The First zoetifex Studios Facebook Contest

Well, it's finally here - the first zoetifex Facebook contest. 

This contest is open to anyone (and I mean anyone). You know how most contests tell you "employees, family members or anyone affiliated with [company name] are not eligible"? Well, we here at zoetifex don't usually follow the rules and this is no exception. So even if you have worked with us, or know us or have just heard of us - YOU ARE ELIGIBLE!!

So, what is the contest?

Here are the details:

We want you to create our gidget/mascot/critter/icon/whosywhatsy (for the sake of arguments, we will call it a symbol).

We are looking for something that we can get real creative with and have a lot of fun with. This symbol will be used at the beginning of all of our projects in an animated format, tied in with our logo. So what are we looking for?

Your design can be submitted in a number of formats. You can send us a 2d illustration, sketch or representation. You can send us an image of a 3D model or even a clay model. Or you can even make a costume if you like (though I would not recommend it. We would only use it for comedy purposes). If you want to be ambitious, you could animate the symbol in 2d or 3d (though it will look cool, there is no extra credit. You will be judged like everyone else).

What will you win?

The person who designs the winning symbol will get $5000 in cash, their name as a "Special Thanks" on all of our credits and bragging rights to all of your friends and family members. We will also send you the first production on DVD that will include your design in our splash logo at the beginning of our film. And to make things most excellent for you, we will announce to the whole world in a press release that you have been declared the winner!

The catch (I knew there had to be one).

1) The concept you create will be considered a "work in progress" and either you will be asked to help develop the symbol further, or you will turn over the concept to our crack department team of evil geniuses (or is that geni?) to help develop the idea further.

2) This contest will continue for as long as it takes to find a winner. We understand that sometimes it takes a while for these things to develop. So, in order to make sure we have enough ideas to pick from, we will run this contest until July 31, 2012 or until we get at least 50 entries (whichever comes first). If after the July 31, 2012 deadline, we still don't have a decisive winner, we reserve the right to continue the search until we do find one that we love. (Remember, I told you we don't follow the rules). That being said, I am sure we will find ourselves a winner before the July 31, 2012 deadline. I am confident in the creative talent that is out there. So tell all of your creative friends to get busy.

3) The winner will be paid the $5000 amount after we have selected a clear winner.

4) If for some reason, we come up empty, we will roll the winning amount into the next contest (but seriously, don't give up on this one).

And finally:

We will not use any of your ideas for any other purposes other than to judge this contest. This contest is available to anyone in the world and the winning amount of $5000 will be in US Dollars.

Important!!

Do not post any of your submissions online or on our Facebook wall. Please send all submissions to: contest@zoetifex.com.

If you have sketches or wish to send a DVD/CD-Rom, you can send those to:

zoetifex Studios

P.O. Box 97839

Pittsburgh, PA 15227

If you have any questions or comments, please send them to contest@zoetifex.com.

Good Luck to everyone!!

Be sure to "Like" us on Facebook!

Pre-Production Week 7 (Director's Notes)

We're still rolling full steam ahead with the story narrative. Legal documents are in play as well - just waiting to get them under wraps and then we can officially start talking about the film. Sorry we have had to keep it hush hush this long - and I hope you find it worth the wait when we reveal it to you.

I had a very good writing week while working on the narrative. Got act 1 all laid out and I will be working on act two this weekend.

I'll be on TechVibe Radio next month talking about the future of zoetifex and, pending we have all of the legal stuff wrapped up on the movie, I'll be talking about that too. TechVibe Radio is a radio show produced by the Pittsburgh Technology Council and airs every Saturday at Noon on 104.7 FM here in Pittsburgh. You can listen to it live on iHeartRadio and at http://www.wpbg.com - so there is no excuse to miss the show :)

Skype creative sessions will resume the first week of August. Will keep you posted on the progress.

Cheers all!

Pre-Production Week 3 (Playing Catch-up)

Just playing catch up right now, but so far Pre-Production is going amazingly well.
I will be posting the progress of our first animated feature film here, which is exciting enough. However, I really wish I could share with you what the project is but I can't right now for legal reasons. If we could just find that attorney to work with us who is not such a flake, we would be miles ahead by now.
Anyways, we want to take you along the journey with us and give you an insight to our progress.

Our first two meetings were on Skype and they were merely brainstorming sessions. Day one consisted of us just trying to get to know each other creatively. There were five of us in the session (names will be given later) and these are some of the most creative people you could want to meet. We started by going over the original treatment of the story by the author (who was in on the session) as well as my own treatment of the story. We then began to throw ideas out there of what could possibly be going on, to make the a very compelling story to tell to everyone. My focus was on the ending of the movie. I figured that if we can leave people at the end of the movie saying "Holy cow, I can't believe that happened!" then we could say that we have made an effective movie. Our main focus for this is on story. We want the beautiful animation to attract people to the theaters, but it has to be the story that keeps them in their seats and the story that gets them talking about this to their friends so that they go and see the film.
Anyway, I put forth my vision of what the ending should be like - not knowing how to get there. After some loose ideas were thrown out there, the winning idea was put forth by the author and he nailed it. Actually gave me chills. So I really hope we can work it in properly so that others might get the same reaction. At the end of the session, I came away feeling like we were very productive and was re-energized about the project.

