Disney Seeks a Silver Lining in "The Lone Ranger" Crisis

(independent.co.uk)                      Who is that masked man? And is he worth $250m? That's the big question in Hollywood this week, as the top dogs at Disney meet to work out whether to proceed with a high-profile reboot of The Lone Ranger.

Work on the movie, which is to star Johnny Depp, was abruptly suspended last month amid growing concerns that its cost was soaring out of control. Reuters says that a decision on whether to kill it off or proceed with a dramatically reduced budget is expected in the coming days.

The verdict will have implications that will be felt across the film industry. Production on The Lone Ranger would have created several hundred jobs – 60 people were already building the set in New Mexico – and Disney's sudden effort to rein in spending reflects a broader anxiety over the ballooning costs of blockbusters.

Cinema attendance fell to near-record lows in the US this summer, continuing a long-term trend. Although box-office revenues remained flat, thanks to increased ticket-prices, several "tentpole" productions with budgets north of $200m failed to turn a profit. Studios have duly grown increasingly cost-conscious, and wary of big gambles.

Sources at Disney say it remains committed – in principle – to The Lone Ranger, a reworking of the 1950s TV series, in which Armie Hammer – last seen as the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network – was to play the title role and Depp his sidekick, Tonto. But they will give the production the green light only if overheads can be reduced to around $200m (£125m), from their current projected level of $250m.

The film's producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, and director Gore Verbinski spent the weekend in talks with the studio. The trade press reported that they had agreed to lower their salaries and eliminate several expensive computer-generated scenes.

Overshadowing the talks is Disney's wish not to tarnish its relations with Depp, one of the most sought-after men in Hollywood and a central figure in its lucrative Pirates of the Carribbean franchise. He also starred in Alice in Wonderland, one of its most successful films of 2010.

He last week offered the Los Angeles Times a somewhat cryptic comment on The Lone Ranger's prospects: "I think everything will work out as it should."



Dreamworks & Fox Team For A "Robopocalypse"

(darkhorizons.com)           

       DreamWorks and Fox have almost come to a deal to co-finance the Steven Spielberg-directed sci-fi action feature "Robopocalypse" says Deadline.

Based on Daniel H. Wilson's epic novel, the cautionary tale explores the fate of the human race after a robot uprising. Wilson, who has a Ph.D. in robotics, has grounded his tale in a heavy degree of authenticity derived from real robot technology. "Cloverfield" screenwriter Drew Goddard penned the most recent draft of the script.

Disney will release domestically and Fox will distribute the film overseas with a July 4th 2013 U.S. release being targeted. Fox and DreamWorks previously tried to team for Spielberg's proposed and now defunct "Harvey" remake back in 2009.




Post Shops Discover Vancouver

(variety.com)            Vancouver's vfx and post-production sector is booming, and while locals have recently voted to phase out one of the tax breaks offered by British Columbia, the province still sports other tax incentives, not to mention a convenient proximity to L.A. and rich talent pool of artists and software innovators.

Moving Picture Co.'s head of film, Michelle Grady, says as the outposts' reputations grow, they are being entrusted with more work. "We've developed the talent pool to where other facilities are seeing Vancouver as a viable place to be," she says.

And seeing competitors move into Vancouver is a real confirmation of MPC's strategy. "Having multiple strong studios here is essential to our ability to attract the big talent and the big movies," she says. "Artists want to know that if they're going to make the move to the city, they have options. And if we want the studios to have enough confidence in the city to park a large movie here, they need multiple trusted facilities that know how to work together to get the job done to the highest quality."

MPC sees a B.C. outpost as a way to expand its capacity while offering diversity of location. "As a result, we are growing the bottom line," says Grady. Other facilities, she notes, may be looking at it as "a way to simply adjust their international foot print, while not necessarily expanding to any great degree." This way, they are protecting their bottom line by having a presence. MPC's recent move to a larger facility underscores its long-term intent.

Since MPC's arrival over three years ago, other major players such as Digital Domain, Pixar, Method Studios and Sony have set up shop in Vancouver, with Rhythm and Hues expected to open shop and strong talk that Industrial Light & Magic/Lucasfilm will open a branch. Grady is hesitant to comment on the rumors. "Put it this way: recently a government rep told me it would be shorter to list the facilities that weren't considering opening here," she says.

"Certainly with some of the recent announcements it is clear Vancouver is going through a vfx growth spurt and I don't see it stopping," says Method Studios' senior VP/g.m., Dennis Hoffman.

The companies investing in the vfx business in Vancouver are not only major companies, but also independents like Image Engine, one of the original vfx shops in Vancouver, Grady says. "We're seeing the arrival of Scanline. I think it's making for a very attractive, healthy market."

Independent vfx shops are following suit to offer the same cost-saving opportunities to clients, says Imagine Engine's Jason Dowdeswell.

"The new reality is that (not) operating in B.C. is more of a financial risk. Hollywood studios themselves are investing into relationships by way of feeding steady work to the vfx and post businesses in Vancouver," Dowdeswell says. "This allows for manageable growth and planned infrastructure. This is different from past years where the work in Vancouver was cyclic with many start-stops and peaks and valleys in post-production work."

Most of the global vfx houses now have some form of presence in Vancouver, he says.

Method's Hoffman says while a large part of the appeal is being able to provide a tax-rebate option, a key attraction is the growth in the creative capability of resident artists.




Brevig, Fraser Team For "William Tell 3D"

(darkhorizons.com)                    They previously teamed for their solid if bastardised 3D adaptation of Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth". Now director Eric Brevig and actor Brendan Fraser are re-teaming to take on another classic tale - "William Tell" reports Deadline

Brevig ("Yogi Bear") replaces Nick Hurran on the $27 million 3D historical family action adventure, the story follows the legend of expert marksman Tell who was arrested for not bowing to the hat of Hermann Gessler, the newly appointed Austrian reeve of the Habsburg emperors.

Tell shot an apple off his son’s head to win his freedom and later assassinated Gessler. His defiance sparked a rebellion which eventually led to the formation of the Swiss Confederation.

Chad and Evan Law are presently polishing their script. Shooting kicks off mid-March at the Castel Studios in Romania and on location in Switzerland.




Entertainment Groups Call for California Film Tax Credit Extension

(espresso.backstage.com)               Television and film industry groups and entertainment unions are vehemently fighting to extend California’s film tax credit program, reported Los Angeles Times. Last week, a bill granting tax breaks to California film and TV production for another five years went to the state Senate, but an appropriations committee reduced the legislation’s existence to only one year. Hollywood wants the bill to be extended longer, arguing that it will prevent jobs from leaving California and going to any of the almost 40 other states that give tax incentives. Opposition to the extension, however, believes that the due the state’s $9 billion deficit, money diverted to maintain the program could cause huge proposed budget reductions to social services and education.

Typically producers need a 5 year commitment for TV series and the long process of putting together a film.




Sad News For Serkis Fans

(vfxsoldier.wordpress.com)                   Animator Tim Borrelli tweeted this article of an interview with Joe Letteri, Weta’s senior visual effects supervisor:

   " It’s still a work in progress because figuring out how facial muscles work is not easily understood because they don’t behave like the other muscles in the body. They are not so bound by the skeleton. But there’s enough of it working for the animators to drive the performance, whether it comes from the capture or the animation or the combination of the two.

    there’s a big interpretive effort that goes into that. But then it comes back full-circle: You go through this whole process of tracking and analyzing the data, interpreting it through these FACS poses and then putting it back on the face through all the combination muscle shapes. And then you just look at it side by side with the performance from the actor and say, ‘Does that look like the right performance or not?’ If not, why not?”

I personally feel this article settles the recent debate as to whether Andy Serkis deserves recognition over the hundreds of talented VFX artist who painstakingly made the character Caesar come to life.





General Zod and the Humiliating CGI MoCap Suit

(latinoreview.com)                   Michael Shannon Talks CGI General Zod; Henry Cavill Talks American Accent Poor Michael Shannon. Almost everyone else who has a pivotal role in 'Man of Steel' gets to walk around set in traditional, slick looking costumes. Shannon however is stuck leading the Mocap Men in his motion-capture suit. He's a trooper, though. The embarrassment of the costume hasn't gotten the better of him. He's in for the long run.

In an interview with Movie Fone, the actor told the tale of how he became a part of the Mocap Men ranks. He said:

"Yeah, it's one of the most humiliating garments that exists in the known universe, yes. It's very tight. It has a variety of different colors and shapes on it and it makes you feel like you're the court jester. And it's funny because when I met with Zack [Snyder] we were talking about it before it started and he mentioned that there was going to be a lot of CGI, or whatever. I said, 'Just don't make me wear one of those silly suits.'

He said, 'Oh, yeah, don't worry, I know exactly what you're talking about.'

I was like, 'It's going to be really hard for me to be intimidating if I have to wear one of those silly suits.' He said, 'I totally understand.'

Then I showed up and he's like, 'Dude, I swear to God, it's going to be so bad ass when we're done. Trust me, it's going to be wicked.' And, you know, people understand and you get used to it. The first day, you feel like you're getting rushed by a fraternity... and then it wears off the next day. Because I'm not the only one wearing one – there are other people wearing them, too."





