ZAP was founded in January 2005 after Kim Aubry’s 18-year run as the head of post production at Francis Coppola’s American Zoetrope.

At that time, Francis Coppola had decided to focus strictly on new more personal films and did not wish to continue in post production as a business.

In 2005, we were very busy with the boom in home video, making original behind the scenes doc featurettes and DVD authoring and design.

So with a lot of support from Zoetrope, and with some projects already in progress, ZAP Zoetrope Aubry Productions started as an independent business January 5, 2005.

Our first official gigs were creating new bonus features for DVD releases including Caleb Deschanel’s “The Escape Artist” (1982),  Mario Bava’s “Danger Diabolik” (1968) and a new director’s cut version of Coppola’s “The Outsiders” (1983) titled “The Outsiders, The Complete Novel.”

Here’s “Fred Roos and The Casting of the Outsiders,” one of our featurettes from the 2005 DVD Release of The Outsiders: The Complete Novel. Fred Roos passed away in May of 2024.

The original version of “The Outsiders” (1983) based on the beloved S.E. Hinton novel did not include many scenes from the book. But those scenes had been shot and then removed before the film was released. Coppola always wished the film could be restored to the original continuity, giving more depth to the Curtis family featuring “Sodapop” Rob Lowe and “Darrel” Patrick Swayze. ZAP helped Francis recut and restore the film, and then we invited original cast members to the Coppola home to view the new cut and celebrate. Kim traveled to Tulsa to interview author S.E. Hinton on location, and also interviewed all of the Greasers and Socs. Watch the featurette here.

ZAP and SFFilm are frequent collaborators, and in 2017 we were asked to put together a reel for the SF International Film Festival’s Tribute to Shah Rukh Khan. Kim is a huge fan of the great Bollywood star, and by coincidence, was traveling to India for a wedding one week before the SFIFF. He was able to purchase thirty two DVDs of Shah Rukh Khan titles, many not available here. We had so much fun watching dozens of Bollywood films and putting together this exhilarating, toe-tapping highlight reel of this remarkable actor’s work. ZAP attended the tribute event at the Castro Theatre – a night we’ll never forget.

The audience went wild for SRK – we could barely hear the dialogue of our highlight reel over all the cheers!

One of our first DVD projects in 2005 was a new release of Coppola’s 1983 film “Rumble Fish.” The filming location was Tulsa, as this film was an adaptation of another SE Hinton novel and followed the filming of “The Outsiders.” Fortunately, the Zoetrope vault had a trove of behind the scenes material recorded on Betamax I, an industrial video format of the period. The score for the film was written and performed by Stewart Copeland, percussionist in The Police. A favorite memory was getting Copeland and sound designer Richard Beggs into a recording studio at Fantasy where we could revisit the remarkable “Percussion Based Score” of Rumble Fish, revealing track by track, the layers of score and sound effects which come together as one.

In 2007, Sony Pictures (formerly Columbia) approached us about doing an anniversary Blu-Ray re-release of “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992) for home video. Because Sony was a big backer of their new high definition home-video format Blu-Ray disc, this was a big deal. There had been a format war going on for 4 years between HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Fifteen years earlier, I was the technical director during preproduction and filming of Dracula in 1991-1992, so Zoetrope and I had a great archive for bonus features. Deleted scenes, alternate cuts, even the pre-visualization and story boards. This was our most ambitious special edition to date, chock full of new documentaries covering the wonderful Eiko Ishioka costumes, the in-camera visual effects and other weird and wonderful things. On a personal note, in 2007, long time ZAP alumnus Ri Crawford was a production assistant at ZAP.  I asked if he would be able to do a thankless massive task: The many deleted scenes from Dracula existed only on Hi8 tapes, and they had temp music which was mixed and embedded but now could not be cleared for this Blu-Ray release, so Ri was able to surgically remove the temp music and replace it with approved Wojciech Kilar cues from the final film. Below is a personal favorite featurette – The Costumes Are the Sets: The Design of Eiko Ishioka

2008, another bite at the apple. In 2001, when I was at Zoetrope, we did a massive Godfather DVD collection (all 3 films) on DVD for Paramount with many wonderful new documentaries, photos, easter eggs, text, and director’s commentaries. But the first two Godfather film masters themselves were in poor shape from years of use and abuse. In 2008, following a painstaking 4k restoration from original film elements, we were hired again to make MORE COOL STUFF. “The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn’t” is a short film, edited by Rhonda Collins that tells the weird story of how the film came to be at a time when Hollywood was in a state of upheaval. Almost everyone we contacted to participate in the film said “yes!” …great filmmakers, actors, film critics and comedians all had something to say about their love for these films.

