Visual Effects Society Announces Important Dates For 10th Annual VES Awards

(shootonline.com)            

        LOS ANGELES, August 17, 2011 | SHOOT Publicity Wire | --- The Visual Effects Society (VES), which represents approximately 2500 visual effects artists and practitioners worldwide, is pleased to announce it will hold the 10th Annual VES Awards Show on February 7, 2012 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. The Annual Awards show is where the most outstanding work in 23 visual effects categories is presented and the artists who created them are honored.

IMPORTANT DATES FOR THE 10th ANNUAL VES AWARDS:

• August 15, 2011 – Rules & Procedures to be posted at www.visualeffectssociety.com/ves-awards

• October 10, 2011 - Submissions open

• November 15 through November 30, 2011 – period for uploading of viewing materials

• November 30, 2011 – Submissions close

• February 7, 2012 – Awards ceremony, Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California




John Landis Planning A Paris-Set Monster Movie

(cinemablend.com)                   John Landis has directed massively successful movies in his career, practically defining 80s comedy with Animal House, The Blues Brothers, Trading Places and Three Amigos. He also dipped his toe into horror at the time with An American Werewolf in London, and seems to be combining the two with his new film Burke and Hare, a comedy about two graverobbers turned murderers in 19th century Edinburgh. The movie isn't getting much attention now that its headed toward release in the U.S., maybe because it's apparently not very good. But don't think that's the end of Landis's horror career.

Bloody Digusting talked to the director by phone recently and, seemingly just to cover their bases, asked him if he planned to make any more horror films. As it turned out, he already had one in the works. As he told the interviewer, he and Alexandre Gavras, a French filmmaker, are working together on a monster movie that they plan to shoot in Paris within the next two years. He didn't reveal much detail beyond that, but the casting process will be a challenge, since the France-set movie will also require English-speaking actors:





2001: Beyond the Infinite – The Making of a Masterpiece

(theronneel.com)               When talking about 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick described what is perhaps his greatest film as “basically a visual, nonverbal experience [that] hits the viewer at an inner level of consciousness, just as music does, or painting.” When critics, cineastes and hardcore sci-fi geeks discuss it, they usually refer to 2001 as one of the best, most significant movies ever made.

But what of its making? From conception to release, 2001: A Space Odyssey had a production time of four years, during which boundaries were broken, creative and scientific leaps were made, and innovative special effects technology was developed. Surely there’s a story behind the scenes of one of the 20th century’s major cinematic achievements. Doesn’t the creation of one of cinema’s most influential films deserve a movie of its own? Of course it does. Luckily, Douglas Trumbull, the man most suited to make this film, agrees.

Trumbull was a young effects artist when, unsolicited, he approached Kubrick in the mid-1960s about the director’s upcoming science fiction flick. The ballsy Trumbull was hired onto the 1968 masterpiece as a special photographic effects supervisor, his first major credit, and in the years since has had a rich career as the visual effects supervisor on classics such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Blade Runner, as well as the director of the cult sci-fi favorite Silent Running. But now, over 40 years later, Trumbull is returning to where he began, developing a documentary called 2001: Beyond the Infinite – The Making of a Masterpiece.

After nine years of research, Trumbull is teaming with co-director David Larson to deliver “a documentary that really tells the story of the creation of 2001, not just the technical story but the human story, the personal story, the experiences of people who interacted with Kubrick that is really true to the style and look of 2001: A Space Odyssey.”

Trumbull has gathered “just incredible stuff” from the making of 2001, including behind-the-scenes production photos, conceptual designs, interviews and perfectly preserved Ektachrome transparencies of the film’s major sets. When combined with a green screen, these transparencies will allow a groundbreaking, in-depth look at the creation of Kubrick’s magnum opus.

The preview of 2001: Beyond the Infinite – The Making of a Masterpiece embedded below came out almost a year ago but there’s been no word on the doc since then, so I have no idea when it will be released. But I’m betting Trumbull will eventually deliver, to quote “alien David Bowman,” something wonderful.

VIDEO:  http://theronneel.com/?p=4631




Phil Tippett's Prehistoric Beast

(samuraifrog.blogspot.com)                   When I was a kid, I wanted to grow up to be Phil Tippett. (And Dennis Muren, and Ben Burtt, and John Dykstra, and Jim Henson, and...) Without him, the formative films of my childhood might have been very different indeed. Today, I watched his 1985 short film Prehistoric Beast, a sort of stop-motion calling card about dinosaurs. It's wonderfully alien; imagine if he and Walon Green had gotten together in the 1980s and shot Green's Dinosaur script this way. You have to watch it on YouTube, but it's just under 10 minutes long and well, well worth it.

VIDEO - Take a look:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlaXIRTjNfo




VFX Site "Industry Wages" Releases Android App

(prnewswire.com)                SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- With more than 10,000 registered users and over 5,000 wage and salary data points, the Industry Wages' beta website (http://www.vfxwages.com) has proven to be a driving force in promoting wage equality for its creative arts industries over the past two years. Now, Industry Wages has stepped into the mobile realm, releasing its first app for Android devices.

