Although it would be awesome to see zombies literally fighting with the monsters of Monsters, Inc, the battle they’ll be engaged in is purely metaphorical and box office based. According to Aint It Cool, Paramount has pushed World War Z back from its slot in December 2012 to a summer date in 2013.
Instead of hitting theaters a week after The Hobbit and a few days before Django Unchained and The Great Gatsby, the Brad Pitt-starring flick will open on June 13, 2013 against Pixar’s Monsters University.
Does the move make sense? Sort of. The holiday season is crowded, and more important it’s crowded by the hairy feet and fast-talking Tarantino of movies that some might consider “Geek Properties.” Maybe there was no more room at the inn for the zombie epic. Or perhaps Paramount is punting – making a shrewd move to get the flick out from the pile and into a counter-programming position.
At any rate, World War Z remains a movie that no one in the outside world is aware of. With no trailers, and no publicity, the average movie-goer in charge of boosting up ticket sales doesn’t even know they should be expecting it this holiday, so the move doesn’t change all that much. Plus, perhaps it will get them some time to launch some of those things you put on the television to let people know about your existence. Whatever those things are called.
Sin City 2 to Film This Year
(The Hollywood Reporte) Local Austin filmmaker Robert Rodriguez appeared at South by Southwest on Tuesday as part of the SXSW Interactive Festival to announce a number of upcoming projects.
During the panel, Rodriguez mentioned he will start shooting Machete Kills (announced at last year's San Diego Comic-Con) in April with the long-planned and massively delayed Sin City 2 planning to start production over the summer. Although he kept quiet on how much of the cast of either previous movie will be returning, he mentioned he'd been in talks with actors for both films, adding that the casting will be "of the same caliber and ecclecticism" as the previous films.
Is VFX Really A Global Industry?
(vfxsoldier.wordpress.com)
Animation wages in China and India are rising, while salaries in Southern California have been flat (or declining) for a decade. Even so, artists go where the opportunities and best money are, which remains — despite the negative growth — California.
The common message I hear from VFX workers is “it’s all going away.” The belief is market economics and technology have made access to the VFX easier for global players and has essentially commoditized the industry. It can be done anywhere by anyone, the only thing that matters is price.
However I deeply question the global industry argument. I believe visual effects is a key component of the US domestic film industry that relies heavily on agglomeration. When US domestic studio productions go to other locations for VFX work, they do so for the comparative advantage provided by rent seeking: subsidies. VFX is not a global industry, it is an agglomerated industry.
What Is A Global Industry?
I had to ask myself that question. What the hell is a global industry? To me it’s an industry where I can plant myself almost anywere in the world and work for that industry.
The medical industry is a global industry. Everyone everywhere needs a doctor. Not so much in the VFX industry. You basically have less than 10 locations to choose from. A few of them like India, exist for their low labor costs. But we haven’t seen this large amount of work go there. VFX companies have been there for 10 years and while the quality has been stagnant, costs are rapidly rising.
For the other locations, most of the work is subsidized by local governments to lure projects by the big 6 US domestic film studios all located in the Los Angeles area: Disney, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., Fox, Paramount, and Universal.
The only place that stands alone is California. While it’s labor costs are not low, it exists without the need of subsidies. The reason why the work continues to be done here is because of agglomeration.
Agglomeration
Why is the financial services industry located in New York? Why is the entertainment industry located in Los Angeles? The reason why is because of agglomeration: In the VFX industry companies need to be located closely near each other so they can get work and quickly scale and acquire a large talent pool of workers. There was a UCLA study on VFX agglomeration.
Economist Paul Krugman won the Nobel Prize in economics for his research in agglomeration. There are a lot of findings by economists on this subject that actually go against what I call “Flat Earth thinking”.
I think many readers subscribe to the “world is flat” idea by Thomas Friedman. With technology now making it easier to remotely collaborate, it would serve as a substitute for face-to-face collaboration and allow productions to have a global workforce where labor is cheaper.
