After founding the company in 1993 as Computer Café, Jeff Barnes and David Ebner began working in a small 10-by-10 room inside a local print design studio in
Santa Maria. Their initial tools included two Amiga 2000 computers, a VHS deck, and
Video Toaster. They used software such as
Lightwave 3D,
D-Paint, and
Imagine 3D. Over the next 17-plus years, Computer Cafe would change its name and grow to one of the top visual effects studios in the world. Their first official employee was Ron Honn who acted as the company's designer and storyboard artist. Soon to follow was VFX supervisor Tom Williamson, whose connection in the LA make-up effects industry helped to launch the group to the feature film market. The team worked their way up from local to regional and then national commercial and broadcast assignments. "Our first job was to show how a product called
Shoe Goo worked." said Ebner "and then
SLIME tires, some crazy projects back then." They soon expanded their client base, starting with an initial campaign on 24 spots for
Foster's Freeze, and signing their first national contract for
Shasta Soda. Shasta was the first US national ad spot to be fully rendered on a
desktop PC. The team next steered its focus on broadcast work being represented by Our Gang Productions and studios such as Pittard Sullivan. During that time they produced various opens and TV station packages for both regional and nation clientele. Some projects include,
NBC,
TNT,
Nickelodeon,
CBS,
Dateline, Entertainment Tonight and the long-running
HBO Feature Presentation. Still under the banner of Computer Café, Jeff and David moved into motion picture effects with
Clive Barker’s 1995 feature,
Lord of Illusions. Even then, Barnes claimed "Everything we made, we put back into the company." In the late 1990s, Barnes and Ebner were in a position to expand their operations. Interest in a
Los Angeles outlet for their CGI feature film work, together with a plan to expand commercially, led them to open their first LA location inside in
Virgin Entertainment's 525 Post in
Hollywood. A year later they expanded into their own space in
Santa Monica where they opened a boutique CGI and compositing studio which housed a staff of 8. In early 2002 they purchased
Santa Monica based
telecine company (then own by Neil Feldmen and called Pacific Data Post), added CGI effects and compositing, and renamed the company 'The Syndicate.' The Syndicate was a short-form visual effects company, providing Flame finishing suites, full CGI services, and
telecine studios, led by the management team of
Kenny Solomon, Leslie Sorrentino and Beau Leon. In 2005, Barnes and Ebner also launched Sentenia Entertainment, a
live-action production company. Their first project with Sententia was as Associate Producers for
Guillermo del Toro's Academy Award-winning
''Pan's Labryinth. The following film was Danika'' starring
Marisa Tomei, with Barnes and Ebner serving as the film's executive producers. In the same year, the pair purchased the new CafeFX studio. The studio closed in 2010 after 17 years in business, citing the recession and the poor economy as the reasons for closure. == Filmography ==