Culver City, CA-based VFX shop Zoic Studios takes off on a blissful dinosaur adventure in the new :30 “Dino Trip” for Trolli out of Periscope, Minneapolis, MN. The spot features a peculiar man gleefully going about his day-to-day life while strapped to a T-Rex, making a supermarket run, going to work, going for a walk in the park, and taking a romantic stroll on the beach, all while blissfully unaware of the odd nature of his transportation.
The spot is the continuation of a campaign that launched in April, which included the :30 “Sour Brite Crawler Minis” and the :15 “Feed Your Sour Tooth” that aired in May 2015.
The Zoic team, led by Chris Korn, utilized a stop motion dinosaur to amplify the humor embedded in the awkward trek, starting in Z Brush to create an initial design and then crafting a stop motion armature based on those templates. Next, they pieced the armature together and built the sculpture on top of it, filled their mold with foam latex, and painted the final model. For animation, seasoned stop motion animator Kim Blanchette utilized stop motion animation software Dragonframe to create the desired aesthetic.
An early passion for stop motion animation spurred by King Kong combined with a background in makeup effects and prosthetics made Korn a fitting designer for this project. He notes, “It’s a really great change of pace to get out of the computer and physically create something with your hands and then animate it to come to life even further. Each step of the process was surprising and an enjoyable challenge.”
Credits:
Client: Trolli
Title: “Dino Trip” :30
Agency: Periscope, Minneapolis, MN
Creative Director: Rob Peichel
Copywriter: John Sullivan
Art Directors: Justin Davis, Jen Neis
Agency Producer: Kelly Farley
Production Company: Central Films North
Director: Rodrigo Garcia Saiz
DP: Beto Casillas
EP/Producer: John Barreiro
Post Production: Whitehouse
Editor: Brian Gannon
Assistant Editor: Frank Sigwarth
Post Producer: Caitlin Morris
Executive Post Producer: Kristin Banstetter
VFX: Zoic Studios
VFX Executive Creative Director: Chris Jones
VFX EP: Matt Thunell
VFX EP/Head of Production: Ian Unterreiner
VFX Producer: Nick Vassil
VFX Coordinator: Yurika Mori
VFX Supervisor: Ryan McDougal
VFX Art Director: Nadar Husseini
Compositors: Giovanni Bucci, Derrick Ligas, Aziz Dosmetov, Brian Scott, Jessice Amzoll
Dino Puppet Design & Fabrication: Chris Korn
Dino Stop Motion Animator: Kim Blanchette
Dino Stop Motion Animator: Chris Korn
Flame Artists: Toby Brockhurst, Wes Waldron, Rob Winfield
Music Company: Echo Boys
Music Producer: Sara Davidson
Composers: Tom Lecher, Alex Berglund
Mixer: Chris Bartles
About Zoic Studios
Zoic Studios is a visual effects company based in Culver City, California, and Vancouver, B.C. Our team has a proven track record of success, crafting innovative visual experiences for film, television, advertising, video game and interactive projects.
“Visual Evolution” is our mission: to advance the story, art, and technology of the moving image. Masters in the fields of design, animation, compositing, and production management, Zoic’s reputation attracts rising talent and encourages a strong work ethic.
Zoic prioritizes research and development in service of constant creative growth, from in-house virtual production to real time rendering using game engine technology.