(dailyfinance.com)
John CarterAfter two lackluster weeks at the multiplex, Disney (DIS) realizes that it won't be making money on John Carter. The family entertainment giant is taking a $200 million writedown on the big-budgeted flop, resulting in Disney's studio subsidiary posting an operating loss between $80 million and $120 million for the current quarter, which ends this month.
It was a foregone conclusion that Disney would be taking a hit on the sci-fi movie, but even jaded analysts didn't think it would be this high. In other words, the lofty $350 million amount that has been estimated to be the film's production and marketing budget may actually be too low.
Ouch!
Poisoning Pixar
The charge stings, but Disney's been here before. It also took a hit last year when Mars Needs Moms bombed. However, this is a sensitive release.
Andrew Stanton -- the award-winning Pixar director behind Finding Nemo and Wall-E -- was the one behind John Carter, and now skeptics will begin to wonder if his success in theatrical animation means little when it comes to live action.
However, don't be surprised if cynics begin wondering if Disney is simply snuffing the creativity out of the great minds it acquired in its Pixar and Marvel purchases.
Andrew Stanton
It seems like an outlandish notion, but things appear to have been going downhill since Disney spent billions to acquire the two celebrated content creators. Let's take Pixar's Cars 2 out for a test drive. After years of Pixar blowing film critics away, ratings aggregator Rotten Tomatoes shows that just 38% of reviewers liked the film.
Marvel to Behold
Marvel's state is harder to discern since third-party studios and outside directors are the ones dictating the fate of its comic book properties, though it may not be a coincidence that the most poorly reviewed installments in the Iron Man and Spider-Man franchises were their most recent sequels.
Disney is counting on Pixar's Brave and Marvel's The Avengers to save the year. If one or both wind up generating disappointing box office receipts, it will lead to even more critiques of the Disney culture and the influence that it has had on Pixar and Marvel.
Disney can always point to general weakness at the box office. Movie attendance hit a 16-year low last year. However, that trend should have also kept the company from letting the film's budget spiral out of control.
Perhaps Disney was too busy thinking about the merchandising and theme park possibilities than the execution. Instead of building high-tech Avatar-themed attractions the way it will at one of its Florida theme parks, it could've made John Carter the marketable property to enhance its Animal Kingdom park.
It's not to be. Now let's see what Disney can do about keeping Pixar and Marvel from faltering in the future.
Wrath of the Titans VFX Creature Feature: Chimera
(joriben.com) Known as one of the the Greek Mythology's most vicious monster, Chimera is taking the center stage on the upcoming Clash of the Titans sequel, Wrath of the Titans. Warner bros. releases this video featuring the part lioness, part snake and part goat monstrosity with commentaries from the director, writer and special effects crew. Watch the video after the jump.
As expected the designer goes beyond what Chimera should look like. Instead of sticking with the original design, he kind of played with the concept creating a much more scary and epic concept design.
Wrath of the Titans' Chimera now contains two heads as oppose to the original that the other head should be just sticking out of its spine and the heads neither look like a lion or a goat but more demonic and menacing. The snake tail is still there but one interesting addition to Chimera is the pair of wings. As if a flightless Chimera is not scary enough. But true enough, the creature's appearance becomes more badass with those contraptions and it makes the monster more tougher to beat not to mention that it is also huge. Definitely it will be a treat and I'm absolutely looking forward to see Chimera in action when Wrath of the Titans opens in cinemas next week.
VIDEO - Take a look: http://www.joriben.com/2012/03/wrath-of-titans-creature- feature.html
Stunning Realistic CG Portraits
(inspirefirst.com)3D computer graphics (CG) is the newest flavor of the month that creates the most attention-grabbing and unbelievable effects. It is always amazing to see that to what extent computer graphics can imitate human characteristics. Artists are very much skilled in creating amazingly realistic computer graphics that can easily be mistaken for the live photography.
Take a look: http://www.inspirefirst.com/2012/03/16/stunning-realistic- cg-portraits/
Digital Domain To Present at Maxim Group Growth Conference
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla., Mar 22, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- A leading digital production company focused on visual effects, original content animation and major studio co-productions, announced that Jonathan Teaford, CEO of Digital Domain Institute, the company’s for-profit post-secondary educational institution, will be presenting at the Maxim Group Growth Conference. The presentation is scheduled for 1:30pm EDT on Monday, March 26, 2012, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.