UK Renews Video Games Tax Incentives

(thedrum.co.uk)                   Video game trade association TIGA has used Labour’s announcement of the creation of a Creative Industries Network to renew calls for the Government to introduce tax relief for the industry.

Yesterday, shadow culture secretary Ivan Lewis announced that Labour was to launch a creative network which would aim to link arts organisations with businesses.

Patrick McKenna, former chief executive of the Really Useful Group, will compile a report on what needs to change within the creative sector in order to grow and develop it.

Andrew McGuiness, chairman of the Advertising Association, will chair the network.

“Our challenge is to match our cutting edge creative ideas with an equally creative global business strategy which ensures we can benefit from the new jobs and growth of the future. The Conservative-led government has so far failed to provide the strategic leadership which is urgently required, and in education and the arts, they are implementing policies which are damaging the foundations of our creative success,” said Lewis.

The network will also aim to broaden access to creative opportunities for young people from low and middle income homes, with members being asked to sign a pledge to offer internships and jobs based on talent rather than social background.

Following the announcement, Dr Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA, said:

“The UK economy has experienced anaemic growth over the last year. If we are to rebalance the economy away from an over dependence upon financial services and to power economic growth then we must support the industries of the future where the UK has a competitive advantage.

“The creative industries account for more than 7 per cent of UK GDP compared to a European average of 2 per cent. The UK has advantages in creative industries including film, fashion, music and video games. The UK video games development sector is still the largest in Europe and the global market for video games is growing. However, while other governments in countries including Canada and the USA support their video games industries with sector specific tax breaks, the UK does not. As a result, employment in the UK games development sector shrunk by 9 per cent between 2008 and 2010.

“Just as the UK film industry has prospered as a result of the Film Tax Credit, so investment and employment in the UK video games industry would increase with the introduction of Games Tax Relief. The Labour Party, the SNP, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats all publicly supported Games Tax Relief before the last general election. It made economic sense then; it continues to make economic sense now," he continued.

"TIGA will continue to refine the case for Games Tax Relief and other measures to enhance access to finance for games businesses, for example, the establishment of TIGA’s Creative Content Fund.  We look forward to feeding our research into the Labour Party’s Creative Industries Policy Review,” added Wilson.





Pre-Production Begins On Sci-fi "Europa"

(Deadline)                  Pre-production has begun on a science fiction tale entitled Europa, Deadline reports. Seeking distribution this week in Toronto, the project will feature an international cast that includes Sharlto Copley, Anamaria Marinca, Michael Nyqvist and Daniel Wu.

Written by relative newcomer Philip Gelatt and to be directed by Sebastian Cordero (Cronicas), the story revolves around a team of astronauts who are assembled from various nations to embark on the first manned mission to Europa, Jupiter's fourth moon.

No stranger to science-fiction, Copley made his big screen debut in District 9 and will re-team with that film's director, Neill Blomkamp, for another sci-fi film, Elysium, currently shooting with a planned 2013 release. Nyqvist is best known for playing the lead in the Swedish film version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He can soon be seen in Brad Bird's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. Marinca played the lead in Cristian Mungiu's Palm D'or winner, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and Daniel Wu is a Chinese superstar, appearing in films like New Police Story and Protege. He'll next be featured in RZA's martial arts period epic The Man with the Iron Fists.

Europa is anticipating production beginning this fall in New York City.





M. Night Shyamalan Sci-Fi Adventure Likely A Go

(blogs.indiewire.com)                   Per BoxOfficeMojo, Sony/Columbia Pictures has set an official release date for the M. Night Shyamalan/Will and Jaden Smith sci-fi project, titled 1000 A.E. .

Mark June 7th 2013 on your calendars. Nearly 2 full years away, but time flies, and before you know it, we’re facing fall 2012, and debating the teaser trailer, stills and other media released for this thing.

Also, I suppose we could tentatively say that this could very well be Pappa Smith’s next project after Men In Black III, which will be out next summer. I don’t believe he’s scheduled to shoot anything else between now and the time 1000 A.E. would have to be shot for it to go through what may be a lengthy post-production phase (given that it’ll likely be an effects-heavy sci-fi flick) and be ready in time for a summer 2013 debut.

In fact, I read several reports last month that said Will, Shyamalan and other crew were already scouting locations all over.

1000 A.E. will star daddy Will and son Jaden, who last worked together on The Pursuit Of Happyness.

It’s described as a “futuristic science fiction adventure film,” with a story that takes place “far in the future where a young boy has to navigate an abandoned planet on a space ship that has crashed. On board the ship is his estranged father.”

Previously, it was said that Shyamalan won’t be penning the script, just directing, which fanboys were happy about; but it looks like he’ll share co-writing credit with Gary Whitta (The Book Of Eli) will.





Avatar-Quality CGI Brings the World Trade Center to Life

(observer.com)                 Silverstein Properties, along with Mayor Bloomberg, Chris Ward, Daniel Liebeskind, Michael Arad and pretty much every other person working at the World Trade Center site, held a construction update in the new 10th-floor leasing office inside 7 World Trade Center yesterday.

There wasn’t much news, but it was impressive to see the efforts being made to attract more tenants to the site (Condé’s in, but UBS is out). There are interactive touch screens with neighborhood amenities and transportation news—as though there were any question Tribeca and FiDi is a worse place to work than Midtwon—plus a 12-foot model of the finished site. It’s so big, the 1 WTC antenna is clipped to fit under the soaring ceilings. Silverstein even produced a Future World Trade Center video mixing live action and CGI that would make James Cameron proud, which has been posted by The Architect’s Newspaper. Grab some popcorn and enjoy.

VIDEO - http://www.observer.com/2011/09/silverstein-uses-avatar-quality-cgi-to-bring-the-world-trade-center-to-life-video/




Weta Workshop Building Transforming Shapeshifter For "The Hobbit"

(comicbookmovie.com)                     The website One Ring has translated an interview the actor conducted with Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

    And this is what he said about The Hobbit and New Zealand, translated to the best of my ability of course.

    ”When I, during the first day, is hoisted up to the ceiling in the west King Kong Studio in Wellington I know what to do, even if it is a bit awkward and difficult to begin with a difficult torture scene. I knew and could even suggest things.”

    I guess that this could possibly be a hint that Peter Jackson might intend to include the part, where Beorn sort of interrogate a wolf and goblin in order to verify the story told to him by Gandalf, in the film.

    “How am I as a shapeshifter, who lives with horses and animals in the forest? You have to look into yourself and try. I act in the Hobbit about the same I would in a love drama.” He says.

Mikael Persbrandt is a very popular actor in Sweden, and he landed the role of the shy, but heroic Beorn. His character is reclusive, hides in the mountains because the rest of his people were killed off by the Orcs. He is an incredibly large man with a dark thick beard, and can transform into a bear.

In the book he never transformed in front of the characters, he just appeared as either a man, or a bear. In this movie Weta Workshop is going to make Beorn's transformation quite the spectacle.




VES to Present 3rd Annual Entertainment Industry Production Summit on Oct. 1

(awn.com)                 Los Angeles, September 7, 2011 -- The Visual Effects Society (VES), the world's premiere visual effects organization, announced today that it will hold its third annual Production Summit for the greater entertainment industry on October 1st.  Production Summit 2011 – Trending the Global Marketplace: You Are Here -- will gather leading executives, creatives, technologists and visionaries to discuss and examine the impact of globalization and the opportunities and challenges it presents the entertainment industry.  The event will bring together the production community for a day of conversation, collaboration and inspiration.  Practitioners from all crafts are invited to join together to engage in discussion regarding the very active 24/7 global world in which we currently reside.  The one-day event will be held at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Eric Roth, VES Executive Director, states, “This year’s Summit will feature ongoing interaction between an international group of key industry leaders whose mandate is to adapt to the global nature of the entertainment industry by staying current with ever changing technologies, and rethinking production schedules and distribution channels.  Attendees will be encouraged to think innovatively in order to find better solutions for their businesses.”

Presentation speakers will include:
A Keynote Address by Bob Pisano, President and COO, Motion Picture Association of America and feature presentations by Autodesk Fellow, Tom Wujec, and leading entertainment industry analyst with Janey Montgomery Scott, Tony Wible.

