Amplifying the future of media & entertainment

We had so much fun attending Unreal Fest in Orlando! From a stunning new tech demo with CD Projekt Red, to mind-blowing MetaHuman updates, and much more, the show was jam-packed with exciting news. Thanks to our friends at Epic Games, and to all the press who attended, for a memorable show! Check out stories in IGN, The Verge, Digiday, GamesBeat, Creative Bloq, and MobileSyrup.

Thanks to Ad Age for a beautiful celebration of creativity and craft in advertising and production at the A-List gala in New York. It was wonderful to connect with old friends and make new ones. Congrats to Biscuit, m ss ng p eces, and LANDIA on their company wins and to Holly Vega, Rosie May Bird-Smith, and Amber Saunders on their individual wins! Check out photos from the evening’s festivities here.

NAB Show 2025 provided a forum for meaningful connection, big ideas and discovery that will help shape the future of entertainment technology. AJA Video Systems, ASWF, Amazon Web Services and Foundry were there in full force, hosting panels, events, meeting with press and winning awards; see pictures here and read more about this year’s NAB in Variety. 

Congratulations to Biscuit Filmworks and m ss ng p eces, on making the Ad Age Production Company A-List once again! We’re also celebrating Landia being named a Production Standout! From creating clever and unexpected stories to balancing AI with human touch to exquisite craft in long-form spots, these companies are some of the best in the business! See the complete 2025 A-List here.

AWS launched Amazon GameLift Streams, enabling developers to upload their games onto fully-managed GPU instances in the cloud and start streaming in minutes, with little or no modification of their code. This exciting capability is already unlocking exciting new initiatives for developers including Jackbox Games, Ludeo and Bandai Namco; read more on CNBC, VentureBeat, Verge and Polygon.

Brahma, a technology company created by the DNEG Group, announced the acquisition of Metaphysic, a leading developer of AI content creation tech. This comes on the heels of the Visual Effects Society Awards where Metaphysic was honored with the prestigious Emerging Technology Award. Congratulations to all; more detail in Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline and The Wrap!

Congratulations the winners of the 23rd annual Visual Effects Society Awards, and cheers to the VES for putting on yet another great event honoring the brightest stars in the VFX business. It was exciting to reunite with so many clients, industry and press friends. The highlight of the night? A surprise appearance by Keanu Reeves who graciously toasted Hiroyuki Sanada, winner of the Creative Excellence and Visionary Award. Read more in Variety.

Congratulations to Andreas Nilsson of Biscuit Filmworks for winning this year’s DGA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Commercials! This marks his third DGA nomination and second win. Andreas took home the trophy this year based on his work for Apple, Virgin Media, Andrex, and Hennessy. Read more at Shoot!

Super Bowl LIX was well played for RazPR clients. From Jack Begert and Biscuit’s Halftime Show teaser, to Biscuit’s spots for Rocket, Squarespace, DoorDash, and Bosch; to m ss ng p eces’ spot for Cetaphil and their Uber Eats activation on the Caesars Superdome; to Institute’s Lauren Greenfield’s iconic Always, “Like A Girl,” being named the Best Super Bowl Ad of All Time, AND the 13.6 million viewers who tuned into the Tubi live stream powered by AWS!

AWS today announced an incredible milestone with benchmark testing support for up to 100 million concurrently connected users (CCU) for a single game using Amazon GameLift. The test also showcased how 100,000 players can be added to a game each second offering developers the ability to scale their games far beyond what’s been previously possible. Read more in VentureBeat!

We kicked off 2025 at CES in Las Vegas inspired by clients Autodesk, AWS and Metaphysic who presented about the role of AI in Hollywood. Sessions explored how AI is impacting content creators and VFX practitioners, and considerations that technology developers are making with AI to unlock new ways of working. Read more in Forbes!

Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg blur the lines between eras in a groundbreaking new campaign for Still G.I.N. By Dre and Snoop, uniting with legends Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. through cutting-edge technology – marking another milestone moment for the hip-hop icons’ premium spirit venture. To bring this vision to life, the brand collaborated with their creative agency, Rosewood Creative, acclaimed director Dave Meyers, and entertainment-focused generative AI company Metaphysic. More in People, AdAge and Vibe.

On November 1, 2024, New Yorkers were surprised with an epic Fortnite Times Square takeover. As the sun faded, Ice Spice and Snoop Dogg performed for the public on the TSX Stage complete with stunning visuals customized to each track, synchronized across all of the massive screens in the iconic square. Read more in Variety, Billboard and The Verge.