Surprisingly, economists who research agglomeration have found that “labor cost-savings are not relevant in driving the decision to outsource“. Furthermore, the idea that remote collaboration tools will serve as a substitute for face-to-face interaction and lessen the need for an agglomerated industry is also not true according to economists. They argue that it actually is a compliment:
Telecommunications improvements can increase the returns to urban residents relative to hinterland residents because urban dwellers have more contacts overall, but these improvements can also decrease the relative returns to urban residents because they are less likely to use the phone conditional upon having a contact.x
While California is the only major VFX market that exists without subsidies, we have yet to see the other markets like Singapore, New Zealand, Austrailia, UK, and Canada expose itself to true subsidy-free market conditions.
Will they be able to sustain themselves without them? Only time will tell but I find hypocrisy in those in who champion their success as globalization and market economics yet at the same time are heavily dependent on government subsidization: a relic of command economics.
Warner Bros. to Bring Mandrake the Magician to the Big Screen
(The Hollywood Reporter) Warner Bros. has plans to bring Mandrake the Magician to the big screen, says a story at The Hollywood Reporter. The studio is developing a feature based on the comic strip character, whose origins date back to 1934.
Created by Lee Falk (who would go on to create "The Phantom"), Mandrake is a specialist in hypnosis and illusion who uses his magical abilities to fight crime alongside Lothar, an African Prince and one of the strongest men in the world.
Mandrake the Magician has been adapted before, originally as a theatrical serial in 1939 with Warren Hull as Mandrake and Al Kikume as Lothar.
In recent years, a new version of Mandrake has made its way around Hollywood, but the new take on the material is said to be wholly separate and planned as a contemporary adventure.
Indian VFX Industry Needs Hollywood Supervision
(movies.ndtv.com)The $2-billion Indian movie industry is conducive to the growth of visual effects and good education and right guidance from Hollywood specialists will work wonders for it, says international VFX expert Peter Chiang, who has worked on films like John Carter and The Bourne Ultimatum.
"I believe India will grow and become a viable option for VFX work as they gain more experience and tackle more projects. You have the aid of a very creative film industry within your country," Chiang said.
VFX means creating such scenes with the help of computers that cannot be set up or shot on camera. The concept has become prominent in Indian films only in the past few years. With projects like Robot and RA.OneM, both made at a budget of Rs 100 crore, the Indian film industry has shown promising growth on the front.
But it has a long way to go, says Chiang, who visited VFX companies in India way back in 2007.
"Because your film industry is the biggest in the world, I see more directors exploring the use of visual effects. It is important for India to attract Hollywood supervisors to teach the Indian VFX industry their work methods, and for the industry to adapt the methods for their own purposes," he said.
The key to growth also lies in due education.
"This is a vital step for the industry to grow. Youth are the blood of the future and it is important to present to them the possibilities so that they can make a conscious decision to try and study VFX. Again Hollywood supervisors should be attracted to lecture in colleges so that they can pass on their experiences," added Chiang.
As opposed to Hollywood, which splurges on its visual effects, Indian filmmakers are wary of the risks involved.
The ratio is wide and visible - if the makers of Avatar spent Rs 1,100 crore ($230 million) on the sci-fi thriller, Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan's RA.One,/i>, said to be Bollywood's most expensive affair so far, had to pack everything into a budget of over Rs 100 crore.
However, filmmakers should rise above budget constraints, suggested Chiang, saying: "Budgets always limit the scope of VFX shots, but it is the inventiveness that makes a small amount of budget stretch into the right areas. The design is always key to meeting the creative, using the right technology for the right amount of money."
The situation of the VFX industry is not all that gloomy in India.
Studios like Prime Focus and Reliance Mediaworks have worked on international films like New Moon, GI Joe and Harry Potter franchise and earned good revenue.
Nevertheless, "the need for education as well as the need to attract supervisors to show them how it is done" is indispensable, according to Chiang, who believes it is getting tougher to fool the audience by the day.
"Audiences are now much more savvy to the way visual effects are created and it is becoming harder to trick them. What this means is that VFX companies need to stay one step ahead of the audience, pushing the boundaries to produce more amazing images. It also creates a very high standard for the work and more competition," explained Chiang, thereby asserting the rate at which the Indian VFX industry must grow.
Amazing Spider-Man Sequel To Reboot Green Goblin
(dnaindia.com) Actor Irrfan Khan is undoubtedly one of the few popular Bollywood faces in Hollywood. He will now be seen as the new green goblin in the latest Spider-Man series, The Amazing Spider-Man. And the actor is all praises for the new Spider-Man, actor Andrew Garfield of the The Social Network fame.