Panelists and Roundtable Moderators confirmed as of this date include:

    * Rob Bredow - Chief Technology Officer and Visual Effects Supervisor, Sony Pictures Imageworks
    * Annie Chang - Vice President of Post-Production Technology for The Walt Disney Studios Digital Production Technology
    * Richard Chuang - CEO Cloudpic Global, Inc
    * Bob Coleman - President, Digital Artists Agency, Inc (DAA)
    * Chris deFaria - Executive Vice President, Production Digital Production for Warner Bros.
    * Warren Franklin - CEO, Rainmaker Entertainment
    * Ted Gagliano - President Feature Post Production, Twentieth Century Fox Studios
    * Dan Glass - Sr VFX Supervisor, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Method Studios
    * Uday Kumar - Vice President US Operations Reliance Media Works
    * Thilo Kuther - CEO & Managing Director, Pixomondo
    * Amy Lemisch - Executive Director, California Film Commission
    * Steve Papazian - President, Worldwide Physical Production, Warner Bros
    * Christian Roberton - Managing Director, MPC Film
    * Andy Romanoff - Industry Relations / Business Development, AbelCine
    * Carl Rosendahl - Faculty, Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center
    * Scott Squires - Visual Effects Producer
    * Randy Starr - Visual Effects Producer
    * Stephan Trojansky - VFX Supervisor / Co-Founder of Scanline VFX

The Sessions will include:

The Studios' POV: Adapting to Innovation in a 24 Hour World
What do you need to know in order to keep up with the latest technology and keep your business on track?  Innovative digital technology has radically changed the post and distribution channels of the studios which in turn affects the filmmakers and services providers within their sphere.  Meeting these new needs requires extraordinary operational coordination and responsiveness across the studios’ global digital efforts.  This reality creates a need for cooperation and conflict resolution mechanisms within and across all functions, as well as budget procedures that allow for flexibility and rapid direction changes.  The very things that push creativity and efficiency can provide new obstacles.  This panel examines how studios determine a clear approach for monitoring, sharing and adapting within this globally interconnected network and the best ways to work together and maintain reasonable margins.




LAIKA Animation to Bring Colin Meloy's Wildwood to the Screen

(comingsoon.net)                  LAIKA has optioned Wildwood, the debut HarperCollins children's novel written by Colin Meloy, lead singer and songwriter for The Decemberists, with illustrations by award-winning artist Carson Ellis. The announcement was made today by LAIKA President and CEO Travis Knight.

"'Wildwood' is a marvel, an exquisite, staggering and lyrical work of art," said Knight. "It's an uncannily perfect fit for LAIKA, commingling the time-honored qualities of classic fantasies and fairy tales with a bold, contemporary sensibility. Colin's captivating, melodic prose and Carson's gorgeous, spellbinding illustrations form a rich bounty of ideas, language and imagery. 'Wildwood' is a wonderful work of literature, and LAIKA is fully committed to honoring it with an exceptional, groundbreaking film."

"Wildwood," the first book in an epic middle-grade fantasy series full of magic, wonder and danger set in an alternate version of modern-day Portland, tells the story of Prue McKeel, whose ordinary life is changed forever when her younger brother is abducted by a murder of crows and taken to the Impassable Wilderness, an enchanted and forbidding forest on the edge of the city.

No one's ever gone in – or at least returned to tell of it. Within this secret world, Prue and her friend Curtis embark on a rescue mission and find themselves entwined in a violent struggle for freedom amidst warring creatures, peaceable mystics and powerful figures with the darkest intentions.

"Wildwood," filled with 85 intricate and beautiful illustrations by artist Carson Ellis, was published on August 30, 2011 by HarperCollins' Balzer + Bray imprint. You can view the animated trailer created by LAIKA/house for the book below.

"Hands down, there is no other movie studio in the entire world beside LAIKA that I would entrust 'Wildwood' to," said Meloy. "Carson and I were prepared to stonewall any and all suitors for the movie rights, so close was this book to our hearts. However, when LAIKA came calling, our defenses promptly came down. There is no doubt in my mind that they will come to this story with the passion, imagination and general awesomeness required to make this book into a truly beautiful animated film."

"I'm a stop-motion enthusiast," said Ellis, "and I've been a fan of LAIKA since we saw Coraline a couple of years back. When we visited the studio and saw all the brilliant creative work happening there – someone building a waist-high New England village in painstaking detail, someone else sewing pinhead-sized rivets on tiny blue jeans – we were won over completely. It's an amazing place staffed by patient, meticulous, super-talented people who wouldn't work there if they didn't love stop-motion animation. I'm so excited to see what Wildwood will look like in their hands."





Peter Jackson Talks CGI R&D For “The Adventures Of Tintin”

(nickutopia.com)                  In a recent interview with Gigwise, producer Peter Jackson (The Hobbit) discussed his upcoming project with Steven Spielberg “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.” While the trailer footage looks great, many are weary of the motion-capture technology used for the film and the effect it will have in making characters that look real, yet fake and awkward.

Peter Jackson seemed confident that the characters would not take on this awkward look (the uncanny valley), stating:

    The eyes are the most important feature of any performer. Way back, when we were doing “The Lord of the Rings” and we created Gollum in the computer at Weta, we built the eyes of our characters in a very scientific way: you study real eyes, how the light reflects on them; you study the way the irises reflect emotion. Our company has put a huge amount of research and development into the eyes and with Tintin we had to create a cast that were as expressive in the eyes as a live-action film.





BBC set to Launch CGI Game Show "Cloned"

(metro.co.uk)                   The BBC has commissioned a new game show called Cloned, which uses CGI technology commonly seen in the movie industry.

BBC, Cloned BBC1 controller Danny Cohen will decide if Cloned gets a series (Picture: BBC)

The pilot programme – which is being considered as a series for BBC1 – will challenge a team of four contestants to identify a real celebrity from an identical line-up of computer-generated clones.

Karl Warner, executive editor for entertainment commissioning at the corporation, told The Guardian newspaper: 'Cloned is an exciting new format which pushes the boundaries of production and game show mechanics.'

The contestants will be set a number of tasks to complete in order to differentiate the real star in the line-up from the clones.

Former English teacher George Hutton, 24, came up with the idea for Cloned after applying for a place on a six-month BBC trainee programme called Future Formats - and head of the initiative Kate Phillips is 'so pleased' it has resulted in a pilot show being commissioned for the channel.

She said: 'I'm so pleased that BBC Entertainment's first Future Formats has resulted in this pilot.

'Nearly all the students are now working as development researchers both in and outside the BBC.'

The programme will be evaluated by BBC1 commissioner Danny Cohen as it is not ready for broadcast at this stage.

‘'Rango' To Be Honored By Hollywood Film Festival

(criticschoice.com - blogs.indiewire.com)         

              The Hollywood Film Festival has lassoed  “Rango.”

Organizers for the 15th annual event announced Tuesday that director Gore Verbinski’s animated Western will receive this year’s Hollywood Animation Award Oct. 24 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.  The festival is deployed by many Oscar campaigners as a promotional event on the road to the Oscars.

The film stars the voice of Johnny Depp as Rango — a chameleon whose wayward path leads him to the town of Dirt, where he leads its lizards and other creature residents to believe he’s a dangerous gunslinger. But after he’s appointed sheriff of Dirt, Rango faces an identity crisis when some fearsome outlaws roll in.

“It is a great pleasure to recognize ‘Rango’ as the recipient of our animation award,” said Carlos de Abreu, founder and executive director of the festival in a statement. ”This piece of cinematic treasure borders on surrealism and ‘Rango’ will be a classic for generations to come.”

The Paramount film also features the voices of Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina and Bill Nighy. Unlike most animated films, all of the actors were present on set to record their dialogue and act out their scenes.

Four of the previous five Hollywood Animation Award recipients from Pixar took home the Best Animated Feature Oscar: Toy Story 3, Up, WALL·E, and Ratatouille. Cars, as we know, lost to Happy Feet, which makes for an interesting irony with Cars 2 now competing against Happy Feet2 (Nov. 18).

Still, it’s an extremely wide open field this year. Also contending are Blue Sky’s Rio, DreamWorks’s Kung Fu Panda 2, Disney’s Winnie the Pooh, which will be joined this holiday season by DreamWorks’s Puss in Boots (Nov. 4), Aardman/Sony’s Arthur Christmas(Nov. 23), and Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin (Dec. 23). Yes, the performance-captured adventure from Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital should qualify, since it definitely utilizes the necessary frame-by-frame animation technique now specified by the Academy.




Layoffs At Disney Interactive Studios

(gamasutra.com)                    Disney Interactive Studios laid off a number of employees last week from its Salt Lake City, Utah-based Avalanche studio, developer of Cars 2: The Video Game, Gamasutra can confirm.

Approximately 15-20 people were let go from the studio on September 1. The developer also developed the movie tie-in title Toy Story 3, according to a laid-off worker who requested anonymity.

A Disney rep confirmed the layoffs in a statement: "Avalanche Software has completed a restructuring that resulted in the reduction of a small number of positions."

The layoffs are just the latest at Disney Interactive Studios, as its parent company changes focus from console-based retail games to online and social titles. Reports earlier this year stated that a significant amount of employees within Disney Interactive were let go.

Gamasutra's source estimated the number of remaining Avalanche employees to be around 170, and stated that "budget issues" were to blame. "Disney has been on the losing end for a while, supposedly," the source said.

Disney acquired Avalanche in May 2005. The studio was founded in 1995, merging with Disney's Fall Line team in 2009. Avalanche has developed games based on Disney IP including Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons, Hannah Montana Spotlight World Tour and Bolt.





"The Hobbit" Resumes NZ Shoot - Cameron Books Tech Visit

(Stuff.co.nz)                       Sir Peter Jackson’s movie The Hobbit is set to be filmed in Nelson at the end of this year, with hundreds of crew members expected to stay in the region.

Local moteliers have been contacted by the film’s production company, 3 Foot 7, which is looking for accommodation for about 400 to 500 people in November and December.

Motel Association of New Zealand Nelson’s John Gilbertson, who owns Arrow Motels on Golf Rd, confirmed some of the association’s members were holding rooms for such a group.