The following week we talked about the characters. We wanted to open them up and see what we had. The original story did not really dive into the characters, and we had to do that for the movie's sake. I think a lot was accomplished there as well. There are four main characters to the story and we pretty much put a lot of great ideas out there to get a good idea of who they really are. But so far all we were doing was throwing some great ideas around. We still did not have a story to tell. So the script writer and I agreed to meet the following week to start working on the narrative of the story.

That catches us up to last night (week 3) where the script writer and myself got together to talk about the story. This was the first time we were working together and I have to say that I think we were gelling pretty well together. One of us would start an idea and the other would finish it. Or we would put an idea out there, we would tear it apart and realize it was not going to work. Or we would lay something out there that was a springboard to the final idea. There were good ideas, bad ideas and fabulous ideas. The bottom line is we came away (after 4 hours) of feeling a real accomplishment. The story is really starting to take shape and we can finally visualize what it's going to look like. Of course I say this now, but we have not yet presented it to the rest of the creative team yet :)

Our next step is to put these thoughts into a cohesive document that gets distributed to the rest of the team, set up our next Skype meeting and hash it out. Until we get our legal issues worked out, we can't bring in any funding. But at least we can still be productive and keep moving forward and that's just what we are doing. Stay tuned for more updates. Don't worry, they won't be as long as this one as I just wanted to get everyone caught up.

Cheers!

Looking At the Big Picture

One of the most common questions/comments I get is "Look at all of the great animation shorts out there. Why aren't those companies doing more and what makes you think you can?" Wow, there's a lot in that but I can answer that with one simple, hyphenated word: short-sightedness. These companies spend so much time working on a beautiful piece of animation that they either lose sight of the big picture, or they are just incapable of achieving the goal. And that is to create great characters with an interesting story-line that can hold people's attention for 90 minutes. I get sent links to dozens of great animation work like The Lady and the Reaper or Pigeon: Impossible (which has the potential to be more) and The Passenger which took the guy 8 years to develop. Now, I give Chris Jones all the credit in the world for his dedication. But why not spend that time developing great characters and a captivating story-line that can be turned into a wonderful movie. Or, why not do what Stateless films did with A.D., a soon to be made animated zombie movie. They poured their resources into making a trailer for a movie that hasn't been produced yet. It's wonderfully done and shows the potential for what the movie could be like. They get it - but then again, these are film makers and not an animation company.

Now, I'm not saying that there is no place in this world for animated shorts. They win awards and they can be very entertaining. But as long as that is all that a company is interested in doing, then that is all they will ever be. I also really enjoy these animated shorts and hope that these independents don't stop making them. They are wonderful pieces of animation and most of them are very entertaining. In some cases, they lead to bigger and better jobs for the animators themselves, so they are not without just cause. And a lot of these animation houses are just fine with that. They are getting awards and notoriety. But zoetifex Studios has it's sights set a bit higher. We intend to not only do award winning animation, but to entertain the masses in the theaters as well as TV and other venues. It's a pretty high goal - sure. But when you ask me what the difference is between us and them - my response is: We are looking at the "Big Picture"!

Cheers!

Investment Opportunities

Are you or someone you know interested in an investment in animation?
At zoetifex Studios we believe that the keys to successful animation are characters and story lines that can capture the attention of just about every age group. Our business model is built around creating these staples for CG animated films and TV shows, commercials, corporate marketing, interactive projects, virtual worlds for kids and more. The benefits of this "family-oriented" style of character/story focused animation could lead to:

1. Potential high profits
2. Merchandising of characters
3. Franchising Story Lines
4. Appeal to the masses

We welcome all prospective investors with interest in the animation and/or interactive digital media realm to contact us for investment opportunities in the following areas:

• Full-lenght Animated Features
• Animated Shorts
• Animated TV Shows and Specials
• Licensing and merchandising
• Interactive and online portals
• Virtual worlds for kids
• Casual games

If you are interested in learning more about the projects we have in our pipeline or finding out about investment opportunities, please contact us at invest@zoetifex.com or visit out website.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Birds (Animated Short)

zoetifex Studio's character animated piece that was put together as a demo for a possible animated TV Show. Although this was the final piece that was submitted, the team continues to work on the project to perfect the shot.

Producer/Director: Michael M. Kadrie
Adaptation: Michael M. Kadrie
Character Illustrations: Dustin Foust
Storyboard: Hasan Odom
Modeling (Alfred): Roger Borelli
Modeling (Bird): Júlio Cesar De Modesti
Rigging (Alfred): Jason Baskin
Rigging (Bird): Warren Speak
Additional Rigging: Jason Sanborn
Sound Editing: Michael M. Kadrie
Editing/Compositing: Michael M. Kadrie
UV Wrapping (Alfred): Gary Ritchie
UV Wrapping (Bird): Júlio Cesar De Modesti
UV Wrapping (Bird): Quinton Broadwater
Texture/Shading/Lighting: Quinton Broadwater
Texture (objects): Jason Sanborn
Lead Animator: Amelia Kurth
Animator: Brad Bradbury
Animator: Nathan Sawyer
Animator: Yisroel Broocker
Animator: Tom Lubanovic
Animator: Teresa Nord
Animator: Cristin McKee
Animator: Valerie Morrison
Animator: Aaron Zisman
Animator: Ben Richards
Animator: Jason Baskin

Original Audio Taken From: Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds Trailer 1963 Universal Pictures.

Black and White version found here!