The Third Floor

The Third Floor
Name	The Third Floor
Type	Private
Founded	2004
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California, United States
Industry	Visualization, Previsualization, Virtual Production
Key people	Eric Saindon, Vincent Cirelli, Colin Green, Alex Henning
Num employees	200–500

The Third Floor is an American visualization studio known for previsualization, previs, virtual production, and visualization services for film, television, and interactive media. Founded in 2004, the company has collaborated with notable directors, studios, and franchises, providing visual planning for complex sequences in blockbuster films, streaming series, and video games. Its work connects storyboards and concept art to final production through collaborative pipelines used alongside visual effects vendors and production teams.

History

The studio was founded in 2004 by a team of visual effects and animation artists who previously worked in feature films such as The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, and The Matrix. Early engagements included partnerships with companies like Industrial Light & Magic, Weta Digital, Framestore, and Digital Domain, enabling collaborations on projects tied to Warner Bros., Walt Disney Pictures, 20th Century Studios, and Paramount Pictures. Over time the firm expanded its offices to cities including Los Angeles, London, Atlanta, Vancouver, and Mumbai to serve productions like those from Marvel Studios, Universal Pictures, Netflix, and HBO. The Third Floor’s portfolio grew alongside the rise of virtual production techniques used in productions such as The Mandalorian and in large-scale tentpole films from franchises like Star Wars and Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Services and Specializations

The company provides previs, postvis, techvis, virtual scouting, and virtual production floor services for directors, cinematographers, and producers on titles from studios including Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Amazon Studios, and Apple TV+. Its previs services bridge storyboards from artists who have worked on Blade Runner 2049 and Inception to on-set workflows used by crews from productions like Dune and Mad Max: Fury Road. Techvis work supports stunt coordinators and special effects teams from companies such as Tom Cruise’s collaborators on Mission: Impossible sequences and practical effects houses involved in James Bond films. Virtual production services integrate real-time engines used by teams behind Fortnite and Unreal Engine projects for productions distributed by companies including Hulu and Disney+.

Notable Projects

The studio has contributed previs and virtual production to many high-profile titles and franchises. Credits include work on entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe such as Avengers: Endgame, collaboration on Star Wars productions, and visualization for Jurassic World installments distributed by Universal Pictures. Television credits include streaming series for Netflix and HBO Max, while game-related visualization has intersected with projects from Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard. The Third Floor supported action sequences for films directed by Christopher Nolan, J.J. Abrams, Patty Jenkins, and James Cameron, and worked with cinematographers who have credits on The Revenant and Gravity.

Techniques and Technology

The studio uses real-time engines such as Unreal Engine and tools from companies like SideFX (Houdini), Autodesk (Maya), and Foundry (Nuke, Modo) to create previs and virtual sets. Pipelines integrate motion capture systems from vendors including Vicon and OptiTrack, and camera-tracking solutions like Mo-Sys and Ncam. For on-set virtual production, The Third Floor employs LED volumes similar to those used on The Mandalorian and utilizes collaborative workflows compatible with postproduction facilities such as Deluxe and Technicolor. Their techniques include previs-to-postvis handoffs, techvis support for stunt teams associated with Stuntwomen and Stuntmen unions, and world-building for directors accustomed to working with production designers who collaborated on films like Blade Runner 2049.

Organization and Key Personnel

Leadership and creative directors have included visualization supervisors and producers who previously worked at Industrial Light & Magic, Weta Digital, and Sony Pictures Imageworks. Key personnel have collaborated with filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, Quentin Tarantino, and Denis Villeneuve, and with cinematographers from titles like The Dark Knight and La La Land. Teams are organized into previs, techvis, virtual production, and postvis groups and coordinate with studio production offices at Warner Bros. Pictures and independent producers working with companies like Imagine Entertainment and Legendary Pictures.

Awards and Recognition

The Third Floor has been recognized within industry coverage by trade publications and received credits on projects that earned accolades from organizations including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and the Visual Effects Society. Its contributions to award-winning films and series have been noted during awards seasons that included Academy Awards campaigns and BAFTA nominations, highlighting the studio’s role in bringing complex sequences to fruition for major releases distributed by companies like Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Category:Visual effects companies Category:Film production services