Starting in 2009, ZAP moved away from producing behind-the-scenes docs for Hollywood home video. We became a post house specializing in non-fiction (docs) by independent filmmakers using our talent and gear to perfect films on their way to the finish line. We’ve met so many amazing filmmakers and we collaborated on many remarkable films. Too many to shout out individually, so we put together a short clip reel of some of their work.

In late 2008, Paramount hired ZAP to put together a special 15th anniversary re-release of Robert Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump (1994) on Blu-ray. The memorable and credible VFX composites of Gump (Tom Hanks) interacting with JFK, John Lennon, Richard Nixon and many others in newsreel footage were groundbreaking. And since ILM and even the inventors of PhotoShop were close by, we invited these brainiacs to break down their approach in the documentary “Getting Past Impossible.” Today we take for granted deep fakes you can accomplish on your phone, but in 1993 this was revolutionary. ZAP alum Ri Crawford created terrific animations to elucidate the comping process. Jen Bradwell edited this featurette.

Today we’d like to give a special shout out to our longtime friend and brilliant colorist, Leo Hallal! Kim and Leo first met in 1997 when Kim spoke at the RioCine Film Festival in Brazil. In 1998 Kim traveled to Brazil to build a state-of-the-art post film post production facility called “ZB Facilities” which became a mini Zoetrope. The great colorist Randy Coonfield (another old Zoetrope friend) came down to Rio to train Leo in Telecine, color grading film dailies for a huge film production “Chatô – The King of Brazil.” Kim and Leo became friends, watched Brazil’s aching loss to France in the 1998 World Cup together. Leo color graded many of ZAP’s documentaries between 2007 and 2012, then Leo moved to San Francisco to work at ZAP. We have been collaborating ever since on dozens of projects, including “The Island President,” “Eames: The Architect and the Painter” “Life Overtakes Me,” “Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir,” “Athlete A” and the film restorations of Wayne Wang’s “Smoke” and “Blue in the Face.”

Kim was the producer of Francis Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now Redux” in 2000, but ZAP’s history with the film goes back to ZAP’s origin as The DVD Lab at Zoetrope. In 1999, our very first commercial DVD for a studio was the original 1979 version of Apocalypse Now. This was at a time when there were few DVD players in consumers’ hands, and very few companies with the technology to master for DVD. That first DVD had a single “bonus extra,” which was the “Destruction of the Kurtz Compound” sequence, a pyrotechnic masterpiece that was NOT seen in the original 1979 70mm release of the film, but was appended to the end of 35mm prints as a background for on-screen end credits. (The original 70mm release had no text in the film at all! Audience members were given a printed booklet with the credits). Francis narrated this bonus extra and, in a way, he addressed the confusion that this “apocalyptic ending” was an alternate version of the film. Willard hadn’t called in an airstrike. But this DVD bonus extra experience lit a spark in Coppola’s imagination…what if we could revisit the entire film and include scenes that had been omitted back in 1979. Thus the Apocalypse Now Redux project was born, with Walter Murch mining original outtakes and b-roll to reconstruct the additional 9 or 10 scenes (49 minutes). In 2007, Paramount agreed to present the original 1979 Apocalypse Now paired with the 2001 Redux version on a special edition DVD. It was called “Apocalypse Now – The Complete Dossier.” One of the very cool but rarely used features in DVD was called “seamless branching.” It allowed the viewer to select which path could be seen, a little icon would pop up at the moments when the Redux version diverged from the original. And we were commissioned to make many behind the scenes shorts and documentaries. Two of our favorites were A Million Feet of Film and The Music of Apocalypse Now.

