3-D Film Production To Drop By At Least 25%

(houmatoday.com)             

      LOS ANGELES — The skies may be darkening in the third dimension.

Once hailed as a technology that would revolutionize filmmaking the way sound and color did, 3-D has become as much an albatross for some films as a lure. And studios are noticing.

According to a study by Exhibitor Relations, which tracks trends among theater owners, the number of big-studio 3-D films will drop by at least 25 percent a year through 2013. There were 40 new 3-D movies this year. Next year, 30 releases are slated for the big screen. That number dips to 15 in 2013, though that schedule remains incomplete, and studios shuffle release dates. The study also found that some high-profile 3-D conversions are planned for classic films, including Finding Nemo and Beauty and the Beast.

” We might see a few more 3-D movies in 2013, but I’d be surprised if the number was more than 20,” says Jeff Bock, box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. ” People are feeling burned, the studios are feeling burned. Everyone is pulling back.”

The technology has been under fire after some high-profile flops like this summer’s Conan the Barbarian ($21 million at the box office) and Fright Night ($18 million) prompted critics to question whether 3-D was already on the way out.




Will This Be the Last Year for Best Animated Feature at Oscars?

(goldderby.com)                    The Academy's Best Animated Feature category started with noble intentions, but 2011 could easily be its final year as animated films make stronger showings in the top categories.

The initial reasoning for the category was that animated films weren't taken seriously enough to break into major races. In the Oscars' first 74 years, only "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) ever broke into the Best Picture race and only "Toy Story" (1995) had been nodded for its screenplay. In the first year of the Animated Feature category, the winner "Shrek" (2001) was also nominated for screenplay. The scripts for Animated Feature winners "Finding Nemo" (2003), "The Incredibles" (2004), "Ratatouille" (2007), "Wall-E" (2008), "Up" (2009), and "Toy Story 3" (2010) all followed suit.

This year, only 18 films qualify for Best Animated Feature, yet those can yield five nominations (a success rate of 28%) if they score at least 7.5/10 with a screening committee. Compare that to the Best Picture category where 248 films fought for ten slots last year (a success rate of 4%). One of those Best Picture nominees was "Toy Story 3." The year before that, "Up" contended for Best Picture.

A solid third of this year's 18 qualifying titles are direct sequels including Pixar's critical disappointment "Cars 2," Happy Feet Two," and "Kung Fu Panda 2." While each film's first installments reaped Oscar nominations, none of these sequels are sure things for the final ballot.

The only original titles that are truly in the mix are the upcoming "Arthur Christmas" and well-received releases "Rio" and "Rango." Other films with buzz include "Shrek" spin-off "Puss in Boots," which clawed its way to the top of the box office for a couple weeks. A charming feature-length version of "Winnie the Pooh" would be a pleasant nominee, but has only an outside shot. And Steven Spielberg's forthcoming adaptation "The Adventures of Tintin" seems more and more like a sure thing.

Fortunately, no one is talking about other qualifying titles like “Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil,” Razzie contender "The Smurfs," and “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.”

A vocal minority on the board has pushed for the elimination of this award in recent years. A specialized category may not be needed as animated films are now viewed by Academy members as a more serious medium. The Best Animated Feature award becomes a consolation prize when these films might have otherwise won for their screenplays or even Best Picture. And with scores of animators admitted into the Academy in recent years, it is certain their genre will continue to contend in the top category.

The Academy would be wise to follow the Grammys' lead after they recently cut and condensed dozens of categories. An actual competition between quality nominees is more respectable and engaging.




Useful iPhone Apps for VFX & Film Makers

(buzz-videos.eu)               Here is a quick overview of useful iPhone Apps for vfx and guerilla film makers. The list could be extended to remote login tools and the like but this is my overview.
I am sure there are similar Apps for windows and android phones.

VIDEO - Take a look:   http://buzz-videos.eu/video-film-useful-iphone-apps-for-vfx-and-film-makers/




The Special Effects in Chinese Films

(wildgrounds.com)                People usually complains a lot about the quality of special effects in Chinese blockbusters. Take Tsui Hark’s Detective Dee for example, some said special effects were “blatantly noticeable“, looked “a little cheap” – of course, some others described them as “flawless” or “nifty“. In fact, the film even took the Best Special Effects award at the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards. It’s not perfect, but they did good. Wait! Who are “they”? Chinese companies? Nope, and that’s the interesting part.