“Andrew is an amazing person. He is restless and creatively challenged, always... like any good actor should be. I was quite impressed by the way he has grown from strength to strength in art. He has done a spectacular job as Spider-Man.”
Irrfan is one of the few stars to have made it big in the West, right from his first film, Salaam Bombay, though he had a very small part to play. The film even went on to be nominated for the Oscars.
From then to now, Irrfan has come a long way. Talking about the way films are promoted in the industry today, he says, “Promotions at times help and at times they do not. I feel it is just a tool to aid films but there is no guarantee that aggressive promotions will work. Ultimately, it’s the film that works itsmagic,” adds the actor. At the end of the day, it’s the film and performances that make an impact on the audience, he says.
“Those who have money to promote their films do it in a big way. But these days you cannot fool the audience with gimmicks. If they feel that the promos are good and the film has potential, they will definitely go to watch the film irrespective of the promotional activities.”
R.I.P., Master Monster Sculptor Henry Alvarez
(monstermasks.blogspot.com)The mask, monster, and art world lost one of it's great talents late Monday evening. Henry Alvarez was often described as a "master sculptor". One look at his work and it's obvious why. Henry, you will be missed by many. Your legacy will live in your art forever. Rest in Peace.
Film credits include:
Total Recall (sculptor)
1988 Pumpkinhead (sculptor)
1987 RoboCop (construction crew: RoboCop, sculptor)
1987 Innerspace (sculptor)
1987 The Witches of Eastwick (sculptor)
1987 Predator (sculptor)
1986 Amazing Stories (TV series) (sculptor - 1 episode)
– The Greibble (1986) (sculptor)
1985 Legend (sculptor)
1985 Explorers (head sculptor: / Rob Bottin Productions)
1983 Twilight Zone: The Movie (sculptor)
1982 The Thing (sculptor - uncredited)
Visit Henry Alvarez's company website. Many galleries to view: http://www.alvarezwax.com/index.html
Paramount Dates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
(Paramount Pictures) Paramount Pictures has rearranged its upcoming schedule, setting new dates for both One Shot and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and delaying World War Z until next summer.
Based on the ninth entry in the Jack Reacher novel series by Lee Child, One Shot will now arrive in theaters on December 21st of this year (the date previously held by the studio's World War Z). It is directed by Christopher McQuarrie and stars Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, David Oyelowo, Richard Jenkins, Alexia Fast, Robert Duvall, Jai Courtney and Werner Herzog.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is still without a confirmed director, but it was recently hinted that Wrath of the Titans' Jonathan Liebesman would potentially helm the Platinum Dunes feature. It is now slated to arrive on December 25, 2013.
Marc Forster's World War Z, meanwhile, is now delayed until June 21, 2013. An adaptation of the book by Max Brooks, the film stars Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, Matthew Fox and David Morse and deals with the fallout of the zombie apocalypse.
Who Killed the Magic of Movies?
(rockeyshores.com) CGI did. At fifteen I went to Universal Studios and did the “Back Lot Tour,” a behind the scenes peak at the magic of movie making… Driving past the Bates Motel and the creepy ‘House on The Hill’; navigating through the Backdraft set as the room around us literally exploded into flames; witnessing how carefully concealed wires, rigging equipment and strategic camera angles allowed Superheroes to fly through the air and smash through “sugar glass”; and of course witnessing Jaws stalk and take out the little fishing boat right before our eyes! It all had a magician like quality to it … Behold! These artist, designers and technicians will now take completely ordinary items and make them extraordinary…. Right before our eyes!
As technology evolves what can be translated from the paper to the screen has become virtually limitless …. Largely thanks to the power of computer virtualization. This evolution has without argument allowed for many films in part and in whole to change the definition of what is possible. It empowers writers and film makers to be limited only by their imaginations; however has it gone too far? Have we lost the “magic” of movies to programing code and post production editing? There are certainly examples of really crappy CGI scenes that clearly happened only because it could (uhh A-Team’s tank flying through the air shooting) . Rather than being used as a tool to enhance the visual story, CGI seems to commonly take place of objects, buildings, set interiors, landscapes, cityscapes, animals and even the actors themselves. It kind of makes the accomplishment of the scene or the film a little less amazing and in my opinion is a bit of a cop out.
