Prior to my obsession with the television show Mad Men, the world of advertising and marketing has always been fascinating to me.  As a kid, I remember commercials that stuck with me to this day,

Mikey likes Life cereal:

An old woman asking, where is the beef for Wendy’s:

Madge dipping her hand in a small bowl of Palmolive:

And of course I know how to spell bologna because of Oscar Mayer:

However, the world of advertising has come a long way since then, so I wanted to pick Erik’s brain and find out where he felt the advertising industry was headed.

Press has seen his fair share of commercial production through the years and he says the economy has naturally affected the advertising industry.  Whereas years ago budgets were larger and there was only one place to put a commercial, now budgets are smaller and there re multiple places where commercials are placed, “Budgets haven’t grown, but now you have three different places to put your campaign and now you have to split up you production money.”

Besides sheer economics, another shift is the use of an interactive component in campaigns.  ”The biggest shift in the last two years is what is driving the campaign.  It used to be the broadcast driving the campaign and now the interactive and integrated components are on par with what is driving marketing and advertising in what we have been calling the ‘commercial’ world, at least in my perspective.  There is becoming less of a barrier between commercial and interactive and there should be less of a distinction.   I think there has to be a synergy amongst the different platforms and I don’t think we should call it just commercial production anymore or just interactive production, I think there is a larger picture.”

So what is the bigger picture for Erik?   “You have interactive content that keeps people’s eyes on brands longer.  They are exposed in different media outlets and platforms.”  If that is the case, then what in Erik’s mind is the future?  “I think the future of advertising and marketing is about lifestyle. It’s about the things we buy, the places we go, the environments that we live in, fully integrated into those pieces of our lives are marketing and advertising. Marketing and advertising naturally becomes a part of our everyday lives.   It’s not just a television commercial or print ad anymore. It’s about intertwining brands in lifestyle and that is the biggest impact.  It’s the Nike lifestyle or the Red Bull lifestyle; it’s literally what we surround ourselves with.”

There are interactive projects currently in the works for Zoic Studios.  “There are a lot of projects that we are talking to agencies about that will have a large interactive component, everything from athletics to communication devices.  We are talking to major brands about campaigns that the broadcast is inspired out of an interactive experience, it’s amazing stuff.”  Erik sites Zoic’s involvement in Killzone 2 as an example of an interactive experience combined with a broadcast experience.   “You can look at some of the game trailers.  Killzone 2 for example is a broadcast spot, it’s a downloadable spot on the Playstation network and within that it is an engaging and interactive experience.  You can drag a thirty second spot out to nine minutes by exploring different levels and facets of how that project was put together.  That is a spot that is a great example of interactive.”

Does Erik see any challenges with this new interactive component in the advertising world?  “The challenges are that the agencies are splintered. There are interactive people and there are broadcast people and it is a rare agency, in my experience, that completely melds the two together.  I think that is changing.  I see a lot of agency creatives and producers that are fully throwing themselves into the interactive because that’s where the growth is.”

Are we headed to a world like the one we saw in the movie Minority Report?  “Yes it’s coming.  Brands aren’t exclusively broadcasting anymore, they are narrowcasting, and they are targeting very specifically because they have all of this data of who you are as a consumer.”

In terms of interactive advertising has Erik seen anything as a consumer that has excited him?  “Something I am really excited for is the new Arcade Fire interactive music video which is basically an interactive Google Earth experience.”

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

“It’s a personalized Google Earth experience where you type in an address and you zoom down to the street level you type in.  The story is then told through both the music and on the personal address you typed in so every user experience is different based on a geo spatial location.  Those kinds of things are exciting.  We are looking at a campaign now that is an advertising campaign with a very similar idea.  It’s inspiring.”

I agree with Erik it is inspiring. I don’t think Mikey, Madge or Don Draper ever anticipated being part of an advertising campaign that was personally geared toward them and definitely check out the Google Earth/ Arcade Fire experience above.  It will seriously blow your mind!

However, I still didn’t understand exactly what Chatroulette was.  According to Wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatroulette) Chatroulette was invented by a seventeen-year-old student in Moscow, Russia.  His goal in creating the site was to take the video chats he had on SKYPE to the next level.  When you go to the website it asks if you want to connect your webcam. You can’t simply watch.  In order to be a part of the experience, you must accept connecting your webcam to the site, and if you decline the site goes black.  Once you approve, you have access to anyone in the world that is also connected.  What you find is literally a roulette situation, random strangers pop up in a larger window next to your smaller one and will either start a chat dialogue in another pop up box below or will “next” you, click off of your connection to connect to someone else.