"With the proliferation of Android among mobile devices worldwide, diving into the mobile market was essential to increase our visibility with potential users," says Aruna Inversin, President of Industry Wages Incorporated.

This newly released Wages App allows customizable wage conversions between typical pay scenarios (hourly, daily, weekly, and salary) and also takes into account California overtime. In addition, it gives options for conversion between the more popular world currencies.

"The majority of our website users are based in California, so it made sense to initially provide overtime calculations based on that region," continues Inversin. "However, we do have provisions to remove those overtime restrictions to allow a global audience access to our tools. We also will continually improve the app based on user feedback." An iOS version of the app is in process, and will hopefully be released before the end of summer.

Initial response to the app has been positive and currently there is an ad-supported version in the Android Market, as well as a forthcoming paid version which will contain more features. In the near future, Internet connectivity will be required for the app's currency exchange capability. Visit https://market.android.com/details?id=com.industrywages.wages to install and view screenshots of the app.

About Industry Wages Incorporated

Industry Wages Incorporated was created by visual effects professionals based in Los Angeles who felt wages and salaries were too secretive in the creative arts industry.

The company has made significant strides in acquiring users. However, Industry Wages is looking to expand its services to other vital industries around the world and is seeking investors to increase its visibility and revenue potential. For more information about this company or its inaugural website, visit http://www.vfxwages.com.




SPFX On Set - The Academy Awards Honors Movie Make-up

(blogmusketeer.com)                 Makeup artistry can be a huge aspect of movie-making. In recent many years the Academy Awards Board has elected to broadcast the category of Greatest Make-up reside. The category of Greatest Make-up has gone largely underappreciated and below celebrated. An wonderful oversight whenever you look at what make-up can do for a film. Would we definitely have gone to determine “Edward Scissorhans” minus the particular effects makeup? I do not know how a lot of audiences would felt for that character had he not been so visually appalling. That getting said, the marriage among make-up application, too because the efficiency of the actor is what sets the tone for any believable story line.

Make-up artists have grow to be an invaluable tool for that production staff on any major movie set. Make-up not simply helps to convince and convey characters to an audience, as much as it assists to embody the physical manifestation of any offered character. Make-up artistry serves as a visual and emotional want in the world of make think. Now let’s look at why every single the prior three Academy Award winners have been selected, and the nominees are?

In 2005 the Academy chose “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and also the Wardrobe” as winner from the Most effective Makeup category. This was the primary award for special effects makeup artist Howard Berger, who worked alongside former winner Tami Lane. Lane had noticed previous results with the “Lord from the Rings” trilogy. The two made the incredible creatures from the Narnia books. The fawn, the queen, the little ones, each facet in the characters looked realistic along with the interest to detail makes seemingly mythical creatures appear life-like, as if this globe could exist somewhere in the back of anyones closet. Utilizing each prosthetics and CGI genuinely worked in synchronism to balance the search in the world of Narnia. Not just did these two win over the American Academy, they also earned the 2006 BAFTA award for most effective Makeup.

Not each award that is certainly provided by the Academy is recognized within the total industry, an actually hard win for any artist is always to gain the accolades of your Academy as well as the Academy of Science, Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films, but in 2005 the “Chronicles of Narnia” won the Saturn Award plus the Academy Award for greatest makeup.

The fantasy realm of “Pan’s Labyrinth” in 2006 straddled the worlds of reality and imagination. An appear into war and its harsh right after affects, a young girl would like to escape and finds the scary realm from the unknown. Distinctive Makeup Effects Artists David Marti and Montse Ribe had been rewarded for their efforts in Mexico with the Ariel Awards and received a Silver Ariel award for Most effective Makeup, also as an Oscar inside the US. It’s no wonder the Academy chose to acknowledge this film, these artists put creatures on display with out the aide of CGI to present this kind of striking visual representations of your creatures from the script. Incidentally, the two artists have collaborated again for 2008′s “Hellboy II,” an thrilling piece for this kind of inventive artists.

Most recently the Academy acknowledged 2007 film “La Vie En Rose,” which won Best Make-up Artist. Didier Lavergne the head make-up artist on set turned Marion Coittard in to the famous Edith Piaf with fabulous hairstyling from Jan Archibald. That exact same year Greatest Make-up Artist was awarded to Lavergne with the BAFTA awards. Lavergne is no newcomer for the make-up planet, his operate can also be noticed in “The Pianist,” “Le Divorce” and “Oliver Twist” to name some. Just check out a photo with the genuine Edith Piaf and location it up coming for the actress Marion Coittard, it is simple to see why these two deserve the award. It’s no effortless job to turn one woman’s facial anatomy to not simply resemble but embody another person else’s. No CGI tricks aided this duo, but rather accurate artistry and some very well made prosthetics.

Whether creating a non-fictional character to a character plucked through the pages of a children’s novel to creating other- worldly mythical creatures, the Academy in their wisdom have proven us why these artists are so influential in film right now. Make-up has the ability to take audiences to places they have certainly not thought could exist inside the physical type. It will take an excellent deal of patience, arranging, practical experience and experience to be the form of artist worthy of an Oscar. These men and women are innovators that have given the globe some thing to be appreciated for many years to come.



dNeg Lectures Students:  "Be prepared to work really hard."

