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Episode 391 – The Future of VFX – Lon Molnar of MARZ
The mission of Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies (MARZ) is to deliver feature-film quality visual effects on television timelines by harnessing GPU clusters, game engine technology, AI and senior industry talent. Leveraging these pillars allows us to consistently execute with both speed and quality for our premium television projects.
Lon Molnar is the Co-President of MARZ. With more than 20 years of experience, Lon has contributed a vast amount of visual effects to film and television as an Artist, VFX Supervisor, and former CEO of the award winning VFX company Intelligent Creatures. Inspired by the magic of TOY STORY, Lon attended the Vancouver Film School with the single goal of opening up his own VFX studio. As he built his resume, he became dissatisfied with working on VFX for tv, and set his sights on feature films. He became a VFX generalist, working in animation, lighting, compositing and modelling, while using a vast array of software.
After serving as the CG Supervisor on the groundbreaking films CHICAGO and THE CELL, he fulfilled his earlier dream and opened up Intelligent Creatures in 2002. Working with talented creators like Mark Forster, Darren Aronofsky, Alejandro González Iñárritu, David Tattersall, Oliver Stone and others, Lon quickly built the Toronto-based VFX house into an award-winning studio.
Intelligent Creatures lent its creativity to dozens of projects such as MR AND MRS SMITH, THE WITCH, and BABEL. They built robust pipelines to tackle critically-acclaimed projects, such as the WATCHMEN’s famous Rorschach mask of moving inkblots. Some of their later work, such as the award-winning series ORPHAN BLACK and the Emmy-nominated CURIOSITY: BATTLEFIELD CELL pushed the boundaries of visual effects on TV.
Fifteen years after the formation of Intelligent Creatures, Lon recognized that unlike when he had started in the industry, TV was no longer the “lesser” medium for VFX. When he spoke to Jonathan Bronfman, the two found themselves sharing symbiotic ideas. They saw a gap that others didn’t. What if, they asked, we can build a company that focuses on serving only one market, and defines the standard of excellence in that market? That was the beginning of MARZ.
In this Podcast, Allan McKay interviews Co-President of MARZ Lon Molnar about the company’s history and leveraging its technology innovations; the invisible visual effects and the development of the de-aging technology; positive outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic in the field of VFX an so much more!
Lon Molnar on Allan McKy’s Podcast: www.allanmckay.com/234
Lon Molnar on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0597163/
Lon Molnar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lon-molnar-2287ba5/?originalSubdomain=ca
MARZ on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marz_vfx/?hl=en / @marz_vfx
MARZ on Twitter: https://twitter.com/marzvfx?lang=en / @marzvfx
MARZ on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Movie-Television-Studio/Monsters-Aliens-Robots-Zombies-VFX-532236013937689/
Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies’ Website: https://monstersaliensrobotszombies.com/
MARZ’s Work on Tim Burton’s WEDNESDAY: https://www.awn.com/news/netflix-sets-tim-burtons-wednesday-release-date
EPISODE 391 – THE FUTURE OF VFX – LON MOLNAR OF MARZ
Hi, everyone!
This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 391! I’m sitting down with the Co-President of MARZ Lon Molnar. We talk about the history of MARZ and how the studio utilized its newest technology.
Lon and I get into a lot of great topics. We talk about:
- Positive outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic;
- Leveraging technological innovations in the Company’s history;
- De-Aging technology at MARZ;
- The “invisible” visual effects;
- The role of VFX Artists in the future of VFX;
- The company’s work on WANDA VISION, ANT-MAN and THE BOYS;
- And so much more!
I hope your 2023 is off to a great start. I’m really excited to chat with Lon!
Let’s dive in!
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FROM ALLAN McKAY:
[01:27] Have you ever sent in your reel and wondered why you didn’t get the callback or what the reason was you didn’t get the job? Over the past 20 years of working for studios like ILM, Blur Studio, Ubisoft, I’ve built hundreds of teams and hired hundreds of artists — and reviewed thousands of reels! That’s why I decided to write The Ultimate Demo Reel Guide from the perspective of someone who actually does the hiring. You can get this book for free right now at www.allanmckay.com/myreel!
[49:54] One of the biggest problems we face as artists is figuring out how much we’re worth. I’ve put together a website. Check it out: www.VFXRates.com! This is a chance for you to put in your level of experience, your discipline, your location — and it will give you an accurate idea what you and everyone else in your discipline should be charging. Check it out: www.VFXRates.com!
Okay, what did you think? I want to thank Lon for joining the Podcast again. Feel free to check out the previous interview I’ve done with Lon: www.allanmckay.com/234
Next week, I’m interviewing Alex Serdiuk, Co-Founder of Respeecher, about the AI technology of synthetic speech; leveraging it in the fields of entertainment, medicine and investigative journalism; Respeecher’s work on The Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian and so much more! This technology is revolutionizing Hollywood.
Until then –
Rock on!
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