The Refinery has landed in Joburg with a new fully kitted Bryanston studio offering top-tier colour, VFX, online and final mix under one roof. Connected to their Cape Town HQ, The Refinery Joburg is ready to deliver high-end finishing across commercials, branded content, long-form and music videos. Leading colour is Johannesburg-born Liam Traynor, bringing home experience from London, Europe and LA.
The Refinery, South Africa’s award winning post house, is under new ownership. Previously owned by eMedia Holdings, The Refinery in Cape Town and The First Order in Joburg now fall under The First Order Group, a proud Level 2 BBBEE Contributor for Post Production Services. We caught up with the teams from both offices about the new cross-country alliance.
With Refinery seeing a growing demand for local commercial VFX work, Eddie Addinall and Tracy-Lee Portnoi will be bringing their knowledge and technical expertise to grow the VFX department into the commercial space. Online Flame Artist Eddie will be working collaboratively with the rest of the Refinery departments to creatively drive and lead the team in finishing commercials, while the company will of course be continuing their episodic and long-form work.
Fresh from being nominated for an Oscar for ‘My Octopus Teacher’ we catch up with one of the leading full service post production facilities about what it was like working on the doccie. We also meet Refinery’s new leadership trio and get a preview of their new swanky studios. There’s a lot, so strap in!