One of our favorite Easter eggs:

We pride ourselves on our extensive experience and fanatical attention when dealing with archival footage – making it look beautiful, seamless, and integrated with the rest of the story. One of our favorite archival-heavy projects could not be more quintessentially San Francisco. “Carol Doda: Topless at the Condor” is an artful appreciation of the famous North Beach entertainer after making her debut as America’s first topless dancer. The co-directors are ZAP friends Jonathan Parker (Bartleby, 2001) and Marlo McKenzie. We worked closely with fabulous archival producer Jen Petrucelli to track down the best possible master clips, get the footage as dirt-and-scratch-free as possible, and cut into the film to tell the story of this remarkable woman during a fascinating time, the sexual revolution of the 1960s, feminism, and a reconsideration of all in today’s context.

One of our less-known specialties at ZAP is FILM Restoration. Kim worked on numerous feature restorations while at American Zoetrope, including “Apocalypse Now Redux” and “The Outsiders,” and he was involved in the 2008 Paramount restoration of The Godfather films. At ZAP, we have been offering restoration services from the beginning, including many great documentary films: Steve Talbot’s “DC III” (1971) Lance Bird and Tom Johnson’s “The World of Tomorrow” (1984), Debra Chasnoff’s “Choosing Children” (1985) and features like Jonathan Parker’s indie comedy “Bartleby” (2000) and Wayne Wang’s “Smoke” (1995) and “Blue In The Face” (1995).

Below is a doc about the restoration process on The Godfather films that Kim wrote and directed in 2008 for Paramount. Animations by Ri Crawford, edited by Serena Warner, color by Leo Hallal. “Emulsional Rescue – Revealing The Godfather.” [title suggested by Diane Aubry with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards!]

Today we’re celebrating a longtime friend and collaborator (and ZAP’s former online editor and colorist) Ri Crawford . As our online post guru at ZAP, Ri conformed, mastered, designed graphics and created spectacular animations for our projects. After his time at ZAP, Ri went on to found his own stop motion animation studio in Oakland: Mystery Meat Media. One of our favorite collaborations was helping Ri finish his personal film, The Moon’s Milk, an entirely handmade stop motion animated short about a time when the moon was close enough to be reached by ladder. Kim produced the film (and helped bring Tom Waits on board as the narrator), and Ashley Pagán and Leo Hallal provided online and color.

One From the Heart (1981) was Francis Coppola’s romantic fantasy set in Las Vegas; the antidote to his previous film, the ground-breaking “Apocalypse Now,” filmed in trying conditions on location in The Philippines. The new film started as a modestly budgeted simple love story with music, and provided Coppola with a chance to create a completely synthetic environment on multiple sound stages at his recently acquired Hollywood General Studios. It also provided an opportunity to test out new equipment and techniques: The Ultimatte, videotape editing, computers, pre-visualization. File all this under Coppola’s visionary portmanteau “The Electronic Cinema.” Fantastic songs and soundtrack by Tom Waits featuring Crystal Gayle. In 2003, after working on a director’s cut and cinema re-master of the 1981 version, we made a super elaborate DVD edition packed with new documentaries and bonus extras. A favorite doc is “The Electronic Cinema” which you can see here.

Today we’re highlighting a recent project that’s near and dear to our hearts. Our good friend, producer Brook Holston introduced us to Mark Oltmanns and Jason Motlagh, a brilliant team of journalist filmmakers. Their film, Riders on the Storm, begins as a deep-dive into the world of buzkashi – the national sport of Afghanistan. When U.S. forces pull out of Afghanistan and the Taliban regains control, two famed horsemen and buzkashi champions must go into hiding and find a way out of their country. This was a memorable project for us on multiple counts: the gorgeous photography allowed us to explore and enhance the visual and dramatic impact using our DolbyVision HDR color grading capabilities. When we wrapped post production, we hosted a screening in our theater for the Afghani buzkashi stars themselves: Khaiber Akbarzada and Gulbuddin “Kalakov” Mulakhil. It was a moving day that concluded with a delicious Persian celebration lunch. We’re so grateful to have been a part of this film’s journey!

