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| Treasure Isle Studios | |
|---|---|
| Name | Treasure Isle Studios |
| Type | Private |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Founder | Jonathan Hale |
| Location | Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Industry | Film production, Animation, Visual effects |
| Notable works | Pacific Myths (1999), Island Echoes (2006), Coral Atlas (2014) |
Treasure Isle Studios is a media production company founded in 1998 that specializes in film, animation, and visual effects with a regional focus on Pacific and Southeast Asian narratives. The studio developed a reputation for combining traditional storytelling with digital technologies, collaborating with institutions across the Pacific Rim and participating in international festivals. Over its history the studio engaged with broadcasters, museums, and cultural organizations to produce documentaries, feature films, and immersive installations.
The studio was established by entrepreneur and producer Jonathan Hale in Honolulu to address a perceived gap between Hawaiian content producers and mainland studios such as Pixar, DreamWorks Animation, and Sony Pictures Imageworks. Early partnerships linked the company with regional broadcasters like PBS, NHK, and ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), while distribution deals connected projects to festivals including Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and Toronto International Film Festival. By the mid-2000s the studio pursued co-productions with independent companies such as A24 and IFC Films and engaged with cultural institutions including the Bishop Museum and the Smithsonian Institution for documentary commissions. Funding sources over time included grants from agencies like the National Endowment for the Arts and private investors associated with the Hawaiian Islands tourism sector.
Located in Honolulu near the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, the studio occupies a converted warehouse that houses production offices, screening rooms, sound stages, and post-production suites. Its facilities were outfitted with equipment comparable to studios used by Industrial Light & Magic and Framestore for visual effects, and it maintained render farms using hardware similar to systems from NVIDIA and AMD. Onsite amenities included motion-capture stages compatible with workflows used in collaborations with companies such as Weta Digital and audio facilities meeting standards of organizations like the Audio Engineering Society. The studio’s proximity to cultural sites like Waikiki and transport links via Daniel K. Inouye International Airport supported location shoots across Oʻahu and neighboring islands.
Treasure Isle Studios produced a range of works across formats: independent feature films, short animations, ethnographic documentaries, and museum installations. Notable titles included the mythic short "Pacific Myths" and the documentary "Island Echoes," the latter co-produced with the BBC and distributed through channels such as Channel 4 (UK). Collaborative projects involved regional directors linked to festivals like Sundance and production companies such as NEON and Participant Media. The studio also supplied visual effects and post-production services for international features produced by companies including Lionsgate and Focus Features. In the museum sector, the studio created immersive exhibits for institutions like the Bishop Museum and contributed content to traveling exhibitions coordinated with the Smithsonian traveling exhibition service. Educational projects included animated series developed for public broadcasters including PBS Kids and online initiatives in partnership with academic programs at the University of Hawaiʻi.
The studio’s aesthetic blended Pacific Island visual traditions with contemporary digital techniques. Creative leads drew inspiration from artifacts in the Bishop Museum and oral histories associated with figures documented by scholars at the University of Hawaiʻi, while employing compositing methods standard at facilities like The Mill and Digital Domain. Animation projects frequently combined hand-drawn storyboarding methods used by studios such as Studio Ghibli with 3D pipelines influenced by workflows at Pixar and DreamWorks Animation. For sound design the studio adopted practices consistent with productions at studios that have worked with the Motion Picture Sound Editors community and used scoring collaborators who had credits with orchestras like the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and regional ensembles. The studio experimented with augmented reality presentations influenced by developments from Microsoft's research groups and immersive VR experiences in the tradition of projects shown at events like SIGGRAPH.
Founding producer Jonathan Hale led early strategic direction and partnerships. Creative directors and department heads included producers and artists who had previously worked with entities such as Weta Workshop, Pixar, Framestore, and ILM. The editorial team featured individuals with credits on documentaries screened at Sundance and Tribeca, while the visual effects supervisors had backgrounds linked to companies like Digital Domain and Double Negative. The music and sound department collaborated with composers who held affiliations with organizations such as the ASCAP and performers who had worked with the Hawaiian Symphony Orchestra. Administrative leadership maintained relationships with funding bodies including the National Endowment for the Arts and regional economic development agencies in the State of Hawaii.
Critical reception of the studio’s output appeared in publications and forums including Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Sight & Sound, and regional outlets like the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Films and installations received nominations and awards at festivals such as Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Festival, the Asia-Pacific Screen Awards, and the Hawaii International Film Festival. The studio’s collaborations with cultural institutions influenced exhibition programming at the Bishop Museum and informed educational curricula at the University of Hawaiʻi. Economically, the studio participated in state initiatives to bolster media production in the Hawaiian Islands, contributing to local crew development and training programs tied to film offices such as the Hawaii Film Office. Its work fostered partnerships with international production houses and helped raise the profile of Pacific-region storytelling in global media markets.
Category:Film production companies Category:Companies based in Honolulu