Loni Peristere finds Zoic like standing at the crossroads of an exciting new era in visual effects production. All Zoic photos by Raoul Bolognini.

It is an exceptional time in the effects industry. Software and hardware have come down in price and complexity, allowing the traditional artist and filmmaker to come into the once-foreign computer side of the business: sculptors have become 3D modelers; painters and architects have become 3D environmental specialists; directors of photography and gaffers have become lighting TDs; stuntmen have become motion-capture subjects; and directors direct animated scenes that look as realistic as the ones they once captured with an Arri 2. With a broader talent pool and more intuitive programming, we are stronger and more capable than ever to create unique imagery without the interruptions of buggy programs. And any bugs that remain are being worked out by a digital consortium of Jedi masters, who have trained today’s senior artists and developed the user-friendly software we non-mathematicians can understand and work with.

The Time Is Now
Zoic was formed because a group of people saw an opportunity to further a model for visual effects production, which is heavily reliant upon partnership, where visual effects are done in pre-production, making the post process the finishing process it was intended to be. As our primary projects tend to be short turn around (commercials, episodic TV), this model might seem unattainable, but we insist on it. This early communication and design allows for a clear creative process, rather than a reactive “fixer upper.” Our resume stands tall over five previous companies because of this model. With each move, we have carried our projects and relationships along with new partners to the next, with Zoic being the last stop -- our stop.

A sample of Zoic's work for Firefly. Courtesy of 20th Century Fox and Zoic Studios.

In July of 2002, Chris Jones, Andrew Orloff, Steve Schofield and I found ourselves in a distinctive situation. We had left our previous employers, and yet had the direct responsibility for producing the visual effects for four network television series, which had begun production: Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Miracles. We could move once again to another company, or launch a company of our own with the artists we had trained and love. The new company idea had crossed our minds before, but the costs for a start-up seemed unattainable without a significant up-front investment. But we were lucky, as the software we were buying from Alias, Discreet Logic and Newtek had come down significantly in price over the years. A license, which had cost tens of thousands of dollars, was now a fraction of the cost. As were our start-up costs. Our quick budget on a new studio for 35 people was under a million dollars -- way under if we kept our compositing on the desktop for episodic production. Thankfully the new versions of Adobe After Effects and Discreet’s combustion were also 10 times as powerful as they had been in years past, and Andrew Orloff (3D supervisor) and Chris Jones (compositing supervisor) felt confident that they could achieve the same level of quality on the desktop that they had achieved in the past on Discreet’s Inferno or Flame. We also knew if we purchased only what was necessary, we could save our pennies for the bigger ticket items and infrastructure in the coming months. So we began small and grew fast.

Lower software licenses made the start up of Zoic easier. At left, partners Andrew Orloff (left) and Loni Peristere confer. Other founding partners are Steve Schofield (far right) and Chris Jones (not pictured).