(sfxhub.com)                  The University of Bolton’s special effects students got a taste of Hollywood recently when Oscar winners, Double Negative, delivered a special guest lecture.

The Academy Award-winning visual effects company was responsible for the mind-bending special effects in last year’s stand-out blockbuster film, Inception. The company, which has also won a BAFTA for the groundbreaking work in this film, came to Bolton to speak about the industry to the University’s special effects students.

This was part of an exceptional day’s events for the students who were also treated to a lecture by Adrian Woolard, the BBC’s Project Lead at its Research and Development North Lab.  The day ended with the students showing off their own work to the industry professionals.

Speaking at the student showcase, Jon, a third-year student, who works on both the physical and computer generated sections of the Special Effects course, said: ‘Today has been really interesting. It’s great to see behind the scenes and the process that goes into making such a film.  Plus, it has been a really good way to meet contacts and build bridges. I’ve got two business cards already.’

Double Negative started as a boutique studio in 1998 with just 15 staff, it now employs more than 900 people and has worked on some of the biggest films of the past decade. Karen Joseph, from the award-winning studio, spoke about employment opportunities in the industry. She said: ‘The UK is a growing player in this market and there are around 5,000 people employed in the visual effects industry across the UK and EU. There are plenty of opportunities to succeed.’

Her co-worker Julian Foddy, CG Supervisor on the recent hit movie Paul, played students the Inception show-reel the Academy would have seen. He then went through several scenes from the film, including the now-famous ‘city-folding’ image, explaining how each one was crafted. Third-year student Claire Ritchie was also impressed with the Inception presentation. She said: ‘Finding out some of the secrets and techniques used to make Inception was fascinating, especially as I’m focusing on the CGI side of special effects.’

But for all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, one key message was apparent throughout: you have to work hard. Adrian Woolard said: ‘The industry is very competitive. You have to think about that and be motivated to succeed. If I had to make one brutal observation about the industry, it would be… be prepared to work really hard.’





FX Supe To Practical Effects Crew:  Get It Right On The First Take

(fearnet.com)                 When it comes to the effects, did you decide to go CG or practical?

The party line on these movies has always been to do as much practically as you can. Len started that on the first Underworld. Len comes out of the art deptartment, so he's used to dealing with pracitcal FX, so that philosphy sort of carried over through all the movies. Since then, obviously, visual effects have gotten progressively better, so the opportunity to do more in CG is there, but for the most part philosophically you sort of stick to the old company line about "Let's try to figure out how we can to these suits practically, and enhance them in CG if we need to." So that's kind of what we're gonna try to do here. Obviously, best intentions don't always pay off. We have a very short schedule production-wise, so things don't necessarily work on the first take. If we don't have time to do a second take, we're gonna have to go back in there and either completely re-create it in CG or fix up something that didn't quite work practically. Obviously, creatures in all the Underworld movies relied on suits to a large degree. With ubers that's not possible. The tunnel lycnas aren't possible, because they're supposed to be quite thin, so no matter who we hired to play the tunnel lycan, we'd be stuck with a human waist, and that just wasn't gonna work with the design that Patrick Tatopolous came up with. So that's gonna be full CG.

Even the lycans, in the past the suits have looked fantastic on close-up. They're completely photo-real. but when the performers started to move we had issues because they have to be seven feet tall, which means you have to put them on some sort of extension and as soon as you have performers on extensions they lose the ability to move quickly and to move organically. So, in this case, we built the suits to the thigh, and put them on these stilts that painters use to reach the ceiling, hoping that that would give them more flexibility to move and to a certain degree it does. They can move faster, they can react more quickly, so a lot of the close-up stuff will be practical and looks quite great, but the ability to actually walk and to run is still going to be the domain of CG. So, in terms of lycans. I think we learned our lesson on the past pictures. We've tried things in the past where the guys were on extensions, on wires, trying to find a way to support them so they can try to run, and we haven't even tried that in this case. We're just really trying to use the suits for what they do best and rely on CG to do whatever else the directors want to do.

On this picture I'm carrying Lidar. It works like sonar, it's using laser to map the geometry of the place and then bring that environment into a workstation with great accuracy. We're doing a lot of that in Vancouver. The architecture of this college is a style that the directors want to use quite a bit in the picture, and he built quite a few buildings in Vancouver. So we're going to those buildings, we're lidding those buildings and creating a library of this kind of arch which we can then bring to set to hopefully give it some more reality. Sometimes, I think films suffer when the extensions look fake, they just don't feel like we're actually in a city. And we're trying to do it in a different way to make it feel authentic and like the rest of the Underworld cities, but also to stay within this Brutalist style that they keep referring to: concrete, hard edges, very Eastern Europe, Soviet-era kind of stuff. Trying to capture that stuff while we're here and then bring it back to the various vendors who do the work and apply it.

