offices.

Dunn spent the past 13 years at Weta Digital, where he most recently served as their Head of Research & Development for the Motion Group. In this role he managed all of the R&D activity for their animation, motion editing, pre-vis and crowd simulation groups. He oversaw artists working on films such as Steven Spielberg’s highly-anticipated The BFG, the blockbuster The Jungle Book, and Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Road Chip, among others.

Prior to this role, Dunn was Head of Layout and Animation Technologies, where he worked on films such as Avatar, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Rise of The Planet of The Apes, Iron Man 3, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Man Of Steel, The Adventures of Tintin, Dawn of the Planets of the Apes, The Avengers, Prometheus, The A-Team, Gulliver’s Travels, X-Men: First Class and many more.

Dunn began his career at Weta in 2003 as an Animation Technical Director where he developed tools and workflows for the animation department and supervised animation TD’s on films such as I, Robot and The Lord Of The Rings: The Return of the King.

“Shawn is an accomplished leader with a great eye for taking complex concepts and translating them into digital worlds, which is the cornerstone of innovation at Original Force,” said Zhao. “His years at Weta have given him a unique perspective on how technology serves the creative and artistic process and he will be an invaluable asset to our company as we produce the highest quality animation for our clients and our internally produced slate of films.”

Prior to Weta, Dunn spent almost 5 years as a Team Leader in Global Customer Services at Alias|Wavefront, where he was responsible for the development and deployment of multiple educational products for the entertainment industry as well as products used in standard classrooms and globally through eLearning.

Dunn began his entertainment career as a 3D Animator at ICE (Integrated Communications & Entertainment) in 1994.

ABOUT ORIGINAL FORCE
Original Force is dedicated to telling compelling, visually stunning stories through digital animation. Last year, the studio launched a facility in Los Angeles led by Hollywood production veterans Penney Finkelman Cox and Sandra Rabins, who have overseen such animated motion pictures as Shrek, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Surf’s Up and The Prince of Egypt. Under their auspices, Original Force is developing and producing feature films both on its own and in partnership with major content providers in the U.S. and China. The studio is actively building relationships with visionary filmmakers and artists and exploring innovative approaches to creating animated entertainment with broad, global appeal.

Founded in 1999 by President and CEO Harley Zhao, Original Force has established itself as one of the preeminent animation houses in the video game arena, providing top-quality content services to global clients including Microsoft, Activision, Electronic Arts, Sony, Disney, Rockstar Games and Tencent. Its art team has created in-game animation and effects for dozens of top-selling titles including “Grand Theft Auto V,” “Need for Speed: The Run,” “League of Legends” and “The Sims 3.”

With nearly 1,200 employees across its Los Angeles, Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai and Chengdu offices, Original Force prides itself as a major animation studio with production facilities in both the U.S. and China. The company made its first foray into Hollywood when it was chosen by DreamWorks Animation to serve as the lead animation shop for “Dragons: Riders of Berk,” the television spinoff of the studio’s 2011 Oscar®-nominated feature How to Train Your Dragon. The series premiered on Cartoon Network in 2012.

Chinese digital-entertainment giant Tencent is a strategic investor in Original Force. A $200-billion global conglomerate whose subsidiaries include Internet, mobile, instant-messaging and music-distribution companies, Tencent also owns significant stakes in such successful U.S. game makers as Activision Blizzard (“Call of Duty®”), Riot Games (“League of Legends”), Epic Games (“Gears of War”), and recently, Tencent (“QQ Speed”) in developing a feature film based on their game. Many other giants in the entertainment industry such as LeVision and Weiying are also strategic investors in Original Force.

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Jerry Beck

Writer, cartoon producer and author of more than 15 books on animation history. A former studio exec with Nickelodeon and Disney; currently on the faculty at both CalArts in Valencia and Woodbury University in Burbank, California.