(latimesblogs.latimes.com)
DreamWorks Animation SKG aims to build an animation studio in Shanghai in a further effort to plumb the vast Chinese economy.
The Glendale-based studio, which recently announced a deal with online video site Youku.com to distribute its "Kung Fu Panda" movies in China, is recruiting executives to run a studio that would produce animated movies and TV shows catering to the Chinese market, said a person familiar with the plans who was not authorized to speak about them.
DreamWorks has tapped RSR Recruiting of Los Angeles to recruit staff to run the facility.
A spokeswoman for DreamWorks Animation declined to discuss the proposed studio. "As it is an important market for us and one in which the DreamWorks Animation brand and products have tremendous value, we continue to explore opportunities in China,'' the spokeswoman said. "Any further speculation is premature."
The plans were first reported by AFP and Variety.
China represents big opportunities for studios like DreamWorks, which has enjoyed strong box-office success with its "Kung Fu Panda" movies in China. The country, however, also poses plenty of challenges, including restrictions on the number of foreign films it allows into the country and rampant piracy.
Nonetheless, DreamWorks is one among several studios and Hollywood companies seeking to tap the Chinese market. Beverly Hills-based RealD recently announced that would partner with Beijing SAGA Luxury Cinema Management Co. to equip the Chinese theater chain with 3-D technology. Last month, production companies Relativity and Legendary East also unveiled new ventures in China to co-finance and release movies.
Spielberg Regrets Adding in New Visual Effects to E.T.
(denofgeek.com)You may remember that, come the 20th anniversary of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, director Steven Spielberg followed the path of George and made some digital alterations to the film. This included adding in new visual effects, and the digital removal of guns, to be replaced with walkie talkies.
These certainly weren’t dramatic changes, but they were daft and pointless ones, toning down a film that was hardly causing people to go off and use guns in the first place. Furthermore, there was no marked increase in walkie talkie usage as a result of the changes, at least that we know of.
It seems, though, that Spielberg has pretty much revoked the changes, and has gone as far as to say he regrets them. Granted, earlier this year he announced that there would be no more digital tinkering with his past films in this way, and said that he does recommend people go back to the 1982 cut of the film. And, to his credit, when the DVD of E.T. was release, Spielberg put out both versions, to let people choose.
However, at a special screening of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, held in Los Angeles earlier this week, Spielberg apparently said that E.T. was coming to Blu-ray in 2012, and he asked the audience if they cared if the new version was omitted from the release. The audience? A pat on the back to everyone one of them, who reportedly bellowed a big “No” back at the director. According to a report of the event over at The Digital Bits, Spielberg then said that “He regrets making the changes he did for the DVD”.
Synthespians Replacing Thesps? Not Soon
(variety.com) Motion-capture perfs like Andy Serkis' in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" don't necessarily sound the death knell for traditional acting gigs.
The acclaim for the performance-capture thesping by Andy Serkis and others in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" has people talking about the future of acting again.
Will computer-generated performances make actors as obsolete as Moviolas and glass matte paintings? It's cause for anxiety for some thesps, who wonder if the industry isn't trying to replace them with software.
At the Siggraph computer graphics confab last month, I attended a press lunch on virtual production where the panel's moderator -- a research exec, not a vfx artist -- said flatly it's only a matter of time before there are entirely computer-generated characters, with no performance capture or human-controlled animation involved. I was tempted to shout "You lie!" but held my tongue, not least because his company had catered the lunch. But I think that notion is horse hockey.
Naturalistic digital humans are the CG world's holy grail. And who knows what the world will look like after the Singularity, when the brain and the computer merge to form something unimaginably powerful. But until that awesome day comes, my advice to anyone tempted to hold forth on a future where computers can replace actors is: don't -- talking about computers being able to replace actors (and animators) makes you look kind of clueless.
The virtual production mavens on that panel didn't buy the idea of all-digital characters, either, in part because they have learned to value actors' creative input. But let me lay out why synthespians aren't imminent.
People imagine the future of movies as something like the holodeck in "Star Trek." Want Marilyn Monroe in your scene? Tell the computer, "Add Marilyn" and voila! You're directing Marilyn Monroe.
First, it's fiendishly difficult to make realistic CG humans that just look, move and talk believably for more than a few seconds. It's never been done in movies, even with performance capture. None of the successful performance capture characters in live-action pics have been photo-real humans: Gollum in "Lord of the Rings," Kong in "King Kong," the N'avi in "Avatar," the apes in "Apes." But technical challenges tend to melt away as computers become more powerful. So okay, that might be possible relatively soon.