Filming for the anticipated two-part movie resumed last week and will continue until December.

According to the New Zealand Herald James Cameron will be paying a visit to the set of The Hobbit this month.

Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg decided to make The Adventures of Tintin after playing around with the motion capture technology on the set of Avatar, so Cameron may be checking out some new technology in action in preparation for the shooting of Avatar 2 and 3 next year.




Beetlejuice Sequel Finally Happening

(Deadline)                  A long-awaited Beetlejuice sequel may finally be moving forward, Deadline reports. Writer/producer pair David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith have just signed a two-year first look contract with Warner Bros. and among their first projects is a follow-up to the 1988 film.

Directed by Tim Burton, the original starred Michael Keaton as the titular Beetlejuice, a "bio-exorcist" (a ghost who removes humans), who is unwittingly employed by a newly-deceased couple (played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) to frighten away the family that has just moved into their would-be home. Winona Ryder starred as the daughter of the family in her breakout role.

While the original film spawned a lesser-known animated series, a sequel was planned in the early '90s with the title Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian. Burton had planned to return as director, but the project failed to develop beyond an initial screenplay. It is currently unknown whether or not Katzenberg and Grahame-Smith's upcoming script will have any crossover with that original concept.

Grahame-Smith is one of the writers on Burton's upcoming Dark Shadows and, while there's no confirmation yet as to whether Burton (or Keaton) might be involved with the sequel, it is stated that the film is planned as a continuation of the original and not as a reboot.




'The Thing' Mixes Practical and Post VFX  For 'Terrifying And Disgusting' Moment

(mtv.com)                  It's a horror-movie question almost 30 years in the making: What the hell happened to the Norwegian researchers discovered toward the beginning of the 1982 John Carpenter cult fave "The Thing"?

Kurt Russell and his crew do end up stumbling into some terrifying answers, but Carpenter's flick concentrates on the alien horrors the Americans endure. The 2011 fall movie season, however, is set to uncover what really happened before Russell touched down in the Antarctic, as director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. delivers a prequel story, also called "The Thing," to theaters on October 14.

We sat down for a chat with star Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who plays a young researcher confronting the extraterrestrial danger.

MTV: Carpenter's movie really was horrifying and just gross. Really gross. Are you guys taking the same angle?

Winstead: The "assimilation scenes" are definitely terrifying and disgusting and just creepy as hell. There's one in particular that stands out to me that's just horrific. I can't really describe it in too much detail because I don't wanna give anything away. It just blows your mind. Just seeing it being filmed, because we have a lot of practical effects stuff there, which is great and kind of seeing the beginning of it on set was terrifying in itself and disgusting. They just took it to a whole new level, the stuff they added in postproduction.

MTV: We get a glimpse of the creature in the trailer. Because it's a prequel, do you guys have to stay very true to the first one or do you have room to play?

Winstead: I think they definitely kept the John Carpenter version in mind when it came to the creature design. Definitely it is still that same world, but there is a somewhat new look to it and somewhat different take on it. It's sort of the 2011 version, but still with that spirit of practical effects. It certainly doesn't look exactly like the John Carpenter version. As awesome as those effects are, they are out of a certain period. And when you see that, you can kind of tell like, "Oh, those are really awesome '80s effects." So you can't really go exactly for that. You have to bring a little of the modern element in to it too, but hopefully keeping that real tangible quality the '80s effects had as well.




Harry Potter and Transformers Win The Box Office

(screencrave.com)                    Summer officially ends this weekend as Labor Day signals that kids are going back to school, and that temperatures will begin dropping. This was a big summer for movies, with Harry Potter 7.2, Transformers 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean 4 making more than a billion dollars worldwide. Much of the big money titles were franchise starters or sequels, but there were a few surprises.

Check out the top ten (sorta) list…   Worldwide Totals Quoted

1     Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2    $1,295,555,000

2     Transformers: Dark of the Moon   $1,107,482,760

3     The Hangover Part II   $581,325,595

4     Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides   $1,039,041,782

5     Fast Five  $606,887,938

6     Cars 2   $522,078,906

7     Thor   $448,512,824

8     Captain America: The First Avenger    $329,153,783

9     Bridesmaids   $277,673,198

10     Kung Fu Panda 2   $642,450,741

 With the films that crossed the Billion mark, much of that came from international – at least two thirds of the gross was made outside the U.S., and with Pirates it was more than 75% of the final gross. Domestically, Pirates was a modest hit for what it was, but showed a $70 Million decline from the last film – which would suggest that audiences are either growing tired of the franchise or didn’t much care for this one, but with a Billion dollar worldwide total, Disney would be foolish not to make some more.

We’re seeing inflated budgets. Next year will bring John Carter, Battleship and Men in Black III, all of which cost way more than $200 Million.





Image Conscious: A Conversation with VFX Supe Christopher Townsend

(flickeringmyth.blogspot.com)                       “I come very much from a design background,” states Visual Effects Supervisor Christopher Townsend who studied Graphic Design at Coventry University. “I learnt a lot about composition and how to place things in relation to each other so as to make a decent looking image.” The native of Britain readily admits, “What I don’t have particularly is a highly technical scientific brain.” 11 years were spent at Industrial Light & Magic. “I was very much a generalist when I worked there,” says Townsend whose first ILM film credit was as a Computer Graphics Artist. “One of the things that Congo [1995] taught me well was the fundamentals of computer graphics.” Other projects followed such as The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). The most controversial assignment involved the altered scene in the 1997 special edition of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) where Han Solo kills a bounty hunter out of self-defense. “I was surprised that the response was so dramatically against it. It was George’s [Lucas] idea of making the movie a little more p.c. [politically correct], which has offended people. To be honest, there were times I have wished that once the movie is made you leave it as is.”

“Something that was unique was Davey Jones from Pirates 2,” remarks Christopher Townsend who worked on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) for Industrial Light & Magic. “I remember sitting in the theatre and thinking, ‘I know that’s a visual effect but I cannot tell.’” The biggest challenge at ILM was the Star Wars prequel trilogy. “I was the Sequence Supervisor on the first one. I was between gigs as a Digital Production Supervisor so I worked on Episodes II & III briefly as an artist.” Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) consisted of 1900 visual effects shots spread over three units, with a year and a half spent in post-production. “We were breaking new ground and setting a new bar for the amount and quality of the work.” Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008) caused Townsend to leave the landmark visual effects company. “Eric Brevig [Yogi Bear] was the visual effects supervisor at ILM for a long time; worked on a few shows with him. He got the opportunity to direct it and asked me to leave ILM at that point to go to be his visual effects supervisor.” The project was the first feature length stereoscopic movie created for the modern era of high definition and digital projection. “We were breaking new ground not even realizing it because we were running so fast trying to solve problems. It was a great training ground which has helped me immeasurably over the last few years.”

“Having a good eye and being able to know when to step in and offer a solution,” believes Christopher Townsend is the key to being a successful visual effects supervisor. “It’s a lot of p.r. work in some ways, trying to make sure that you’re getting the very best out of the entire team.” The visual effects industry is experiencing a remarkable period of growth. “The studios are using visual effects more and more. Visual effects compositing is becoming in many ways the reason why a lot of people go to see a movie.” The success has brought about a call for unionization to ensure that VFX facilities offer fair wages and benefits. Another significant issue is the use of international vendors which has had a great impact on the industry in America. “You might be able to get the work done cheaper somewhere else but ultimately it’s the matter of getting the best quality on the screen.” As for his attitude towards 3D, Townsend remarks, “3D is incredibly difficult and challenging because you have to make sure that the left and right eye work harmoniously as a unit.” There is also the contentious issue of converting a 2D film into 3D during post-production. “People are getting more educated from an artistic point of view of what makes for a most successful conversion.” The notoriously poor job associated with Clash of the Titans (2010) was no fault of the company responsible for the assignment. “They weren’t given enough time or resources to do a top quality product as far as I’m concerned.”

After serving as the Visual Effects Supervisor for X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), Ninja Assassin (2009), and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), Christopher Townsend was recruited to assist with bringing Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) to the big screen. “I didn’t grow up reading American comics because I’m from England,” he confesses. “I found myself being attracted to the process; it was very clear that Joe [Johnston] wanted to make the best movie rather than the best superhero movie.” The director was easy to communicate with as he also comes from a visual effects background. “Joe certainly knows what he wants and he’s incredibly instrumental in the final image and how we get there. Throughout the process he would be storyboarding things for us.” Johnston [October Sky] made a decision which made things more difficult for Townsend. “He made a statement in the trades early on that he didn’t want to work with pre-viz.” So there was no opportunity to map out shots before hand. “It was challenging because you had to react to everything.”

