Zai Ortiz is a visionary creative entrepreneur. With a 20+ year career defined by cutting-edge technology in Hollywood visual effects and interactive game development, he’s driven by the merging of cinema, gaming, and technology into a meta-form of entertainment.
“No matter the medium, if the story is created with choices and various narratives, the experiences can be endless.”
-Zai Ortiz
Technology + Entertainment + Gaming
Zai has always had his eye on the future.
Driven by a relentless fascination with the merging of cinema, gaming and technology, Ortiz collaborated with Nolan Bushnell in early 2017 specifically to answer the question: “what will gaming look like in 10 years?”
Zai works with a collective of forward-thinking storytellers, innovators, designers and engineers. Working at the intersection of future-tech and entertainment, Zai and his team are uncovering the ways technological advancement in AR, VR, AI and machine learning will shape and redefine our entertainment experiences.
In collaboration with Nolan Bushnell, the Founder of Atari and Godfather of Video Games, Zai led the design and development of St. Noire. As the world’s first murder mystery board game powered by Amazon Alexa, it was the winner of the CES 2020 Gold Award for Innovation in Gaming along with the 2020 Kapi Award for Best Use of Emerging Technologies.
Zai’s partnership with Nolan follows his success with DarkMatter, Ortiz’ own visual design studio in Hollywood, whose client list includes Spin Master, Bethesda, Hasbro, Disney and Warner Bros.
Zai’s ability to bridge artistic storytelling with technical innovations has defined his career. His most recognizable work is his creation of the J.A.R.V.I.S. system holograms in Marvel’s Iron Man. He has led teams of 50+ artists to deliver stunning visuals for films such as TRON: Legacy, Mission: Impossible, Thor, The Twilight Saga, and Sherlock Holmes. His work has exhilarated billions of viewers and has inspired a new generation of artists.
FAQs
What was your favorite part working on Iron Man?
Being fully immersed in the visuals along with the music blurred the lines of fantasy and reality. I was able to stretch my creativity and channel deep within.
What is DarkMatter Studios?
It’s an animation and design studio that was founded in 2015 in Hollywood, CA and still, to this day, works with its original clients. Our highly-skilled team works on films, interactive media and immersive design.
How do you draw your creative inspiration?
I draw from patterns and objects found in nature and science connecting visual branches and re-arranging them to bring together new forms of optic puzzles.
Next Immersive Gaming?
Together with Nolan Bushnell, we are remixing gameplay with cutting-edge emerging technologies such as AI, voice-activated smart speakers, augmented reality, and machine learning.
What’s your favorite game and movie?
I take this from my childhood memories - Centipede and Pitfall on the Atari 2600 and The Goonies.
Do you work with clients still?
Absolutely! I take on private clients and work on jobs that inspire me.