In my research, I also came across this article in NY Magazine by Sam Anderson, http://nymag.com/news/media/63663/.  Anderson actually spent some time on the  Chatroulette site to understand the ins and outs before writing his piece and so naturally I did the same.  I logged in, accepted my webcam and in less than five minutes about 10 people “nexted” me, a few nude people popped up so I “nexted” them and that was the extent of it.  I found the experience in general a little unnerving to be honest.  A bunch of random strangers can see me and strike up a conversation; frankly it seems a little odd.  Someone could say there isn’t much difference when a perfect stranger comes up to you and asks if you prefer Gouda or Muenster while shopping for cheese, but typically they aren’t naked or trying to flash me and there are other people around which is comforting. The site in general is not exactly work safe.  From exploring the site and my other research, a lot of what you find is x rated, a lot of nudity and other sexually explicit situations, people who get a kick out of exhibiting their naughty bits.  However, this didn’t deter me from taking a look at the site during work.  A couple of screen grabs are below to show my reaction to some of what I came across.

However, besides my reaction to the site, I have found some entertaining uses for Chatroulette.  Besides the advantages of viral marketing in film campaigns like The Last Exorcism, Chatroulette has also been used for a Dr. Pepper campaign that ran in the UK for April Fools Day that involved a buxom blonde cheerleader that suddenly became a man in a cheerleading uniform sporting a blonde wig.

Chatroulette also has turned some every day people into web super stars. Take Merton, an Internet sensation that posted his first YouTube video of himself connecting to people on the site in March of this year.  Merton improvises songs on piano about the people he comes in contact with.

http://www.youtube.com/user/PianoChatImprov

Merton refuses to reveal his actual identity and feels the anonymity makes his Chatroulette experience more fun.  Compared to Ben Folds in both looks and musical style, Merton’s videos have been rated the highest in YouTube history and in only five months has almost three and a half million channel views and his individual videos have surpassed six million.  Here is Ben Folds response to his doppelganger Merton:

I think Folds sums Chatroulette up nicely when he says for him, “It’s like going to the mall.  I mean I like going to the mall once in awhile, but it would be weird to sit down with a thing of nachos all day long with the teenagers.  It’s fun for a moment giving me a glimpse into the world of mainstream YouTube users.”  I concur.  Learning about Chatroulette for the I Design Your Eyes community was enjoyable, but too much could give me indigestion.

What do you think I Design Your Eyes?  Is Chatroulette just another fad or does it have legs, growing to what could be a far bigger phenomenon? Let me know with comments below.

Not only would I have four days to explore this beautiful city, but it was a chance for me to connect to another part of the company, and a whole new set of people that I had only emailed or spoken to by phone.  As I soon found out, The Zoic Vancouver office is filled with talented and down to earth staff members.  It was a unique opportunity for me to look at some of the projects the staff were working on as well as simply get to know some of the people.  I thought that the I Design Your Eyes community should get the opportunity to know some of the staff as well so I documented it in this video, which incorporates the office, interviews with some of the staff as well as will give you, the I Design Your Eyes Readers, a glimpse into the fabulous city of Vancouver.

For me, on a personal level, it was an eye- opening trip on several levels.  First, there is a very rich artistic community that I was not aware of.  Up the street from my hotel a group of young airbrush artists were commissioned to paint a wall with figures from British Columbia’s past and present.  None of the artists wanted to be filmed, but I was able to hang back and watch them create something really incredible.

On my second night in Vancouver I had an opportunity to go on a cocktail tour, Vancouver Food Tour, around the Gastown district with food and beverage expert Melody Fury and veteran barman/ cocktail expert Jay Jones, who was a partner in the restaurant Pourhouse.

Besides the fabulous sampling of food and beverages, I also got a brief history lesson in the up and coming area of Gastown.

Part of Fury and Jones’ mission with the tour is to educate both the locals and tourists about the homeless population that still resides in the area.  As we walk the streets, Fury talks about how it is important that everyone reside together and that she doesn’t want people to be afraid, but instead to acknowledge that a problem does exist and that the community needs to take part in embracing this instead of being fearful and shying away from it.  The other lesson I got that night is that there is an incredible local music scene in Vancouver.  With the opening of Calabash Bistro just a month ago, local bands play in the bar’s stage area downstairs.  I am a huge music fan, so it was a really special treat to get to listen in on the local music scene.  It was a fun and informative night.