“What we were trying to do was make a film which would appease the fans and those who weren’t big fans could watch,” reveals Christopher Townsend; he welcomed the creative task of making an origin story about a scrawny U.S. Army recruit who is transformed into a hulking World War II super soldier. “From my point of view it was the most interesting aspect of doing this kind of work because you get to set the tone of who the character is.” The over 1600 visual effects shots featured in the comic book picture were divided between 13 VFX facilities located in California, Australia, Germany, and Britain. To create Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) as a 98-pound weakling, a combination of practical and computer generated effects were utilized. Actors were placed on boxes to change eye lines between them and Evans; a body double was deployed, and a process known as Digital Plastic Surgery, developed by Californian company Lola VFX, was used to make “Skinny Steve” a reality. “The thing I misjudged was how much higher a quality we needed for the final take,” admits Christopher Townsend. “We weren’t just doing a five second piece with a guy skinning down and, ‘Wow! That’s really cool!’ That wasn’t the point of the film. The point was to get the audience not to even question and think about it as an effect.” Townsend observes, “The tools have become easier, faster and far more sophisticated but ultimately I don’t think the industry has changed that much; it’s still about creating a good-looking image.”





The TRON Legacy: Developing Technology in Film

(huffingtonpost.co.uk)                  My friend, Ann, has three teenage kids between the ages of fifteen and nineteen, and we're all into movies in a big way. The other day, after watching TRON:Legacy on Sky, we started to talk about it. The consensus was that it was a pretty awesome film, with a funky soundtrack and great special effects. We were all very much in agreement. Until I mentioned the original.

I didn't get to go to the pictures too much as a kid - something I made up for by going twice a week when I was in college - but I remember the original TRON very fondly. I was only about four years old when it was released but the light cycles and the glowing neon world in which they existed were eye-popping. Even then, computers were familiar to me; my Dad was a programmer before it was a cool job and as a result we had a BBC-B in the house from before I can remember. For young me, TRON was a magical journey behind the black velvet curtain with its blinking green or white cursor; it literally brought the computer to life. But no matter how affectionately I remember these first tentative steps into a digital world, I have to also remember that in 2011, the original TRON is, as Ann's nineteen year old daughter (born a full decade after the original release) puts it, "a bit naff".

Like so many productions and techniques that were ahead of their time, TRON is now showing its age. The visual effects, nominated for a BAFTA in 1983, were cutting edge; combining live action sequences with extensive digital animation sequence had never before been attempted. Unlike today, where the computer does the lion's share of the work, back when TRON was in production, computers only generated static images. This meant that the animation still had to be constructed in frames, with coordinates for each frame input into the computer by hand. Just 4 seconds of film required around 600 coordinates. In fact, the effects were so cutting edge that TRON was disqualified from consideration in the visual effects category at the 1983 Oscars because using a computer was considered a cheat. Tell that to the animators that programmed the thousands of coordinates by hand!

The late seventies and early eighties witnessed the birth of CGI. Before TRON films had only used computers to generate short sequences that were not integral. Without TRON, we might not have seen the impressive morphing spaceship in the 1986 movie, Flight of the Navigator, the 3D water effects of The Abyss or the photorealistic effects in hundreds of films, from Backdraft to Terminator 2. TRON inspired John Lasseter, the Chief Creative Officer and the brains behind Pixar, to make Toy Story, the first full length feature film made and rendered entirely on a computer; an achievement that took thirteen years.

Every film inspires someone else and no matter how dated a digital masterpiece like TRON might be, it has a legacy. And I'm not just talking about a sequel, reboot or remake. Sometimes it seems like Hollywood has stopped taking forward steps. As technology improves the visual difference on the screen tends to become less impressive while small technological steps facilitate the giant forward leaps that audiences find more noticeable. Over the last decade it hardly seems like CGI has moved on, but you only need to compare Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and Avatar to see just how far we've come. The future, it seems, will be to develop better 3D technology, but who knows what movie makers will think of next.

So, regardless of what today's teenage audiences make of TRON, I appreciate its contribution to computer generated imagery, which has made and will continue to make many other brilliant movies possible. I forgive it for Jar Jar Binks. But only just.





Is Performance Capture in the Same League as ‘Real’ Acting?

(bestforfilm.com)                   The ever-increasing presence of performance capture techniques has led to a bit of a division in the film industry: is it to be admired or discouraged? Film purists say nay. Andy Serkis fans say yay. But what do you say?

Performance capture veteran Andy Serkis has awed us again. His stunningly realistic performance as wronged chimpanzee Caesar in the Rise of the Planet of the Apes stole the spotlight from the star-filled live-action cast. Not for the first time either. With stellar performances depicting Gollum and King Kong in the not so distant past and the role of Captain Haddock in The Adventures of Tintin in the not so distant future, isn’t it about time the film industry acknowledged that performance capture roles are worthy of awards?

But firstly, what exactly is performance capture? Put simply, it is a type of software that sensitively translates an individual’s actions, down to the minutest movements and the subtlest expressions, into computer generated imagery (CGI) to add realism and personality to an animated character. The depth of detail available is truly astounding; Giant Studios (the technology providers for LOTR and Avatar) go so far as to map out the skeletal figure, transmitting bone length and density measurements for accurate depictions.

Academy awards exist in the category of Visual Effects, but this only applies to the film in its entirety rather than a specific character. This raises the point of whether it is the actor behind the CGI or the team behind the creation of the CGI who should be credited for the performance. Serkis seems to argue for both, “The first part is capturing the performance. Only later down the line do you start seeing the characters being painted over frame by frame using pixels.” With performance capturing becoming an increasingly common technique used by filmmakers, it seems appropriate that awards should be given to the actors who play these digital parts.

However Serkis doesn’t believe these roles should be given any special treatment, “Personally I’ve never believed there should be a separate category because the essence of the performance is pure acting.” Yet there are film traditionalists who argue that CGI and performance capture should be avoided completely. They believe that using CGI filters out the raw nature of the film; how can you accurately judge the components of a film if they are not real? Take the rumours surrounding Zoe Saldana’s role as Neytiri in Avatar for instance; whilst some claimed she deserved a Best Actress Award, others murmured about the fairness of such a claim, considering her whole performance was altered in post-production.

Yet surely these alterations still require a stupendous amount of hard work? James Cameron, director of Avatar, knows better than anyone how much time, effort and money needs to be invested into performance capture. Cameron desired to create such a perfect world that he actually co-developed a new generation of stereoscopic cameras which mimic the way human eyes view the world in three dimensions. This not only meant that the Avatar world was more realistic, but also gave performance actors one more thing to concentrate on.

So whilst some argue that performance actors have an easy day at work, other evidence suggests that this style of acting requires greater responsibilities than ‘raw’ acting. For example, it requires a substantial leap of the imagination to envisage oneself as someone else, let alone as something entirely inhuman, engaging with an alien world. An actor must believe this before an audience is able to. The actual process involves wearing a ‘mocap’ suit, complete with reflective reference markers to map their exact movements as well as headgear embedded with cameras to map their facial expressions. Easy, huh?

The pressure upon these actors is incredible; whereas in live action films there is usually a wide margin of error with which actors are allowed to play around with almost every aspect of their performance, performance capture characters tend to move in a specific way, with technology occasionally limiting the range of moves available. And of course, time is money in the film industry, but for performance capture films this rule is tantamount. Due to the sheer amount of technology involved, prices tend to spiral out of control, meaning actors have to work to tight timelines. Avatar, for instance, was given a meagre budget of $200 million which ended up snowballing into a whopping $300 million.

Robert Zemeckis, director of performance capture films Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol, argues that the Academy should create a new category of award to acknowledge these achievements. Just “like when Walt Disney made the first animated movie” which was acknowledged by an appropriate new category…62 years later.

However, there is no guarantee that performance capture films will be a success. The most recent total-performance capture title, Mars Needs Moms, (directed by Simon Wells and produced by Zemeckis), reportedly cost $150 million to produce, yet plummeted at the box office, taking only $21 million. One of the rumoured reasons for its failure is the somewhat unsettling way humans are portrayed. Indeed, this seems to be a popular critique of performance capture films in general. Sometimes an actor’s facial expression isn’t translated very realistically, resulting in a strange image of something inhuman trying to be human. This result is familiar to animators; they know how hard it is to recreate human expression in CGI. This is because humans are very sensitive to human expression; the closer an animation comes to imitating human likeness, the higher our expectations are raised. Sometimes, animators accidentally breach the unsettling zone of ‘the uncanny valley’, in which a character possesses so much human likeness, yet the audience knows that they are not human, causing feelings of an uncanny nature to settle.

This may explain why Andy Serkis has been so successful; all of his performance capture roles have featured inhuman characters in an otherwise live-action motion picture. However his next film, The Adventures of Tintin involves playing a human character, so it will be interesting to see if the magic he brings to the audience will remain.

Poor performance capture movies don’t seem to belong anywhere. They are obviously separate from the live-action films, as well as being shunned by the animated films too. The makers of Ratatouille even added “Our Quality Assurance Guarantee: 100% Genuine Animation! No motion capture or any other performance shortcuts were used in the production of this film” to their credit reel. So not only do they fear inclusion into this loner genre, but they also insinuate that performance capturing is a comparatively easier filming technique.

So whilst some argue that performance capture is downright weird, and others insist the unique style is the future of film-making, it appears that performance capturing has an unclear future. What with Disney pulling out of Yellow Submarine due to the colossal amount of money being spent, and Steven Spielberg/Peter Jackson’s 3D creation The Adventures of Tintin out this year, the public are being sent mixed messages on the potential success of these films.