Digital Domain Media Group (ddmg:NYSE) leverages its expertise in digital visual effects (VFX) and computer-generated (CG) animation across a group of interrelated businesses. At its foundation is Digital Domain Productions (DDPI), an award-winning digital production company founded in 1993. This leading provider of visuals has contributed to more than 80 major motion pictures, including Titanic, the Transformers series, Real Steel and TRON: Legacy, as well hundreds of commercials. DDPI also converts two-dimensional (2D) imagery to three-dimensional (3D) imagery and holds key patents in this area. Mothership, a DDPI subsidiary, focuses on creating advertising, entertainment and branded content from concept to completion, across multiple media platforms. DDMG, its work and its employees have been recognized with numerous awards, including seven from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The company is building on its success in VFX to participate as a co-producer in major studio productions and is currently in production on the upcoming live-action sci-fi feature film Ender’s Game. DDMG is also applying its CG expertise to produce original, family-friendly animated feature films at its subsidiary Tradition Studios. The first movie, The Legend of Tembo, is in pre-production and two more features are in development. The company’s education subsidiary, the Digital Domain Institute, sets a new standard in digital media education through a pioneering public-private partnership with The Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts. DDMG is expanding its worldwide footprint of the highest quality visual effects and animation at the lowest possible cost through global partnerships in India and China. The company has studios in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Florida, Vancouver, Mumbai and London, and is currently establishing a studio in Beijing. http://www.ddmg.co
Dreamworks Anim To Save $10m For Dumping Paramount
(BusinessWeek) Shares of Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc. climbed more than 2 percent on Monday as an analyst raised his price target and rating for the movie studio, saying concerns about increased production costs and an uncertain distribution deal are probably overdone.
THE SPARK: PiperJaffray's James Marsh said in a client note that there are few details so far on a new agreement for the distribution of future films, but that the probable outcome will add to earnings and provide more flexibility for the business.
"In the end, we see the company saving $10 million or more in distribution expenses and gaining more flexibility in evolving digital distribution channels," the analyst wrote.
Model Sculpture of Hatbox Ghost for Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Haunted Mansion?’
(latino-review.com)Is this the sign of life for Guillermo del Toro’s “Haunted Mansion?”
Since the announcement at San Diego Comic-Con International 2010, there was very little news about the 3D remake project except that it will revolve around the Hatbox Ghost from the Disney ride.
On Ain’t It Cool News site, head geek Harry Knowles discovered a photograph of a model sculpture of the Hatbox Ghost on the web site for Illusion Industries.
It’s pure speculation at this point, because Illusion Industries do not have the “Haunted Mansion” as one of their official projects. And, it may just be a privately commissioned project.
Nonetheless, it looks like a pretty good model sculpture of the Hatbox Ghost.
Check it out: http://latino-review.com/2012/03/22/model-sculpture-hatbox- ghost-guillermo-del-toros- haunted-mansion/
IMAX is Doing for Hollywood What 3-D Couldn't
(usatoday.com)Despite tickets that can run more than $15 each, IMAX box office is leading the industry's rebound in revenue and attendance. Through the first six weeks of the year, IMAX reports, ticket sales hit $55 million, a 45% increase over the same period in 2011. Analysts project that, given the tent-pole movies heading to IMAX this spring, the first quarter could finish up more than 70% over last year.
The surge well outpaces the industry's overall rebound, which has seen ticket sales and revenue rise about 20% over last year.
"There's a consensus that with all the ads, all the gimmicks Hollywood pulls, IMAX is the real deal," says Hollywood.com's Paul Dergarabedian.
The colossal format — which requires screens up to 60 feet tall — is pulling more than its weight in ticket sales, even for duds.
Last week's $250 million fantasy opus John Carter, for instance, opened to a mediocre $30.2 million on 3,749 screens. On the 289 IMAX screens on which Carter played, however, it pulled in $5 million — or 17% of the debut.
IMAX is "fulfilling the promise that 3-D didn't keep, that it would be unlike anything you've seen," says Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations. "And unlike great sound or 3-D glasses, you can't replicate IMAX at home unless you have a six-story screen."