The following day, Friday, I met the Zoic Vancouver staff.  Everyone greeted me with a smile. They were curious why I had come all the way to Vancouver and so I told them it was to get to know them and to interview them on camera.  A few of the staff were a bit camera shy.  However, I was able to coax most of them into sharing their thoughts about the places I should explore while in Vancouver, which I was excited to do on Saturday afternoon.

That night around 5pm, I drove one hour outside of Vancouver to Fort Langley, a quaint town with a lot of local artisans, http://www.fortlangley.com/ to take a behind the scenes look of a commercial shoot that was directed by Loni Peristere.

For me, being on set was a highlight, not simply because I got my fill of craft service.

I also had the opportunity to get to know the crew who were both amiable and hard working.  Plus a lot of the people in the neighborhood came out to watch the shoot.  They were all so excited to have a camera crew virtually in their backyards and of course, I got out my trusty Flip Cam to document their reactions.  Some even brought their dogs.

The shoot ended at 5am, and I got into my trusty Nissan Vestra rental car and drove the hour back into the city to crash until 9am when I returned said vehicle and did some more exploring of Vancouver on foot.  Per the recommendation of the Zoic Vancouver staff, I rented a bicycle and rode around the Seawall and parts of Stanley Park.

It was a beautiful ride until around 3pm when my legs seemed to turn to Jell-O and exhaustion set in.  I returned the bike, walked back to the hotel and passed out in my comfy Hampton Inn bed to not awaken until 4am when I had to pack and catch my flight back to Los Angeles.

All in all it was an amazing experience to get to explore the people and places of Vancouver.   I am incredibly grateful I was sent to check out what the city has to offer and get to know the Zoic Vancouver staff.  So I Design Your Eyes Community, without further ado here is my video of the experience.

I Design Your Eyes Community what do you think?  Anyone familiar with the Vancouver area and if so anywhere or anything I missed on my journey?

Zoic partnered with Maneater Productions and worked with Goodby Silverstein to produce a killer Yahoo! banner spot.

It was a really fun, high flying day on set.  Chris Jones, one of the executive creative directors and co-founder of Zoic Studios directed the spot.  The crew and talent really came together to make something that all of you can enjoy.

For now go over to mtv.com to check out the banner ad.

I, along with the team at Maneater,  got some great behind the scenes footage that I will be posting it soon.  You will  really get to see what it takes to make something from soup to nuts.   I can’t wait to share with the community, but in the meantime I can show you a quick sample of what the day was like.  Enjoy the pictures  and don’t forget for up to the minute information follow I Design Your Eyes on both twitter and facebook!

Based in Washington D.C. Starobin has seen his fair share of production, but more on the industrial and corporate side.  When Starobin was in Los Angeles two weeks ago, he was excited to get a tour of the Zoic Studios’ facilities.  “It was a thrill to come out to the nerve center and get to see what Zoic is doing.”  Starobin considers himself a film geek, and he loves being creative.  However, he does feel there are differences when you work outside of Los Angeles and for a government agency like NASA.  “There is a different philosophy and attitude because we don’t have the Los Angeles infrastructure with infinite crew and technical support.  There are a smaller number of people to draw on and production cycles tend to be slower. There is an independent way of thinking of high end post-production and production.  It isn’t just indie filmmaking by running out with a camera and you try to make your movie.  You can think about it on a really high level for short pieces and interstitials.”

Starobin is the Senior Producer at NASA and is in charge of high profile special projects including Congressional events, exotic platforms, which could be 3D and spherical projection.  In fact, a good portion of the work Starobin has been doing is for the 3D sphere.  The sphere is a screen that hangs in space; four projectors illuminate it, shining in from the corners of the room at 90 degrees.  The sphere’s technology is technically called Science On a Sphere, which was invented by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), NOAA.  Starobin began working with NOAA in late 2005 and expanded on the uses of the original technology, “When I got a hold of it they (NOAA) were essentially doing round PowerPoint presentations.  They were showing pictures of spherical objects like planets.  If it wasn’t round they couldn’t do anything.  They couldn’t move, cut or do anything with filmmaking.  My assignment was to write a speech and use it as a round slideshow.”