Do you think performance capture has a glowing future? And do you think that performance actors should be awarded for their hidden performances behind this new technology? Let us know by attacking the comments section.




The 10 Worst CGI Moments Ever

(bestforfilm.com)                CGI can be great, right? All you have to do is stick on Jurassic Park or The Lord Of The Rings to see it at its finest; transporting us to another world, these effects can make a film look and feel utterly tangible. But, on the other hand, CGI can also be a tool employed by the Devil to steal the souls of weak-minded movie makers. George Lucas, for example, but he has enough bad press at the moment; I’m not known for kicking a man while he’s down, after all. Instead, I’ve taken the time to look deep into our cinema archives and pull out the 10 worst CGI moments that actually made us doubt our own sanity. The ones that made us laugh when we were supposed to gasp. The ones that made us want to grab the nearest fork and plunge it straight into our welcoming eyes…

Take a look:   http://bestforfilm.com/film-blog/the-10-worst-cgi-moments-ever/




Disney Imagineers Further Audio-Animatronics Research

Audio-Animatronics technology has come a long way from its early days in The Enchanted Tiki Room. While that attraction is still enjoyed daily in Disney’s theme parks, newer advancements not only offer more lifelike “robotic” figures performing preprogrammed shows, but the promise of fully automated and interactive characters in the years to come.

And it’s just that interactivity that the creative engineers at Walt Disney Imagineering were “play testing” on an audience of fans at the recent 2011 D23 Expo in Anaheim, Calif. Within the convention’s Walt Disney Parks and Resorts pavilion, “The Amazing Destini” not only offered attendees a chance to have their fortunes told by an Audio-Animatronics figure, but they also took part in ongoing research, helping Imagineers improve Destini’s ability to naturally and autonomously converse, without the aid of humans behind the scenes.

The Amazing Destini is part of Imagineering’s Living Character Initiative, which has in the past few years included Lucky the Dinosaur (a free-roaming, interactive, life-sized Audio-Animatronics dinosaur) and the Muppet Mobile Lab, which featured Muppets characters Beaker and Bunsen Honeydew in an interactive street show. But these characters required someone from Disney present at all times to control their movements as well as what they said. The knowledge gained from Destini is paving the way for future characters to be placed within Disney’s theme parks that can interact with guests in a meaningful, in-depth way, without requiring anyone to be digitally puppeteering or voicing them. Gorin describes the system behind Destini as a combination of “computers, sensors, and artificial intelligence,” but ultimately the goal is to have all that technology disappear into the background as guests feel like they are simply chatting with a real character.

VIDEO - http://www.insidethemagic.net/2011/09/disney-imagineers-use-amazing-destini-to-further-audio-animatronics-research-at-2011-d23-expo/

New Riddick Shoot Expected To Start Soon

(comingsoon.net)              Vin Diesel has updated his Facebook with word that Universal is going with an R rating for Riddick and the actor revealed new artwork as well. He wrote:

I hear you...

While I was working on character, the Director and his team of artists have been creating the world and style of this picture. We all know how much I enjoy concept art and storyboards, haha, I am like a kid in a candy shop.

Seeing the early stage of CGI is always fascinating to me, it is a element that usually comes together long after the filming process, so you look forward to seeing it fully realized.

First stop for the Riddick production is Canada, which is where we shot a large part of Chronicles...

P.s. I am grateful to have Universal in such support of this complex character's journey... not many studios would back an "R" rating. Very cool.

Back in May, Diesel had said that he would have to work for scale upfront if the film was to carry an R rating:

However, there is a catch...in order for us to make a true R-rated film, I must work for scale upfront. Not unlike the Find me Guilty experience (which I wouldn't have changed for the world). Money is always second to art, integrity and spirit...but the real issue is deeper. Can I suspend my life, to momentarily venture to that dark place...called Riddick. Now, I need to hear from Our collective...you.

Filming is expected to start soon.





United States Loses Video Game Jobs to Quebec

MONTREAL (Reuters) - Outside, the sun is shining, but it is dark in the production room where more than 150 Ubisoft artists, animators and engineers are racing to finish the latest edition of "Assassin's Creed," one of this holiday's hotly anticipated games.

They are working not from Ubisoft's headquarters in Paris or California, but in Montreal, Quebec. And they aren't alone. Quebec has become the preferred place for some of the biggest names in video games to set up shop.

According to the economic development agency Invest Quebec, 86 companies and 8,236 jobs have migrated to Quebec as a result of a government program under which 37.5 percent of a video game company's payroll is subsidized by the majority French-speaking province in the form of a refundable tax credit.

Put another way, for every dollar a video game company spends on paying its development staff, it receives 37.5 cents from the Quebec government.

The incentives, which include extra credits for companies that make French versions of their games, have enticed heavyweights such as Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard to open major operations in Quebec.

"There's a buzz right now, just like how Hollywood was the place to make movies in the 1920s," said Charles Jolicoeur, a coordinator at Invest Quebec.

Last year, Quebec spent $100 million on the program, up from $83 million in 2009 and significantly more than some U.S. states with similar programs such as Texas and Louisiana.

The province first set aside money for video games in 1996 after starting a program to jumpstart the film industry a year earlier. According to Jolicoeur, the aim was to move Quebec from a manufacturing economy to a "new economy" by creating artistic jobs for young people.





Animators Versus Special Effects Artists

(academy-filmschools.com)    

           There is nothing worse than boring film. As my favorite animation instructor (who was a creative director in the Disney Studio) had said, “You can’t save a film with special effects!” He and I had many discussions around the subject of the use of special effects within a film and the circumstances in which a special effect furthered or dragged the advancement of a storyline within a film.

The Role of an Animator: An animator can be many things as well as the writer, producer and director of a film. If an animator is working for a studio, the role can become more defined and limited. There are character animators, where the task is to design and animate one or more characters on a project. This also means that the look, the walk and the mannerisms of the character are in the hands of the animator. A key animator takes the character and basically defines the poses for the action of the character. The in-between artist or animator takes those poses and literally does the in-between drawings of the motion. If the production is CG based, then this is achieved using animation software.

Let us go on with this post. The Role of a Special Effects Artist: A special effect artist creates the look or what I call the universe of the film. This includes things like lighting effects, water effects, reflections, flames, lightning, as well as the motion of smoke, clouds, grass, hair, fabric and clothing. It’s very detailed and patience challenging work. You really have to understand photography and the behavior of light and materials. In the old days, special effects involved a lot of miniatures, fireworks and wires. With the advancement of CG and the extra special effect programming a lot of that wonderful art went away except in the tradition of films like “Caroline” and “Nightmare Before Christmas”.

It has to be a Blend: One of the biggest obstacles an animated film faces (as do fantasy, horror and sci-fi films) is the temptation to overuse special effects. Since a feature film usually is ninety to 120 minutes in length, for fun just sit with a stop watch and time the length of each special effect in the film as opposed to actual character interaction or dialogue. If you have a film sparse in script you’ll find extended chase scenes, multiple repeated views of explosions, extended panoramic views and so on. In my discussions with my mentor, who was very old school, the script was the foundation of the film. In this I agree that if you do not have a script that has all the key elements of storytelling, you might as well wrap the whole thing in toilet paper and call it “art”. However that said, there are times where you have to show or dress your character in some special effects to communicate the abilities of that character and do advance the story. One of my favorite examples of animators and special effects artists working together well is “Spider Man“. After all what would “Spider Man” be without the web slinging and the gymnastics through the downtown skyline?

Using the Best of Both Worlds – Creative Decisions: Whenever you create an animated film or one heavily loaded with animated special effects, you should always ask yourself as to why you’re using one technique as opposed to the other. It is not just a question of budget. It is not about eye popping experiences. It’s the way you tell the story and how you get into the heads of your audience that makes it really great stuff. Make every frame count because every frame does count.

Vera Saar is a designer, project manager, engineer, visual artist, animator and education facilitator. Her interests extend to gardening, water ponds, martial arts and ways to make our personal environment better.




Digital Domain to Begin Australian Recruitment Drive for "Paradise Lost"

(if.com.au)              LA-based effects company Digital Domain will begin recruiting local VFX artists next week to work on Alex Proyas’ Paradise Lost.

The company is in the throes of setting up a local office to support the film, which will spend eight weeks shooting (including motion capture) at Fox Studios Australia before a lengthy 72 weeks for post-production and visual effects work. The film stars Bradley Cooper and is based on John Milton’s poem about heaven and hell.

Digital Domain public relations project manager Tim Enstice did not respond to queries about the planned Australian operations. However, it is understood that a Digital Domain team, including head of production Jody Madden, is expected to arrive in Sydney later this week as part of the recruitment drive.

The company, which has worked on films such as TRON: Legacy and X-Men: First Class, is searching for local candidates with skills in the areas of: animation, creatures, lighting, modelling, pipeline, rigging, texturing, compositing, FX, look development/shading, matte painting, production, and technical direction.

The NSW government first revealed in July that Digital Domain would set up a permanent Australian office to support Paradise Lost. The government expects the production to spend $20 million on visual effects, creating over 200 jobs specifically in the area.

