(The Hollywood Reporter) Legendary Pictures has its sights set on a fantasy entitled Slayer. The Hollywood Reporter has word that the company has picked up the script from newcomer Martin Helgeland.
Set in present day, Slayer has a doctor dealing with the loss of his father and uncovering the truth about his dad's identity. Not only was his father a dragonslayer, but the doctor is next in line to take up the mantle.
Alex Garcia and Alex Hedlund will produce with Brian Helgeland (the father of Martin and the writer of films like Payback and Mystic River) executive producing.
Russell Crowe Will Play Noah For Darren Aronofsky
(latino-review.com)
It’s finally come together, although according to Deadline New York there won’t be an official announcement until next week. Russell Crowe will play the title role in Darren Aronofky’s biblical epic Noah.
Aronofsky originally wanted Christian Bale for the lead, but that didn’t pan out. Crowe was rumored for a while, then it was reported he was in talks and now it has become a reality.Here’s Aronofsky on why he wants to tell the story of Noah:
”Since I was a kid, I have been moved and inspired by the story of Noah and his family’s journey. The imaginations of countless generations have sparked to this epic story of faith. It’s my hope that I can present a window into Noah’s passion and perseverance for the silver screen.”
I really can’t put in to words how excited I am for this film. In my opinion Aronofsky hasn’t made a bad film. My favorites from him are The Fountain and Black Swan. Whenever Swan is on cable I will literally turn from whatever I’m watching. I don’t mean to be hyperbolic, I simply love this film. It was my pic for best picture of 2010 and was worlds better than the pretentious The King’s Speech. When will this world’s fascination with British Royalty finally end?
Aronofsky wanted to start shooting in the spring, but now it has been pushed back to July. There will be more casting announcements coming, so stay tuned for updates.
6 Dumb Things That Make Special Effects Less Effective
(gammasquad.uproxx.com)Most of the movies us nerds are looking forward to in 2012 have something in common — lots and lots of special effects. So, let’s talk special effects for a bit.
The things that can be done with special effects today are amazing, and yet despite all the advances in technique and technology, a lot of special effects still aren’t particularly convincing. More often than not the fault doesn’t lie with the effects technology itself, but in how the effects are presented.
Basically a lot of movies do dumb things that rob their amazing effects of all their impact. Stuff like…
Using CG Effects When They Don’t Have To
This is one of my biggest pet peeves — when movies break out the CG effects for minor stuff that doesn’t require them. A spider has to crawl on some lady’s arm? You could just get a tarantula from a pet store and plunk it on her arm, but nah — better computer generate that s–t!
While I generally enjoyed the movie, Chronicle was particularly bad for this. The movie’s about three teenage guys gaining telekinetic powers, and for the first half of the flick all they use them for is small stuff like making cameras float, or pushing cars around a parking lot. It’s all stuff that could have been done with simple practical effects, and yet they pull out the CG for all of it.
That said, the scene where they make Pringles fly into their mouths will blow your mind.
When movies resort to CGI for such minor things, it almost always looks bad because, really, it’s just a spider on a lady’s arm or a floating camera. It’s not a big showpiece shot, so the effects artists aren’t going to put that much effort into them, but here’s the thing — these “unimportant” shots looking like crap will make viewers less likely to accept the big stuff later on.
I don’t know about you, but once I notice a few really unconvincing special effects my brain goes into “spot the s–tty CGI” mode. Because of that lame spider or floating camera early on, my brain doesn’t want to accept the giant ape or superhero effects showdown that comes later. In other words, if a scene is too unimportant to bother making your CG effects look decent, don’t even bother with ‘em.
Making the Camera Do Stuff a Camera Can’t Do
The advent of CGI means filmmakers no longer have to worry about the limitations of actual physical cameras — they can create scenes entirely in the computer and have a virtual camera that dives, swirls and swoops around like no real camera actually could.
These virtual cameras are fine if used with restraint, but they rarely are — even great directors like Martin Scorsese go overboard with them. His latest movie, Hugo, is full of scenes where the camera swooshes through twisting corridors full of complex machinery and clockworks — these scenes are supposed to be exciting I think, but they didn’t make much of an impact on me. Based on the impossible way the camera was moving my brain immediately concluded “oh, okay, we’re taking a cartoon break” and didn’t reengage until the camera stopped flying around.
