Dexter Studios Wins Grand Prize in Technical Category at Daejeon Special FX Film Festival for ‘Colony’: “Four Consecutive Years of Award Triumphs”

▲ Dexter Studios VFX Supervisor Jung-ho Hong delivers his acceptance speech at the 8th Daejeon Special FX Film Festival on September 17.

(Photo source: Capture from ‘DFX 8th Daejeon Special FX Film Festival’)

Dexter Studios has reaffirmed its leading VFX production capabilities by achieving a record four consecutive years of awards in the technical category at the Daejeon Special FX Film Festival.

Comprehensive content studio Dexter Studios (206560, hereinafter “Dexter”) announced that it won the Grand Prize in the Technical Category for ‘Colony’ at the “8th Daejeon Special FX Film Festival DFX OTT Awards” held on September 17. Following its Visual Effects awards for JUNG_E in 2023, Alienoid 2 in 2024, and Project Silence in 2025, Dexter achieved the remarkable feat of winning for the fourth consecutive year, taking home the highest overall honor this year.

The “DFX OTT Awards” at the Daejeon Special FX Film Festival is Korea’s only award ceremony dedicated to special effects. It selects and honors directors, visual effects studios, and actors who have demonstrated outstanding creativity and technical precision in video content, including films and series. The “Grand Prize” is the highest award presented to a single director, company, or technician across all technical categories—including special effects, visual effects, art direction, and sound—for elevating the overall quality of a work through creative application of video technology.

Dexter earned critical acclaim through ‘Colony’ by realistically rendering creature elements, massive crowds, and city environments plunged into chaos by an infection outbreak. For the primary monkey creatures, Dexter modeled distinct fur textures, colors, and movements for individual entities to enhance realism. The studio also applied advanced VFX to infected individuals’ appearances and viscous substances blanketing the scenes, maximizing fine detail. Notably, large-scale downtown Seoul buildings, surrounding environments, and massive crowds recreated via motion capture were brought to life through VFX, producing immersive scenes that trigger visceral fear as if encountered in real life.

Director Sang-ho Yeon, who directed ‘Colony’, shared, “‘Colony’ was crafted through extensive deliberation to convey the work’s unique universe and imagination with striking realism to the audience. In this process, special effects technology did more than just build scenes; it played a vital role in completing the film’s world. I want to share this joy with Dexter Studios for bringing the world of ‘Colony’ to life, as well as all the staff who worked tirelessly on set and during post-production.”

VFX Supervisor Jung-ho Hong, who led the VFX for ‘Colony’, stated, “‘Colony’ is a project that encapsulates Dexter’s accumulated VFX expertise gained from large-scale action and creature projects, including creature design, large-environment rendering, and crowd simulations. Winning our fourth consecutive award with ‘Colony’—a project that presented a new challenge for Dexter—makes this honor even more meaningful. We will continue to expand our capabilities to deliver new visual concepts and high-end precision in every project.”

Supervisor Hong, who was also invited to the DFX Tech Show highlighting AI and emerging technologies, will meet with audiences on September 18 to present “Visible VFX, Invisible VFX through ‘Colony'”, sharing the vivid behind-the-scenes creation process of a blockbuster K-zombie project.

Drawing on its experience in bringing a wide variety of creatures and fantastical beings to life, Dexter has consistently been recognized for its technical expertise at major domestic and international award ceremonies, including the Daejeon International Film Festival for Special Visual Effects. Dexter has proven its unrivaled status as a leader in K-VFX by consecutively sweeping technical, visual effects, and art awards at over 20 award ceremonies, including the Blue Dragon Film Awards, the Daejong Film Awards, and the Baeksang Arts Awards, as well as the Taiwan Golden Horse Film Festival, the Hong Kong Golden Bauhinia Film Awards, and the Changchun International Film Festival in China.