Rising Sun Pictures

Rising Sun Pictures
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Visual effects
Founded	1995
Founder	Tony Clark, Wayne Lewis, Gail Fuller
Headquarters	Adelaide, Australia
Area served	Global
Key people	Tony Clark (studio head), Meredith Meyer-Nichols (head of production and executive producer)
Products	Visual effects for film and television
Number of employees	270 (2021)
Parent	FuseFX

Rising Sun Pictures (RSP) is a visual effects studio based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The company was co-founded and is currently led by Tony Clark. Since April 2021, it has operated as a subsidiary of FuseFX. Its portfolio includes work on films and television series such as Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Deadpool & Wolverine, Charlotte's Web, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Knuckles.

History

Established in 1995 by Tony Clark, Wayne Lewis, and Gail Fuller in Adelaide, the company’s name derives from the Rising Sun Inn located in Kensington, where the founders initially convened.

In 2015, RSP formed a partnership with the University of South Australia to integrate nine students from the Bachelor of Media Arts program into its team as part of their academic training. This initiative remains active, with numerous graduates joining RSP's workforce.

The studio expanded in 2016 by launching a production office at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney. This facility aimed to better serve both domestic filmmakers and international clients by becoming involved earlier in production phases. However, this Sydney office has since been shut down.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia's relatively protected status allowed film production activities to proceed almost uninterrupted, enabling RSP to contribute to projects like Mortal Kombat in Adelaide.

In March 2021, RSP increased its physical studio space and workforce. By mid-2021, it inaugurated a modest production studio located in Brisbane’s Southbank area.

The acquisition of Rising Sun Pictures by Los Angeles-based FuseFX occurred in April 2021. While maintaining its brand identity and operational independence, RSP gained access to enhanced resources to support further growth.

RSP collaborates with the Australian Institute for Machine Learning to create cutting-edge tools for visual effects development.

In January 2023, the Pitch Black Company was formed to unify several brands previously under the Fuse Group, including Folks VFX, FuseFX, Rising Sun Pictures, and El Ranchito VFX.

Description and personnel

Rising Sun Pictures operates from its offices situated on Flinders Street in Adelaide. As of June 2022, Tony Clark continues to serve as studio head, while Meredith Meyer-Nichols holds the positions of head of production and executive producer. The company employed around 270 staff members in Adelaide during 2021.

Awards

The company has earned multiple accolades within the industry. In 2021, RSP received AEAF Special Merit Awards for its work on Mortal Kombat and season two of The Boys. The following year, it secured two AEAF Bronze Awards for contributions to Jungle Cruise and Cowboy Bebop. Additionally, VFX supervisor Julian Hutchens was co-recipient of the AACTA Award for Best Visual Effects or Animation in recognition of his efforts on Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis.

ARIA Music Awards

Since their inception in 1987, the ARIA Music Awards have celebrated outstanding achievements across Australian music genres. Rising Sun Pictures received a nomination in 2003 for Best Video with Rogue Traders' track "One of My Kind".

Film and Television Credits

Source:

Participation in Open Source Initiatives

Rising Sun Pictures supports a variety of open source projects, including:

Earth – a tool designed for locating files across extensive networks and providing real-time disk usage monitoring
pyshake – a bridge connecting Python programming with Shake
Affogato – a plugin developed for Avid's Softimage XSI 3D animation platform
Sun Grid Engine – improved with the addition of Array Job Interdependencies

External links