Of the nation's 425 IMAX theaters, 325 now show commercial films (the rest are attractions at museums), a trend that took off in 2007, when Transformers and Spider-Man 3 were shown in the format. There are about 39,000 standard-screen theaters in the U.S.
Last year, nine of the 10 top-grossing films included IMAX presentations.
Analysts expect similar returns in 2012, where the first hit, The Lorax ($158 million), included IMAX screenings. Other titles, including Friday's The Hunger Games and next month's re-release of Titanic, are headed to the format.
IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond says the number of IMAX screens has tripled since 2008 because of audience "demand to see event films in IMAX."
The key, Bock says, will be in maintaining an "event" atmosphere.
The Price Of The VFX Overtime Death March
(vfxsoldier.wordpress.com)An article is making the rounds promoting the 40-hour week and explains how long work hours have proven to cost workers and their employers more of their time, their money, and their health.
It’s a heresy now (good luck convincing your boss of what I’m about to say), but every hour you work over 40 hours a week is making you less effective and productive over both the short and the long haul. And it may sound weird, but it’s true: the single easiest, fastest thing your company can do to boost its output and profits — starting right now, today — is to get everybody off the 55-hour-a-week treadmill, and back onto a 40-hour footing.
If you are a professional in the VFX industry you are probably familiar with the death march that is months of 60+ hour weeks. A reader emailed me to ask: “Why does the VFX industry continue to work crazy and exhausting hours like this?”
To be frank, the reason why is because we accept it and we love it.
The article cites 3 reasons for crunch time and I feel it nails the issue right on the head for why the VFX industry is the same way:
1. We have an obsession for VFX.
2. We have turned into “VFX Jocks”.
3. The industry has no union.
The Obsession For VFX
It’s good to like what you do and it’s one thing to love it, but I find many VFX professionals are obsessed with VFX. Many volunteer to work a 12 hour day or ask to come in on weekends to quench their obsession to bring perfection to their VFX work. This practice has turned long hours into the norm and has become an acceptable practice.
In pursuit of that perfection we choose to sacrifice time with friends, family, and our own health and sanity. I think it’s great to strive for perfection, I just prefer to do it Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm. I like VFX but I don’t love it and I personally get creeped out by people who are obsessed with it. I prefer being with friends and family and having a chance to enjoy some of the fruits of my labor and having time to take care of personal errands.
The author of the article points to this obsession called “passion” for work as to one of the reasons for the explosion of overtime:
Asperger’s Syndrome wasn’t named and identified until 1994, but by the 1950s, the defense industries in California’s Santa Clara Valley were already drawing in brilliant young men and women who fit the profile: single-minded, socially awkward, emotionally detached, and blessed (or cursed) with a singular, unique, laser-like focus on some particular area of obsessive interest. For these people, work wasn’t just work; it was their life’s passion, and they devoted every waking hour to it, usually to the exclusion of non-work relationships, exercise, sleep, food, and sometimes even personal care.
James Cameron made a similar observation during the making of Titanic:
The Digital Domain guys are brilliant, but sometimes I think they’re idiot savants.
Rise Of The VFX Jock
As the obsession for VFX became the norm, it became a potent mix when combined with a competitive work environment. VFX professionals developed a jock-like mentality similar to sports athletes that are eager to prove the idea that “pain is temporary, VFX is forever!”
It starts with casually letting others know that you work longer hours. Then some start challenging others or calling them out for going home early: It becomes a sport.
I was appalled by the mentality displayed on some of the productions I’ve been on. I remember one co-worker happily cheering LucasFilm for firing a woman because she was pregnant. I’ve come across workers that told me that if the company wanted to slash their pay by 50% they would happily accept it because they love their job. I’m all for competition but I want to compete in a race to the top, not a race to the bottom.
So we look at the long hours as a symbolism of pride. I think much of this stems from the cyclical and nomadic nature of the industry: We are unable to display the fruits of our labor by having families or firmly rooting ourselves down and have some ownership in our lives. So we use the scars as a substitute to show how much we love VFX and also how much we love the companies we work for. The author rightly points this out. She calls them internal entrepreneurs:
The new ideal was to unleash “internal entrepreneurs” — Randian übermenschen who would devote all their energies to the corporation’s success, in expectation of great reward — and who were willing to assume all the risks themselves. In this brave new world, the real go-getters were the ones who were willing to put in weekends and Saturdays, who put their families on hold, who ate at their desks and slept in their cubicles. Forty-hour weeks were for losers and slackers, who began to vanish from America’s business landscape.