What do these films share in common; John Woo’s Red Cliff, Tsui Hark’s Flying Swords, Peter Chan’s Wu Xia, Daniel Lee’s White Vengeance or Feng Xiageng’s Aftershock…?

Their special effects were made-supervised by South Korean companie! This insightful article brings some answers about this (surprising) reality. If Chinese productions work with Korean companies, it’s mostly because they can provide “Hollywood-level quality at competitive prices” compared to Chinese companies, who lack know-how & experience in this field. There’s a simple explanation to that, “Chinese film technicians are only used to doing historical dramas“, so they can only provide limited options and don’t know (yet) how to deal with explosions for example.

To give you a better idea about all that, here’s the VFX demo reel from Korean company Digital Idea, showing you lots of before/after footage. It really covers many type of visual effects; from the most visible things – 3D models – to the smallest & almost unnoticeable details – visual corrections, matte paintings. And you may be quite surprised to see examples taken from Kim Jee-woon’s I Saw The Devil – the taxi cab scene! Anyway, this should help you understand how VFX works;

With all that in mind, watch also this VFX video for Detective Dee – it was made by another Korean company named AZ Works. It focuses on the most important & visible things like the giant Buddha, how it was created, and other interesting stuff – the fight against the talking deer. Quite informative, even though it doesn’t answer why some of the effects in the film look “cheap”. One can guess, the overall quality of VFX depends on many factors; time, money, know-how, what directors want, shooting preparations, schedule constraints… But as Tsui Hark said, “special effects as a tool are quite convenient as an ability to enhance the story when they are necessary“.

VIDEO - Take a look:   http://wildgrounds.com/2011/11/22/the-special-effects-in-chinese-films/




Here’s The Future for Disney’s Digital Strategy

(wallstcheatsheet.com)                   Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) is making a splash in the apps game with “Where’s My Water” — a mobile game that stars Swampy the alligator living in a sewer. Sound slimy? Apparently not to app gamers. The app launched on Sep 22 and raced to the top of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) top paid apps chart – displacing permanent resident Angry Birds for three weeks.

The app was produced by a crew of just seven people in seven-and-a-half months. Contrast this with a newly released movie that takes three to five years to make and hundreds of millions of dollars.

Investing Insights: Salesforce Shares Return from the Clouds.

Disney’s (NYSE:DIS) strategy to create million-dollar franchises in the app world may be working. “This is a very, very cost-effective way to develop characters,” said Tim Nollen, an analyst at Macquarie Capital USA Inc. in New York. “It’s a new way of doing things.”

Swampy will also be aired on Disney.com and on YouTube (NASDAQ:GOOG) in a 12-part series in 2012. A book and a movie may follow. Welcome to the future for Disney.




Kristen Stewart's Extreme 'Twilight' Transformation

(latimesblogs.latimes.com)                 Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1"

The fans who lined up over the weekend to see "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1" — and there were a lot of them, considering that the fourth installment in the franchise adapted from Stephenie Meyer's bestselling young-adult novels raked in an estimated $139.5 million — witnessed some pretty radical upheaval in the lives of young Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and her vampire beau Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson).

The couple marries, and during a romantic honeymoon getaway, they finally consummate their relationship. But Bella unexpectedly becomes pregnant and fights to carry the child to term, though the fetus is seemingly incompatible with her body.

To depict the great physical toll the pregnancy takes on Bella's body — she's unable to eat and essentially is withering away as her stomach swells — the "Breaking Dawn" filmmakers looked to Lola Visual Effects, the company responsible for downsizing muscular Chris Evans to a pre-transformation weakling in this summer's comic book superhero film "Captain America." The results are certainly eyebrow-raising, with Bella becoming increasingly pale and extremely gaunt.

"The idea was to leave you with a question mark about how they did it," said the film's director, Bill Condon. "We wanted you to think it was possible that Kristen actually lost a lot of weight for it."

The visual-effects team added prosthetics to Stewart's face (a process that took three hours of application) to make her eyes look more sunken and her ears larger. Stewart likened wearing the prosthetics to having a "big, skinny head" for the scenes. Still, the 21-year old actress was game for the transformation.

"I'm so happy that they were not afraid of it — to have your main character look so awful for half of the movie is a bold choice for a huge film," Stewart said. "It was the one thing I wasn't fully responsible for concerning Bella and it made me really nervous. I didn't know what it would look like until I saw the movie."




