The Best VFX driven Indie Films

Posted by Leslie Morgan in I Design Your Eyes on January 28, 2011

The Sundance Film Festival is well under way in Park City, Utah as I type this. The festival is world renowned and is known as the largest independent festival in the United States. Every year since its inception in 1978, the festival showcases the best and brightest independent filmmakers. Typically the films are made without the studio system and are there to find distribution. The festival has grown tremendously over its 32 year history and now Park City is no longer filled with a slew of struggling actors, directors and writers trying to make a name for themselves. The festival now brings out well known celebrities and filmmakers who have already had success, many of whom have worked on huge blockbuster films. This year the festival premiered films that starred such high profile talent as Toby Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Connelly and Al Pacino to name a few. Whether the films showcased star high profiled talent or someone completely unknown, the one thing that stands out year after year is that most of these films are either straight, edgy dramas or quirky comedy/ love stories. As I scoured the titles of the films being showcased, the one genre that I found to be lacking was science fiction or films with any heavy visual effects. So I started thinking, do visual effects have to equate big budget blockbuster? Can you make a movie on low budget and still have it be chock full of visual effects. In honor of the celebration of independent films this week, here are a few of my favorite “indie” VFX movies that have been released in the last couple of years. Read More…

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One on One Interview with Vincent Laforet

Posted by Leslie Morgan in I Design Your Eyes on January 21, 2011

“What’s today Wednesday? This all started Monday and I don’t remember Monday anymore! I do remember yesterday, yesterday started early with a location scout for Zoic with Loni (Peristere) and ended at 2 a.m. after I spent close to ten hours color grading 396 shots at Company 3 for a ten minute piece for another short film project I directed.”

For Vincent Laforet not remembering what comes next seems to be a hazard of the job. Working at all hours of the day and night without a break seems to be typical, but nothing in Laforet’s life is really ever typical. I had the chance to sit down with this acclaimed, award winning photographer, Director of Photography and now Director at his office to talk about his past work, what he has going on today and what he hopes to be doing in the future. Read More…

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YAHOO! Super Wow

Posted by Leslie Morgan in I Design Your Eyes on January 20, 2011

Zoic Studios recently had the opportunity to work with Yahoo! to create a series of online search spots called “Super Wow” Miles Dinsmoor, Executive Director of Design at Zoic Studios talks about what it was like to work on these spots: Read More…

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ZOIC Nominated for VES awards!!

Posted by Leslie Morgan in I Design Your Eyes on January 17, 2011

On Tuesday February 1st the Visual Effects Society will hold the 9th annual awards show at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA. The Visual Effects Society (VES) is the only organization in the entertainment business that represents the scope of those that work in the VFX industry. From artists, supervisors, marketers and beyond, VES has over 2,000 members worldwide and the VES awards honor those that exemplify the best in the VFX world. Zoic Studios has the honor of being nominated for the following awards: Read More…

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January Playlist of the Month: Press Play

Posted by ErikPress in I Design Your Eyes on January 14, 2011

The January playlist is brought to you by Erik Press, Executive Producer of Commercials:

Press Play – Erik Press’ Music Mix

In 1979, my father, a lifelong record salesman whose heyday was filling up the bins of record stores on the Eastern Seaboard with Elvis Presley albums, decided to get out of wholesale and open his own record store. It was here, at the impressionable age of 13 that my horizons in music, and all that music brings, really was born.

Across the river from the “Great White Shore” as it was sometimes called, the record store was located in a retail space of an urban, downtown mall and the clientele, were a rainbow of colors most of my peers had only read about in social studies. Each Saturday and longer stretches as I got older, I’d stand behind the counter ringing up purchases at the register and walking the floors flipping through bins of LP’s (yes LP’s) helping customers find the artist or song that they were looking for and often suggesting they try something new. Read More…

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Universal Virtual Stages

Posted by Leslie Morgan in I Design Your Eyes on January 10, 2011

Imagine stepping onto a set with nothing, but green screen. Then imagine stepping onto that same green screen set, but you can see the middle of a Manhattan skyline that can be moved, manipulated, lit properly, the actors moving freely amongst giant skyscrapers and the director preparing their shot list the day of production. This is the world of virtual production and Universal Studios has opened Universal Virtual Stage 1 (UVS1) to take advantage of the film and television industry’s need for a fully integrated virtual production pipeline from pre-production through post.

On December 2, 2010 Universal Studios officially opened UVS1 and the studio is looking forward to having both internal and third party productions utilizing the facilities. “The virtual stage is a pre-rigged, pre-calibrated turn-key facility designed for the most simple to the most complex shoots. We are excited to be able to offer UVS1 for both internal and third party clients,” says Jeff Berry, Executive Director Virtual Effects and Production Services at Universal. “Working with Zoic Studios was an integral part of developing the facility.” Read More…

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