Blockhead
- Open roles
- 0
- Founded
- 2010
- Employees
- 1-10
- Offices
- 1
About Blockhead
Blockhead is a boutique visual effects and post-production studio working across commercials, feature films and episodic television. Founded in Auckland in 2010, it expanded into Australia in 2017 and developed Sydney into its principal production hub. The studio serves agencies, production companies and directors across Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America.
Its work spans photorealistic invisible effects, creature animation, digital environments and detailed compositing. Projects can involve creating entirely digital elements or integrating effects into photographed footage, supported by visual effects supervision and technical consultation during production. The studio combines CG asset creation and animation with finishing and colour grading, covering both individual effects sequences and broader post-production assignments.
From concept to finishing
Blockhead's capabilities extend from concept design, look development and pre-visualization through to final compositing. Its artists create creatures, digital doubles, vehicles and other hard-surface assets, alongside environment extensions and digital matte paintings. Simulation work includes fire, water, blood and destruction, while matchmoving, camera tracking, rotoscoping and clean-up support the integration of effects with live action.
For commercial productions, the studio provides Flame compositing, finishing and digital colour grading. Its longform services include visual effects and title design for feature films and episodic series. On-set supervision and technical shoot consultation connect production decisions with the requirements of the finished image.
Commercial and longform work
The studio's advertising portfolio includes Telstra's “Scamageddon” and “The Shoemaker,” Toyota's “HiLux – In a Pickle,” Budget Direct's “Meteor” and “Portal,” and Air New Zealand's “Dave the Goose.” Other supplied credits include campaigns for Honda, Optus, AAMI, Uber Eats and Shanghai Disney Resort.
Its film and television work includes visual effects sequences and digital environments for the science-fiction feature I Am Mother, alongside creature work and environmental enhancements for The Watch. These projects reflect a practice spanning advertising, cinematic storytelling and episodic production.
More about Blockhead
Founders and creative leadership
Creative Directors Stefan Coory and Nigel Mortimer co-founded the studio. Both began as machine-room runners in Auckland in the late 1990s before developing their careers overseas as senior visual effects artists and supervisors at London post houses including The Mill, Glassworks and MPC.
Production methods and operating model
The report describes an artist-led hybrid pipeline combining Maya, Houdini, Nuke and Flame with real-time engines and custom machine-learning tools. Applications include rotoscoping, camera matching and look generation, with artists retaining control of the results. A small permanent team scales production through project-based contract artists.
The collaboration with FINCH on MLC's “The Future” is identified as an example of the studio's hybrid AI/VFX approach.
Industry recognition
Blockhead received Gold for Post Production/VFX Company of the Year 2025 at the shots Asia Pacific Awards, following Silver in 2022.
Notable credits
22 creditsOffices
Current and former locations of Blockhead
- Level 1, 2 Oxford Street, Paddington, NSW 2021, AustraliaSydney, New South Wales, Australia
Sydney Studio
HeadquartersOpened 2017
About this office
Overall headquarters and primary production studio in the former Albury Hotel building, with Flame suites, grading theatres and longform finishing facilities.
- Level 1, 54 Ponsonby Road, Grey Lynn / Ponsonby, Auckland 1011, New ZealandAuckland, New Zealand
Auckland Studio
Former officeOpened 2010
About this office
Historical founding studio. The report identifies the physical facility as closed and operations as consolidated into Sydney; it does not establish a physical closure year.
Open roles
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