Digital Domain is likely to receive the recently-doubled 30 per cent federal government subsidy for effects and post work conducted in Australia (although Paradise Lost, as an Australian film, would be eligible for the 40 per cent Producer Offset).

Digital Domain will be in direct competition with several local companies which also count the Hollywood studios among their clients such as Rising Sun Pictures, Fuel VFX, and Animal Logic.

Further information about Digital Domain’s Sydney recruitment drive can be found at digitaldomain.com/careers/. 




Congratulations Weta Digital – Winner of 2011 AEAF Feature Films-Visual Effects

(intraware.com.au)                      The team at Intraware Australia would like to congratulate WETA DIGITAL as the 2011 AEAF Winner for Feature Films – VFX for

The Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Pic of award:   http://www.intraware.com.au/congratulations-weta-digital-winner-of-2011-aeaf-feature-films-visual-effects/




How is the Current Talent Pool in Scotland's Creative Sector?

(thedrum.co.uk)               Scotland has enjoyed a proud creative heritage. From ground-breaking animation and forward-thinking PR strategies to a hard-working creative solutions and cutting-edge digital innovation, the Scottish industry has often punched above its weight. In a series of questions, The Drum spoke to a cross-section of agencies north of the border, to find out their views on Scotland, its potential, and how the country’s creative landscape might just continue to change and flourish.

Today's first question is:
How is the talent pool in Scotland?
Steve Mills, managing director, Redhouse Lane Communications
Mixed, and dependent on what skills and experience one is looking for. In some areas we've struggled to find good candidates and there is not always the depth and breadth of experience we'd want.

Ian Ord, business development director, Fifth Ring
It is our policy to recruit and train the very best graduates we can find with the view of progressing them through the company.

Due to the economic climate and resultant reduction in the number of agencies there is a reasonable amount of talent available, and the fact that we are growing puts us in a good position to attract fresh talent.

Richard Scott, managing director, Axis Animation
The current talent pool in our specialist area of animation just isn’t big enough to feed our requirements. We recruit people from all over the world looking to attract the best talent possible. Axis has had up to 13 different nationalities working for us at any one time. We also support local art schools and are offering internships to the best graduates; we’ve already moved one of those interns into a freelance role on a high profile international project.





How Pixar Founders Made the World's First 3D Computer Special Effects in 1972

(dailymail.co.uk)                   These days we take CGI for granted, with almost every modern movie and video game full of spectacular effects and animation. Now footage has been discovered that shows where it all began.

Archive film showing possibly the first example of digital rendering, made by Pixar co-founders Ed Catmull and Fred Parke in 1972, was stumbled upon by the son of Robert B Ingebretsen, who also set up the world-famous U.S. studio.

It has been at the very forefront of 3D animation technology, having produced spectacular films such as Toy Story, The Incredibles and Up, which portray animals and humans in amazing detail.

VIDEO - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2034003/How-Pixar-founders-worlds-3D-graphics.html



Kerner Optical Closes: The End of an Era in SFX

(cgchannel.com)                   Kerner Optical has closed its doors, putting a full stop to Hollywood’s golden age of practical effects.

The studio, originally a division of Industrial Light & Magic, worked on over 250 movies over its 30-plus-year career, including the original Star Trek and Indiana Jones trilogies.

With the 2000s seeing more and more productions move from miniatures to CG, the physical effects market began to shrink. Although Kerner Optical continued to contribute sequences to movies including Star Trek and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, work began to dry up.

The company, loss-making since 2006, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this year.

In an official letter posted on the company’s home page, managing partner Ed Edmeades pays tribute to the staff, laying the blame for Kerner Optical’s closure on its burden of debt and the behaviour of a key creditor – a sad ending to the story of one of Hollywood’s truly iconic companies.

Kerner Optical’s sister companies, including camera manufacturer Kerner 3D Technologies remain extant.





Another Trip to the Moon with Méliès: Behind the Digital Restoration of VFX Landmark

(blogs.indiewire.com)                  While waiting for Hugo (Nov. 23), Martin Scorsese’s 3-D valentine to Georges Méliès, TOH columnist Bill Desowitz writes a fascinating account of how digital advances made possible the painstaking restoration of the first movie blockbuster from the father of special effects, A Trip to the Moon (1902).

    The new version of the landmark 14-minute short, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, will screen at Telluride this weekend and at the Academy’s Goldwyn Theater on Tuesday. What a way to mark the 150th anniversary of Méliès’s birth.

Thompson on Hollywood

    In fact, thanks to Lobster Films, the Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema, and the Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage, we can now glimpse A Trip to the Moon in all its hand-tinted glory. Because prior to 1993, all color versions were presumed lost. That is, until Lobster’s Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange discovered a severely damaged color print during an element exchange with the Filmoteca de Catalunya.

    Then the duo tediously peeled off and unrolled the nitrate elements with their own secret sauce in order to digitize them. It took two years to extract the image fragments. The data obtained was stored on a hard drive for eight years until technology caught up with need.

    Cut to 2010, when Groupama and Technicolor came to the rescue with more than 400,000 euros to save A Trip to the Moon, adapted from Jules Verne, whose French title is Le Voyage dans la lune. The digital restoration was performed at Technicolor in L.A. under the supervision of Tom Burton. A black-and-white original nitrate print belonging to the Méliès family and a positive print from the Centre National du Cinéma (CNC) were used during the restoration. The digitization of these elements was done by the Archives françaises du film (CNC-AFF) near Paris.

    The result is a revelation—a bridge between the past and present—that helps us understand and appreciate just how far the movies have come in nearly 110 years. Méliès was inventing forced perspective with background paintings and using models and miniatures and puppetry and physical effects with water and smoke in combination with stop-motion and running film backwards.

    “Because of his background as a magician, Méliès got it instantly,” Burton suggests. “‘If I cover the lens and backline the film, and expose it again with this little section, I could double-expose it. Wait! If I do it again, I could triple expose it.’” He’d get this [intuitively] while everyone else was just trying to figure out how to thread the film through the camera. And he figured out how to do dissolves, and trick editing where things pop in and out of the frame. Nobody else was doing that.”

    But it took a bit of digital magic to bring A Trip to the Moon back to life. Burton contends that they rebuilt the film “out of the bucket of digital shards.” That’s because they worked from different resolutions and file formats. Indeed, when Technicolor got a hold of the materials, they had no idea what they were. So they painstakingly pieced it together like a jigsaw puzzle, only with missing pieces, using the black-and-white original nitrate print as a timeline reference.

    So they slowly and painstakingly cobbled the pieces back together by matching, sizing, and rotating them. Then the real work began: They had huge gaps to fill, so they took the black-and-white image and digitally hand-tinted to match the look and technique of original.

    One of the great discoveries, though, was that the French flag was painted with Spanish colors. No wonder it was found in Barcelona. But the hand-tinting stayed true to the original find at the Filmoteca de Catalunya.

    Another revelation about Méliès, thanks to recent 3-D experiments on some of his other films by Lobster, is that he shot separate negatives to combat piracy by placing cameras side by side. Since they match the interocular offset of our vision, Lobster has therefore managed to simulate a 3-D effect.

    Which brings us full-circle to Scorsese and Hugo, in which Ben Kingsley portrays a long forgotten Méliès living in seclusion in a Paris train station in 1931. Between “the machines of the trains, the mechanisms of the clocks, and the projectors of the cinema,” the film seemed to “cry out for the extra element of space and depth,” Scorsese recently told The Wall Street Journal.

    Burton says his jaded restoration team at Technicolor was in awe of Méliès: “They were amazed at what he was able to accomplish in a very small area. A lot of these sets were nothing more than painted canvas panels strung between a couple posts. If he were alive today, he’d be pushing the boundaries—and I don’t mean to give Cameron the same credit as Méliès—but he’d be inventing camera gear to make 3-D movies like Avatar that had never been done before. He’d be pushing the envelope.”

Source with pics:    http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2011/09/02/another_trip_to_the_moon_with_melies/#






More Photos Of LucasFilm’s Sandcrawler-Like Singapore Office Design [Gallery]

(slashfilm.com)         Back in an April edition of Page 2, Pete posted an image of the proposed design for LucasFilm’s new Singapore office. The concept drawing was notable for the very distinct resemblance the building would bear to the design of the Sandcrawler seen in Star Wars. From the angle shown in the image, the LucasFilm office looks just like a giant Jawa transport sculpted from glass and steel.

A few more images have surfaced, and you’ll see that the resemblance to the transport diminishes somewhat when approaching the building from different angles. But if the project turns out to be quite as smooth and gleaming as seen in these renders, it may be an impressive sight regardless.

While the ‘sandcrawler angle’ is a neat image, it’s the rear of the building, as designed by architectural firm Aedas to feature cascading greenery, that looks quite beautiful.

Announced in October 2010, “the new facility will have eight floors of office space, retail shopping space on the first floor, a public park area, elevated public gardens, a state-of-the-art data center and production capabilities as well as a 100 seat theatre.”

Construction is under way now with completion planned for mid to late 2012. When finished, the office will house extensions of several major LucasFilm divisions, primarily including gaming development, visual effects and TV and feature animation. Production of an as-yet secret animation feature will be centered in this office. In April of this year Micheline Chau, President & COO of Lucasfilm, said,

    We are really working out some very, very innovative gaming ideas. We also have a feature animation project that is here, that we’ve talked about, and that project of course is again top secret, but it will be produced in Singapore. So I think that will be a real milestone for the studio.