As for making that character move and talk like Marilyn, well, that's not so simple either. Marilyn in character? In which movie? Or as herself? At what age? But computers can analyze every frame of film of Marilyn, every recording, and make a model do what she did. So again, that's do-able -- to a point. As some sage once noted, no Elvis impersonator has ever had a hit record. Computers can't yet, and won't soon, reverse-engineer the thinking that led to an artist's choices. Studying what Marilyn and Elvis did in the 1950s and '60s doesn't tell us what they'd do with a new script or song today.
The basic process of acting, of recalling emotions from your past, reacting to your partner and the circumstances of the scene, and letting your voice and body perform spontaneously in the moment, depend on things out of reach for computers: A lifetime of emotional experiences and memories and direct knowledge of human relationships (including that with a scene partner).
What's more, a performance isn't just the actor's conscious choices. It's how the body reacts unconsciously: muscles tensing and relaxing, the heart beating faster or slower, breath coming deeper or shallower, skin flushing or paling, thousands more tiny, fleeting events that auds sense but don't see. They're all essential to a performance. But computers can't make unconscious choices. All those would have to be done deliberately, by a disembodied artificial mind. I don't believe that's going to happen as long as human minds and computers are separate.
So I say rest easy, thesps, your skills are actually getting more valuable, not less so. We're not talking about what a great job the vfx artists did with Caesar in "Apes," we're talking about Andy Serkis. This new era of technology is opening doors for you, not closing them. As for reality television, though, sorry, I got nuthin'.
Lucasfilm Launches Initiative to Benefit Stand Up To Cancer
(comingsoon.net) Lucasfilm announced today that in celebration of the September launch of "Star Wars: The Complete Saga" on Blu-ray, it is linking up with celebrities, eBay and Major League Baseball to ask fans to "Use the Force for Good" to support Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C). SU2C funds groundbreaking cancer research that will get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives.
"Lucasfilm joining with eBay, Major League Baseball and a wonderful group of actors is an amazing force for good being brought to bear in Stand Up To Cancer's fight against this disease, and we are profoundly grateful," said SU2C Co-Founder Sue Schwartz. "With one in two men and one in three women diagnosed in their lifetimes, cancer affects us all. SU2C's mission is to persuade each and every person to support the scientists working to end cancer, and this initiative gives legions of Star Wars fans fun and easy ways to do that."
The campaign will launch today with a video featuring celebrity Star Wars enthusiasts encouraging fans to "Use the Force for Good" and join Lucasfilm in donating to Stand Up To Cancer. SU2C Ambassadors Aziz Ansari, Zach Galifianakis, Bill Hader, Ed Helms, Ken Jeong, Jaime King, Seth Rogen, Andy Samberg and Emma Stone – along with "Star Wars" alum Samuel L. Jackson – will each "Use the Force for Good" as they recreate classic Star Wars scenes to raise awareness for cancer research. You can watch the all-star video tribute below!
Also, eBay will use the Force of its 97 million active members to give fans an online destination for browsing unique and special Star Wars items at eBay.com/UsetheForceforGood. The destination will allow fans to bid on rare and exclusive items like a one-of-a-kind "Star Wars" edition 2012 Volkswagen Passat and a once-in-a-lifetime experience; dinner with prominent Bay Area filmmakers George Lucas, Chris Columbus, Francis Ford Coppola, Philip Kaufman and John Lasseter. All charity auctions will begin on September 16th at 4:00 p.m. PDT, and continue until 4:00 p.m. PDT on September 23rd.
"Star Wars" and SU2C have also created a Stand Up To Cancer line of "Star Wars" t-shirts. The tees will feature iconic "Star Wars" artwork alongside SU2C's signature upward arrows, with slogans like "Blast Cancer" and "Use the Force for Good." The exclusive tees are available now and can be purchased through the end of the year at Store.StandUp2Cancer.org with proceeds benefiting SU2C.
