The Refinery: where imagination becomes image 🎬✨
From colour to VFX to final finish - this is the work we’re proud to share.
Follow us for more world-class craft made right here in South Africa 🇿🇦
#TheRefinery #PostProduction #VFX #ColourGrading #FilmIndustry
Stories deserve to be unforgettable 💫
Step into our world, where imagination becomes pixel-perfect reality. We craft world-class VFX that push boundaries and elevate your narrative.
Watch our latest reel and see why leading filmmakers, studios and agencies trust us to bring their stories to life 🎬✨
#vfx #vfxartists #post
What a year it’s been! ✨ A huge thank you to our clients, colleagues and incredible team for all the hard work, support, trust and collaboration during 2025.
To everyone celebrating, Merry Christmas 🎄 Wishing you all a restful, joy-filled holiday.
Here’s to the New Year and all that 2026 has in store 🥳
#SeasonsGreetings #FilmIndustry #PostProduction ❤️
#FlashbackFriday: Beast 🦁🎬
Beast was a data-hungry project. When filming in the wild, you often get only one chance to capture the moment, so ensuring the safety of that footage is crucial.
We provided on-set data lab services, safeguarding terabytes of footage and seamlessly uploading dailies to the editorial team in Los Angeles. With the technical side handled, production could stay focused on the creative.
#dailies #setservices
Previous Rough Cut Lab Africa winner spotlight: Notes from the Underground 🎬🏆
This documentary traces Cape Town’s underground hip-hop scene from the 1980s until today, exploring music as resistance, identity, and survival.
Directed by Adrian van Wyk and Chris Kets, it features Ready D and Isaac Mutant, capturing the power of hip hop within communities that shaped a movement.
The Refinery is proud to have sponsored the grade and finish of this important South African film, beautifully coloured by @kitso.monare 🎨
Kitso 💬 “The creative direction for the documentary’s colour was centered around an emulation of Kodak Portra 400. While that served as the foundation of the look, the filmmakers pushed toward a softer pastel palette with a warm white point. Glow, halation, and grain were used throughout the process, but because those elements naturally softened the image, particular attention was given to preserving and enhancing texture in skin, clothing, and environmental details.
"With the film incorporating mixed formats, maintaining cohesion across every shot became the central priority. A lifted black point, warm white point, pastel tonality, and an unapologetic grit ultimately came to define Notes From The Underground.”
Screening in Cape Town and Joburg in June, get your tickets here: https://encounters.co.za/film/notes-from-the-underground/
#colour #color #post
This world has been broken many times 🌍💥
Worldbreaker, the 2025 dystopian sci-fi action drama directed by Brad Anderson.
We handled the edit and sound design for the trailer, helping bring the tension and chaos to life ✂️🎵
@charles.singleton@bushabal.wav
#Sound #Editing #PostProduction
The idea that post-production simply "finishes" a film is outdated. Instead, it's about helping that film become what it was always meant to be.
In this Q&A, The Refinery's CEO, @alastair_orr , talks about authorship, risk-taking, bravery and authenticity.
Read here 👉 https://www.mediaupdate.co.za/media/161154/refining-the-story-a-qa-with-alastair-orr
#post #postproduction
The most “real” visuals are often the most considered.
In Part 2 of Abdul-Ghakeem Samaai’s Q&A, he unpacks how colour grading doesn’t just finish a film, it often discovers it. From collaboration in the grading suite to using texture, light and variation to deepen narrative, post-production is where story really comes alive.
Read here 👉 https://www.mediaupdate.co.za/media/161134/realism-is-the-new-black-a-qa-with-abdul-ghakeem-samaai--part-two
Check out Abdul's showreel 📽️ /1020906284
@asamaai
#colour #color #colourist #colorist #grading #post
We teamed up with Academy Award-winning director @taikawaititi on @vue 's latest brand campaign Feel It Forever 🎬
From VFX to final grade, our team helped bring this cinematic love letter to life where film characters quite literally follow you home 💌
Vue International
Chief Executive Officer: Timothy Richards
Group Brand Manager: Matthew O’Hara
Group Director of Digital: Dan Green
@hijinks_collective
Chief Creative Officers: Marc Allenby & Tamryn Kerr
Chief Executive Officer: Alicia Iveson
Creative Directors: Felipe Sampaio & Gabriel T. Garcia
Art Director: Ade Yeo
Copywriter: Sophie Tilks
Head of Social: Sinead Brennan
BTS Director / Editor: Thomas Bone
Social Creative: Tyn Nuo Tan
Account Directors: Owen Rowbotham & Laura Spadaro
Agency Producer: Megan Sturgess
Assistant Producer: Maddie Harper
Head of Production: Anita Sasdy
Head of Design: Chris Willis
Motion Design: Mossie Henry-Jones
Production
Director/Production Company: Taika Waititi / @hungrymaninc
Managing Partner: Matt Buels
Producer: Hannah Stone, Hungryman
Editor: Tom Eagles, MakeMake
Service Company: FINCH
Post Production: @therefinery.post
Post Lead/Supervisor: Pete Rypstra
CEO: @alastair_orr
COO: @ariyemahdeb
HOD of Visual Effects: Rory Mark
Visual Effects Supervisor / Senior Flame Artist: @eddieaddinall
Senior VFX Producer: @simonefanti1
Grade: @jeanclementsoret@company_3
Colourist: @jonnytully@no8ldn
3D: Alex Morote, Felix Marrington-Reeve & Jos Basson
Comp artist: Carrmia Naude / AI artist: Fabiano Palmisano
Flame / 2D artist: Milo Paterson
Post Production: Chris Allen, Katie Gillard
EP: Ollie Ireland (No8)
Producer: Ruby Douglas (No8)
Sound Design: Factory
#VFX #Colour #Color #Grade PostProduction
Behind-the-scenes on a local rom-com ❤️
The team delivered full grade and VFX for Bruid van die Jaar, helping this Afrikaans film shine on Netflix SA.
Laughs, love, and a finish that holds it all together.
#grade #colour #color #vfx #post
💬 “Realism was the overarching theme of the film, but that doesn’t mean leaving things untouched - it’s about enhancing what already exists in a way that still feels truthful.”
For Abdul Ghakeem Samaai, colour isn’t about making things “pop” - it’s about making them believable. As he shares in his latest Q&A, realism is less about restraint and more about precision - knowing exactly how far to push an image before it stops feeling true.
🎬 Read the full Q&A: https://www.mediaupdate.co.za/media/161053/realism-is-the-new-black-a-qa-with-abdul-ghakeem-samaai--part-one
Watch his showreel 👉 /1020906284
@asamaai
#colour #color #colourist #colorist
Welcome to the team Emanuela Pereira! 💪
Before joining us, Emanuela worked across lighting, compositing and quality control in post, helping to bring the films across the finish line. Now joining us as a VFX artist in Johannesburg, she will be working across projects in Nuke and Houdini, supporting the team wherever needed. She’s especially excited to step back into live action and continue growing her skills across different parts of the pipeline.
💬 “I’m really excited to be working alongside a team again. I love meeting new people and collaborating, and I’m looking forward to getting back into live action and broadening my skill set.”
We’re looking forward to working with you too! 😊
#WelcomeAboard #TeamRefinery
