Live action/animation directing and visual effects collective panOptic has signed with New York-headquartered Curious Pictures for spot representation. PanOptic consists of president/art director Gary Breslin, executive producer Saul Metnick and graphic artists Nick Fischer (3-D) and Kenzo Minami (2-D).
The collective was previously repped informally for commercials by bicoastal Public Works, a division of bicoastal HKM Productions. While it didn’t work on any spots there, panOptic continues to maintain a relationship with Public Works for music videos.
PanOptic served as its own New York-based company, and its directing credits include several promo campaigns for the Japanese networks SheTV and SF (a science fiction channel) via Global Japan, New York, and the eight-minute Csoda Pók (a.k.a. Wonder Spider), an English/ Hungarian language film that premiered at the International Film Festival, Rotterdam, in ’99. PanOptic is also known for its visual effects work, which will also be produced through Curious. The collective worked in that capacity on "Bear," "Radar," "Brain" and "Eyes" for Suretrade (now part of Quick & Reilly), all through Wieden+ Kennedy, New York. Brian Beletic of bicoastal/ international Satellite was the director. The team also created the titles/ graphics for MTV’s "I’m Itchy," "Living With MTV," "400 Times Over," "Early Days" and "Moongate" via Modernista!, Boston; those promos were also helmed by Beletic. Additionally, PanOptic produced, edited and created the visual effects for the Wu-Tang Clan video "I Can’t Go To Sleep."
Curious VP/executive producer Richard Winkler was introduced to panOptic by his longtime friend Doug Biro, VP/creative director at RCA Records. Biro first saw panOptic’s work last August when he attended a show featuring visuals created by the collective. As Biro recalled, "I was so impressed with the range and imagination of the visuals that I asked to be introduced to the person who’d done the work." This was Breslin. Biro then hired panOptic to create several projects for RCA. Towards the end of the year, Biro mentioned panOptic to Curious’ executive producer/head of marketing, David Starr and Winkler. Recalled Winkler, "We weren’t actively looking [to add directors to the Curious roster], but … Doug said ‘Check them out,’ so we did." Starr contacted panOptic, and the parties met in January. PanOptic signed with Curious several months later.
Breslin and former partner Zack Shuman founded panOptic in December ’97. Shuman left the collective earlier this year. Breslin and Fischer both graduated from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, in ’95 with BFAs in fine arts and industrial design, respectively. Metnick studied photography at Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I., and has known Breslin since childhood. In ’98, Breslin was introduced to Minami, who has a BFA from New York’s Parsons School of De-sign. Minami started working with panOptic shortly thereafter. In spring ’99, panOptic began its unofficial affiliation with Public Works.
Breslin and Minami specialize in Adobe After Effects while Fischer often works in Discreet’s 3ds max. Breslin commented, "There are certain styles that are associated with us …[namely] pseudo-scientific, pseudo-military imagery and advanced, futuristic looking interface design. We love working with wire frames and trying to flatten out the illusion of space. We’re not that interested in creating completely realistic 3-D environments, we’re more interested in working with the medium." Winkler observed, "These guys have such an eclectic mix of backgrounds and interests. It seems to us that there’s a lot of growth opportunity and untapped creative there."
Metnick pointed out, "Curious offers us such a tremendous amount of production support, specifically with animation. All the resources that they have really give us the opportunity to work on larger scale projects that panOptic couldn’t execute in a given amount of time. … This [affiliation with Curious] gives us a little bit more freedom and the strength to think bigger—because we know we can do more."
Winkler added, "We use a lot of the same software as panOptic but we’re a lot bigger. We’re really looking forward to working on projects where we integrate our digital capacities." He went on, "The business is going through constant change, and the advertising delivery format is going to evolve. It’s important to us to be thinking about that—anticipating it, planning it and designing it. We don’t think the :30 is going to disappear any time soon, but we think there are going to be other formats emerging. The eclectic mix of panOptic’s background—events, art, short films—is a perfect incubator for ideas about future formats."
Curious also reps director/ partner Steve Oakes and directors Mike Bade, David Kelley, Little Fluffy Clouds (Jerry van de Beek and Betsy De Fries), Noble Jones, Chel White and Mo Willems. Curious additionally handles Stockholm-based animation studio Filmtecknarna (Jonas Odell and Jonas Dahlbeck), Mike Bennion of The Clinic, London, and Pelle Seth of Cucumber, Stockholm, here in the US.
Curious’ head of sales Rachel Klein and rep Melissa Schmidt handle sales on the East Coast; Laura Candler Linen of L2 Directors, Chicago, reps the company in the Midwest; and Lisa Gimenez and Keith Quinn of Lisa Gimenez & Associates, Los Angeles and San Francisco, cover the West Coast.
