Pre-Visual Art Studio Bridges The Gap Between Entertainment Industries

Hillsborough, NC USA – With the continuous merging and crossing over of story and visual art content in the motion picture, television, comic book, and video game industries; there is a growing need for creative out-sources that can move comfortably and smoothly between the various industries and provide a ‘medium’ for the various art departments to enhance their pre-production process. The popularity of major fantastical films such as the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “Spiderman 2”, and “King Kong”, television shows such as NBC’s “Surface”, and even teen dramas such as WB’s “One Tree Hill” are turning to pre-visual art sources for storyboarding, concept art, character development and design, illustration, and matte painting to save production dollars and time before committing to film, tape, or digital video. Video games are growing up as well, and are now competing creatively in the major markets for the entertainment consumers. These teams are also calling on the talents of pre-visual artists for creative sparks to launch and bring to life their titles, relying heavily on storyboards, illustration and character development for fuel. The cross pollination of characters (i.e. “Spiderman” in film, TV, comic books,and video games) into different forms of entertainment, requires artists who are increasingly aware and educated in the different needs and procedures of various creative outlets. Producers, directors, and editors agree: Pre-visual art saves time and money for productions that try to find ways to stay in the ‘black’ because of special effects, high actor salaries, and regular costs of production.

Supplying the increasing demand for pre-visual art worldwide, Film Shots Studio was realized. Formed in 2005, it is the home base studio for artist Craig Gilmore, a 17 year veteran of the film, TV, animation, advertising, video game and comic book illustration industries, quickly carving an impressive creative name with clients such as NBC/Universal, Warner Brothers television, Marvel Comics, Cartoon Network, Sony, and Turner Entertainment. “Companies want to save money, and the way to do that is to have a studio like ‘Film Shots’ to help with the creative workload, and provide the creative expertise in the subject matter and storytelling. Suprisingly, there aren’t that many studios out there that concentrate on pre-visualization artwork alone. Good directors always see the finished film before they shoot it.” When asked about Film Shots' location of Hillsborough, NC, based away from the entertainment epi-centers of Hollywood and New York, Gilmore replied “With today’s technology, FTP and high speed secure internet, I can upload artwork and get it to a company or director almost instantaneously for approvals. I can, and do travel for on site meetings, reference and location shoots, with the directors/staff if needed. I like the fact that I can live in such a small, town atmosphere and at the same time, enjoy the fast lane of entertainment art without physically being there. I love the career direction that Film Shots provides: Storyboards, concept, illustration, painting, and even the occasional animation.”

Film Shots official site can be found on the internet.