CG effects are basically just extra detailed cartoons — don’t call attention to the fact with a “camera” straight out of an animated Disney movie from the 90s.
Making Everything Too Darn Pretty
“Hey, CGI is great at making dinosaurs, explosions and exploding dinosaurs look awesome. Let’s use it to make everything look awesome!”
I can understand the line of thinking, but things usually go wrong once filmmakers start to apply too much CG spackle to a movie’s background elements. Movies like Avatar and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull have these super bright, crisp, colorful, detailed virtual sets — which ultimately make everything look fake.
I think some filmmakers think making movie backgrounds look like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon will help cover any cartoonishness in the CG effects and characters. That everything will come together as a cohesive Crayola-colored whole and be convincing.
James Cameron’s favorite crayon is purple.
It doesn’t really work though. Would Jurassic Park’s dinosaurs have looked more convincing if that movie took place in the primary colored plastic jungle of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? Hell no. Environments that look like something that might actually exist in the real world lend an extra air of believability to CG effects. For instance, I found District 9′s aliens far more believable than Avatar’s, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that District 9 took place in a realistic looking slum, while Avatar took place in a purple and pink acid trip.
Showing Off With Big Crowd Scenes
You know the type of scenes I’m talking about — the two armies line up and the virtual camera soars across an endless field of soldiers/orcs/Jar Jar Binkses. It always looks unconvincing because the effects artists don’t have the time to detail every single figure in the horde — they just hit copy-and-paste until the field is full, and it’s obvious. Until you come up with some crazy computer program or algorithm that can actually make big crowds look convincing, please stop trying to impress us with them. It’s just not working.
Bouncing Back and Forth Between Practical and CG Effects
Superhero movies are particularly bad for this — one moment Spiderman is an actual guy in an actual costume who looks solid and believable, next he’s a rubbery CGI creation ping-ponging around the walls. The constant back-and-forth, often multiple times per minute during action scenes, just makes the CGI stick out like a sore thumb.
I say if more than 50% of your action scene is going to be done using CGI, just do the whole scene in CGI. Switching back to real people and practical effects for some shots may save a little money, but it comes at the expense of believability and cohesion. If your special effects budget is running low just cut that scene from earlier in the movie with the CG spider on the lady’s arm.
Focusing on those Dead Dead Eyes
CG effects have come a long way, but dammit, they still can’t quite do eyes. I know you want to showcase Andy Serkis’ acting, but dammit, those slow zooms into the dewy eyes of Gollum/King Kong/Caesar the chimp are always a bad idea.
U.K. Budget 2012: Tax Breaks Extended to Animation and Games Industries
(guardian.co.uk)George Osborne's 2012 budget will extend the tax breaks to ensure that Aardman Animations, the creator of Wallace and Gromit, will remain in the UK. Photograph: Graeme Robertson
Wallace & Gromit will continue to be produced in the UK, the chancellor has claimed in his budget speech, as he unveiled a film industry-style tax break to encourage the development of the animation and video game sectors.
The financial incentive announced by George Osborne will also apply to high-cost dramas, such as Titantic and Downton Abbey, details of which had been briefed out last week during the prime minister's trip to the US and were confirmed in the budget announcement on Wednesday.
The chancellor told the Commons that it was the policy of the government to keep Wallace & Gromit exactly where they are – a comment that prompted cheers from Coalition benches as it was also a dig at Labour leader Ed Miliband, who is sometimes likened to the cheese-loving plasticine hero.
Aardman Animations, the Bristol-based independent producer behind Wallace & Gromit, has, alongside other animators, been calling for the Treasury to introduce a tax relief to support British production, at an estimated direct cost to the Exchequer of £17m a year. Animation is a £300m-a-year industry that employs 4,700 people directly.
British animation has been in decline in recent years as other countries have offered generous subsidies for cartoonists to move abroad, with Bob the Builder now produced in the US, Thomas the Tank Engine in Canada and Noddy made in Ireland. The industry believes the result is British pre-schoolchildren now see largely foreign-made content.
Details of the new tax break scheme remain sketchy, with Osborne only announcing an intention to proceed, subject to obtaining state-aid approval from the European Commission and a consultation.
But the tax breaks are expected to operate on similar lines to film, in which projects filmed in the UK qualify for a 20% or 25% break depending on the production budget.