Call me a sucker for the romance of actors playing in giant Lego’s on Honey I Shrunk the Kids; Spielberg shooting Schindler’s list and Saving Private Ryan on location, James Cameron rebuilding the Titanic to scale, and the brilliant puppetry of the original Yoda (later replaced by CGI ironically enough). I understand the cost savings, the ability for lower budget movies to encompass big budget elements as well as the pure ease of using CGI in these situations. But has it become too easy? I guess at the end of the day the kid in me just doesn’t want to see the magic of movies die.
Stop Motion Alive Again in San Francisco?
(stopmotionworks.com)What is kind of unique to me about this spot, not only that it was professionally & creatively done by very talented artists, modelmakers, technicians, etc., but also, that this was Locally produced in the San Franicisco Bay Area here, which seems kind of rare these days (e.g. Stop Motion). For awhile now, I have been noticing Stop Motion artists doing an Exodus … packing up their suitcases and leaving here, either heading up north to Oregon state or down south to Los Angeles, or even overseas to England in the hopes of seeking greener Stop Motion pastures. Also, many Stop Motionists have also turned over to the ‘CGI Side’. I guess, it’s wherever the work is and you have to pay your bills & rent, and so, I understand.
Yeah … kind of a bummer, as years ago, the San Francisco Bay Area was somewhat, a hotbed of Stop Motion Animation but has sort of faded away, especially with the Lucas organization dominance here with the CGI onslaught & predominance, then you got Pixar Animation Studio (100% Cgi animation), then there is Video Gaming production, also, a bunch of small Cgi specialty houses popping up everywhere. In general, just all the High-Techy influence of Silicon Valley on the minds and culture of the people that live & work here … you know … ‘High Tech’ the supposed Nirvana solution to everything … but I digress ;) .
Hopefully, a Stop Motion Renaissance maybe happening with Henry Selick in town (producing some Stop Motion features under Pixar/Disney name) and maybe will invigorate that local creative spirit here, again. The Eminem Super Bowl last year Stop Motion spots perhaps a starter or sign in which Fonco Creative Services was a major contributor to the Brisk project. This time around, this new Artisana Stop Motion Ad was totally done in-house at Fonco. I’m very glad to see that veteran animator Justin Kohn part of the team at Fonco Creative Services. Advertisers, Ad agencies, producers, directors … on your new projects, consider Stop Motion Animation.
Fonco commerical: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p01sVSi3ESs&feature=player_ embedded
Henry Selick's New Shop: http://gordonandthewhale.com/henry-selick-to-head-new-stop- motion-studio-venture/
The Global Animation Economy
... knows no borders.
(animationguildblog.blogspot.com)
... Asim Fida Khan, a young animator and a Pakistani success story in his own right, graduated from NCA with a degree in architecture in the 90s. From his days at NCA, Khan has come a long way. His portfolio of work as an animator boasts of Hollywood flicks such as 'I Robot,' 'The Tale of Despereaux,' 'G.I Joe,' 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' (parts I and II), and more recently - 'Snow White and the Huntsmen,' as well as the re-make of 'Total Recall'. ...
Khan advises local animators to "create their own short animation, or music video, or whatever they want to do and send it to the countless film festivals taking place all over the globe."
And to break into Pixar or Disney, for example?
"What counts is your talent and experience," he says, "If you manage to get the visa, of course." ...
I had lunch last week with a veteran animator who's worked at multiple studios in far-flung geographic locations. He said to me:
"Good animators can come from anywhere. But the good ones, the ambitious ones, don't stay in the low-pay studios in third world countries that they start in. They go to Europe. They go to the United States. They start their own studios. ..."
As the vet explained it, animation wages in China and India are rising, while salaries in Southern California have been flat (or declining) for a decade. Even so, artists like Khan go where the opportunities and best money are, which remains -- despite the negative growth -- California.
This could be why Third World studios haven't yet made animated features that blow people's socks off. Their best talents leave.