It always comes down to werewolves. We look at the picture and you're suddenly like "Ah, I wish we had six more werewolves in this shot and four more in this shot," just to build it out and make it bigger. My suspicion is that's sort of what we're prepping for: the realization in September of "Oh my god, we need more creatures here and there."




How the New Spider-Man Was Designed

(scifinow.co.uk)                  One of Hollywood’s pre-eminent concept artists, Aaron Sims’ CV includes such blockbusters as The Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans, War of the Worlds, I Am Legend and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

The son of an artist himself, Sims moved to Los Angeles in the mid-eighties to pursue a career as a makeup FX artist, but it was his innovative design work that drew the attention of such industry giants as Rick Baker and Stan Winston.  It was while working with Baker that Sims was introduced to the fast-growing world of digital design; a technology that he embraced and quickly mastered. A few years later, he collaborated with Winston to create Stan Winston Digital before moving on to form his own firm, The Aaron Sims Company.

Sims’ recent projects have a massive profile – they include Transformers: Dark of the Moon, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Thing, The Talisman and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He’s also co-founded White Rock Lake Production with partner John Norris to create his own projects as well. The versatile designer-turned-filmmaker recently sat down to discuss his work in the genre…

Who has the final word on a concept design? If you’re working with a particular director, it’s obviously easier to know what he wants, but what happens when there are too many cooks in the kitchen and each of them has their own recipe in mind?

That’s typically the way films are made these days: there are too many voices; too many cooks in the kitchen; a committee of people with their own opinions. After years of working with directors, you definitely have to cater to what they want, more than anybody else. If you don’t listen to them, they won’t be interested in you at all, so that’s the first person I always listen to. If the director wants one thing and somebody else wants something different, I’ll give them both. I will give them exactly what the director wants for his version, and then I’ll give them what the FX house or the production designer wants. On top of that, I’ll try to give them my own version so that allows for everyone to be happy and feel like they’re having their own say. If it was just me doing that, it would be incredibly impossible to do that many versions, but the benefit of my company is that I have other artists working for me that are able to do different things stylistically, as well as adhere to the needs of the different members of that committee involved in the process.

When you’re designing a film based on a long-established comic book property like Green Lantern or the Hulk that has been drawn by dozens of artists over several decades, how do you decide which one to base your work on? Or do you have to create a character that doesn’t look like any of them?

Those are the more difficult shows to work on, because of the nature of their history and again, the committee involved in them, because it’s not only the director but if it’s a Marvel property, they’re involved too. If it’s an old film that’s part of a franchise, everybody who has some history with it has some say in it. So I think, okay, this is a new and contemporary version of the Hulk, that’s only my one opinion out of so many. The Incredible Hulk was almost a two-year process because of that. We had to play with all of the different versions, so does he have short hair or long hair or spiked hair?  Is he green or grey? Which artist is he inspired by?  It was all of the above, so the process involved doing all of them until everybody, not only Louis Leterrier the director, but Marvel and everybody else involved was happy with it. It was one of Marvel’s first gigs as a production company so they had a lot to say and that wasn’t easy, because there were a lot of people at Marvel.

So with The Amazing Spider-Man, which you can’t really talk about yet, if you were hypothetically working on a certain lizard-like villain, how do you decide if you’re going to use the original Steve Ditko version or the modern-day Todd McFarlane incarnation? And what happens when each of those aforementioned cooks in the kitchen have their own personal favourites?

That one was very tough, because it was no longer Sam Raimi so it was a different director with his own vision and an assortment of different layers to get to something that needed to be decided even for Spider-Man himself.  We’ve now seen Sam Raimi’s version, which was very popular and well-received and made a lot of money, so do you break with that and start completely from scratch? People felt if they were revamping it, they had to start from scratch, so that was definitely a long process.

In some way, it was similar to The Incredible Hulk, because there was the film that had come out several years before, which was directed by Ang Lee, so how different do we make this one? And then you’re dealing with all the different variations in the comic books and within the fan base. To some extent, you have to ignore the fans as individuals; you have to look at them as a whole, because you’re never going to make all of those individuals happy. Somebody is always going to say, ‘That’s not the version I wanted to see!’ so it’s a difficult challenge. You never going to make everybody happy, so the main thing is to make the filmmakers feel they’re getting what they want and they’re able to express their own creativity in this process. Hopefully it will be commercial enough that it gets recognized.

If you’re working on a comic book-based project or a remake like The Thing or Clash of the Titans, there is always going to a very vocal fan base that is prepared to dislike whatever you come up with. Do you have to develop a thick skin after a while?

Yes, and that’s always going to be the case.  Luckily I’ve been doing this long enough and after working with people like Rick Baker and Stan Winston as a designer and hearing their critiques as well as everyone else’s, it’s really helped me to be able to grow past that and the fact that you’re never going to make everybody happy. There are going to be insults, and I can completely disagree with some of them, but everybody has an opinion and I just have to allow that to be part of the process.