The video games industry employs an estimated 9,000 people in the UK working in 300 studios, but development jobs have been moving to locations such as Montreal in Canada where tax incentives have helped slash the cost of developing games which can reach £50m for high end titles.
Games industry trade body UKIE said that a games tax relief would create an estimated 4,700 direct and indirect jobs, and generate £188m in investment by studios. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport said the break would create and protect 1,650 studio jobs, and contribute £280m to GDP.
An estimated £350m a year more would be spent in the UK as a result of the drama tax incentive, according to estimates on behalf of a group of drama producers. They argue that the economy would benefit to the tune of £1bn when taking into account the wider benefits from the greater employment and investment.
Julian Fellowes's £1m an hour ITV1 drama Titanic, which starts on Sunday, was shot in Hungary because it was cheaper to build a replica of the ship in landlocked central Europe than film where the original ocean going liner was built, at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
Andy Harries, chief executive of Wallander producer Left Bank Pictures, said the tax relief would give British television a much needed shot in the arm.
Glenn Whitehead, executive vice president business and legal affairs at US cable network HBO said: "Today's news on a new tax incentive has turned the UK from one of the most expensive options into a competitive and affordable location."
More: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/uk-government-plans-to-turn- britain-into-europes- technology-centre-20120321- 00696
The 8 Best Go-Motion Monsters (and Robots)
(toplessrobot.com)What do the films RoboCop, Dragonslayer, and Empire Strikes Back all have in common (other than being defining films of 80's cinema)? All of them employed the then-groundbreaking animation technique coined "go motion" -- co-developed by legendary visual effects artist Phil Tippett and Industrial Light and Magic. Inspired by the special effects of Ray Harryhausen in the film The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, a young Tippett knew where his destiny lay and quickly pursued a career in special effects animation, eventually finding himself working in Industrial Light and Magic's animation department and bringing to life creations such as the AT-ATs and tauntauns of Hoth. By the mid-80s, Tippett ventured out on his own and founded the Tippett Studio to create animated sequences for both film and television; his work garnering numerous awards and nominations for his innovation and the incomparable skill of his craft.
As revolutionary as go motion was, its legacy was sadly short-lived having lasted less than 15 years. By 1993, the release of Jurassic Park and its use of CGI over go motion was the final nail in the coffin for Tippett's animation technique. Even though Tippett Studio would shift focus and work primarily with CGI to keep with the times, modern cinema lost a technique that harkened back to the days of Harryhausen and Willis O'Brien, with no one stepping up to the plate to use go motion once more for old times' sake. But just because go motion is no longer in favor with modern filmmakers certainly doesn't mean that the creatures that came to life because of it are any less memorable or inspiring. Check out 8 of the best go motion monsters (and robots)!
The Top 8 - Take a look: http://www.toplessrobot.com/2012/03/the_8_best_go_motion_ monsters_and_robots.php
Ask Me To Ask the Pixar Animators Anything!
(wired.com) After my article about the archery in Brave ran here, I got a call from a publicist at Disney. He wanted to know if my interest in Brave was solely due to the archery. I explained that I’m a life-long cartoon and animation nut, love Pixar and Disney, and have actually studied traditional and computer animation, that I am a cartoonist, and that I’m of Scottish ancestry, so this movie hits every button I have. He then asked if I would be interested in visiting Pixar to meet the people who made the film.
Would I be interested? Is Indiana Jones interested in ancient artifacts? Is Bruce Wayne interested in stopping crime? Is Han Solo interested in money? Am I interested, he asks! That’s what I thought in the microsecond it took to form the words “heck, yeah!” Then I went to talk to the boss at my new job, where I’ve been on-staff for all of three weeks. Her immediate response, when I asked for time off and said why, was “You have to go! It’s too cool not to!”
So I’m going to visit Pixar the first week of April, along with about two dozen other bloggers, mostly from sites focusing on family and parenting. As soon as the list of attendees was sent out, several of them friended me on Facebook, and they seem like a fun bunch of people. I’m looking forward to the trip.
“Yes,” I hear you cry, “that’s nice for you, but what does it mean to me?”