After his first assignment, Starobin essentially took it upon himself to find ways to film for a round sphere object.  “If you have a ball hanging in space that is six feet in diameter, where do you put your camera?  There is no left or right end of the frame and how do you dolly in or zoom out, all of the basic things you know about filmmaking falls apart and so you have to start over like a blank sheet of paper.”  NOAA has largely distributed these screens around the country.  “These round screens are really cool.  They aren’t for everything.  I wouldn’t want to tell the next season of Desperate Housewives on one, but I do think you could do more than planets.  You don’t have to show just spheres.  It’s like on a regular movie screen you don’t have to show just rectangles.”  Starobin just produced a film about renewable energy that played in Copenhagen and screened on the sphere, “You could also treat it as an elegant information device.  If you were to place a sphere in LAX in one of the main terminals you could essentially have news go around the screen, but as people are walking by they could get a sense of news events in a different format that is conducive to a circulating crowd.  You can simply make it a beautiful piece of art too.  It’s an interesting element for a large stadium to place corporate signage.”

Everything Starobin does for NASA is free and in public domain. “You can download things from various web sites or if it’s theatrical, it’s free to the public.”  Starobin has made four films that were for the spherical projection that have played all over the world in about forty five theaters and a variety of different languages.  “Our first film, Footprints, was named best invention of the year in Time Magazine.”  Currently, Starobin is focusing on low cost, high quality 3D solutions for NASA.  “NASA has done some work in 3D in partnership with movie studios, specifically Warner Brothers with Hubble 3D and a number of IMAX films.”

Starobin was an anthropology and medical ethics major and was a science reporter for many years, but always had a very keen interest in the arts.  “I had the science interest and the arts interest and then an opportunity came up and I was able to build a position and it’s grown.  I think, possibly like Zoic, it grows because you discover there is a new idea and you do the research and suddenly you enter a bold new area.”

As for the 3D space, Starobin began doing a great deal of research internally with his colleague Victoria Weeks, Chief Technologist and Senior Editor at NASA.  Weeks and her husband made a small seven minute, 3D film to showcase the importance of the 3D technology.  For Starobin, he thinks the interest in 3D didn’t really spark until Avatar was released and became a worldwide hit.  “I wrote a paper for NASA saying 3D is coming, a year and a half before Avatar came out saying we need to start doing research internally. Then Avatar hit and they said let’s give them some seed money… NASA is interested, but they are a government agency.  They don’t make money and they don’t have shareholders so they are nervous to get in.  At a federal agency there aren’t commercial budgets.”

Even though Satrobin believes in the opportunities of 3D, he has some hesitancy about it.  For one Starobin hopes that people don’t forget about story when utilizing the 3D technology.  Like with fictional narrative films, the non fiction films of NASA also rely heavily on story.  “By being immersive, 3D says, ‘come be in this world.’  I think there is excellent non fiction 3D out there.  I am interested in it and doing it, but we just don’t want the technology leading the story.”

Does Starobin have an interest in taking more of a Hollywood approach?  “Yes I have interest.  To be honest, it would help facilitate story telling.  One of the things that Vicky, myself and our colleagues at NASA appreciate, is how we are freed a little bit from the extraordinary clock pressures that I think Hollywood can impose on creatives.  On the other hand, we don’t have the budgets.  It’s a trade.  We would love to continue to build our relationships to the west coast community without giving up some eastern aesthetics if you will.  In an era of high speed Internet and inexpensive plane travel, that’s a very exciting proposition.  I think it is possible to benefit from the best of both worlds.  I do insist on creative meetings that we get together face to face if we can.  The ability to talk via phone or Internet is not the same; I think evolution has trained you over two million years to read people’s faces, bodies and tone of voice.  Isn’t it incredible when people are actually together?  So we try getting together in person as often as we can, though we all have a SKYPE account.”

So does Starobin know what is coming next?  The short answer is no.  There will always be something new when it comes to technology.  “Now in the digital era of storytelling there is no new next big thing.  The skies are pretty much the limit.  Now it’s about invention and storytelling.  Do what you want, choose whatever color brush you want.  That to me is exciting.”

So I Design Your Eyes readers what do you think?  Is 3D the future of all filmmaking?  Do you have ideas of what the next big idea in filmmaking is? Would love if you shared your thoughts in the comment section below.