De-Unionization
The author points out that it was the Unions who helped mandate the 40-hour week and were also the guardians. As the 80′s came along unions became the convienient punching bag and membership eroded. Corporations were successful in capitalizing in fear and lumping unionization with inefficiency, laziness, and free-loading.
The reality of course is that none of this is true. Forbes had an article about German auto workers: They are all unionized, produce twice as many cars as the US, and are paid twice as much. I also found that the most competitive countries in the world have the highest rates of union membership: Do Unions Make Us Less Competitive?
For VFX companies that are fearful of unreasonable client demands, a union can sometimes be a convienient bad guy preventing the use of expensive overtime.
Why Do Employers Continue The Death March?
With all this evidence that shows extended periods of crunch time being bad for workers and especially bad for productivity and profits, why do employers continue with the death march?
I believe there’s a huge disconnect between management and the VFX crew. I think most producers don’t have intimate technical knowledge as to what we do. They are concerned with bid days or when something is finaled or kicked back. So when they find a production that is falling behind, the question isn’t how to fix the problem, the question is how can we scale the amount of time and people dedicated to the task. The harder question that needs to be answered is why a particular task has fallen behind. This industry has always chosen the easy answer to the problem. The easy answer usually ends up being the costly one.
Crunch time usually comes from failures in planning. I’ve been in meetings where supervisors throw out wild unrealistic ideas of how the pipeline will work. Nothing is ever stress tested. No simple experiments are done to prove a concept which could point out future problems early on. Instead it’s just put your head down and plow through the work using brute force. The industry also suffers from a herd mentality. If another shop burns a shitload of overtime well so should we! If they go to Vancouver so should we! If they stick their head in a blender so should we!
I also believe there is a certain level of fear production management has with supervisors and clients. Sometimes a panicked coordinator will tell me the client wants to see something Monday and needs me to come in Saturday. So I agree only to realize the work I plowed through doesn’t even get reviewed until the following week!
Why did the production waste my time and company money for a task that really wasn’t needed? What I’ve learned is that the client or supervisor will say something like “it would be nice to see that Monday” and production goes into this frantic trauma thinking they need to see it Monday when in fact they don’t.
There are other times where I’ve found some companies that use the death march to just overbill the client. I’ve been asked to come in on weekends with nothing to do. While this isn’t true for every company, what I learned was the company was able to charge the client another bid day. I wouldn’t be surprised if a company charged a client bid days when artists weren’t even in for work.
At the end of the day the massive amounts of wasteful overtime is just another example of how careless the industry is about earning a profit. We see instances where executives earn more from the golden parachutes they earn by seeing the company fail. We see them compete to chase work in subsidized regions just so the client can obtain a rebate while they burn through millions in infrastructure costs, labor mobilization, and increased overhead.
This industry is in the middle of a Mexican standoff with an absurd twist: Instead of having their guns pointed at each other, they’re pointed at their own heads.
A New Adaptation Of Orwell's "1984"
(darkhorizons.com)Imagine Entertainment and LBI Entertainment are teaming to develop a new film adaptation of George Orwell’s seminal dystopian literary classic "1984" says Heat Vision.
Set in a world of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, and incessant public mind control, the story centers on Winston Smith who works for the Ministry of Truth which is responsible for propaganda and historical revisionism.
Because of the childhood trauma of the destruction of his family — the disappearances of his parents and sister — Winston Smith secretly hates the ruling Party, and dreams of rebellion against them and their deified Party leader - Big Brother.
Written in 1948, the property has previously been adapted several times before - most notably in 1984 itself starring John Hurt and Richard Burton. More notably however the novel has had major influences in the artistic, cultural and even political arenas over the past few decades with concepts from it becoming synonymous with denoting totalitarian authority.
The producers, including Julie Yorn, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, are out to writers to find a take on the material before setting it up at a studio. Street artist Shepard Fairey is also involved in the project.
CGI Experts Say Flying Bird Man Is Fake
(gizmodo.com) The internet is hysterically flapping its wings over a video that portends to show a man flying. Flying like a bird! But is it real? There's no consensus, but George Lucas' CGI masterminds say it's a big avian hoax.