Even so, nothing remains static forever. Mac Guff and Illumination Entertainment have shown that you don't have to be an animation studio in the Golden State or Connecticut to turn out a big CG hit. (And who knows? With its generous tax breaks, Canada might be a candidate in the near future.)
As the talent pool expands worldwide, an emerging nation could one day climb atop the Golden Plateau. I still don't think it will happen anytime soon, but talent finds ways to shine on all points of the compass. The U.S. of A. doesn't have a monopoly on creativity.
Digital Double Pioneering Process For 'Journey 2'
(cgw.com) Imaging Studio , Lightstage LLC and House of Moves collaboratively pioneered a new process to create digital doubles for the recently released Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, from New Line Cinema, Contrafilm Production and Warner Bros. Pictures.
The island is a place few people have ever seen. It's a place of stunning beauty, strange and threatening life forms, volcanoes, mountains of gold and more than one astonishing secret. To capture the full extent of the fantastical action, digital doubles were created for the film's main actors: Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Vanessa Hudgens and Luis Guzman.
Journey 2 visual effects supervisor Boyd Shermis put a coalition of Academy Award-winning talents on the task and they applied their respective crafts to revolutionize the way digital doubles are created. ICT's Light Stage 6 captured full body lighting scenarios simultaneous to the scanning of character topology by Icon Imaging; Lightstage LLC recorded the actors' facial shapes and appearances at the level of pore detail and fine creases; and HOM contributed character rigging and conducted mocap sessions. All facial and full body data, lighting and textures were captured in just a few hours resulting in the creation of high quality digital doubles that were VFX vendor-ready with minimal time required of the A-list talent.
"When you have many VFX studios working on a project and they are just getting raw data, you can get vast discrepancies in shots with digital doubles. This is time consuming and expensive to correct," says Shermis. "For Journey 2, we wanted to create a single data set with high-res geometry, texturing and lighting as well as a skeleton with a fundamental range of motion for all our vendors to use for their characters. Working with ICT, Icon, Lightstage LLC and HOM, we were able to fuse their individual proprietary technologies to create a new process that was convenient for the actors with amazing results."
This collaboration represents the first commercial use of ICT's Light Stage 6, a 26-foot diameter sphere outfitted with over 6000 LEDs and multiple cameras that digitize full body texture and reflectance data. By devising a way to insert Icon Imaging's 3D scanning system into the Light Stage 6 dome, lighting data and full body scanning could be derived simultaneously resulting in immediate photo-quality 3D textures and eliminating a lot of time consuming steps along the way. Taking data from two completely different systems and getting them to align posed a challenge to all teams involved, but they refined a custom process for lining up the geometric lighting information with Icon's 3D scans using reference points.
"With this process, the VFX vendors on the show were able to start at the 50-yard line so to speak instead of working from scratch and laboring through the tedious R&D process of building digital doubles," adds Paul Debevec, who heads up the Graphics Lab at ICT and developed both the Light Stage 6 and the technology behind the facial scanning Light Stage used by Lightstage LLC. "With the physical proximity of ICT, Icon and House of Moves, talent was in and out having had their body scan, texture, lighting and mocap data all captured in under three hours."
"Paul and I had designed equipment completely separately but with the same purpose in mind. We took it over to ICT's LS6 and it was kismet that it all fit perfectly - that was the easy part," says Domi Piturro, president, Icon Imaging Studio. "We had to do some technology wrangling to make our systems complement each other but conceptually they were meant to join and in the end this new digital double system saves a huge amount of time while providing the highest quality possible. Perfect models literally went straight into productions without even one call for revisions."
Once scanning was complete, the 3D model data was sent to HOM. The actors walked across the street - literally - to the HOM stages. Full body motion capture was completed on HOM stage 2, which is equipped with Vicon T160 cameras, to stress test character movement. HOM then tracked and retargeted the data to package for the VFX vendors.
"This process is going to redefine how digital doubles are made for film," says Brian Rausch, vice president of production, House of Moves. "Before this process, mocap could not be completed until the models came back from VFX studios. The pipeline deployed on this project not only expedites the process, but now production companies have complete control over all the different layers of a character, how the light reacts with the character and their range of movement - something they haven't really had before."