Starobin will be launching a new website in a week so check it out at:

http://www.1auglobalmedia.com

and follow Michael’s work on the sphere on twitter @SphereNASA

Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation • Family Affair • CBS • A CBS Paramount Network Television production in association with Jerry Bruckheimer Television
Sabrina Arnold, VFX Producer
Rik Shorten, VFX Supervisor
Steve Meyer, 2D Lead Artist
Derek Smith, 3D Lead Artist
Christina Spring, Compositor
Joshua Cushner, Visual Effects Cameraman
Tom Bremer, 3D Artist
Mark Byers, Special Effects Supervisor
Zach Zaubi, Compositor

When I ask that question to Zoic Studios Producer Karen Czukerberg on the Visual Effects Emmy nomination for the television show V her face beams, “The nomination is really exciting because we (the team at Zoic Studios) have been part of the show since the beginning, since (Warner Brothers) were thinking about the pilot.”  On Tuesday night August 17, 2010, Karen and members of the visual effects team on V attended the Emmy Awards reception for all of those nominated for a best visual effects Emmy Award.

Five shows were nominated for the Best Visual Effects in a Television series including V and CSI, which Zoic Studios also produces and creates the visual effects for.  Zoic Studios was also nominated for Ben 10 for Best Visual Effects in a mini series.  As a Visual Effects Producer, Karen is in charge of a lot of different tasks some of which include budgets, reading the scripts, making sure that the team can accomplish the effects for the show.  She works closely with the scheduling department and helps choose the artists for the show as well as works very closely with Andrew Orloff the Visual Effects Supervisor. “My job basically is to deliver the episode with high quality visual effects on budget and on schedule, and that everyone is happy: the client, Zoic, the artists and myself.”

Andrew Orloff, Visual Effects Supervisor for V, is both co Executive Creative Director alongside Co-Founders Chris Jones and Loni Peristere, but also the Visual Effects Supervisor overseeing the visual effects on all of the episodic television shows for Zoic Studios both in Los Angeles and Vancouver.  Orloff comes from a CG background and has been working in visual effects for television for sixteen years.  Orloff compares his job to a newspaper editor, “ I am kind of like an editor of a newspaper, I approve and note all the shots that come through on the shows I supervise so I look at everything and talk directly to the artists.  I’m still involved technically on how to achieve different shots, devising methodologies, designing and consulting during pre-production.  We working with Warner Brothers during the script writing phase to figure out how we were going to do the visual effects of the show.”  Orloff was directly involved in imagining the mother ship for the show.  “I remember sitting with the Executive Producer with my laptop open on Maya and finalizing that main shape of the ship in a real time modeling session.”

Going to the Emmy’s for Orloff is a lot of fun and something he looks forward to.  “It’s a really great time to see people we work with, the DP’s, sound, editors.  You get to dress up in a tuxedo and just have a good time.  There is a governor’s ball afterwards where we eat and dance and it really is a lot of fun.”

Karen says, “It’s really special for us because after two years of work to be recognized is just really wonderful.”  The Emmy reception is an opportunity for the visual effects team members of the nominated shows to meet one another.  The nominated clips are screened for the nominees and afterwards there is a question and answer session about the work that they created for their shows.  It’s an opportunity for the visual effects creators to connect with one another on both a professional and creative level.  “It’s going to be interesting to meet people and share the experiences and knowledge that we have of the show and be able to share that information with other visual effects artists.  You don’t have a lot of opportunity to go and talk about your work and share your experiences outside of Zoic so it will be really exciting to do so.”

For Rik Shorten who started as a Visual Effects Producer on CSI and is now Visual Effects Supervisor for the show is thrilled at the second nomination for the team.  He has been on CSI since season five and he is now working on season eleven.  “We have a crew of talented and experienced artists.  It’s unique, specific work for someone who is comfortable with organics and heart surface modeling, they kind of have to do a bit of everything.”  The shot that was nominated took two months to complete.

“It was a lot of work last summer for the crew and it was two months from beginning to end to make the shot.  It was definitely an event episode for the franchise and for the team here at Zoic some of who have been on CSI for a while, like me.  It was an amazing opportunity to do something like this for television.”