The Academy Software Foundation (ASWF) aims to increase the quality and quantity of contributions to the content creation industry’s open source software base. The foundation recently added Samsung as a premiere member, bringing OpenAPV in as ASWF’s newest sandbox project. Learn more about this latest development in Variety. 

Autodesk University welcomed over 10,000 attendees October 15-17 in San Diego, CA. At AU the media & entertainment team introduced enhanced capabilities across M&E tools, from Maya and 3ds Max to Arnold, Wonder Studio and Flow, many integrating AI workflows to help automate tedious tasks, giving artists more space for creative iteration and storytelling. Read more in Forbes.

Epic Games kicked off its annual developer event, Unreal Fest, today in Seattle with lots of exciting announcements and demos of new features coming in Unreal Engine 5.5. Visit The Verge for more details about the new “Launch Everywhere with Epic” program for game devs, and visit Variety to learn how director Tim Miller is using Unreal Engine in his upcoming Amazon series “Secret Level.”

Headlines. Awards. New Products. Partnerships. Collaborations. Old Friends. New Friends. Stroopwafels!! Cheers to another great IBC - International Broadcasting Convention Show.Click here for a peep at what the folks at AJA Video Systems, Amazon Web Services and Iodyne were up to in Amsterdam.

The Verge does a deep dive on the newly introduced Pro Mini smart drive from iodyne introducing exciting first time pro features for a portable SSD drive including 2-10X the sustained performance of typical pro SSDs, solid state cooling via AIrJet® modules, a customizable e-paper digital label, Find My tracking and much more.

Institute director Sandra Winther sat down with Surfer Magazine to discuss her latest short film, ‘A New Wave,’ which profiles iconic South African surfer Mikey February. Click to learn more about how she made the film - and the time she caught a wave on Mikey’s personal yellow twin pin.

SIGGRAPH 2024 in Denver was one for the books; brains and bellies are full! A smaller show meant more time to make new connections and greater access to some of the industry’s brightest minds. Thank you to the Academy Software Foundation, Autodesk and the Visual Effects Society for hosting fantastic panels, sessions and events.

Congratulations to creative studio Impossible Objects on the opening of their new Culver City facility and LED process volume. Read more here about how IO is making virtual production and LED capture more accessible to commercial and indie productions, and is using the using the tech to product extraordinary visuals.

VentureBeat covers Rivian’s expanded use of Unreal Engine with the introduction of its latest R1 vehicles. Inspired by visual storytelling that represents the best of what’s possible in the entertainment world, this HMI update delivers a first-of-its-kind animated look.

Exciting news! Autodesk has acquired Wonder Dynamics, the cloud-based AI technology company that helps artists more easily animate, light and composite 3D characters in scenes. Read more in Variety and TechCrunch.

Interactive racing series Lollipop enters into production and announces a collaboration with title sponsor Mobil 1; visit Collider for more details about this first of its kind entertainment experience created by David Ayer and produced by Feature.io.

AWS introduces Deadline Cloud to take the guesswork out of rendering for VFX and animation in a Variety exclusive. Check out the full story here, featuring an interview with AWS’s General Manager of Creative Tools Antony Passemard.

Had a blast at GDC supporting the Epic Games team for their annual State of Unreal presentation! From Unreal Engine 5.4 to new UEFN features, creators now have more resources than ever to tell their stories. Catch up on all of their GDC news here.

Congratulations to our clients, Biscuit Filmworks and m ss ng p eces, for yet another year of earning top spots on Ad Age Production Company A-List! See the full 2024 A-List here.

Next week at SXSW, check out two of our clients on these exciting panels: Epic Games and the Dune 2 production team will discuss the use of Unreal Engine across the film and accompanying video game, and Biscuit Filmworks will moderate a discussion with The Glue Society and Mother on all things experiential advertising. See you in Austin!

Fela founder, EP, and managing partner Taj Critchlow opens up about his experience as an entrepreneur, the lack of ethnically-owned production houses, and what Black History Month means to him. Read the full interview in Little Black Book.

We’re loving all the great ads from this year's Super Bowl! Shout out to our clients who directed some of the Big Game’s most memorable spots, including: Biscuit Filmworks’ Andreas Nilsson for Etsy, Daniel Warwick for Coors Light, Jeff Low for BetMGM and Pringles; m ss ng p eces’ Michael Marantz for Cetaphil; and Lord Danger and Modern Logic’s Mike Diva for DoorDash. And congrats to the lucky few who scored Monday off thanks to a special collab with Happy Coffee x Magnetic Field x Superconductor.