We spoke with Ryan Martin, Technical Director at preeminent Industrial Light & Magic, who not only offered his own take, but that of over a dozen coworkers. He asked me to forgive the delay in their response because they've "all been pretty busy finishing up The Avengers." Yeah.
Here's their case:
Okay, so I don't see any glaring visual problems, but that's expected when the quality is as shitty as this. But that's the first thing that makes me question its authenticity. They're able to afford to build this thing, but can't invest in proper video equipment, or... a tripod. If I were to make a fake video with the intention of going viral, I would make certain that the quality was as poor as possible to disguise any flaws in poor cg work. Another big visual issue I have with this video is the stability of his head during flight. Try and keep your head that still while waving your arms up and down when they aren't attached to a giant wing contraption. Still, it seems almost too crazy to be fake and I was unable to find other glaring flaws with the video. So, I've queried our entire facility because we have some pretty amazingly smart people here. Here's what some of them had to say:
Employee 1: "without a doubt, fake"
Employee 2 (also a pilot) "the camera seems very strange. I know that when I am flying in an airplane, I don't look straight ahead all of the time. Also, the only way people have been able to propel themselves above the ground have been by bicycle arrangements to power a fixed-wing aircraft. A human powered helicopter managed 10 seconds of flight about 5 inches above the ground. The legs are much more powerful than the arms.
I have serious doubts about it just on the physics and physiology points alone. "
Employee 3: "I agree, I saw that earlier today. I can't spot any glaring visual problems, but the physics just don't add up."
Employee 4: "Bad physics, shaky cam with bad focus (always a giveaway) and the most steady head I've ever seen on a guy flapping his arms in order to not break every bone in his body. FAKE."
Employee 5: "check out this video
CGI Experts Say Flying Bird Man Is Fake (Update 2)
and some others....
http://www.humanbirdwings.net/my-recent-videos/
he is talking about the motors that assist his flying, so he isn't flapping all by himself.
if its a hoax, its a pretty elaborate hoax, because he has been trying t build up trust for months before hand."
Employee 6: " it is a matter of weight ratios! Have a look at the gossamer condor surface area of the wing to sustain flight at 1.5 miles an hour."
Employee 7: "6 December 2011,For weeks I have been programming the HTC phone and the Wii remote to work together in order to let them flap my wings in the right movement.",,http://www.humanbirdwings.net/project- timeline/" I've had my wiimote just shut off suddenly without any warning. Sounds like marketing bs or soon to be granted Darwin award."
Employee 8: "I constantly see gliders taking off (Fort Funston in Daly City) and It doesn't look right to me:
- the motion of the wings and physics looks bogus to me. the flapping motion is weird to me.
- the wing cloth, totally looks like cloth simulation. the cloth look structurally too rigid looks like a thick velvet.
- the wing clothing material looks CGI."
Employee 9: "Look how steady the GoPro footage is. You seriously think his neck is that stable when flapping his arms? To get that high and not move your head around an inch to take in the view? FAKE"
Employee 10: I have to wonder where the power is coming from (where are the batteries, etc). The most efficient for human transportation appears to be a fixed wing aircraft. You can get very good results from a good laminar wingform and a low power engine/motor. His wings will definitely not provide the aerodynamics to haul a 180 pounds in the air. The largest bird had a 23 foot wingspan, and was only 171 pounds. It also had very large pectoral muscles to handle the power needed.
Employee 11: "The wing-loading is crazy. ,,Also, a major purpose of a tail on a bird or airplane is to counter-act the forward pitching moment of the wing. If you could get your weight down to about 50 pounds for those wings, you would still find yourself rolling forward. Straight-wing flying wings need a specific twist, or large dihedral, to maintain stable flight (both of which kill lift). The configuration in the video is prone to gerbilling.,,I think the animation cycle on the figure is borrowed from the monkeys in Wizard of Oz."
Emphasis added. Martin even produced a smoking gun:
Okay Sam, They wouldn't let this go without getting to the bottom of it. We've got proof it's faked.
The proof comes from one of their other videos and the guys here are genuinely impressed that it's taken so long even for us to determine the truth.
These guys are fooling everyone.