You also have to have a thick skin to work with producers sometimes who don’t have the nurturing nature of saying, ‘Hey, this is really cool, but could you maybe do something else?’ They’ll sometimes just say, ‘This is awful!’ so I don’t take anything personally. Being a concept artist for the movie industry, I get to be an artist and hopefully have a bit of creative input in the direction of these things, but I can’t look at them as a personal aspect of my own art. It’s not a fine art at all. It’s a commercial art, so I have to get past that. That’s something I tell the artists I hire, because it’s hard for them when they hear a client say they hate something they did. That’s something I try to deal with as an art director with my artists: I have to become the conduit that helps cushion the blow to some extent, and compliment them before an insult.

When you’re designing a creature, do you have to know in advance if it’s going to be done practically or digitally so you can design it accordingly?

For the most part these days, many of the studios don’t embrace the physical aspect of it anymore. They typically feel that digital is the way to go no matter what the budget is, so that’s been the status quo for a while. For the most part, we always start with no limitations. Once the budget of a film is not enough to deal with the digital aspects, we have to figure out how to make that design work either as a guy in a suit or a puppet or something like that. A studio will usually say, ‘Don’t worry about the limitations; just come up with a really cool design and we’ll figure out how to make it!’ It’s always later on when they come back and say, ‘That has to be a makeup now, because we can’t afford it!’ That’s when you have to say, ‘Okay, how can we rethink it now that we’ve created this thing?’ but it’s actually not as difficult as it sounds.

The reason for asking that is I remember one of the makeup FX people on Clash of the Titans saying some of your designs for that film were quite extreme and pretty much had to be redesigned from scratch. But coming from a makeup FX background yourself, surely this is something you would always keep in mind?

It’s interesting that you mention that. A lot of the FX houses don’t want to be manufacturers of someone else’s designs so no matter what, they’re going to try to redesign it unless the filmmaker or the studio says, ‘This is the exact design; do not change it!’ Even if that’s the case, an FX house will come back and say, ‘We had to redesign it because of this…’ because they want to take ownership of it. I’m completely okay with that, because most creative people want to be creative. They don’t want to be a machine, so if they’re told to just manufacture something, they wouldn’t put as much of their own energy into the project if that was the case. So I understand the argument.

Is this job still fun for you?

Oh yeah. As you probably know, I’m doing a lot of things. I’m still designing, but I’m also producing and directing. I was production designer on Insidious as well as co-producer and that was really fun to work with [director] James Wan. I just love every aspect of filmmaking and I don’t want to limit myself to just one thing, but as a designer, I’ll constantly design, I think probably until the day I die.




Let’s Talk About VFX, Baby!

(zombieroom.net)               I’ve been working on a Computer Graphics heavy features for the last 13 years, and set up a company with my friend and colleague Samuli Torssonen & a bunch of others, focusing solely on visual effects for feature films and advertisements, called Energia Productions, in Tampere, Finland. Now that we’re about to step in to the last leg of the big post-production push of our second feature film Iron Sky, I thought about sharing some thoughts on working with a visual effects team, from director’s point of view. It’s good to know that as a director I’m hopelessly inept when it comes to technology of any kind, so I’m helpless and relying totally on the experience and creativity of my team, and of course, the close working relationship with our CGI producer / VFX supervisor Samuli T.

TAXI RIDE TO THE SHADY SIDE

The relationship between a Visual Effects (VFX) artists and the director is not unlike the one of a taxi driver and a customer. Whereas both have the same goal – to get from place A to place B – their approach to the topic is quite different. Director knows where he’s headed, and a skilled VFX artist knows how to get there, but just like with a taxi driver, it’s usually better to let them choose the route, otherwise you might end up somewhere in the shady part of the town with a nasty bill in your hand.

It’s not always easy to find a good working relationship with a VFX team, because the common language is not the same. It bears striking resemblances, but it’s different. Again, both have the same end result in mind, but the ways to get there are completely different, whether you’re a director or a VFX wiz. So it’s good to get to know the VFX team, but let the VFX supervisor take care of running the team. It’s sometimes absolutely irresistible to burst out into a fountain of ideas when watching someone working on a small bit of the movie on the screen, but usually that ends up with you fighting with VFX supervisor, the artist getting confused and/or budget bouncing up and down and producers starting to call you.

So the key is to work closely with the supervisor, but let him/her do their job. See, as a director, you’ll be free to ramble on your artistic visions as much as you want to the supervisor, and his/her job is to turn it into man hours, polygons, choose of programs and so forth. Supervisor knows the budget, knows the resources and knows the schedule, and can tune up the director’s requests to match the given parameters. Sometimes, it might not be possible, but it’s better to hear the bad news from the supervisor sooner than later.

PREVIEWS ARE THE BITCH

What I always find the hardest working as a director on a VFX heavy film are the previews. It’s always a big guessing game trying to get an understanding on what to look at with previews, what not to look at, and how to comment them the most productive way.

