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WHAT’S THEIR GIG?
Peristere and long-time colleagues Chris Jones and Steve Schofield began Zoic, a digital effects/animation house based in Culver City, CA, after deciding their previous companies were too constraining. It’s since grown from a core group of about 12 "superstars" to approximately 120 employees. "The whole concept of [Zoic] was creating a partnership in visual evolution," says Peristere. But from its studios in Culver City (15,000 square feet), Vancouver (about 5,000 square feet) and stage setup in Studio City (about 11,000 square feet), Zoic is proving itself more revolutionary than evolutionary. And its influence is being felt across pretty much all media platforms, including television, motion pictures, games, commercials, music videos, the Web and even print.
THE COOL FACTOR
Zoic’s imprint is on some of the most compelling and award-studded images to come out of the industry recently. In television, Zoic has energized the series Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica, CSI and CSI: Miami, among others. Its film credits include Serenity, Van Helsing and The Day After Tomorrow. Its work in commercials is downright legendary, with celebrated spots including its "modern myth" created for Mini-Cooper, Cingular’s "shadow dancer," Sony’s PSP POV transitions and HP’s Power Book. "The HP campaign we did with François Vogel and Goodby, Sliverstein and Partners, coming up with the simple effect of having a person hold a picture frame that stops their motion in that frame and then becomes a part of the scene," says Peristere, "and having that campaign run for two and a half years and win every major award— was just a landmark for us." Those commercials are now in the Museum of Modern Art.
THE GEEK FACTOR
But back to the number crunching. Having watched numerous large visual effects companies go out of business, Peristere says, "we wanted to look at that and find a way to sort of retool it in such a way that it could become a safe place to do business." Through a group called the Young Presidents’ Organization, explains Peristere, "we met a guy named Tim McBride. His background was in the banking world, business world, he was like helping Citibank make decisions." Zoic managed to lure him in as CFO and partner. "He helped us build a really solid financial model for the business, incorporating the diversity in the company. He’s really fine-tuned that model, which allowed us to become financially strong."
Zoic has also developed close relationships with several of its vendors, such as Isilon, developer of its Clustered File servers, as well the major software companies. "We get together with them consistently through instant messaging and conference calls and sort of group think tanks to help better their products," says Peristere. "They keep us on their alpha and beta lists so we’re constantly working with the latest and greatest material."
The end product? Pure gold.
WHAT THEY DO
Post production, digital compositing, CG animation, visual effects, motion graphics, design services, project management for television, film, location production, media applications and more.
WHO THEY ARE
Loni Peristere, CEO
Chris Jones, president
Tim Mcbride, CFO
Steve Schofield, executive producer
Andrew Orloff, creative director
Kristen Branan, head of production
Saker Klippsten, head of engineering
TECHNOLOGY
Autodesk Discreet Flame, Combustion, Maya 3D; Avid Adrenaline, Nitris HD, Xpress Pro; Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere Pro; Apple Shake; Mental Image Mental Ray; NaturalMotion endorphin; Newtek Lightwave 3D; Pixar Renderman
Zoic Studios
www.zoicstudios.com
3582 Eastham Drive
Culver City, CA 90232
ph. 310.838.0770
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