The Zoic Visual Effects team for CSI was also recognized for two VES awards in February.  Last night is the beginning of a week of celebrations for the team, which includes a number of parties all leading up to the Creative Arts Awards ceremony on Saturday August 21.  The ceremony recognizes all of the behind-the-scenes personnel in a separate non – televised ceremony, but still has all the glitz and glamor of the live event.  As for the Emmy reception, Rik is very excited to attend and talk shop with his peers.  “Normally when you are working with a crew you are just doing your job on your show, you don’t have a lot of chances to talk to people around town that are working parallel to you on their series.  It’s a chance to stop, look at the work, talk about the work and meet other people in the industry that you don’t have an opportunity to see.  They can talk about what they are doing and pick your brain about a shot and the challenges and experiences of what you did.  I really look forward to these types of events to connect and meet new people.”  Steve Meyer, the 2D lead artist on the project, was thrilled that the team received the nomination.  “Attending the Emmy reception on August 17th was enjoyable and I loved seeing the entries up on the big screen.”

“I bought a red dress yesterday from BCBG, which is my favorite store,” Karen says laughing. “For me, I’m from Mexico and for me to be able to go to the Emmy Awards is so special.  I love my work and I love working at Zoic.  To be a part of V has been an amazing experience for me because I get to work with such talented artists.  The whole thing is really exciting, but the most important thing is the process.  I am really looking forward to representing the company and the show and sharing this experience with my team.”

Stay tuned to see who wins the Emmy Award for Best Visual Effects for a television show and mini series on Saturday August 21 when the Creative Arts Emmy awards ceremony occurs.

The hunter chases his prey, but what happens when the prey is a giant robot panther?  The interns at Zoic Studios have the answer.  In March, several Zoic interns created a spot as part of their internship program.  The program, an unpaid sixteen – week commitment held three times a year, is an innovative course of study that combines education and real-world practical experience alongside professional mentorship.

Dmitri Gueer, Zoic’s Senior Editor of Zoic Edit and Brooke Brigham, Production Manager and Intern Coordinator, developed the Zoic Studios Internship program to offer the next generation of talent an inside opportunity to explore and learn the inner workings of a visual effects company and to get a taste of what it is like to work in the entertainment industry.  Brigham goes through the process of finding interns, “It’s seeking individuals out from schools, art institute’s like Otis College of Art and Design; going to their job fairs and reel reviews.  So it’s seeking out entry – level talent, but that includes people making a career change or individuals who aren’t necessarily sure what they want to do in the industry.  Some are a bit greener than others so all different kinds of people,” says Brigham.  Beyond just visual effects artists, Brigham is looking for a mix of people with varied interests.  “We want a mixture of editorial, producing, and administration as well.  Visual effect artists of course, but at the same time you want to be able to really find an eclectic group of individuals.”  The internship program has grown considerably since it first started.  In fact, Brigham herself was an intern at Zoic Studios back in 2004 before being hired on full time.  “When I started here as an intern, there were about four of us and there wasn’t a program, we were essentially PA’s.  After my internship was over I started working at the front desk and I worked with the interns.  Dmitri and I realized there was all this great talent coming in, and we weren’t giving anything back to them.  We wanted to say, ‘Hey here is a mentor and here is a great project you can work on for your reel.’  We decided to make something more structured so that the interns could walk away with more knowledge, experience, and contacts then they had when they came in.”  Hence, the internship program that exists now came into its own.

The internship has an educational and practical component.  “We want the interns to think they are going to Zoic University.  We have a series of lectures by industry professionals who work here and have years of experience,” says Gueer.  The first two months are spent on lectures and bringing the interns up to speed on how the visual effects world works.  The interns are also assigned a mentor who helps guide them and answers any questions that may arise during the course of their internship.  “If I was a 3D intern I would be assigned a 3D artist.  I would be able to sit with them if I have any questions over the course of my internship and learn from them.  There is a relationship that is built so you can learn directly from the industry professional.”

For every intern cycle, there are two groups of interns that come up with an idea for a project, a commercial, short film, anything that will incorporate the visual effects world.   The teams must pitch their project idea to Gueer, Brigham and other Zoic staff members who act as clients.   If the pitch is approved, the team is on their way.  However, Gueer treats the interns as though they were going through a real pitch process, which gives them a better understanding of what pitching to an actual client is like.  The teams must create their own visual effects company.  “The idea is that the interns get a taste of what it is like to work at an actual visual effects company where they would be dealing with clients on a daily basis… I want to get them to a point where should they ever start their own visual effects company or if they ever deal with clients, they know what it is like.  So they pitch the idea and we critique them.”  One of the reasons Gueer turns down an idea is the lack of story in a pitch presentation, “Usually what is lost in pretty much every internship presentation is story.  In the next internship cycle we will start teaching how to tell a good story.  I don’t think I have ever been in a presentation where someone had a solid story in the first presentation.”  Once the idea is accepted, the two teams of interns create a project, it can be a short, a commercial, anything that they can create and execute in the time they are interning at Zoic.  The interns have cutting edge technology, hardware and software at their disposal to turn their ideas into a reality.