See, in the ideal world at least in my mind the process of a shot (from director’s point of view) is as follows: First, you sit down with the VFX supervisor, the DP, the AD etc., and sort out the shot you want to be done. Then, you get to see a rough animatic of it – something to see to determine that the camera movement, the scale, the length and so on are approximately right. Then, you possibly see a concept art of the environment to be able to judge a bit on the lightning and the general mood of the set. And after that, you see a draft of the shot when it’s 20% done, comment it, see another version with your comments implemented and further developed at around 60% done, and then something just before it’s being determined to be final, at around 90%, for the final tweaks. Then the shot is ready, all is dandy and you have what you came in for.

This is how it works in theory. In practice, it’s unfortunately not this structured. All the talk about percents is completely arbitrary and have absolutely no ties to reality, because with a shot there’s only two possible situations: it’s either ready, or it’s not ready. Anything in between can turn into any amount of trouble, regarding what you are asking, and how it can be done. Usually, the biggest problem is that something in the shot just doesn’t look right or real, but the big task is to pin-point what it is. It can be perspective, the shadows on the ground, the chroma key, light setup with shot material vs. computer-generated material, or any number of smaller and smaller details – usually a bunch of them rather than one. And requesting changes – even just small ones – can suddenly push the shot back to the very beginning, because it might turn out it needs to be re-done completely. In the end, all you have in the schedule is finished shots and unfinished shots, and as long as the schedule and the unfinished shots are in some kind of balance things are good.

And when they’re not, people start to sweat. Yes, you included, herr Direktor. And that sometimes leads into situation where you either need to agree to compromise, or start killing other shots to get this one at hands right. That decision is usually the one you’d like to push as far as possible, but it’ll come in front of you, and then the shot is either in or out, or you go out and find more time and money, which are the two luxuries you usually have absolutely none left at the post production phase anymore. All the reserves have been used, all the tricks have been done. It’s just you, the deadline and the decision.

But much more than that, working on a VFX shots is just absolutely rewarding. As a director, you’re not requested to sit around at the VFX house, waiting for renders to finish and artists to get frames ready, but you’ll pop over every once a week and see as the thing you’ve had in your head is starting to come alive, piece by piece. There’s nothing more rewarding than watching something you’ve only been able to describe to people with words suddenly have lines, and colors and shapes instead of an actor in front of a glowing plain green screen.

INSIDE A VFX STUDIO

I’ve been to a bunch of VFX houses, travelling here and there, and there’s two kind of joints I’ve stumbled across to. There are the ones crowded with stubbly-bearded ADs chilling by their Macs, sipping latte, with hot receptionists asking if you prefer your Pellegrino bubbly or still (I always go still). And then there are the unearthed nerd caves with poor air condition, with wires and dust fighting for breeding ground in the corners.

I prefer the latter. Why? Because I’ve grown in that kind of atmosphere. I like to think in my mind that a good VFX team is too devoted to their work to really care about the shit laying around, too deep in their work to have time to take the cups to the dishwasher and too busy to even leave home when the day is over. These joints may not look like much, but they are the real powerhouses, at least in my experience. I obviously haven’t visited Pixar, or any of the big big studios, but I’ve worked at Energia, my CGI production house, and as an aesthetic pedantic asshole I’m usually the one complaining about the mess of the place. Well, I was until I realized it’s not going to change anything, because it’s just better that way. What’s around the screens doesn’t matter, only what’s going on on them.

It’s interesting what kind of people end up in VFX business, and end up being masters of their craft, too. In Energia, we have scientists, musicians, architects, graphic artists, familymen – from France, UK, US, Canada, Finland… all working together, sharing the same enthusiasm – to make the best, the most beautiful film possible. The film you’ve had playing in your head for years and years, these guys are out there to make it real.

(One thing we don’t have, though, is women. Every now and then a girlfriend of some of the guys wanders around at Energia, but they never stay long. I wonder why :)

A good VFX artist is devoted, creative, technically skilled, inventive, able to pay attention to details. But in addition to this, he/she is usually also knowledgeable – it’s amazing how much you need to know about combustion engines, space stations, guns, cartwheels, different types of wood, fabrics, nature, light, history, math, physics… you name it. You never know where you need it, but there will be a day when the detailed knowledge you have about nuclear explosions in the lower earth atmosphere, or how velcro works under water, proves highly important to the task at hands.

Working with the team like Energia is highly rewarding, but you have to be aware of the basics of the difference between a film crew and a VFX team. It’s like working in slow motion film set, where every camera move and lightning change takes days to complete, yet everyone around you is busting their asses to get it done.

It’s weird, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. A good relationship with a good VFX house is crucial. Just look at Lucas and Industrial Light and Magic, or Peter Jackson and WETA. Maybe Energia will one day grow to be a house like them. One can hope!




