Update 5/29

It's been a while since you've heard from us. We have lots to tell you. Ready to listen?

Nick Schweip has finished rotoscoping for the film noir, Chalk Outlines. The finished product will be online soon, but until then check out the trailer above. If you really want to be caught up with the film's production then watch Repentance, a precursor to Chalk Outlines.

We should also mention that we can breathe now. Our recording booth finally got proper ventilation which means no more coughing, headaches, and dead employees from the poisonous air. Next week we plan on starting the setup of our vocal booth. Our little recording studio is growing up so fast...

Film noirs, breathing, what could be next? How about film festivals! With the help of singer-songwriter Tom Knight and a website called Withoutabox we are now ready to send out The Elephant's Lullaby to film festivals across the country. We're very excited at the opportunity for audiences to watch the music video on a big screen. We're also excited to win first prize at every festival. You know that's what's going to happen.

Hopefully that was enough info to satisfy all appetites? It wasn't? Well, check back with us soon for more updates.

Update 1/20

Happy New Year! Long time no update, but the weekly updates are starting again, and we here at Moving Box have got a lot of exciting stuff coming your way.

Our studio is in its last week of construction and we're excited to show it off! We'll be having an awesome opening event, and will post a date for that soon.

We've entered production for The Making of The Elephant's Lullaby, which is (as you've already guessed) a behind-the-scenes look at The Elephant's Lullaby. We expect to release "The Making" next month.

Dave Livingston has finished recording with Mike Brindisi and the New York Rock. Their new album, Counting Pennies, has entered the mixing stage with Alex Perialas of Pyramid Sound Studios. Counting Pennies is slated for release this March!

Joe Zohar's film noir, Chalk Outlines, is nearing completion! Haven Cousins from Nonfx has come aboard as visual effects supervisor, and Joe feels that this collaboration takes the film to a much higher level. Just check out that still from the film at the top.

Also working with Joe is Dillon McCarthy, a talented, on-the-rise student at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Dillon is working on the effects for one of the most visually challenging scenes in the film. Keep an eye out for this incredibly dedicated artist in the future.

Joe is delighted to have Eric Spangler, AKA DJ Dubble8 as composer for the film's score. Eric has worked with Joe and Moving Box Studios before, and Joe couldn't be happier to be working with him again on this project.

Ryan Mauk of Digital One is head of sound design for Chalk Outlines. Like Eric, Ryan's worked with Moving Box before, as sound designer both for the Chalk Outlines trailer and for Olympus Burger!

Chalk Outlines has been in production for a number of years now, and now with all of these talented people, Joe feels that he's found exactly the right team and is pleased to see everything coming together just right. He estimates completion in 2-3 months, and we're seriously pumped. We'll be having screenings here in the studio and elsewhere - check back here for updates!

Update 12/2

Winter has brought us festivities, happiness, camaraderie, and snow. Clearly this is a big change for Matt Lenz and Joe Zohar after returning from the tropical paradise of Costa Rica.

Matt and Joe have been gone for just over a week filming the pilot episode of Eco-Spots, a Co-Production of Moving Box Studios and GA.GA Productions. This show about environmental awareness; it includes shots of breath-taking deserted beaches of the Pacific Ocean, completely self-sustaining eco-lodges, national marine parks, and the mountains of Costa Rica. After a week of filming, the team walked away with great footage and production stills. The pilot episode is scheduled for completion this week and it will air in March in LifeStyle TV.

Joe has recently started using Photoshop’s animation timeline sequence for Chalk Outlines. It has allowed the artists to work more effective with each other. Nicoli Schwiep and Liz McLelland have just breached the halfway point with rotoscoping for the film. It’s looking as if a first fine cut will be complete for December 15th, and will be followed by a first trailer. Liz will produce promotional material using graphic design.

Nicoli's Robobots is coming to fruition. He is currently putting the final touches on the first draft script of the origin story of the gigantic killer Robobots. The character designs are also on lock and some images will be posted on the blog soon.

The Java promo is also almost completely done, but a release date has not yet been set.

The principal photography of Tom Knight’s Elephants Lullaby is complete. All that’s remaining in production is the shading of the characters, which will be finished soon by Liz.

Olympus Burger HD is more than halfway converted, with 8 of the 15 scenes in HD. According to Joe and Chris, the fight scene is almost completely converted to HD and is looking awesome.

Looking towards the future, Days of Our Lamps 2 is going back into production THIS WEEK and is looking at a tentative release date of early 2009.

