Gorilla Post Production - one of Dublin’s fastest growing post production facilities for audio, graphics and video editing - has announced the appointment of Dominic Lord as its new Head of Video and a production slate of three major animation series.
Founded by Managing Director Barry Reid in 2009, the company began as a single recording studio and has since grown to three studios and two new Avid and Final Cut suites - offering such services as audio and video post-production, voice over recording, sound design, surround sound mixing, off-line editing, on-line editing and grading.
Among the recent high profile productions in Gorilla Post’s portfolio are ‘John Lonergan's Circus’, ‘The Estate’, ‘The Rod Squad’ series 2, ‘Hell's Kitchen to Hollywood’, ‘Strictly Am Dram’, and ‘The Hardy Bucks Movie’.
Barry told IFTN about Gorilla Post’s origins, works-in-progress and plans for the future.
‘It's been a very positive year for us so far and our best period to date,’ Barry said. ‘We're particularly excited about the volume of video post we've been doing alongside our audio work. Providing that package for our clients has been really satisfying, especially in a relatively short period of time since setting up our video department last year. We've obviously had to hire new staff to accommodate the workload, in both audio and video.’
One such appointment is Dominic Lord who now oversees the video post-production side of operations at Gorilla and spoke to IFTN about his new role.
‘I’m delighted to be working at a facility such as Gorilla Post, especially to be part of a company early on, who are forward thinking and always looking to improve their offering. It’s refreshing, especially in these times,’ he said.
With over 25 years’ experience working as an online editor in London, Rome and Dublin, Dominic is equally proficient in both Avid and Final Cut Pro, allowing Gorilla to finish projects in either format.
‘Dominic not only brings flexibility and a wealth of technical knowledge to our video department but also his people skills,’ Barry added. ‘And it’s so important in business. It’s not just about how good you can do the job but also how well you can relate to your clients on a personal level. That’s what strengthens ties and creates excellent relationships that can last long into the future.’
Barry noted that while the first quarter of the year was their strongest to date, bookings remain strong to the end of the year - with animation a key area in Gorilla Post’s repertoire.
Post-production is already underway on 3 children’s animated series - ‘Wildernuts’ by Kavaleer Productions; ‘Inis Spraoi’ by Monster Entertainment & Magpie6 Media and ‘Newsbag’ by Ice-House Productions, the sister company to Brown Bag Films.
‘Wildernuts’ is a cartoon aimed at young children in which five heroes explore a colourful island on their flying ship, the Cloud Hopper, and encounter a variety of ecosystems. Gorilla Post has been commissioned to complete post-production on 26 seven minute episodes.
‘Inis Spraoi’ is also geared towards pre-schoolers and follows Sean, Roisin and friends on their daily adventures attending playschool on a mystical island with a teacher called Mister O'Dear, who is literally a deer. There are 26 eleven minute episodes in the series for Gorilla to work on.
‘Newsbag’, on the other hand, skews towards an older age demographic and is the brainchild of this year’s IFTA Rising Star winner and ‘Pilgrim Hill director’ Gerard Barrett. Pilgrim Hill was also a project that got completed at Gorilla Post, where ‘Newsbag’ is now being posted.
In an interview with IFTN, Mr Barrett described ‘'Newsbag' as like a ‘mix between South Park and the I.T. Crowd’ - with 10 episodes at 26 minutes each - which will be premiering in September, backed by the Irish Film Board and BAI.
‘Bratzillaz’ is another animation series that Gorilla recently completed sound and picture post on. The series is an adaptation of the popular US rag doll range created by US manufacturer MGA, consisting of 10 three minute episodes for web and TV and produced by Emmy award-winning studio Boulder Media.
Looking beyond these productions, what are Gorilla Post’s long-term plans for the future?
‘Our goal is to continue to produce the high standards that enabled us to grow in the first place,’ Barry said. ‘All going well that should help us along our growth path into the future. It’s a small industry here in Ireland and word gets around fast so we’ll be looking to build on our reputation.
'Diversification is also vital. We’re not just an audio facility, we now provide high end finishing in our on-line and grading suites. As a result we have a healthy spread of clients in programming, advertising, film and animation who can trust in our services across the board. Being able to offer full post production services - audio and video - under one roof in a more personable and friendly environment is therefore a major plus for us. I think it’s what sets us apart for a company of our size.’
For more information on the post production services offered by Gorilla Post, click here.