Then, throughout the month of September, select Major League Baseball Clubs across the country will feature Stand Up To Cancer/"Star Wars" themed nights in their respective ballparks. The special events will offer "Star Wars" themed ticket packages with a portion of proceeds benefiting SU2C. Most packages will include appearances by "Star Wars" costumed characters, VIP fan photo ops, giveaways and the Star Wars Stand Up To Cancer exclusive t-shirts. For a list of participating Clubs, game schedules and ticket information, please visit MLB.com/StarWars. Since its launch, Stand Up To Cancer has grown significantly with support from players, fans and all 30 MLB Clubs. Major League Baseball was a founding donor to Stand Up To Cancer in 2008, and has donated more than $30 million to the groundbreaking research organization since its inception.
"We are thrilled to be using the launch of 'Star Wars: The Complete Saga' on Blu-ray as a call to action for our fans to 'Use the Force for Good,'" said Kayleen Walters, Senior Director of Marketing at Lucasfilm. "We are happy to use the power of 'Star Wars' to support this noble cause."
Source with pics: http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=82154
Wanted: Zombie Makers - Cinesite is Recruiting for World War Z
(3dartistonline.com) Cinesite, one of the world’s leading film visual effects houses, is on the look-out for new talent to join its expanding team and work on the upcoming Paramount Pictures’ World War Z, which is produced by and stars Brad Pitt.
The company has been awarded a significant amount of shots on the film and are looking to recruit for the following positions: experienced rotoscopers, vfx producers, texture artists and TDs – so if you’re experienced in any of these areas then get in touch!
Further information on each role can be found on Cinesite’s jobs page: www.cinesite.com/jobs.
Directed by Marc Forster, World War Z is based on the post-apocalyptic horror novel by Max Brooks and is due for release in 2012.
"Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse," Almost Ready to Go
(comingsoon.net) Actor-slash-writer-slash-producer Seth Rogen was at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) for the past week promoting two films he co-starred in, both which mix comedy with more drama we've seen from Rogen in the past: Sarah Polley's Take This Waltz and Jonathan Levine's 50/50.
It was for the latter that ComingSoon.net spoke with Rogen, and he confirmed to us that the horror-comedy project The Apocalypse, based on a fake trailer Rogen made with Jay Baruchel in 2007 called "Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse," is almost ready to go with Rogen planning to co-direct with long-time writing and producing partner Evan Goldberg.
"We're packaging the whole movie right now and we're getting the cast locked into place, which looks like it's finally happening, and we should start shooting in February," he told us during our interview slot.
Earlier in the week, he revealed to the Winnipeg Free Press some of that cast, as well as why the film will no longer be titled "Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse" as planned. Apparently, Rogen and Goldberg have secretly added a couple of familiar names to join Seth and Jay in fighting that Apocalypse, including two actors they've worked with quite a bit, Jonah Hill and James Franco.
"It's all our friends, luckily, and we all play ourselves in the movie," he told them. "I literally play Seth Rogen in the movie and Jay Baruchel literally plays himself in the movie and others - Jonah Hill, James Franco - they're literally playing themselves in the movie."
"It's a movie about a bunch of friends who are stuck in a house together as the apocalypse happens outside and they kind of barricade themselves in," he elaborated on the film's main plot. "They think they've kind of survived the worst and then they realize they all really can't stand to be around each other as they're stuck in this house together."
Having made 50/50 relatively inexpensively by going the independent route, we asked whether that would continue with this project, to which he replied, "It has been tempting to approach things differently, honesty, and the Apocalypse movie has a slightly higher budget, but we are trying to approach the financing it from the a different way than we normally would to try and assure as much creative control as possible."
Look for more from our interview with Rogen before 50/50 opens on Friday, September 30, and our review of Take This Waltz as we wrap up out TIFF coverage.
Q&A: Victoria Alonso, Marvel’s Visual Effects Chief
(cgchannel.com)1,600 VFX shots. 13 individual studios. 3 separate continents. In the wake of Captain America’s global success, we spoke to Marvel Executive Vice President Victoria Alonso about what it means to weld so many facilities into an international fighting force – and just what makes a great Marvel movie.
Captain America: The First Avenger has been on release for less than eight weeks, but it’s already made more than double its $140 million budget back. Not bad for a big-screen adaptation of one of Marvel’s most human of superhuman characters – and even better for a movie whose 1,600 VFX shots were shared between 13 studios spread across three continents.
For this tale of a 96-pound weakling turned scientifically enhanced Nazi-busting super-soldier, Marvel enlisted an A-list VFX line-up. Santa Monica’s Lola Visual Effects handled the ‘Skinny Steve‘ shots, downsizing actor Chris Evans into the pre-transformation Steve Rogers. London’s Framestore and Double Negative also took on large chunks of the work, handling sinister villain Red Skull and key digital environments, respectively.
