(PRWEB) June 29, 2003

Justin Evans, along with his two companies Virtual Light, a digital animation & fx company in Beijing, China, recently completed work on the Opening Credits for “Noz & Grakk: Alien Abductors.”

This sequence can be viewed at:

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilm/product/film_info/0,3699,2472905,00.html

The sequence is both the Opening Credit Sequence and the Proof Of Concept for the show’s production company, NAGAA, LTD.

The show stars the voices of James Earl Jones (Field Of Dreams, The Hunt For Red October, Star Wars), Dwight Schultz (The A-Team, Star Trek: The Next Generation), Curtis Armstrong (Moonlighting, Revenge Of The Nerds) and Mark Hamill (Star Wars, Batman: The Animated Series.)

Justin Evans, along with a group of private investors, created NAGAA, LTD. to independently develop “Noz & Grakk: Alien Abductors.” While developing the property Justin Evans created Virtual Light, his own digital animation and fx company in Beijing, China. These two companies have worked together to create the opening credit sequence for the show. Additionally, NAGAA, LTD. has focused on developing all other aspects of the project. The main goal of both companies is to close the gap between theatrical and television animation with this project. They’ve achieved this by independently financing a year-long pre-production period identical to the depth and complexity conducted by major studio feature animation departments. Conceptual designers, modelers, riggers, texture artists and writers were hired to completely develop the show’s first season.

When voice over artists were solicited for the show, celebrity agents read the script…and overnight hundreds of film and television stars were calling to be part of the independent project. This gave the independent company their pick of the best and brightest in Hollywood.

“We were approached by cast members of Everybody Loves Raymond, King Of The Hill, Whose Line Is It Anyways? and The Simpsons. The callback process was brutal because of the sheer talent on the callback list.” says veteran casting director and Portland native Megann Ratzow.

“I was often pushed to hire the biggest names by other potential partners.” says Justin Evans. “However, this show won’t succeed on marquee value. What it needs are actors who perfectly fit the roles.

Will Vinton Productions almost became our partners in the show. Their president of TV development stated ‘Justin, this show’s great. At it’s core, it’s a buddy comedy. And when I think buddy comedies I think Matt Damon & Ben Affleck as Noz & Grakk.’

I said I wasn’t sure they were right for the roles. He then suggested Chris Tucker & Martin Lawrence. I said they weren’t right for the roles, either. He responded by stating ‘Well, just change the characters then…what matters is getting even bigger stars than you have now.’

I have a lousy poker face and I’m sure my facial expression gave way my disdain for that horrid idea. Needless to say Will Vinton and my company did not become partners. The actor’s they suggested are amazingly talented actors. However, they don’t fit the roles. And that’s the main issue. Celebrities for celebrity’s sake is artistically bankrupt and demonstrates a misunderstanding of the business of filmmaking. The audience wants interesting characters far more than they want movie stars artificially grafted onto a character.

I wanted actors who perfectly fit our characters and were willing to take the project as seriously as a major budget feature. And if my partners can’t back me up on that decision then I need to find different partners. To me, it’s just icing on the cake that most of our cast are also celebrities. That was never the explicit goal.”

The entire cast recorded dialogue for the pilot episode along with two promotional shorts, currently being animated by Virtual Light. And they all did their work for scale.

“It’s the writing. This is one of the best pilots I’ve ever read.” exclaimed Dwight Schultz. James Earl Jones committed to the pilot 24 hours after having read the script. “It’s just a wonderful script. It’s smart and very funny.” stated Curtis Armstrong.

Curtis and Dwight have acted as advocates for the show, meeting with investors as well as becoming involved in the production process of the project. Dwight Schultz joined as a UFO consultant and Associate Producer and is now a minority owner of NAGAA, LTD.

Both NAGAA, LTD. and Virtual Light continue to work on material for the show even as their focus turns to gaining distribution. The show’s creator, Justin Evans, is currently directing a short film set in the Noz & Grakk universe entitled “Worse For Wear.”

Justin Evans, grew up in Portland and graduated from Clackamas High School. He currently resides in both Southern California and Beijing, China where he trains the Virtual Light staff, readying them for production.

Related NOZ Press Releases

Tags: animation, Dwight Schultz, James Earl Jones, Justin Evans, Noz, project, script, Show

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 28th, 2012 at 12:48 pm and is filed under Advertising. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.