Lochlon Johnston, CG/VFX Supervisor at Zoic Studios, steps up to answer Five Questions.
1. What are you working on today?

Today, so far, I bid on a beer commercial, created a bullet vapor trail
for CSI and now I'm animating a talking water droplet (a really cute
educational piece).

2. What have you found is the best tool or innovation that has come out
in the last year?

I think it may have come out more than a year ago but the new
(re-vamped) render layers in Maya are tremendous when it comes to
breaking out a scene into various passes for composite.

3. The project (film, television, commercial or music video) that most
impressed you in the last year? Why?

I saw the trailer for "300" and it looks stunning. I'm a (old school)
graphic novel fan and it looks like they might have really captured the
"grit" for this film…of course, I would have tried to do this all
CG! 😉

4. The best or favorite project that you worked on in the past year? And
why?

I supervised another cinematic for EA. This one was for the game "Medal
of Honor" and was shown at E3 on a huge cylindrical screen. We created a
custom 9-camera rig in 3D and our output file from comp was over 10k
wide x 720 high. The technical hurdles were daunting but I had a very
strong team and it gave me valuable experience supervising so many
artists. The results were a big hit at the show.

5. Name the top 4 artists on your iPod?

Led Zeppelin
The Eagles
Dire Straits
The Allman Brothers

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Recent Project
Zoic And Blind "Come Together" For XBOX 360
XBOX 360 fully engages players in a gaming experience that is expansive and dramatic – where the possibilities are limitless and the imagination knows no boundaries. This is asserted on the company's website and expressively and beautifully reaffirmed in a new three spot campaign, created in a partnership between creative production company Blind and visual effects entity Zoic Studios. The campaign, which was directed by Blind and executed for McCann Worldgroup, is an animated window into the virtual world of XBOX, where game titles, consoles and the players come together in unique and powerful ways.

Working with concepts from the agency, Blind collaborated with the agency's creative team on the narrative and stories for each spot. Concept drawings and storyboards were brought to Zoic to undergo the transformation into fully animated 3D renderings. In the inaugural spot, aptly titled "Come Together," the commercial opens on a vast expanse of XBOX 360 titles. Slowly, each box begins to vibrate and then is quickly sucked away as if pulled by an unseen gravitational force. Throughout the spot we follow the flight of thousands of boxes to the center of this force…a towering photorealistic XBOX 360 game console that is being created piece by game box piece. XBOX 360 the spot titles announce: The Next Generation is over a hundred high-def games. The Next Generation is Now.

"Blind's Director Tom (Koh) is incredibly talented. He has a distinct vision for the project and a vast experience in 3D, so this made our communication and the collaboration process really enjoyable," says Zoic CG Supervisor Lochlon Johnston. "Our challenge, in addition to the overall creation of the CG, was to anthropomorphize the boxes so that they appeared to have independent personalities. This is one of those rare jobs that allow for quite a bit of experimentation, which is why I feel everyone had such a great time working on the project."

The other spots that will follow suit are animated scenarios that exude the playful, fanciful and utterly XBOX nature of this incredible campaign.

"We are excited by the opportunity to contribute to such a compelling campaign," notes Johnston. "And look forward to the response as each is unveiled."

"Moving forward with the XBOX 360 campaign, we looked for a company that had the right amount of muscle to bring our vision to life." says Tom Koh, director from Blind. "The spots I wanted to portray required so much attention to detail it was critical to find a company we could have that confidence in. Zoic performed exceptionally in all facets of such a challenging job."

CREDITS

Agency: McCann WorldGroup
Executive Creative Directors: Rob Bagot & John McNeil
Creative Directors: Scott Duchon & Geoff Edwards
Creative Director: Geoff Edwards
Associate Creative Director: Tim Wolfe
Art Director: Nate Able
CW: Mat Bunnell
Senior Producer: Annie Uzdavinis

Production Company: Blind
Director/Creaive Director: Tom Koh
Executive Producer: Santino Sladavic
Producer: Jody MacKinnon
Production Coordinator: Dana Molter
Editor: Chris Halmo
Storyboard Artist: Delfino Gamboa
Storyboard Artist: Elizabeth Columba
Storyboard Artist: John McKey
Storyboard Artist: Todd Harris
Concept Artist: Nick Berry

VFX: Zoic
Visual Effects Supervisor: Lochlon Johnston
Producer: Leighton Greer
Production Coordinator: Maya Sanchez
Executive Producer: Steve Schofield
Creative Director: Chris Jones
CG Artist: Terry Shigemitsu
CG Artist/Technical Supervisor: Dann Tarmy
CG Artist: Dan Santoni
CG Animator: Franz Vidal
Model Supervisor: Jonathan Feldman
Modeler: Kathryn Capri
Modeler: Moriba Duncan
CG Animator: Joe Jones
CG Artist: Tim Petre
CG Artist: Andrea Paolino
Compositor: Sean Apple
Compositor: Lane Jolly
Flame Artist: John Shirley