Watch this video:
CGI Experts Say Flying Bird Man Is Fake (Update 2)
CGI Experts Say Flying Bird Man Is Fake (Update 2)At 1:45, you can see a little black square on the fabric
CGI Experts Say Flying Bird Man Is Fake (Update 2)Now, without cutting, the camera pans down and then back up again. When the camera pans up, the wing is cg. You can tell because the model they used didn't have perfect textures
It's a pretty good fake, but it is absolutely fake.
Again, emphasis added.
We also talked with a CGI brain at Visual Playground, who spotted what he says is another giveaway:
Ok...not on the vid...but on their site...a bit of a giveaway. this vid:
CGI Experts Say Flying Bird Man Is Fake (Update 2) contains screen shot of the prototype 3D model of the wing movements. The program is Maya, a 3D program primarily used by CG artists. I would think if this was the engineering vid it claims to be they would be using a 3D modeling program more suited to physics based modeling. Also the toolbar they have loaded atop the program is the 'Cloth Simulation' area of the program, which is used create such effects as fabric wings moving through air...hmmm. This isnt 100% proof but it is strange for them to have such a detailed ANIMATED model in a CG program rather than a engineering one.
So if it's a fake, it's a pretty masterful one. Even the Star Wars guys are impressed.
Update: Martin has more refutation out of ILM:
Even more definitive evidence from on of our veteran compositors:
CGI Experts Say Flying Bird Man Is Fake (Update 2)CGI Experts Say Flying Bird Man Is Fake (Update 2)"At 0:18 - the cast shadows of the three fellas on the wings are another giveaway. The shadow on screen right, for example, was created using an articulate of the man himself, then hand-animated and warped to look like a cast shadow on the wing. Watch how the cast shadow does a moon-walk/shuffle, incongruous with the man himself.
All that said, it's still very well done. Good stuff. And I truly believe this is a healthy exercise for folks who do this stuff for a living."
Update 2: Another heavyweight CGI alum weighs in:
CGI Experts Say Flying Bird Man Is Fake (Update 2) I've been in CG for 15 years, and worked at some of the largest studios like ILM and Weta Digital. This is 100% without a doubt a digital composite, which is great! When I saw this video I was happy to see that somebody really took the time to integrate good CG into a viral video. So many hackneyed attempts are passed around, and this one really stands out. A lot of people have been fooled, so I thought I'd show how trained Hollywood visual effects artists can spot CG when ley people can't. The ILM guys that pointed out the crappy footage were right - that's what covers 90% of the problems. You actually WANT bad footage to put CG into, because the shaking covers many mistakes. So I stabilized the shot, as you can see here, and the problems leap out. First thing that you might be surprised by, is that the PEOPLE are digitally composited into the shot too! Everyone has been focusing on the wings but the people running in frame were shot separately and then added to the shot later to save on work. Rather than "Roto" the people (trace their outline frame by frame to put CG objects behind them), the makers of this video thought it would be easier (and it is) to just add them on TOP of the CG wings later. In the stabilized shot, look how there is motion blur on the three actors and the wings when there is none on the background. This is due to the fact that a "2D" motion blur plugin was used. The computer calculates the change in pixels from frame to frame and blurs the pixels the more the pixels change. The problem is, these actors already had motion blur on them when they were first shot. When you composite them into the footage, motion blur gets added AGAIN. This is why they go very blurry when the rest of the shot doesn't. The makers of this video tried to hide the fact they did this by having the two characters on the right run off screen, and then come back into frame. The actual footage that was shot on this day was a blank field, and the characters running in from screen right. Look closely at the shadows on the ground of the middle character. There is only only leg on the ground, and it slides with his movement. There's even some frames where the shadow is on the wrong side of the foot. The screen left character transitions (simple fade) between the digitally composited version of himself and the version of him on the ground between frames 90-92 of my video. The cg artists then have to roto the foreground characters minimally for the rest of the shot. A very valiant attempt, plain as day to a CG artist.
This is really convincing CG work, but the public needs to understand that CG artists can detect things the same way a master chef can detect the ingredients of a dish. I take my hat off to these artists for their commitment to this project, creating and releasing so many videos with convincing graphics that have fooled a LOT of people. It's the perfect PR for a visual effects studio. Wish I'd thought of it!
Henson to Make Sid the Science Kid Feature
(comingsoon.net) Taking advantage of growing collaborative opportunities in new territories, The Jim Henson Company has inked a deal with Shanghai, China-based animation studio Nine Eyes Stone & Shanghai Animation Film Studios to co-produce Sid the Science Kid: The Movie, a 3D, CG-animated feature film based on the company’s hit kids TV series.
