Zoic Studios Evolves the Digital Process

Award-winning visual effects house Zoic Studios has announced the official launch of Zoic BC, with Patti Gannon and Randy Goux, two of Zoic's VFX supervisors, setting up the BC office.

Zoic BC has completed the feature "Pathfinder" for 20th Century Fox and is working on episodics "Eureka" for the SCI-FI Channel and "Blade" for Spike TV.

In addition to assuming creative director roles for the Canadian office, Gannon and Goux oversaw the production of 280 visual effects for director Marcus Nispel's Fox feature "Pathfinder".

Following "Pathfinder", Gannon began on-set VFX Supervision for the feature "One Missed Call" in Atlanta, which Zoic will finish in BC in the fall and be distributed by Warners.

Veteran visual effects supervisor Bob Habros also joined the company to oversee the original series "Blade" for Spike TV, while effects producer Patrick Mooney came on board to guide the production aspect of the studio.

Zoic Studios rounds out its talent with 20 key local artists including Kevin Little and Trevor Strand. Little is currently heading the 3D creation of original 'ashing' sequences for "Blade" and Strand is leading multiple teams of compositors working on Tim Minears' original pilot "Drive" for Fox TV.

"Zoic's office in Vancouver is a natural progression in Zoic's evolution," says Zoic Creative Director/Co-Founder Loni Peristere.

"The film and television clients we create with daily, live and work principally in Los Angeles and Vancouver. Our greatest hope is that we bring more opportunity for work to the city by establishing the creation of 'make-believe' as a fluid process that flows effortlessly between LA and Canada."

The Vancouver studio occupies 4,000 sq. feet in the Sun Tower in the neighborhood between Yaletown and the business district.

At full capacity, Zoic Vancouver has workstations for over forty 2D and 3D artists, with over 20 terabytes of storage and over 100 render nodes at their disposal. Additionally, the Canadian team can easily access and utilize the 100 terabytes of storage and over 1,000 render nodes in Los Angeles using high speed Internet and VPN connections established between the two studios.

The Vancouver studio also offers an Avid edit suite, a screening room and a Frame Thrower 2k playback system.

Launched by Executive Producer Steve Schofield, and Creative Directors Chris Jones and Loni Peristere, Zoic Studios is a leader in visual effects and CG animation in the commercial, feature film and episodic television arenas.

In addition to studios in Los Angeles and Vancouver, the company offers an LA-based stage for green screen and other specialty shooting.

Features such as "Serenity", "Zathura", "Talladega Nights" and "Pathfinder" showcase the talents of the Zoic team, as do TV episodic programs "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation", "CSI: Miami" and "Battlestar Galactica", as well as numerous commercials including spots for HP, Mini, PSP, Lexus, and Cadillac.