ZOIC Studios big screen visuals on display March 11, 2005 by zoid

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ZOIC Studios big screen visuals on display March 11, 2005

POSTED BY: ZOID
UPDATED: Thursday, January 13, 2005 11:07
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Wednesday, January 12, 2005 5:20 AM

Fellow Browncoats:

I found this information while searching for ZOIC's contribution to the Battlestar Galactica 4-hour pilot. Apparently, ZOIC is going to put their CG wares on the big screen before "Serenity" hits theaters in September '05. The title is "A Sound of Thunder", from Warner Brothers, currently slated (we know how that goes, right?) for a March 11, 2005 theatrical release.

Directed by Peter Hyams (my favorites: "Outland" and "Running Scared") the film is "An adaptation of Ray Bradbury's short story about a time traveler who ventures into the prehistoric age and inadvertently alters the causality of the universe," according to the Cinefex website. The film stars Edward Burns, Ben Kingsley and Catherine McCormack (Mel's wife in "Braveheart"; why do I suddenly want a Peter Paul 'Mounds' bar? Oh, that's right: it's about the coconuts).

ZOIC's participation in the film, according to IMDB, is in the person of "Kristen Branan ...head of production: Zoic studios (uncredited)". According to ZOIC's website,

Quote:
Kristen Branan
Head of Production/Visual Effects Producer

As Head of Production, Kristen Branan oversees the global production efforts for Zoic Studios and was instrumental in the creation of the production infrastructure that is the backbone of the company.

As Head of Production, Branan oversees the visual effects, resources, bids, and schedules for all the projects Zoic produces. As Visual Effects Producer, Branan has received 5 Visual Effects Society nominations for Firefly and Battlestar Gallactica (sic), and the top award for “Outstanding Visual Effects in a Television Series.” In September 2003, Branan won an Emmy for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series for Firefly.

Before coming to Zoic Studios, Branan worked at VisionArt Design & Animation as a Visual Effects Producer, and eventually Executive Producer, overseeing work on several feature films including Swordfish, Spy Kids, Rollerball, Dr. Dolittle 1 and 2, Dungeons & Dragons, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Godzilla, Independence Day, Deep Blue Sea, Mystery Men, General's Daughter, House on Haunted Hill and Anna and the King. Visual effects in television shows produced under her supervision include “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”, “The Visitor”, and “Star Trek” Voyager”.

Branan is also founding partner, producer and development executive for SpyFish Entertainment, responsible for sourcing, optioning, writing and producing original material.

So, for those who have wondered aloud how well ZOIC would do with Serenity's SFX on the big screen, it looks like we can get a sneak peak this March.

Here are the pertinent links:
http://asoundofthunder.warnerbros.com/
http://imdb.com/title/tt0318081/combined
http://www.cinefex.com/upcoming/films/soundofthunder.html
http://www.zoicstudios.com

Respectfully,

zoid

P.S.
When you get to ZOIC Studios' website, be sure to check out the 'Creations' section and the extensive selection of Quicktime demos they have of their work; it's a reel treat.

_________________________________________________

"Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me." The Ballad of Serenity

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Wednesday, January 12, 2005 5:31 AM

BYTETHEBULLET

This time travel story is also the basis for the movie 'The Butterfly Effect'.

eta: Wow, that is some really cool stuff. Kaylee made the cut! Sweet!

ByteTheBullet (-:

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Wednesday, January 12, 2005 5:47 AM

ZOID

ByteTheBullet:

...and for the movie "Time Cop", to a lesser extent "Timeline" and of course the classic, "It's A Wonderful Life" is all about causality.

"Everything old is new again." I do love the ladies, barenaked...

v/r,
-zed

P.S.
If you watch the trailer, it looks more like Jurassic Park meets Alien vs. Predator meets Anaconda (yuck), to my eye. But Warner Brothers' website for the movie only has a trailer, at this point. Still, in the trailer, check out the cityscape and VTOL (or at least, 'vectored thrust') aircraft. Methinks that's a ZOIC shot. Some of the animated vegetation in the trailer is similar (the same?) to shots from the demo reels at ZOIC's website...

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Wednesday, January 12, 2005 6:08 AM

BYTETHEBULLET

Yes, I agree about the trailer! I was happily surprised that they did Smallville also. I usually don't pay attention to that stuff in the credits.

ByteTheBullet (-:

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Wednesday, January 12, 2005 6:29 AM

ZOID

BTB:

When "The Sound of Thunder" comes out, I'll definitely be going to see it. I like the cast and director, and I like the author (not to imply the film will bear any resemblance to the original novel), though I've not read this particular book.

But the main reason I'll cough up cash to see it in a theatre is because of ZOIC's and Ms. Branan's contribution to the SFX. I want to see what that ship looks like on the big screen.

WB can be thankful for ZOIC's participation on that score, else I'd only rent it on DVD...

v/r,
-zed

P.S.
For my tastes, Ed Burns is one of those hit-or-miss guys. But "Confidence" was a very good movie, and his work in it was very strong. Dustin Hoffman also starred and Mmmm... Rachel Weisz: dark hair and black-brown eyes are distinctly my cup of tea.

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Wednesday, January 12, 2005 8:21 AM

BYTETHEBULLET

Quote:
Rachel Weisz: dark hair and black-brown eyes are distinctly my cup of tea.

I agree all counts and the quote above especially.

If I am not mistaken, the original story is rather short, I believe I read it on the net somewhere in it's entirety.

ByteTheBullet (-:

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Thursday, January 13, 2005 5:27 AM

DTUCK

Wow, I remember reading "A Sound of Thunder" in my middle school English class. It was one of the catalysts that led to my fascination with theoretical physics. Though it's about the science of time-travel, it's still very much about the people. Very character-driven.

__________________________________

The best way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.

- Oscar Wilde

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Thursday, January 13, 2005 8:30 AM

SNIPER

I'm kinda dreading this movie. I read the story a while ago, and it's up there on my favorites list. It's shiny that Zoic's doing the special effects though.

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Thursday, January 13, 2005 11:07 AM

ZOID

Sniper wrote:

Quote:
I'm kinda dreading this movie. I read the story a while ago, and it's up there on my favorites list. It's shiny that Zoic's doing the special effects though.

It's important to note that according to http://imdb.com/title/tt0318081/combined , ZOIC is not doing all the gfx. Ms. Branan is heading the graphics production, but all the craftsmen are Czech or German, I believe. IMDB also say it was filmed during the Prague floods of 2002, so expect a wet film. (NB: And y'all thought the BDM was getting released late: Try 3 years. I fear too many cooks are making this broth.)

Still, I suspect that some things will be clearly the work of ZOIC, as in the aforementioned VTOL aircraft and cityscapes. That's what started this little trip: I thought the ships and missiles in Battlestar Galactica looked awfully familiar, so I looked it up and found ZOIC had indeed done over 400 shots for the BG 4-hour pilot, and were involved in "The Sound of Thunder" with one of their principal personnel.

So, I'm going to the theatre to see how that VTOL ship looks on the big screen, since that should give a pretty good indication of how our favorite Firefly-class transport is going to look in September...

Reiteratively,

zoid
_________________________________________________

"Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me." The Ballad of Serenity

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