Meet the Startups Behind ‘A Wrinkle In Time’

As Disney was wrapping up production on A Wrinkle In Time, the latest film from lauded  director Ava DuVernay and an adaptation of the beloved children’s book, out Friday, the production team reached out to Rodeo FX to add finishing touches on a selected scene. This included, as Soles tells Inc., a vague request for a red visual effect to emanate from the mouth of protagonist Meg Murry (played by Storm Reid.) “They had no idea what they wanted the red breath to look like, and of course, we only had a matter of weeks to figure out how to generate it,” says Soles. So his team launched a computer algorithm that simulates the movement of particles, such that they spread out and dissipate in a color scheme that fit with the background of the shot. Despite coming in at the last minute–and hurriedly creating a visual product with little creative guidance–Rodeo FX not only met Ava DuVernay’s vision, she personally reached out to thank them for the project.

While major production companies and distributors, à la Disney, typically get most of the credit for the success of Hollywood films, there are dozens of independently-run startups like Rodeo that contribute in no small part to the success of projects, and without which these films would not look as glossy as they do. Rodeo, alone, has worked on top-grossing projects such as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Black Panther, as well as the award-winning television series “Game of Thrones.” Meanwhile, as the industry continues to grow, “it can be tough to carve out your own niche,” concedes Soles, an early employee and now part-owner of the now 450 person company. It helps, he suggests, that Rodeo is headquartered in Canada, where the company receives a generous tax credit from the government.

While Rodeo had red breath on its hands, The Lidar Guys were focused the bigger picture. The Albuquerque, New Mexico startup, specializes in 3D scanning and data capturing. Founder and CEO Jed Frechette, a geologist by training, launched the business back in 2009 when a colleague asked for his help on the post-apocalyptic neo-Western The Book of Eli. Unlike the majority of effects shops, explains Frechette, “we’re at the very front of visual effects, and make digital computer models of any sort of real world object that you [the director] needs.” The five-person company has worked on dozens of projects including The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Parts I and II, where they helped to bring the ethereal ‘Capitol’ city to life.  

For A Wrinkle In Time, the Lidar Guys modeled various shots of the New Zealand countryside, which were then handed off to larger visual effects vendors to generate new imagery to be added. “Sometimes, they wanted to replace the mountains behind the lake, or add more alien geography or something like that. By using our scans, they have good reference for what was physically there and make sure what they add matches up with the computer generated topography,” explains Frechette of his work.