“Urgent, we need to add digital elephant tusks.” Old friend Tom Luddy connected Kim with a well known Thai filmmaker, a royal prince named Chatri Chalerm Yukol. Chatri was about to start principle photography on a massive historical epic “Suriyothai,” which tells the story of a young woman in the early 16th century who became a great warrior defending Siam from the invading Burmese army. Single-elephant battles were common then with adversaries sparring with halberds, but it was not practical to film the battle authentically as modern elephants have their tusks removed. “…can you help us find a digital way to add tusks back into the final shots?” Thus began a wonderful friendship; the final sound editorial and mix was done at Zoetrope with Pete Horner supervising, and the film premiered in Bangkok on Thai Queen Sirikit’s birthday. (The royal family paid much of the cost of this massive film.) Suriyothai went on to be the top grossing film of all time in Thailand, and a year later Francis Coppola helped Chatri adapt the film for an international audience, re-titled “The Legend of Suriyothai,” distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. Chatri and his family and the Aubrys became close, and remain so to this day.

We’re taking this day to give a massive shout-out to Actual Films, among our longest-running collaborators. We’ve been Jon and Bonni’s neighbors in the Presidio for 16 years, and have helped them complete many films beginning with “The Island President” in 2011. From nail biting film festival premieres to getting final masters on Netflix, ZAP has helped Actual finish “Audrie and Daisy,” “An Inconvenient Sequel,” “Athlete A,” “In Waves and War,” “The White House Effect” and our first Dolby Vision HDR color grade “Lead me Home”

Celebrating our partnership today, here’s to many more years of making movies with the sensational multi-talented Actual team!

We’re so proud to have worked closely with SFFILM for many years, often sponsoring film screenings at the SF International Film Festival, and creating many of the DCPs that play there. We created nearly two-dozen tribute reels for awards nights at the Festival. ZAP staff watched all the tributee’s films, and then selected clips and edited them into a montage that we hoped was entertaining and beautiful.

Over the years we’ve lovingly crafted these highlight reels for Jeremy Irons, Guillermo Del Toro, Laura Dern, Paul Schrader, John C. Reilly, Michelle Yeo, Richard Linklater, Ellen Burstyn, and Wayne Wang, to name just eight. Please enjoy this look back at Jeremy Irons.

One memory stands out. In 2016, SFFilm was honoring Ellen Burstyn. Kim had remembered a remarkable performance in a not well known Jules Dassin film from Greece called “A Dream of Passion” (1978) which was not available on home video. ZAP managed to buy an ancient VHS tape on EBay and included a scene. Burstyn herself, when reviewing our reel, was especially touched that we found and included it. She thought it had been lost!

The entire showcase of all our SFFilm tribute reels can be viewed here!

Did you know? ZAP’s 20th Anniversary month also coincides with the 10-year work anniversary of Ashley Pagán ZAP’s staff online editor and colorist. Ashley is a born-and-raised San Franciscan, who earned her Bachelor’s degree in Cinema at San Francisco State University. After working in a variety of film and television roles – an archivist at Oddball Films and a video producer for TechCrunchTV, Ashley pursued her desire to work in documentary film to a BAVC Media job posting for a boutique post facility called ZAP. Her first day on the job was January 19, 2015. Kim said “I’ve never had a colleague put up with me and my crazy for more than five years, so 10+ years of fantastic collaboration is humbling and a blessing.” 2015 ZAP was in the HD / SDR era, we were still delivering shows on HDCAM videotape. Now we are in the UHD HDR universe, and we rarely turn on our VTRs. And we have managed (mostly) to spell Ashley’s last name properly (Pagán with the acute accent.) Congratulations Ashley Pagán.

And that’s a wrap on our 20 posts honoring 20 years of ZAP. We’ll leave you with an easter egg – here is Walter Murch, making the last cut on Apocalypse Now. (September 7, 2000)