When the projects are finalized, they are presented in front of the entire company.  The winning project gets accolades, a prize, and is posted on the front page of the Zoic Studios website.  “It’s beneficial to the whole company because the projects showcase the talent of the interns.”  The interns are able to build their resume and their reel as well as have exposure to both the inner and outer workings of the industry.  “Our interns get a chance to connect with major studios including Warner Brothers and NBC Universal, ad agencies like Wieden and Kennedy, major production companies like Mutant Enemy (Joss Whedon’s company) and game companies like Activision and EA,” says CFO Tim McBride.  Some of the interns may end up working in the visual effects industry and a select few may even end up working for Zoic Studios, but the overall goal of the program is education and gaining hands on experience in a supportive working environment.  Gueer is also happy to be giving back. “At some point you realize you have been working in this industry for a long time and you think what have I done to make this industry better?  I wanted to give something back and hopefully somebody gets inspired.”

For intern Marshall Huffman, the process of creating a project that stuck was one that he immensely enjoyed even if it was fraught with hurdles.  His team went through several ideas, none of which seemed to be working.  “Each person came up with one or two ideas.  We all threw it at the wall and none of it was sticking… Later that evening it popped in my head that there was a guy hunting for a cat and it was actually a car… I was in the shower washing my hair and I was like man chases cat through jungle.  The hunt is over; oh that is an awesome tag line.  Man is pursuing something he wants. I think the pieces were there and it was obvious and fell into place.”   The next day Marshall sent the idea to Gueer who approved it and the interns were finally on their way.  However, the real work was only just beginning.

From concept approval to finished project the process took a couple of months to complete.  Marshall was the 3-D lead and lead modeler on the robot while also acting as co-producer and co-director on the spot along with intern Vince Blin.  Andreas Berkstein and Daniel Rico made up the additional members of the team.  Vincent was the 2D lead on the project for compositing and roto as well as the lead actor, prop maker and costume wrangler.  Everyone had more than a dozen jobs to juggle at any one time.

As for the spot, it started with two ideas that were combined into a one of a kind commercial spot, a car commercial that features a sleek robot animal.  The jungle was created with several matte paintings, taking several different images and scrap booking them together.  Vincent was in charge of building out the forest, but much of it was actually shot.   A pipe was changed to a mossy fallen tree and a creek was transformed into lush brush with a waterfall in the background.  The log was a digital model that Andreas built in a 3-D sculpting program called Z Brush.  The cityscape was created as was the car and of course who can forget the robot cat. The robot was a model that Marshall sculpted.  The character rigger, led by Daniel, put together all the parts and Andreas animated it.  Clearly the process is quite time consuming as each component must be completed before another component can begin.  After his internship experience, Huffman was hired by Zoic to do visual effects for the television show V, “This is as darn close to a life – long dream as I can think of, which is to get paid to play with spaceships.”

Want to live your dream learning the inner workings of the visual effects world?  Contact Brooke Brigham by email at: internship@zoicstudios.com for an application and more information.

Teenage angst is such an unnecessary evil we all go through.  Not much comes of it besides black eyes, hangovers, fights with your parents and suspensions.  There is one absolutely fantastic thing that derives from it, discovering your identity.  Self-expression is most important to those that are still trying to figure it out.  Naturally, music is a big part of this process.  To me, music is the most important thing in the world.  For others, it’s art, school, career, relationships…my air is music.  Transitioning from a leadership-driven scholar student to an awkward teen with bad skin, braces and a loss of identity, I found myself yearning to be a part of something more.

My first day of musicianship I found myself trembling as I clutched my dingy used Gibson Epiphone and dramatically swallowed.  I was staring out onto a sea of high school students, all strategically separated according to their haircuts – seriously.  I took a seat next to a girl who I knew as “Lauren.”  She was wearing ripped fishnet stockings underneath a pair of frayed Levi shorts accompanied by a baggy GBH T shirt that gracefully hung off her shoulders.  She was wearing about a million bracelets, rings and necklaces and just as many colors in her hair. She told me she liked me, and that was that, acceptance.

