Metaphysic Announces Strategic Hires of Leading Hyperreal AI Creator Sam Head and AI Compositing Supervisor Thomas Salama and Leads Scott Bourne and Matteo Olivieri-Dancey

Formerly of Disney's Industrial Light & Magic, the New Hires Will Bolster Metaphysic's Creative Team Working on Entertainment Projects, Including Miramax's "Here"

LONDON, March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Metaphysic announced today the appointment of leading hyperreal AI and VFX creator Sam Head, publicly known as Shamook, as the company's Senior AI Model Artist, as well as Thomas Salama, AI & Compositing Supervisor, Scott Bourne, AI Compositing Lead and Matteo Olivieri Dancey, AI Innovation Lead. The team arrives from George Lucas-founded and Walt Disney Company-owned entertainment firm, Industrial Light & Magic, where they collectively led de-aging and hyperreal content for ABBA: Voyage concert experience, The Book of Boba Fett, and more. Head, Salama, Bourne, and Olivieri-Dancey will report to Metaphysic's Chief Innovation Officer, Jo Plaete.

The new hires mark a significant investment in Metaphysic's creative team following an extraordinary year of high-profile partnerships and projects in the entertainment industry. Global film and television studio Miramax recently tapped the company as its official Generative AI partner for the major motion picture "Here," and Metaphysic also entered into a strategic partnership with CAA. The entertainment industry took note of Metaphysic following a history-making run on "America's Got Talent." Metaphysic created live hyperreal performances of Elvis Presley, bringing generative AI to TV for the first time ever and effectively changing the future of entertainment.

Thomas Graham, Co-Founder & CEO of Metaphysic, said, "The entertainment industry is rapidly evolving, and Metaphysic has quickly become an in-demand technology provider to help production houses and studios produce real-time, realistic enactments. As we enter into new partnerships and projects to shape the future of entertainment, we are thrilled to be joined by the AI and compositing spaces' brightest minds: Sam, Scott, Thomas, and Matteo."

Hyperreal content artist Sam Head rose to fame for creating hyperrealistic avatars of iconic movie scenes on YouTube, including reimaging Tom Holland within previous portrayals of Spiderman, inserting Mel Gibson in Mad Max Fury Road, and de-aging avatars of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. The videos garnered millions of views and drew critical acclaim for the artist's work reimagining young Luke Skywalker in the Mandalorian. Sam's work caught the attention of Lucasfilms, and in 2021 he was hired as Senior Facial Capture Artist to help lead the company's technological capabilities to achieve photorealistic de-aging.

Sam Head, Senior AI Model Artist at Metaphysic, says: "As a visual artist, my goal is to surprise and delight the viewer, recreating or completely reimagining iconic scenes and moments in entertainment. Metaphysic is the preeminent technology company, setting the bar for the entire industry by developing hyperreal, photorealistic content for TV, film, and beyond, and I am thrilled to join this incredibly talented team."

Visual effects veteran Thomas Salama joins Metaphysic after spending over a decade leading visual effects and animation efforts for companies including Industrial Light and Magic and Oscar-winning VFX company DNEG. In his role as Lead Compositor at Industrial Light and Magic, Salama worked closely with Scott Bourne and Matteo Olivieri-Dancey, skilled visual effects artists who spent over 12 years collectively with the leading entertainment provider as Digital Compositors. Salama, Bourne and Olivieri-Dancey possess an extensive shared resume of developing the visual effects and imagery for Oscar-winning feature films including Interstellar and Blade Runner 2049, and blockbuster film franchises including the Star Wars and Jurassic World sagas.

As the newest members of the development team, Head, Salama, Bourne, and Olivieri-Dancey collectively bring decades of experience to their roles. Together they will enhance Metaphysic's leading software to produce hyperreal AI content and iterate on the company's models to continue pushing the boundaries of how consumers experience Metaphysic's immersive photorealistic AI. Additionally, as Metaphysic is contracted for new television and film projects, the new hires will work in close concert with Metaphysic's team of AI and VFX experts to continue to create cutting-edge technologies revolutionizing how film and television are made.

ABOUT METAPHYSIC
Metaphysic is the industry leader in developing AI technologies and machine learning research to create immersive photorealisitic content at internet scale. Recently named the official generative AI partner for Miramax's forthcoming feature film "Here" and a strategic partner of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Metaphysic's cutting-edge proprietary technology has quickly positioned the company as an in-demand partner for the biggest names in Hollywood. Metaphysic's team of machine learning researchers and generative AI pioneers are focused on an ethical web3 economy where any person can own and control their biometric data while unlocking the future of creativity. Since 2018, the team behind Metaphysic has pioneered machine learning research in generative content. It has been the driving force behind the mass popularisation of hyperreal synthetic media and via its @DeepTomCruise channel and performances on AGT. Find out more about our technology at www.metaphysic.ai. 

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