Many of the film's wide sweeping shots, such as travel montages, exteriors and wide angles of the beach featured digital doubles.
"With this digital double pipeline, the models are the best quality I have worked with and we were able to get them into production with the VFX studios quickly," Shermis says. "I definitely foresee using this process again on future projects."
Robert Rodriguez’ Heavy Metal To Be An Animated Film
(bleedingcool.com)Robert Rodriguez‘ Quickdraw Productions was first unveiled at Comic-Con last summer, but it’s with a certain amount predictability that he’s decided to give an update on this new filmmaking endeavor at SXSW, his “home festival.”
Indeed, he seems to have revealed an awful lot of new plans in a panel at the fest. Here are the bullet points.
* As well as live action films, Rodriguez is launching Quickdraw Animation, a separate company with its own funding and infrastructure
* One of those animated films is to be his Heavy Metal adaptation. It has already been scripted and is currently being storyboarded
* Another is a so-far secret family film, at a similar stage of its development
* Much of the actual animation on these projects is to be outsourced with just six to eight animators in house
* Rodriguez seems to think he can turn around animated projects much more quickly than is the norm. Sounds worrying
* He’s having another filmmaking competition
* Apparently several A-list latino stars, from Salma Hayek to Michelle Rodriguez are interested in working for his El Ray cable network
Rodriguez also said that Quickdraw Animation would be treated as a separate entity from his home-grown Troublemaker Productions with Heavy Metal and a family film both moving into the storyboard preproduction phases, although Rodriguez says that they've found a way to shrink the amount of time it takes to do production on CG animation which may mean we'll see one or both of these films sooner rather than later. (Normal CG animated movies take between three or four years from development and pre-production through the finalized film.) Roriguez wouldn't say the title for the family film because he says that like "Spy Kids," it would give away the entire concept.
The Hollywood Reporter have a less bullety version of that for the more, erm, prosaically minded.
No new news on Fire and Ice, it seems. That’s curious. I hope nothing’s gone wrong there. Maybe there’s just nothing juicy to report at this stage.
Wanted - CGI Dancer: All Expenses Paid - Bristol
(starnow.com) Studio in Bristol. We are looking for a female dancer 16-30 for a dramatic creative video using CGI and Projection Mapping Techniques. Looking for someone who is willing to collaborate and get involved artistically.
No Nudity - Comfortable with a bit of Self- Choreography - Make Up & Stylist Provided
Please send headshots and pics with your application and we can get back to you with the brief.
All minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Location: Bristol, United Kingdom
Payment details: expenses paid
Applications to this casting call require:
* A phone number
* A profile photo
The owner of this listing has agreed to abide by the UK National Minimum Wage Act.
Source: http://www.starnow.com/listings/ListingDetail.aspx?l_ id=322753
DreamWorks Animation Forges Alliance With Racing Groups To Support ‘Turbo’
(deadline.com)Jeffrey Katzenberg’s company struck a licensing arrangement with IndyCar — the organization that sanctions major races including the Indianapolis 500 — and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to secure their help with the 2013 release. Turbo is about a garden snail that idolizes 5-time Indy 500 champ Guy Gagne and tries to win the race after a freak accident gives it extraordinary speed. DreamWorks secured rights to use the racing group’s trademarked names and images by agreeing to buy an undisclosed amount of ad time on its broadcasts and at racing venues, IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard tells me. His group will announce later some of the specific drivers who will be depicted in the film. “The Indianapolis 500 is a one-of-a-kind live event that has fascinated people of all ages for many, many years and Turbo is a character whose biggest ambition is to add his name to its list of international champions,” says Katzenberg, Dreamworks Animation’s CEO.
The deal appealed to the racing organization, Bernard says, because “we’re trying to grow a business around the world. We look at this as an international film that will bring presence to IndyCar” especially among young audiences. The film is scheduled to be released on July 19, 2013. Actors providing voices for the film include Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Michael Pena, Luis Guzman, Bill Hader, Richard Jenkins, Ken Jeong, Michelle Rodriguez, Maya Rudolph, Ben Schwartz, Kurtwood Smith, Snoop Dogg and Samuel L. Jackson. In addition to the DreamWorks deal, IndyCar forged an alliance with Circle King Networks to develop home and retail videos, and with CineSport Video Network to produce Web content.