The feature film (written/executive produced by Bradley Zweig, and executive produced by Henson’s Lisa Henson and Halle Stanford) follows the story of Sid and his classmate Gabriela who, after winning a science experiment contest, get to experience a new modern science museum before it opens. After encountering an eccentric scientist (Christopher Lloyd of Back to the Future) whose robot tour guides go rogue, the pair must work together with the contest winners from China to save the day.
The Jim Henson Company will handle distribution, including licensing, video and merchandising, and rep the movie globally outside of China, holding all theatrical, television, DVD and digital platform rights. As part of the deal, Nine Eyes Stone & Shanghai Animation Film Studios have acquired distribution rights for the existing TV series and the film in the Chinese market.
Christopher Nolan Screens 'Dark Knight Rises' for Warner Bros
(hollywoodreporter.com)Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that Nolan on Friday presented his first cut of 2012's most-anticipated film to top Warner Bros. executives, including film chief Jeff Robinov and production president Greg Silverman.
The movie doesn’t open until July 20, but Nolan has allowed himself plenty of time to fine-tune the film as he and the brass see fit. Sources say Nolan has been a fixture on the Warners lot during the past few days after finishing a monthslong shoot and editing process. The follow-up to 2008's $1 billion-grossing The Dark Knight was filmed in locations as diverse as Los Angeles, New York, New Jersey and Pittsburgh as well as in parts of India and the U.K.
The Batman tale returns most of the cast from Dark Knight, including Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman, along with a new crop of luminaries including Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard and Tom Hardy as villain Bane.
The movie opens a week after July's Comic-Con convention, which Nolan has never attended. Nolan’s previous tentpole movies – Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and Inception – have opened before Comic-Con during their respective summers, but in light of the latest movie’s release date, speculation has already begun that this year will be different.
The Best (and easiest) Special Effect You Can Do To Freak Out Your Friends
(io9.com) The best (and easiest) special effect you can do to freak out your friendsSome special effects are incredibly easy to do — with science. Find out how to pour an 'empty' pitcher on candle flames and cause them to suddenly go out. It's a fun and easy effect for your supernatural movie, fake seance, or just freaking out your friends.
Of course there's a reason why I put those quotes are around 'empty' and 'water.' The pitcher in this experiment isn't actually empty. It's just filled with something you can't see. You also can't smell or taste it. The only time you know it's there is when you can feel it fizzing through your soda - or when it chokes you to death because you've been locked in an airlock. It's carbon dioxide, and it is one of the things that will make a candle go out.
A candle needs three things to keep burning. The first is basic fuel, which is provided by the paraffin wax drawn up through the wick. Another is heat, which is provided first by a match, and then by the burning of the candle itself. The most effective way of putting out a candle, or any flame, is taking away its oxygen. Carbon dioxide is a heavy molecule, heavier than the oxygen in the air. Although it does get joggled around by the atmosphere, and can be found at any height, it will stay for some time in the bottom of a container. And if that container is upended in the air, the carbon dioxide will pour out of it, just like liquid does.
The results of the combination of bicarbonate of soda, also known as baking soda, and vinegar is well-known. The fizzy explosion is a staple of many elementary-school volcanoes. What you're seeing in the fizz is a double reaction. The acetic acid (CH3COOH) in the vinegar and the baking soda (NaHCO3) swap some atoms. The acetic acid snatches away the sodium (Na) atom, while the baking soda grabs an extra hydrogen. This causes the baking soda to become carbonic acid (H2CO3), which is unstable. It breaks down into carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). The many bubbles causing the fizzy explosion are the escaping carbon dioxide.
The best (and easiest) special effect you can do to freak out your friends Going back to our illusion, it's simple enough to get a lot of carbon dioxide from these common kitchen items. Swirling the fizz breaks open those bubbles and releases them into the air. They can be kept in a new, covered container for a short while, or you could simply cover up the bottom of the pitcher where the reaction is taking place. Pour the pitcher over the candles, and it looks like they are going out all by themselves. If you can hide yourself and the picture completely, this is also a good way to get selected candles to look like they're putting themselves out. All in all, a cool effect that you can do in your kitchen.
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