Take a look:   http://www.slashfilm.com/photos-lucasfilms-sandcrawler-building-gallery/




Who Owns The Pixel? Digital Rights And Performance

(gamasutra.com)                   Will actors and animators share credits according to the balance between free animation and capture-faithful performance animation? What is the performance and final animation can be considered identical? Pascal Langdale, who played Ethan Mars in Heavy Rain, investigates:

I’ve been following the news from GDC, and of course Tameem Antoniades (Ninja Theory) and David Cage (Quantic Dream) are bound to attract my attention.  I’m not surprised by what they are saying. The general drift is, that narrative and game can work together either to deliver an immersive emotional experience that adds to the game experience and informs it, or to deliver entirely new experiences.  Their talks speak of the convergence of talents and skills that I admire, in an environment that is often hostile to new and convergent approaches.

These are two great developers, who, in their position, are similar to powerful film directors - head of all departments with the right to the final cut.  Something that is less common than you would expect in the film industry.  However, their power over what an audience perceives as the actor’s performance will only increase.  Capture is approaching film in its ability to capture a performance, and cutting edge animation tools can now work with this material to invisibly alter every moment.

Tameem once said at a conference (Develop 2010) that Andy Serkis (playing Monkey in “Enslaved”) delivered a performance in one scene that Tameem thought wasn’t right.  Serkis was his own director in the capture studio, but when the data came through the pipeline, Tameem decided he wanted to change the tone of Monkey’s/Serkis’ reactions and therefore the scene.  There was no budget, or perhaps time, to re-capture the scene.  So Tameem pulled an old editor’s trick (rarely possible in 2d)  by using the contextual freedom available in animation.  He pulled expressions from other scenes, or "off-cuts", and edited them into the scene.

In the movie, “Paul”, Arne Kaupang and his team at Double Negative often performed their own versions of the body behaviours of Paul, whilst Seth Rogan’s facial and vocal performance was kept  (From Arne's Oslo -  "Digital Story telling" presentation).  I’ve seen footage of animators, acting to video, for reference to animate those movements, and join them to an Actor’s head and facial behaviour.  Pushing this further,  Actor's facial performances are sometimes blended with the animator's "reference" performance.  This is not all that rare.

In Heavy Rain, I’ve seen moments where I remember a performing a sequence of emotionally driven actions that made truthful sense to me, but (I hope for gameplay reasons) , these were re-ordered  - changing my performance and, in my opinion, the truth of the scene.

I love acting. I believe the actors craft, executed at its best, proves itself the most transformative art-forms of interpretation. However, the moment that acting became ‘captured’ rather than ‘live’, the power and success of a performance became shared with talents beyond the moment of capture.  The highly collaborative process of Film, for example, can be as transformative and meaningful as the best live theatre, and on some levels, even more so. I hold that it is best to consider the actor’s final performance as inviolate, but in this new era, believing this to be the only perspective is to be damagingly ‘anti-convergent’.

Capture and animation is already pushing this balance between control of the source performance and the end ‘cut’ even further.  Capture-based animation means that not only does the developer, and sometimes the player, choose the visual focus of a scene as a director might in film, but now the developer can alter the very fabric of the performance itself.  Ownership of that final product is already becoming a point of argument and debate, and more and more people and organizations are even now being required to define their position, or risk losing their voice.

Ownership of a performance

Imagine this: a famous actor is chosen to play a part in a capture based, CG heavy film.  This requires his face be animated into that of a gorilla/fox/reptile, but his facial performance will be key-framed to be as identical as possible to the original performance.

As it stands, the moment that an image is turned into data, the image of the performance no longer ‘belongs’ to the actor in the way it would in film. It’s an important point to the actor that his performance is respected, considered inviolate - as it is his/her name that is "attached" to the movie, and they will be judged and criticized for the end performance and possibly even the success of the movie.

Where source performance and final performance can be considered identical, on what basis can it be said that the performance no longer belongs to the performer?  It’s a bit like saying that because an image creates a chemical reaction on celluloid that mirrors the image coming in through the lens, that the image now belongs to Fuji or Kodak.

Instead, image rights have become tied to the physical appearance of an actor.  In film this is normally an unambiguous definition.  When it comes to animation, this no longer works, as the appearance can be altered, whilst the performance is retained, or vice versa, and degrees of variation in between.  This manipulation is often necssary to compensate for the difference between the human face and that of the avatar, or to correct what doesn't look "right".  Once captured, actors needn’t even be present to be used in a sequence. On Heavy Rain, “Madison” was a composite of two performers, and I myself occasionally ‘moonlighted’ as the body for another character.  I accepted this as the nature of the medium I found myself in at the time.  I do wonder if I would I accept it now...

My collaboration with Dynamixyz  (See MiM Press Release)  has made it possible to create a “fingerprint” of an individual’s facial expressive behaviour.  Even with their default version (“director”), this can be used to eliminate keyframing almost entirely, enabling the animator to move smoothly from one expression to the next.  This same system forms the basis of a realtime capture system, that can achieve a very high quality result, using the “fingerprint” for reference.

The fusion between actor and animation has now become that much deeper.  And whilst capture contracts are made ‘per-project”, the ownership issue remains relatively quiet.  However, the questions that this imminent shift of control poses to my role as an actor, and as the director of my company, and as an advocate of convergence, are at the very cutting edge of the future that will face traditional and ‘new’ media alike.

How will Actors retain/share rights over their “expressive behaviour”?

If the software uses an actor’s fingerprint once, it can do so across multiple projects and platforms.  The material from one capture based movie/game could be re-used by the owning studio for other movies/games - reducing the actor’s involvement - one day, maybe entirely.  However, the prize is the democratisation of quality performances in dramatic content, more professional actors being involved in convergent media, and greater convergence between the industries as a whole.

Perhaps it's worth considering that one day actors and animators will share credits according to the balance between free animation and capture-faithful performance animation?

Animators, and animation teams are often the last to be praised or awarded. This should change as animation will allow another pool of talent to manipulate a performance, requiring discretion and an understanding of acting.  Body doubles already exist in film, and Seth Rogan may or may not know who played his Paul’s body (It seems to be easier to successfully mix different bodies to heads).  But what if his facial and vocal performance were 20% animator created.  How about 50%?  I can anticipate that there will be actors who will consider this a corruption of their craft - and animators too for that matter. However, I think that this approach is one of burying your head in the sand.  Besides, what’s to say that one form of collaborative performance is better than another - as long as it’s credited as such?

What's coming up...

There is a company in France that is already attempting to draw the lines of engagement - or rather provide a basis upon which to engage.  Agence de Doublures Numériques. (Digital Doubles Agency).

Digital Doubles Agency provides a service that can assess just how much of the actor’s performance remains in the final  animation - the idea being that within a certain threshold, the actor can be re-assured that they can still put their name on the tin.

This also suggests that there will be scope to blend an actor’s performance with the animators art, whilst being able to apportion just credit, and pay, where it’s due.

Actors, Unions, software developers, animators, film and game studios will all have to hammer out agreements with each other to protect their interests and integrity, whilst also paving the way for new art-forms that will have convergence at their heart.  If not, then valuable talent will be excluded or wasted.  No industry should believe their worth will be accepted as a given fact, instead it may be more useful to concentrate on the worth of the possible future that can be shared, and prove the worth of each contributors place within it.





‘Star Wars’ Effects Artist Gives Blu-ray a Boost

(homemediamagazine.com)               Just because someone worked on “Star Wars” doesn’t mean he can’t be a fan, too, especially with the whole saga due on Blu-ray Sept. 16 from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

“I’m ecstatic to see the whole thing on Blu-ray,” said John Goodson, a digital artist for Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic visual effects house. “I think the transfer quality is gorgeous.”

Goodson joined ILM in 1988 and has served as chief modelmaker, model project supervisor and art director/designer. He worked as a concept modeler on Star Wars: Episode I and Episode II, and as a viewpaint artist on Episode III.

Goodson appears within the Blu-ray’s “Archive Collection,” a series of featurettes that viewers can click on for more information about things in the movies.

“It’s fun to see this stuff all these years later,” Goodson said.

Among the vehicle models Goodson discusses are the Trade Federation battleship, the Republic cruiser, the Queen’s royal starship, Anakin’s podracer, the Sith speeder, and Republic gunship, the Separatist cruiser, the ARC-170 starfighter and the Jedi starfighter.

“We built a tremendous amount of models,” Goodson said. “Most were photographed for digital models.”

The model team also built large miniature landscapes for many of the cities seen in the films, such as those on Naboo.

“That city was a miniature we augmented digitally. It had very intricate rooftops and manicured gardens,” Goodson said. “On a lunch break one day we made a mini-lawnmower and put it in the model, and for the next six weeks they moved the lawnmower around. It’s in every shot of the city in Episode II.”

Goodson said the use of high-definition cameras has had a big impact on visual effects.

“It means there has to be more attention to detail,” Goodson said. “We had to step it up because of what could be seen.”