The Meaning Of Insanity: Far Cry 3 Motion Capture Video
(g4tv.com) Far Cry 3's Insanity E3 2011 demo stunned audiences thanks to Vaas. The character that asked audiences if they knew the definition of insanity stole the show. He's based off of actor Michael Mando. He lends his likeness, motions and voice to Far Cry 3's baddie. X-Play had the chance to stop by set to get a few words with Vaas.
VIDEO - Take a look: http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/721666/far-cry-3- motion-capture-video-vaas- tells-you-the-meaning-of- insanity/
The Real Lesson of 'John Carter'
(insidemovies.ew.com)The chattering classes of the infotainment-sphere love to kick a movie debacle in the shins. But from the moment that John Carter opened, the perceptions of how big — or maybe not quite so big — a disaster it was were a tad hazy, and they trickled in slowly. A dry dust storm of digital effects, corny fetishized machismo, and bad acting out of the loincloth-and-galactic-tiara school, John Carter, as just about everyone in the solar system had predicted, underperformed in a dramatic way. But was it merely a “disappointment,” or a major flop, or, in fact, a good old-fashioned game-changing heads-will-roll executives-will-commit-seppuku debacle? What did the $30 million opening-weekend gross stacked up against the movie’s $250 million price tag really mean?
It wasn’t until Monday, in a front page story in The New York Times Business section, that perception of catastrophe became reality. “Ishtar Lands on Mars,” read the headline, and talk about a headline that’s worth a thousand words! (And a dozen executive heart attacks.) The Times article, by Brooks Barnes, pulled no punches in adding John Carter to the mythical dishonor roll of classic movie bombs, right up there with Howard the Duck and Ishtar. Of course, the era we’re in now is very different. International grosses provide a major cushion for a movie like John Carter — not just because the global market is huge and ever-expanding, but because sizeable segments of the non-English-speaking world are even more receptive to movies that speak the international language of monosyllabic schlock spectacle than we are in the United States. Taylor Kitsch’s John Carter, a long-haired beefcake hippie Christ with a personality as thin as his backstory is garbled, is exactly the kind of blank-slate superhero that people from every culture can project themselves onto. He’s like the Harlequin version of a Joseph Campbell figure — the hero with a thousand “Blue Steel” poses. Movies like Ishtar used to crawl out of the theaters after a few weeks, curl up on the isle of roundly ridiculed trash, and die. You’d better believe, though, that John Carter is one fanboy bomb that will have an ancillary life.
The most revealing aspect of the Times story is that no one at Disney, the studio that produced the movie, would point a finger at anyone else, from the filmmaker on down. On some level, this was clearly a matter of decorum: The person who’s most obviously to blame for John Carter being such a lugubrious piece of space junk is Andrew Stanton, the brilliant director of WALL-E and Finding Nemo, who in this movie never figured out a way to animate live human beings the way he does digital characters: from within. To me, though, there’s a deep sincerity — almost a kind of Hollywood business poetry — to the fact that no one at Disney is hanging this fiasco on any obvious culprit. And that’s because no one actually did anything wrong.
Sure, John Carter is a terrible movie, but in contrast to a self-destructively expensive desert-comedy fluke like Ishtar, everything about it was made according to rules that work just fine in Hollywood about 90 percent of the time. You say that the movie lacked a major star? Tell that to the creators of last summer’s Captain America and Thor. It relied on an overabundance of digital clutter to decorate an overly busy mess of a storyline? You must mean in contrast to the marvelously uncluttered visuals and impeccable narrative coherence of every Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean, and National Treasure sequel. It was based on a stodgy old serial written by Edgar Rice Burroughs 100 years ago? Well, okay, now there’s a point — but in a movie universe where Sherlock Holmes and Indiana Jones can still be heroes, I’m not sure that attempting to update one of the original genetic strains of the sci-fi superhero genre was so very wrong. Andrew Stanton’s real mistake was in treating his source material with too much reverence, as if it were a sacred text rather than pulp Silly Putty to be stretched and fiddled with. The trouble with John Carter isn’t that it broke any of the blockbuster rules. It’s that it played by them so slavishly that the rules were all you saw.
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