It means I need your help. What questions would you like me to ask the Pixar animators? Post your questions in the comments section here, or on the new GeekDad Community forum, and I’ll take them with me and ask, then report back with the answers. You can ask questions about Brave, or about Disneynature’s new film Chimpanzee, which opens on Earth Day, or about the short film La Luna, which will be screened along with Brave when it comes to your local theater. You can also ask questions about the new Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, which I will also be visiting. I’m particularly looking forward to that; my friend Floyd Norman, a bona fide Disney Legend, was a consultant for the museum, and the little bits he told me about it sound fascinating. I can’t wait to share it with you.
Please submit your questions before April 3; that’s when I head north to Pixar. Come on, what are you dying to know about Brave and Pixar?
Source: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/03/ask-the-pixar- animators/
Industrial Light & Magic Visits VFS
(commerciallighting.co)Industrial Light & Magic visited VFS Animation & Visual Effects students for a unique presentation in the course of SIGGRAPH 2011. Senior Recruiter Sarah Alvarado and University Relations Manager Anita Stokes were joined by 3D Animation & Visual Effects grads Scott Jones and Simeon Bassett.
CGI IMPROVES QUALITY OF LIFE
(postagevfx.com)The combination of CGI and 3D printing no longer just serve the do-it-yourself designers and product model makers of the architectural industry. The creativity behind CGI now improves quality of life.
Last June, an 83-year-old woman in the Netherlands received a new jawbone that Belgian manufacturer LayerWise created with a 3D printer. The dilemma associated with this woman’s jaw surgery inspired this world first acheivement.
According to Mashable Tech, doctors feared that reconstructive surgery to fix the woman’s infected jaw, at her age, could have caused complications. Replacing a complete bone with a 3D printed implant was an innovative and successful choice.
LayerWise Manufacturing Director Peter Mercelis reported to Innovation News Daily that the creation of implants with this 3D printing technology “speeds up surgery and patient recovery, and reduces the risk for medical complications.” Surgeons finished the operation in only four hours (instead of the estimated 20 hours with traditional practices) and the woman returned home from the hospital after just four days (instead of 2-3 weeks) while speaking and swallowing normally. Less time in surgery and less time in the hospital racks a less expensive medical bill.
In order to produce the implant, LayerWise used a 3D printer with a lazer which melted titanium powder into the shape of a jawbone and built the implant in layers. The woman’s new jaw weighs 1/3 heavier than her previous one. Even so, doctors believe she will quickly adapt to the feel of the new implant.
Doctors now see a future for the creation of more implants with 3D printing technology. Dr. Jules Poukens, from the Biomedical Research Institute at Hasselt University in Belgium, led the surgical team to replace the woman’s jaw. He says, “Computer technology is causing a revolution in the medical industry.”
BBC News reported that engineers at Washington State University last year demonstrated how 3D-printed ceramic scaffolds could be used to help the growth process of new bone tissue. After experiements with animals, the team approximates that this technology can be used to improve human life in a few decades.
Such research and technological advancements point to an even greater potential for the world of CGI and 3D printing.
"Hell Baby" To Gestate Into Feature Film
(comingsoon.net) Darko Entertainment and Principato-Young Entertainment announced today the companies will produce Hell Baby, which will mark co-screenwriters Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant's feature film directorial debut. Darko Entertainment will finance the film. Rob Corddry and Leslie Bibb have signed on to star. Hell Baby will be produced by Darko Entertainment's Sean McKittrick, Jeff Culotta and Ted Hamm; Principato-Young's Peter Principato and Paul Young; and Garant/Lennon Productions. The film is set to start production on location in New Orleans in April.
In the horror comedy Hell Baby, a young expectant couple moves in to New Orleans most haunted fixer-upper and calls upon The Vatican's elite exorcism team to save them from a demonic baby. Lennon and Garant will portray that team.
Practical VFX - FONCO Hits Wondercon
(aftimes.com) Fonco was founded in 2000 by Fon Davis, as a design and fabrication studio specializing in miniatures. Over the decade we have been in business, Fonco has been joined by a very creative and motivated group of artists, many of whom have worked for companies like Lucasfilm, Industrial Light and Magic, and Disney. In addition to picking up incredible talent, we have grown into a 1700 square foot facility, which includes a complete art department, fabrication shop, and photography studio. We now handle full production services from early design and story development through post production, always with a focus on visual story telling.