Stay Tuned.

Update 11/11

C
A hard beginning makes for a good ending, especially when you’re looking at Moving Box Studio’s new digs.

With only a few touches left, construction is soon coming to a close. All that remains is paint touchups and trim on the doors, and what a time to start finishing up, with all of our projects traveling towards their conclusions.

Chris Davidson has just brought Ryan Mauk back on board to work on sound design for Olympus Burger HD. Dave Livingston is composing new music for the show and Joe Zohar is re-animating the epic fight scene of the pilot episode. Everything we have learned in the last three years will be put into this pilot, proving what we are capable of.

Our very own Matt Lenz and Joe Zohar are flying to Costa Rica tomorrow as the production team of a new pilot produced by Lifestyle TV. The off the charts tourism show called Eco-Spots takes the viewer to secluded places in popular areas and teaches them how to not leave their environmental footprint.

Tom Knight’s Elephant’s Lullaby is nearing completion, with 99% of the main cartoon done. Tom’s rotoscoped intro is now being colored and synced, and the main characters are being shaded by Liz McLelland.

As for Java, Danielle Chillemi has just green-lit a short promo for the show. Megan Corsen has already completed the art, now it’s Chris’ turn to composite it. Matt has been working on the syncing for the pilot, but the promo will be released first.

In addition to working hard at the construction of the studio, Dave has been recording Mike Brindisi and the New York Rock. He is almost finished with the lead guitar and the vocals are the next step.

Chalk Outlines is getting close to having a full cut to watch all the way through after Joe added a few more shots last week. Nicoli and Liz has been working extremely hard with the rotoscoping of the film so it can be finished as soon as possible, and the 3D components are almost complete, thanks to Evera Lovelace.

In addition to all of this, Chris has just finished the introduction credits for the ICTV program, The Quasi Late Program with Joe Para. Click here to take a look.

Stay Tuned.

Update 10/28

This year, Halloween is anything but scary for us here at Moving Box. Between Olympus Burger, Chalk Outlines, Java, and Mike Brindisi, the studio is more exciting than ever before.

Mike Lazzo of Comedy Central’s Adult Swim wants to see the pilot for Olympus Burger, so we’re putting together a press kit for him. Chris is returning to all of the source files of Olympus Burger, fixing any problem he ever came across. He is adding new music composed by our very own Dave Livingston, including Joe Zohar’s smash hit, Dewey Dewey. The most exciting part is that Chris is reanimating the pilot to a true widescreen 1920 X 1080 HD video.

The first trailer of Joe’s Chalk Outlines is coming soon. All but one or two shots are complete, and the film is in for sound design touchups with Ryan Mauk. Joe is working hard with Nicoli Schwiep and Liz McLelland to finish the Rotoscoping for the film.

Matt Lenz is finishing up the lip-syncing for Java. The front shots are complete and the only thing left in this fun for anyone film is a few profile shots.

In addition to all of this, Dave is working hard with Mike Brindisi and the New York Rock. The group has been in and out of the studio for a few weeks now. There are only a few songs left to record guitar on and the album is pushing ahead.

Possibly the coolest thing going on at the moment is the show reel being compiled for the Olympus Burger press kit. A show reel is roughly 20 seconds of each project Moving Box has completed, chronicling the last year of our progress. The show reel will be released online and will include Java, Chalk Outlines, Olympus Burger, Repentance, Bacon Samurai, Purgatory Pizza, Girls will be Girls, and a selection of documentaries.

Stay Tuned.

Chalk Outlines Teaser

What's going on at the Box

As wedding season comes to an end, festival season begins. With that said, Moving Box Studios is ready to show what we've got, and we've got a lot.

M.9. is a major project of the video department at Moving Box. They have entered their final stages of sound recording and music this week. Dave is alternating days between the two until they are complete, which should be sometime in September.

Chalk Outlines, is in the hands of Nick and Liz, who are making the first test images look great. The whole team here at Moving Box is really excited about the project, a contemporary take on the classic film noir genre.

Joe has taken the lead in pursuing festivals for the coming year to show off all the projects we've been working on this past year. The festival Fundraising Party is still in the works.

[Charm City Remix] is an interactive walkthrough of Baltimore told through stories, and was produced by Matt and Joe. The film shot entirely in Baltimore with a mix of musical composition and a conversational tone, leaves the viewer with the state of mind of having actually taken the tour. The video can be seen anytime in the next two months at the Contemporary Museum of Baltimore.

