Michael Wiehart, a European-trained director and designer whose mixed-media work reflects his fluency with all aspects of animation, VFX, motion graphics and live action, has joined the directorial roster of Curious Pictures.
Wiehart comes over to Curious from Superfad, where he was a creative director based in its New York office. He joined Superfad in 2003; prior to that, he was a freelance art director and designer working in New York. His reel includes work for MTV, Pepsi, the New York Lottery, Quest Communications, Time Warner and Lenovo.
A native of Switzerland, Wiehart studied graphic design at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. After spending five years with the Zurich-based production company Frame Eleven, he came to New York in 1998 to start up the studio’s U.S. base.
Wiehart’s holistic way of working often finds him involved in all aspects of a project. As he likes to describe his modus operandi, he does everything from design storyboards to animation, shooting photographs and creating typefaces.
Wiehart sees Curious as an environment where his interests in working across media genres and production disciplines will flourish. “I’m most interested in applying conceptual thinking to each assignment, and then bringing it to life in whatever form works best,” he said. Curious, with its work in everything from games to feature films, broadcast promotion, TV commercials and programming, seems like the perfect launching pad, he noted.
The director envisions himself being able to use all the tools at his disposal at Curious, from a motion-capture stage to a full animation department and CGI. His background enables him to either execute animation and effects himself or work closely with a team of collaborators. “It’s more of a European approach to production, which can have its advantages,” he explained. “When the director can be involved in everything from conception to completion, it lets you follow a single creative vision all the way through. It keeps the production very streamlined, and the creative process never stops until we deliver the final product.”
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More