PHOTOS - Take a look: http://aftimes.com/2012/03/wondercon-2012-fonco/
STAR WARS: DISCOVERY SCIENCE CENTER EXHIBIT - MODELS, MODELS, MODELS!
When I first heard about the Star Wars exhibit in Seattle for the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination, my jaw dropped. My busy schedule and high gas prices would not allow me to travel to make a visit at the time. However, I luckily heard that this exhibit was traveling to Santa Ana, California and has been on my mind since. Since Wondercon was going to be held in Anaheim this year, it was my chance to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. A win, win situation.
Take a look: http://asiandoood.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/star-wars-w-s- m-i-discovery-science-center- exhibit-part-1/
New Event Guest Speaker from Industrial Light & Magic
We announced our surprise guest speaker for Digital-Tutors Night of Hollywood Visual Effects earlier this week, and the lineup of speakers for the event is looking nothing short of spectacular.
ILM Layout Supervisor, Colin Benoit will present on his work from Rango and other projects.
Colin Benoit joined Industrial Light & Magic in 2001 as a Technical Assistant and soon after moved into the layout department, where he has been ever since.
Benoit has worked as a Layout Supervisor on Poseidon and Iron Man, as part of a small, fast-paced pre-visualization team on Speed Racer, and as an Animation Sequence Lead on Star Trek, supervising camera work and animation for the space jump sequence.
Most recently, he led the layout team on Rango, ILM's first animated feature, where he's had the opportunity to work extensively with Director Gore Verbinski to help achieve a style that is incredibly unique for the animated film genre. He is currently a Layout Supervisor on Pacific Rim.
Benoit received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, where he studied robotics.
If you are in the area or are traveling in, please RSVP before seating is full. We can’t wait to see everyone on March 28th.
Lawmakers Seeking Warning Labels for Most Video Games
Almost every game will be required to carry a warning label like those found on cigarettes if a new bill introduced to Congress this week proves successful.
Introduced by Joe Baca (D-California), the “Violence in Video Games Labeling Act” (H.R. 4204) would require all games rated E, E10+, T, M, and AO by the Entertainment Software Rating Board to carry a stamp that reads, “WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior.”
The only games that would be excluded from the labels would be titles rated EC (Early Childhood). The label is to be placed in a “clear and conspicuous” location on the game’s box and is not limited to physical games.
If it’s signed into law, the Consumer Product Safety Commission would have 180 days to create rules that require such games to bear the warning label.
In a press release on Baca’s website, the lawmaker lambasted the video game industry for not having a system in place to warn users of the “potentially damaging content” in games.
“The video game industry has a responsibility to parents, families, and to consumers to inform them of the potentially damaging content that is often found in their products,” Baca said. “They have repeatedly failed to live up to this responsibility.”
Baca said the Violence in Video Games Labeling Act is a response to what he calls increasing evidence that games are connected to a plethora of short- and long-term “detrimental” effects.
“Meanwhile, research continues to show that playing violent video games is a casual risk factor for a host of detrimental effects in both the short- and long-term, including increasing the likelihood of physically aggressive behavior,” he said. “American families deserve to know the truth about these potentially dangerous products.”
Baca said studies from the journal Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, and the International Society for Research on Aggression highlight a connection between violent games and aggressive tendencies in children and teenagers.
Frank Wolf (R-Virginia) is co-sponsoring the bill.
“Just as we warn smokers of the health consequences of tobacco, we should warn parents–and children–about the growing scientific evidence demonstrating a relationship between violent video games and violent behavior,” Wolf said.
A representative from the Entertainment Software Association issued the following statement to GameSpot:
“Unfortunately, Representative Baca’s facially unconstitutional bill–which has been introduced to no avail in each of six successive Congressional sessions, beginning in 2002–needlessly concerns parents with flawed research and junk science. Numerous medical experts, research authorities, and courts across the country, including the United States Supreme Court, exhaustively reviewed the research Representative Baca uses to base his bill and found it lacking and unpersuasive. Independent scientific researchers found no causal connection between video games and real life violence.”
This is not the first time Baca and Wolf have put forth legislation seeking to stamp games with warning labels. In 2009, the congressional pair brought forth the Video Game Health Labeling Act, which sought to place a health warning on games rated T or above. That bill was unsuccessful.
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