But that’s only part of the story. Los Angeles-based specialist The Third Floor handled pre-viz and post-viz. The UK’s The Senate Visual Effects handled 170 shots, including a key chase sequence. Australia’s Fuel VFX delivered 120 CG environment shots. Method Studios’ new US office did 28 shots: mainly plane interiors and mattes. California’s Look Effects, Matte World Digital and Whiskytree all handled key work, as did Germany’s Trixter and Rise – the latter both working with Marvel for the first time. And rok!it produced the titles.
So how on earth do you get so many facilities, each with its own individual pipelines and working methods, to play nicely together? On what basis do you parcel out the shots? And just what makes a successful Marvel movie, anyway? All questions we put to Victoria Alonso, the company’s Executive Vice President of Visual Effects and co-producer of Captain America, Thor and Iron Man 2, when we caught up with her last month.
Full Article: http://www.cgchannel.com/2011/09/qa-victoria-alonso-marvels- visual-effects-chief/
David Cronenberg Talks CGI and MoCap For ‘The Fly’ Commentary
(filmschoolrejects.com)
- Cronenberg again mentions technology and CGI when discussing the makeup effects on Goldblum. The director finds an immediacy to the character and the performance that is generally lost when a CG performance is given or motion capture is utilized. This is particularly found in the scene between Seth and Veronica on the roof of the Bishop Straun School – they actually filmed there – where the director notes the emotion in the scene and how it could have easily been lost had it been shot using green screen.
- Cronenberg felt that in the final transformation, when Seth is completely gone and all that remains is a giant walking fly, the creature still needed some kind of human element to it for emotion. The articulation was still important even though the character could no longer speak. The director chose to give the creature emotional eyes, what Cronenberg refers to as “big versions of Jeff’s eyes.”
Full Interview: http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/33-things-we- learned-from-david-cronenberg- the-fly-commentary.php
Immigration: VFX and CG Anim Experts Now Classified In UK As "Migrant Workers"
(telegraph.co.uk)Visual effects and computer animation experts are among the 33 job titles that should be opened up to migrant workers looking to come to the UK to fill skills gaps, because the UK suffers from shortages in these areas, the Government's official advisers have recommended.
Immigration migrant workers: Computer animation experts - to work on hit films such as Monsters Inc - are in short supply in the UK, according to official advisers.
Computer animation experts - to work on hit films such as Monsters Inc - are in short supply in the UK, according to official advisers. Photo: Disney/Pixar
However, vets, biology teachers and orchestral musicians are among 29 job titles which should be taken off the shortage occupation list – closing 70,000 jobs to migrant workers in further crackdown on non-EU immigration – according to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC).
In the MAC's latest proposals on non-EU migrant workers coming to Britain, published today, ministers have been urged to cut the number of jobs covered by the shortage occupation list further from 260,000 to 190,000.
Under the committee's recommendations, biology teachers, vets and orchestral musicians would be removed from the list because the UK can no longer justify searching outside of the EU to fill such roles.
However, a number of new job titles would be added to the list to help UK employers plug skills gaps, including visual effects and 2D/3D computer animation artists for films, television and games – thought to be in high demand in the UK.
The committee chairman, David Metcalf, said: "We think it is vital that the Government, employers and the training sector take concerted action to raise the skill levels of the UK workforce, especially in long-standing shortage occupation areas.
"This will reduce the UK's reliance on migrant workers in the long term and provide real benefits for the economy as a whole."
However, Mr Metcalf admitted the proposed changes would have only a "limited impact" as a maximum of just 20,700 workers can be admitted each year through the so-called Tier 2 of the Government's points-based immigration system.
HIt-Girl Talks 'Kick-Ass' Sequel
(latinoreview.com)Chloe Moretz Talks 'Kick-Ass' Sequel; Hints At 'Dark Shadows' Secret 2010 saw the release of 'Kick-Ass,' a film based on the comic series of the same name written up by Mark Millar. With a modest $30 million budget, the film made a little money at the box office pulling in $48 million domestically, and the reviews were pretty solid as well. Shortly after its release, all signs seemed to be pointing towards a sequel, 'Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall.' It just kind of went nowhere and a peep hasn't been heard in awhile.
