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www.postmagazine.com 11 POST JANUARY 2015 ZOIC CONTRIBUTES VFX TO TIM BURTON'S BIG EYES VANCOUVER — Zoic Studios completed work on 155 visual effects shots for Tim Burton's latest live action feature, Big Eyes. VFX supervisors Mark Stet- son and Ralph Maiers led a team of Zoic artists to revisit the effervescence of a pop art sensation in the wake of the Golden Gate Bridge. Big Eyes stars Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz and Jason Schwartzman, and offers a loving look at artist Margaret Keane, whose husband Walter Keane created a cultural phenomenon in the 1960s with a mass market approach to selling her paintings of stylized, big-eyed waifs. The studio's Vancouver and Los Angeles locations both contributed to the feature, which was shot using Arri's Alexa primarily in and around Vancouver and on stages, with additional short shoots in San Francisco and Hawaii. Stetson previously worked with Burton and production designer Rick Hen- richs on miniature effects. Matte artist Syd Dutton led the environments team and also brought a first-person vision of growing up in San Francisco in the 1950s and 1960s. He artfully blended details from various historic locations to convey the romance of the period to a modern audience while maintaining Burton's carefully composed and signature visual style. Burton also asked Zoic to handle concept work for Margaret's hallucinato- ry vision of people around her with big eyes, like her paintings. Using visual effects producer Lauren Weidel as a model, Maiers and Kenton Rannie devel- oped a series of looks to explore how far they could distort a human face to the proportion of a big-eyed waif, without breaking the barrier of disbelief. The Zoic team worked closely with editor JC Bond to execute Burton's vi- sion for the VFX work. Zoic's high-speed pipeline allowed Dutton and Stetson in LA to collaborate closely with Maiers and the team in Vancouver. As the cut took shape, Zoic also worked on an added sequence for the opening titles that would portray Margaret and Jane's journey across California's central coast. Contending with rampant drought conditions, the Zoic team revitalized these shots to deliver the beauty of the land that would set the tone for the begin- ning of the film. Late in post production, Zoic was tasked with six additional matte shots, including two establishing shots of Hawaii, a stylized shot of the New York Times building, and a shot of a French restaurant in San Francisco. BITS & PIECES BORIS FX ACQUIRES IMAGINEER SYSTEMS BOSTON — Boris FX (www.borisfx.com) has signed an agreement to acquire Imagineer Sys- tems Ltd. (www.imagi- neersystems.com), the UK-based developer of the Planar Tracking and masking tools. Imagi- neer's flagship product, Mocha Pro, was used in a number of major Hollywood films. In 2013 the team behind Mocha was honored by the Academy of Motion Pictures with a Science and Engineering Award. Mocha Pro software was used on Gone Girl, Birdman and Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, and on TV shows such as The Leftovers, Game of Thrones and House of Cards. "This strategic acquisition will allow us to offer the most comprehensive and advanced set of visual effects tools and solutions on the market today," explains Boris Yamnitsky, founder and CEO, Boris FX. "Imagineer Systems has the best-of-breed motion tracking, masking and rig removal technology. Both Boris Continuum Complete and Mocha Pro will greatly benefit from combining our resources and technologies, as will the many mutual customers we serve." Imagineer Systems Ltd. will continue to operate as a wholly-owned UK subsidiary of Boris FX, with CEO John-Paul Smith continuing to lead from the Guildford, UK, location. Boris Yamnitsky, CEO of Boris FX, will serve as the group chairman and Ross Shain will become the chief marketing officer of both Boris FX and Imagineer.