Disney Fires Marvel Movie Marketers

(comicbookresources.com)                        Everybody is trying to keep this secret. But I’ve learned that yesterday Disney canned Dana Precious, EVP of Worldwide Marketing for Marvel’s LA Studios (she had replaced Doug Finberg at the end of last summer); Jeffrey Stewart, VP of Worldwide Marketing (he’d been brought in by Dana); and Jodi Miller, Manager of Worldwide Marketing. That’s essentially Marvel’s entire marketing department. Marvel redundant jobs were on the line ever since Disney bought the publisher/studio in 2009. And the marketing department even more so this summer after Paramount released Thor and Captain America domestically and internationally, thus effectively ending that studio’s marketing and distribution of Marvel pictures. I’m told that on June 24th, Rob Steffens, who is Marvel Studios’ EVP Operations, met with all of the department at the Manhattan Beach offices in what was described as a “Disney Rules of the Road” meeting. He told staff that there would be no house-cleaning by the mouse, period, so they were not to fear for their jobs and flee en masse. So much for that promise.

The official line on why Marvel’s marketing team was let go is that Disney will be taking over that function and handling the releases of The Avengers and future Marvel movies themselves. In fact I’ve learned that Marvel will bring in someone in a “project management role”. But Kevin Feige’s continued supervision of all things Marvel should resolve any doubts by fanboys that Disney will screw around or screw up the comic book films. Insiders tell me that Precious and her team were not well-loved by Marvel bigwig Feige and other top execs at Marvel or by Disney and Paramount. (Some of the comments I heard today included: “Not up to or have the skill set to release this brand properly”… “Their job was to keep track of the people doing the real work”… “Paper pushers”… ”Would it have killed them to return an email?”… “Disney doesn’t need someone to cut its trailers”…)

Now Marvel staffers wonder whether the firings were really to avoid duplicating efforts with Disney or just petty vindictiveness. If it’s the latter, then jobs are safe. But if it’s the former, then any jobs redundant in terms of Disney’s infrastructure aren’t. Trying to reassure the Marvel folks, one insider tells me today, “If you do your job and are smart and understand the business, you shouldn’t worry.”





Effects Vet Todd Masters:  "Practical is Coming Back"

(fearnet.com)                 How do you work with the visual effects guys to make sure there is an integration between practical and computer effects?

Our shop actually has a computer effects and a practical effects department. We don't believe they are two separate entities. We believe there is one image that needs to be created. I think a lot of shops think about design without how a project will be completed, or about completing the project, without thinking about the design. I think a lot of people are taken out of a film if they see something that looks synthetic - either rubber or digital. The digital generators are getting so good on video games that people are starting to connect with that unnatural perfection. It's all based on how good the artist is.

We are known for our practical effects. When the computer stuff came along, we started taking our real stuff and mixing it with the computer stuff, making a great compositing tool. We really try to make things as realistic as possible, and integrated.

There was a series of Michelin tire commercials we did a few years back. They wanted the Michelin man done digitally. Why would you want that? He's a guy in a tire suit! So we made him a guy in a tire suit, then we just added some digital details. It was the best of both.

Do you do most of your designs in Z Brush?

I do a lot in Z Brush, a lot in Photoshop, a lot just scribbling on napkins. To me, design is a step. When you are presenting designs to a client, you have to show them something polished. But there is so much design that goes into this stuff. For each of the hero characters, we would do a full Photoshop painting that was suitable for framing. We don't like to be limited to one technique. Z Brush is great, but so is Mudbox, so is this or that. Which is why we have brought digital into our shop. They are kind of related. It gives us a much bigger palette of options.

What are some of the biggest advances in the special effects field, and what do you think will be the next big threshold?

Our Los Angeles shop and our British Columbia shop have a really nice friendly competition going. There are a lot of technologies in our world that have really evolved - both practically and digitally. It's fun to see both evolve. True Blood is run by our L.A. supervisor Dan Rebert. Because he is so committed to being fresh to each project, True Blood sees a lot of benefits. They get a lot of integrated special effects.

Last season there was a crazy sex scene with Bill twisting Lorena's head around. Nobody figured out how we did that. Most of it was a puppet head, and a little bit of face painting-out. Dan's team really mixed mediums to bring that together. So we hear about something cool like that, and we want to do something even cooler. Silicone teeth is something else that True Blood has really benefitted from, especially for background actors. A lot of actors we don't see until the day they show up on set. Dan created flexible silicone teeth that could be mounted on anyone. We still do hero teeth in acrylic. Prosthetics used to only be made out of foam latex. Now we use these incredibly translucent flesh-like pieces that actually look like flesh.

People frequently come to us saying, "Digital has evolved into this incredible thing!" Well, practical has evolved as well. You have to be careful where you use each. There's a huge debate going on in the FX world right now, over digital versus practical effects. There are still some people who believe there is a magical button and you just press it to get werewolves in your movie, but there isn't. There is a lot of work that goes into digital creations as well as practical. We build a lot of stuff practically, but we still enhance digitally. We believe there is nothing scarier than something that really gets in your face. Digital has evolved into this amazing thing, but practical has as well. You've got to be very smart about where you use each. In the last ten years we have done things that I could never imagine we could do - and I have a weird imagination.

There is a whole generation of kids who grew up seeing the works of Rick Baker and the like. Nowadays, do you see more kids who are inspired to go more into the computer-generated effects? Is there a worry about keeping practical effects alive?