From that point forward, I had a family.  I was part of the punk movement and was absolutely enthralled with the idea.  I would spend hours sewing the perfect OP IVY patches on the same pair of generic tight black pants.  I would play Clash covers in my room instead of eating dinner and would spend every cent of my hard-earned money from my job at the bagel shop (no joke) to buy vinyl.

Now that I’m an adult, life has changed.  Instead of buying hair dye, I buy books about Aftereffects, Compositing and the “quick guides” to understanding VFX lingo.  The one thing that remains the same is the music I listen to – the music that gets me through the good, bad, ugly and perfect days.  Call me crazy, but here at Zoic I’m pretty much always happy. That being said, I’ve been listening to what I like to call, “The Happy Punk.”  No, this is not pop-punk, but 70’s punk bands that did the occasional happy song. I’ve created a playlist of my favorite punk, or punk-inspired songs that really keep me going here at Zoic. Enjoy!

***”Punkrocker” by the Teddybears featuring Iggy Pop is going to be headlining this playlist; because I feel this is a beautiful, modernized depiction of punk music. (Plus, it’s get off your ass and dance music!)

“See me driving down the street,

I’m bored with looking good.

I got both hands off the wheel,

The cops are coming.

I’m listening to the music with no fear,

You can hear it too if you’re sincere.

Cause I’m a Punk rocker, yes I am.

Well I’m a Punk rocker, yes I am.”

1.       Punkrocker – Teddybears Featuring Iggy Pop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YaJhCXnPt8

A Swedish band formed in the early 90’s – specializing in grindcore and more recently, mixing well-known songs and producing heavy synth electro-pop songs. Signed by Atlantic Records, they have 4 albums out to date – and a few EPs under the radar. Featuring Iggy Pop, who is one of the founding fathers of punk rock who peaked in the mid 70’s all the way to the late 80’s and is still going strong!

2.       Marquee Moon – Television

Oh Television, one of my favorite bands in the entire world.  They’re even BETTER on vinyl. Actually, scratch that. You should only listen to Television on vinyl. Fronted by hotshot Richard Hell from the Voidoids; this band is sure to resonate with all audience members regardless of music preferences.

3.       Blitzkrieg Bop – Ramones

A classic, it’s been blown out by the media in all forms. Everyone’s heard it. Does that discount this song’s amazing-factor? Absolutely not!

4.       Waiting Room – Fugazi (A CLASSIC!!)

Fugazi is “that” band that all great bands list as their influence and inspiration. They’ve been around for as long as I’ve been alive and have had countless changes in band members and music styles. They stopped making music (publically) in 2002 but many fans are sitting on their hands, eagerly awaiting their return to the public eye.

5.       Aint’ Got No Sense – Teenage Head

This is a dirty, crunchy punk song from the 90s that you’re sure to love. I do!

6.       Someone I Care About – The Modern Lovers

This Canadian rock group has been around and actively playing for the last 35 years – pretty impressive! If they keep it up they’ll be giving Mick Jagger a run for his money. (Jagger has been actively making music for over 50 years)

7.       Baby Baby – The Vibrators

A British punk band formed in 1976, they’ve been on over 10 labels throughout their duration of being together. This song is my ode to all the loves I’ve never had. “Oh baby baby baby, won’t you be my girl?”

8.       What Do I get? – The Buzzcocks

This is a classically upbeat song about a grumpy subject.  I just want a lover. Like any other, so what do I get?

9.       Carried Away – Television

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIbweWhtLW0

When the time comes for me to get married, I envision myself dancing to this song at my reception… live. (Hell, people can dream can’t they?)

10.   Looking For a Kiss – The New York Dolls (“When I say I’m in love you best believe I’m in love -L.U.V.!”)

This is a song with a twisted view of adolescent teens and their attractions to one another. It’s funny how as you grow older you become a refined and mature adult.  Hopefully, you look for a mate who’s educated, funny, and attractive but sometimes…you’re just looking for kiss.

Alicia Cargile is a Production Coordinator for the Design Department at Zoic Studios.

Every month a member of the Zoic Studios team will be submitting a play list of music that inspires them. What music inspires you? Let us know and maybe your music will be featured on a future playlist.