The VFX company Zoic Studios just announced the launch of Zoic Editorial, an “editorial house within a VFX house” headed by Zoic senior editor Dmitri Gueer. The new editorial house will serve both Zoic VFX clients and outside clients.DmitriGueer

“Over the years we have received incredible feedback from clients who have collaborated with Dmitri,” said COO Tim McBride. “As the demand for editorial services has increased we knew the time was right to bring Zoic editorial to the marketplace. Now, instead of an enhancement to our other creative services, Dmitri and the editorial department can enjoy individualized attention and clients can have access to great editing.”

McBride noted that, by combining the editorial and VFX production aspects under the same roof, Zoic Editorial also offers one-on-one interaction between client and editor; direct communication between the editor and the VFX supervisors and lead artists; and editorial involvement at all stages of the VFX process, from the beginning to after the edit is locked.

Gueer, who has been a part of the Zoic Studios team since its inception, has worked as a professional editor for the last nine years. In addition to VFX editorial (Killzone 2, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation title sequence; Linkin Park “Points of Authority” music video, Consol Energy “The End”, Star Wars: The Old Republic, MAG: Massive Action Game), he has also cut commercials for Tropicana, SeaWorld, Citgo, Gamefly, Busch Gardens, Ask.com, Craftsman, Toyota, Dodge and Pontiac, and promotional editorial  for American Idol, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and ESPN. Among his other technical chops, Gueer has mastered Avid, FCP, After Effects and Photoshop.

During his career with Zoic, Gueer has made several major improvements in VFX editorial practices. These include what Gueer calls “the New Offline,” which lets the clients pre-visualize the final edit in a way that is far superior to traditional rough cuts. “There are commercials that are VFX heavy with hundreds of practical, previs and CG elements that have to be combined in the offline to tell the story,” explained Gueer. “How do you edit or assemble such spots so they can be submitted for client’s approval? We take pre-comping out of Avid into After Effects, where we create composites with practical or CG elements on live plates. We later take the After Effects composites that usually include dozens of layers with multiple effects and adjustments applied to them, and place them back in the edit. The advantage of this workflow is very simple: no longer do creatives have to “walk” their client through the rough cut, explaining what would go where and when; the client can clearly see, even at the offline stage, an essential representation of a completed spot.”

Gueer has also made important improvements to the standard editorial pipeline, including his “binning” system, which provides tapeless delivery of VFX shots to the client via Avid or Final Cut Pro media files. “The binning system allows for a tapeless delivery of VFX shots to the client via Avid or Final Cut Pro media files,” said Gueer. “I created a way of embedding timecode and tape information along with 3:2 cadence into Avid or FCP media files. The binning system is beneficial for both Zoic Studios and Zoic’s clients because it eliminates the waiting period associated with laying off shots to tape, having to deliver the tape to the client, and the client having to digitize the tape to get the shots into the cut in order to export an EDL for the online.”

“We try to give our clients as much time as they need in the editing bay,” said Gueer. “But most importantly, I make myself available to our clients 24/7 during the editorial process and well after it. They can reach me any time of the day and on the weekends. We understand that our clients need this type of support. We understand that “windows” of getting approvals are often unpredictable and elusive. So if a change to the edit needs to be made at 10 PM on a Saturday night for a 9 AM Sunday morning posting, we make sure that it gets done.”