In an interview with one of the stars of the film, Chloe Moretz -- who played 11-year-old crime fighter, Hit-Girl -- Movies.com asked if the film is going to happen in time for her to reprise her role. Her response:
"Actually, yeah, but I think I’m going to be a little bit older. I’d like to do it in the next year or two because I think that’s a really good time age-wise. You can show Hit Girl in a different light which would be a lot of fun. I think it would be fun to show her, because you know her as this 11-year-old assassin, so I think it would be fun to show her as this twisted young adult, this 16-17-year-old Catwoman-y almost, twisted and dark person."
The busy young woman also has a role in director Tim Burton's adaptation of the popular television show, 'Dark Shadows.' She plays Carolyn Stoddard. On the character, she said:
"Oh, Carolyn, that’s a fun character. That’s a really fun character. She is crazy. She is this teenager, like 15-year-old hippie who is into The Carpenters and Alice Cooper. She’s super music-y and raw, like free love, you know. She’s fun. I can’t say much because he has a really dark secret I can’t tell you."
Early Test Footage for ‘The Goon’ Animated Film Released
(latinoreview.com) Early Test Footage for ‘The Goon’ Animated Film Released
The Goon still has plans to jump from the comic book pages to the screen.
“The Goon” comic creator Eric Powell uploaded the early test footage for the animation to YouTube earlier this week. It is based on the Dark Horse Comic series and to be produced by David Fincher, Blur Studios and Dark Horse.
Clancy Brown “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Starship Troopers”) and Paul Giamatti (“Sideways,” “The Illusionist”) provided the voices for the test footage.
The early test footage was shown back at San Diego Comic-Con International in 2009 with the announcement to the comic book crowd for Brown and Giamatti to provide voices for The Goon and Franky. The test footage was officially released this week.
“Speaking of the Goon film, I got permission to post this early test footage,” wrote Powell on his Twitter account.
Powell was referring to upcoming “Goon” comedy movie starring Jay Baruchel, Seann William Scott and Liev Schreiber.
He wrote to a fan on Twitter that “we politely asked them to change the name. They declined.” and "not stopping us from doing our film, though."
As for the animated film, Powell wrote on the YouTube site that “This is not indicative of the final product,” and “as of now this film is still looking for funding.”
Well for a CG animation, it looks good.
Take a look: http://www.latinoreview.com/news/early-test-footage-for- the-goon-animated-film- released-14770
Digital Domain Reveals How They Created a 3D Human Head
(cgworld.com) Ed Ulbrich, the digital-effects guru from Digital Domain, explains the Oscar-winning technology that allowed his team to digitally create the older versions of Brad Pitt's face for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."
Ed Ulbrich: That was a clip from "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Many of you, maybe you've seen it or you've heard of the story, but what you might not know is that for nearly the first hour of the film, the main character, Benjamin Button, who's played by Brad Pitt, is completely computer-generated from the neck up. Now, there's no use of prosthetic makeup or photography of Brad superimposed over another actor's body. We've created a completely digital human head.
VIDEO - Take a look: http://www.cgworld.com/showthread.php?746
VFX Panel For Idie Filmmakers
(blog.digitalcontentproducer.com) Filmmaker Junction and Hype join forces to host an evening of Visual Effects for indie filmmakers. The panel will feature VFX Supervisors, Mark Youngren (Star Trek, The Last Airbender, Transformers), Dan Schmit (Soul Surfer, A Single Man, The Runaways) and Matthew Merkovich (Date Night, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Minority Report) discussing the emerging trend of visual effects software in indie film. The first hour will be in the format of a moderated panel hosted by Andrew Zinnes, and the second hour will be individual roundtables with one of the experts on each table where attendees can sit down and ask their own questions.
The event will take place at The Working Village (www.workingvillage.com) in Santa Monica next month, on Wednesday, September 28th, 2011 (7PM-9PM).
No longer just limited to big Hollywood pictures, indie films are successfully integrating visual effects into their lower budget productions. As industry veterans, the panelists will share their expertise on how to create these high quality visual effects at a limited cost. Through a wide range of topics including software packages and effective Green screen shooting the panel will uncover the secrets of indie VFX filmmaking.
To purchase tickets or for additional information on the VFX panel, please visit: http://www.filmmakerjunction.com/events/visual-effects- panel/
Date: Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011 7-9PM
Location: The Working Village, 212 Marine Street, Los Angeles, CA 90405
Cost: $20 (walk-ins $25)
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