I think [practical] is coming back. Look at shows like Face Off. Look at shows that obviously use practical makeup, like True Blood and The Walking Dead. It seems like there is now more access to it. People send stuff to me like I used to send to Dick Smith. It's cool. It has come full circle. People are realizing that it's not about that particular device or tool; it's about filmmaking. What is filmmaking but creating cool images that are emotionally connecting with you?





Currency And VFX

(vfxsoldier.wordpress.com)                I post a bit about how the falling US dollar indirectly makes it more expensive for US studios and facilities to send VFX work to other countries.

A commenter disagreed:

    You do know that 1 GBP goes a lot further than 1 USD, right? Approximately one and a half times as far in fact…

    Soldier, I know you’ve never left Cali but I’m not going to start explaining exchange rates for you.

Well it seems someone needs to do some explaining.

The Wrap wrote an article called Currency Woes: Why the Weak Dollar Is Helping — and Hurting — Hollywood :

    But for producers of movies like “The Hobbit” in New Zealand, the weak dollar pushes the cost of production higher.

    Warner Bros., like other studios, traditionally locks in the exchange rate when it greenlights a movie for overseas production.

    But as “The Hobbit” faced endless delays stemming in part from co-backer MGM’s bankruptcy, the dollar weakened, which has driven up the cost of the mammoth shoot.

Also this from a VFX facility management blog on how a higher Canadian Dollar is hurting Canada:

    Should we be concern by a higher dollar?

    The answer is : YES.
    Everybody knows corporation are always looking for the best deals. They come to Canada, go to Australia and they’ll go to India or China to save more money. Corporations have been moving factories from one country to an other just to save a few bucks and to generate better income to their shareholders. The entertainment industry is not an exception, at the end they want to make money. The reality Canada is facing is that to keep runaway and any other productions in Canada they will have to offer better tax incentives, the US currency is plunging and will probably continue for the next few years.

The reason why the US dollar has been falling is because of quantitative easing. The federal reserve is expanding the monetary base which leads many to conclude the US is “printing money”.

The hope is that by making it more expensive to go overseas, more inward investment will occur. Critics of this policy argue that this will lead to inflation and higher interest rates.

After two rounds of quantative easing, we have seen interest rates fall and no real increase in inflation. According to some economists, inflation tends to lag and the hope is that the economy will be growing by the time a measurable amount of inflation arrives. In fact, some inflation would actually be good for the US economy.

Whatever the reasons behind this method, it’s an incredibly effective tool. The alternative is much worse: Countries that have adopted the Euro such as Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy, and Ireland are unable to engage in such a practice because they cannot control the Euro currency. Many of those countries are at risk of default, interest rates are soaring, and now France and Germany are left to bail them out.

Lastly, it looks like things are going to get even tougher for US studios looking to send work outside the US: Predictions are Fed Chief Ben Bernanke will announce a third round of quantative easing this Friday.




Circus Circus to House Chuck Jones Animation Exhibit

The family-friendly Circus Circus in Las Vegas will soon offer another attraction for kids: an interactive exhibit themed after the animator who created the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoon characters.

The Chuck Jones Experience opens in October in the 3,770-room resort’s Skyrise Tower near its Adventuredome.

The experience is an offshoot of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity in Orange County, Calif., which will remain open.

The Chuck Jones venues honor the vision of Jones, who died in 2002. The master animator’s official biography says Jones made more than 300 animated films and won three Academy Awards as a director and an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement.

During what is remembered as the Golden Age of animation, his creations included Pepe Le Pew, and he helped bring to life legendary Warner Bros. characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig.

This is the first Chuck Jones Experience and the organizers hope to someday open more elsewhere in the country and are also contemplating a traveling exhibition.

The Las Vegas attraction, which opens in October, is being developed by Jones’ grandson Craig Kausen, Jones’ daughter Linda Jones Clough and some Chuck Jones fans who believe in his concept of promoting creativity, the experience said in announcing the exhibition.

“My grandfather said that if you provide the right materials and an environment of love, creative magic will come out of young people,” Kausen said in a statement. “The Chuck Jones Experience will provide kids, and animation fans of all ages, with an extraordinary place to not only learn about the art of animation, but to discover the creativity and magic that’s inside us all.”

“We are honored to become home to such a fascinating interactive attraction,” Don Thrasher, president and chief operating officer of Circus Circus, said in a statement. “This experience is unlike anything else in Las Vegas and it is certain to create hours of fun and enlightenment for guests of all ages.”

The Experience will include a classroom where creative art projects will be guided by animation and arts teachers; the Chuck Jones Theatre, designed to simulate a 1930s-style movie theater; a re-creation of Jones’ studio; a room with 3-D characters and information on how characters are developed; and displays of Jones’ fine art work and animation pieces.

There’s also an “Acme Workshop” where visitors can create sound effects and voice-overs for a Chuck Jones cartoon; as well as a gift shop.

The nearly 10,000-square-foot permanent destination, which is being developed at an undisclosed cost, didn’t displace anything as it’s located in what had been unused back-of-the-house space at the hotel.

Admission is expected to be $15 to $20, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.