[Java], an animated pilot produced by Chris Davidson, will begin voiceovers on the 27th of September, and is projected to be released sometime in October. This is big news for all of us here at Moving Box, because [Java] was our first commissioned project and it is nearing completion, causing a lot of excitement at the studio.

[Purgatory Pizza], created by [MC Deathbear], is flying through production. The script has been edited and scene one is completely animated. Scene two is in the process of being synced, but what really shines in this animation is the character development. The piece is scheduled to be released in volumes, one of which should be available for viewing sometime next week.





All of the backgrounds have been completed for [Elephants Lullaby] and the shooting has begun for the upcoming video, The Making of Elephants Lullaby. We're ahead of schedule for this one and really excited about it.

We have just finished a commercial for The House of Zohar that came out great and are looking to make more. We also do wedding videos, all in HD.

our studio has been in motion for months now, with construction and work all at once, but an end is in sight with the final touches being completed.

Stay Tuned.

Update 9/9

Hey everyone, September is here! Most people associate September with the start of school, the start of fall, the start of a new year. Well, along with all that, Moving Box Studios has a few new projects we’ve been working on.

[Olympus Burger] is the flagship project of the Animation department here. The pilot episode has been on the web for over a year now, but if you haven't seen it yet [Watch it Now]. Everyone has been working hard and the trailer for the new episode is almost complete. The editing is all set and we’re working on sound design and music.

Chalk Outlines, the thesis project of Joe Zohar while at Ithaca College, is humming according to Joe. The work is being completed quickly and Joe will be placing some of his screenshots online, asking the viewers what they would like to see. Joe is really driven to get this project complete and release a trailer.

We are also planning a Festival Fundraising Party! Word will come soon as to the location and day of this event.

Nikolai has created Robobots. He is currently refining character designs and working on a backstory in order to put together a really solid foundation. We have a writers meeting set for this week to discuss script ideas.

M.9., a short experimental film directed by Joe Zohar, is almost complete. Sound production is scheduled to begin this coming Monday, September 15th.

[Java], an animated pilot produced by Chris Davidson, has voiceovers scheduled for later this month. All art and animation blocking is complete. It is projected to be released in October.

[Purgatory Pizza], created by [MC Deathbear], is coming along splendidly. The pilot episode is projected to be complete in September-October and a trailer can be seen at the website.

We here at Moving Box Studios have our work cut out for us, with seven projects currently in production. However, things are moving faster than ever with the renovations nearly complete. A studio warming party is also planned, but no dates available.

Stay tuned.

March Update!

The dust has settled here at Moving Box Studios; we’ve almost finished with renovations and are awaiting inspection. Assuming all goes as planned, we will be having a grand opening gala in early April! Yay for progress! Despite the sawdust in our laptops, we’ve managed to keep the ball rolling on our current projects. A meeting is being scheduled with Adult Swim to discuss Olympus Burger.

In addition, Joe has brought the long awaited Chalk Outlines to its final stages of post production! He has also finished M.9 and, after consulting with our sound designer Dave, will be submitting it to film festivals. All preliminary interviews with the staff at Ithaca Health Alliance have been completed and we hope to finish the documentary within the next 6 weeks.

After an impromptu photo shoot at Cayuga Medical Center, Wright and Chris have gotten the second episode of Days of our Lamps under way. Entitled ‘General Popsicle,’ its release date is expected to be in late spring or early summer. Finally, next week we’ll be getting two Sony EX1 HD cameras! Check back with us soon for final release dates and information about our Grand Opening Gala.

Chalk Outlines - Director Photo

Hey guys it's Karim. This is the first completely processed and digitally retouched picture from the recent photo shoot I had with Joe in Ithaca in preparation for the completion of "Chalk Outlines". You'll notice the iconic "Cyrus Painer" door from the movie in the background. Joe looks pretty at home in a trenchcoat and fedora, maybe he should get his own spinoff series. "Joe Zohar: Private Director"? :) Any comments are well appreciated, as always.

-Karim

Chalk Outlines - Banner

Hello everyone, Joe here with another banner from Alan that I think looks pretty phenominal. Let me know what you guys think.

Chalk Outlines - Cover Art

Hey everyone its Joe again and just wanted to get everyones feedback on this piece of artwork for Chalk Outlines. It is going to be the DVD cover and Movie poster for the film. The text is not on the poster yet, but I am wondering what everyone thinks of the painting. Would like your opinions. Thanks

- Joe Z.