Thor: Ragnarok, Marvel #8 for Exceptional Minds With Autism

Los Angeles, CA, November 3, 2017 (Newswire.com) - ​The special bond between autism and comic book heroes was once again evident at Wednesday’s cast and crew screening of Marvel’s latest movie "Thor: Ragnarok," which was attended by eight visual effects artists from Exceptional Minds Studio.

The artists – all young adults on the autism spectrum – are both Marvel fans and working professionals who provide visual cleanup for feature films. Exceptional Minds artists have done visual effects for Marvel movies "Spider-Man: Homecoming," "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," "Doctor Strange," "X-Men: Apocalypse," "Captain America: Civil War," "Ant-Man," and "Avengers: Age of Ultron."

What a wealth of untapped potential exists in this extraordinary group of young adults.

Victoria Alonso, Marvel Studios, EVP of Physical Production

"Thor: Ragnarok" is the eighth Marvel movie for the artists at Exceptional Minds Studio, the only visual effects and animation studio staffed entirely by professionals on the autism spectrum.

During Wednesday’s screening at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles, Marvel Studios Executive Vice President of Physical Production Victoria Alonso applauded the work done by Exceptional Minds and encouraged others to learn from the studio’s example. “What a wealth of untapped potential exists in this extraordinary group of young adults,” she said.

Since opening its doors almost four years ago, the small studio has done tracker marker removal, split screen, green screen keying, and rotoscoping for compositing as well as end title credit work and animation for more than 50 major motion pictures and/or television series.

"Thor: Ragnarok" opens in theaters today, November 3, as the third film in the Thor franchise featuring the god of thunder, and promises to be Marvel’s highest scoring movie yet.

Photo: Shown, left to right, at the cast and crew screening of "Thor: Ragnarok" held at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles, on November 1 are Exceptional Minds visual effects artists Eli Katz, Tony Saturno, Tiana Fazio, Annie Leffe, and Nicolas Arredondo.  Eli and Nicolas completed paint cleanup on several shots for Thor: Ragnarok, along with Exceptional Minds artists Patrick Brady, Andrew Dugan, Lloyd Hackl, Madeleine Petti and Mason Taylor, not shown. In addition to paint and roto work, Exceptional Minds’ Jacob Fenster completed the end title credits along with Studio Executive Producer Susan Zwerman and Studio Coordinator Jennifer Giandalone. In addition, Exceptional Minds visual effects supervisors Immanuel Morris, Kenneth Au, Megan Flood and Josh Dagg supervised both visual effects and end title credits for the movie. ​

Source: Dee McVicker