Animated Features; Stop Mo vs CG

(kimemsonanimates.wordpress.com)                 Think stop motion, think Aardman, they are the top of stop motion. It is interesting that they are one of few studios that have tackled both stop motion and CGI for animated features. An AWN interview with Peter Lord explains: The decision was certainly not a question of cost, he declares. “Flushed Away is way more expensive than any previous feature we’ve done.” Flushed Away may have been CG, however had the charm and feel of stop motion (through texture, animation techniques, etc) and was very well received. Is money king again or is it more practical reasons related to story? Is the reputation of which medium is more expensive prevailing? What we also need to examine is profit margins- that is more relevant than the actual expense. Which medium really is more expensive? This is part 3 of this discussion, part 1  examined film effects and part 2 examined children’s series.

Profitability

For now, lets compare some films of differing mediums in simple terms: I got this information from IMDB, wikipedia and the-numbers.com it is not clear if the budget is the real cost or just the initial forecast of what they thought the project would cost, there is not a consistent way that these figures are collected or presented. I think companies will try and hide some of the true figures so I can’t be certain these websites offer accurate data, but I think this is all we have for a comparison.

See the results:        http://kimemsonanimates.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/animated-features-stop-mo-vs-cg/




Prometheus Creature Concept Designer Neville Page Interview

(ShockTillYouDrop.com)                Even if you don't know his name, you've seen his work and in an exclusive interview with ComingSoon.net's ShockTillYouDrop.com, Concept Designer Neville Page discusses his world-building past, present and future.

The artist is responsible for sundry movie monsters, and other creations, such as the giant beast that rampages through New York City in Cloverfield, the hungry fish of Piranha 3D, the otherworldly creatures of Avatar, Star Trek and Green Lantern, or, the alien visitor of this summer's Super 8. Thanks to the latter's forthcoming DVD and Blu-ray release, the opportunity sprung up to be able to speak to Page about the film and his career. Being such a fan of the concept design process myself, Shock jumped at the chance to pick the man's brain about his previous works and the directors he has worked with, including Ridley Scott. Yes, Page contributed to the super-secret Alien prequel, Prometheus.

Full Interview:    http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/interviewsnews.php?id=22006




I Cannot Own A Company Burning Through This Much Cash. Period, End of Story.

(seekingalpha.com)               Digital Domain plans to use IPO monies to begin producing their own large scale live-action films. I'm never a proponent of investing in start-up motion picture production companies. The risk reward is rarely favorable to outside investors. DDMG's first co-production (with Oddlot Entertainment) is for a film to be titled 'Ender's Game'. DDMG will be a primary investor in the film and will lead the digital production.

2011 - Really shaky 3rd quarter. Bad enough that the company noted outright in the prospectus it was a light quarter. Full year revenues should be in the $105 million range. Gross margins here are ultra-slim. Much too slim for a company that has been around for nearly 20 years. Even back in 2008(before embarking on new lines of business), gross margins were weak. Gross margins should be in the 15%-20% range. Losses staggering as 1) gross margins eat most of the revenues and 2) DDMG has been spending heavily on their primary production and education plans. Losses should be in the $1.50+ range. I cannot own a company burning through this much cash. Period, end of story.

2012 - Losses should continue to be staggering. DDMG will need a major hit with their first film to make this IPO look even average in range.

This is a successful visual effects company that is un-investable due to ugly earnings statements. By all accounts DDMG is quite good at what they do: visual effects for the motion picture industry and advertising. Lot of risk here as DDMG embarks on feature film primary production responsibilities (with the implied financial risks) as well as a for-profit educational center. DDMG couldn't put money on the bottom line for years before embarking on these plans. Now? Losses of $1.50+ per share. Not interested.

Full Article:     http://seekingalpha.com/article/309496-digital-domain-media-group-ipo-beware-of-ugly-earnings-statements




DreamWorks Animation Outsources Animation To India

(articles.latimes.com)                    'Puss in Boots' marks the first time DreamWorks has relied on Indian animators to help produce a full-length feature film. The Bangalore, India, animation studio has become an increasingly important piece of DreamWorks' production pipeline.

    * For Puss in Boots, a new feature film about a cat bandit, a team of about 100 animators in Bangalore spent six months animating three major scenes.

For Puss in Boots, a new feature film about a cat bandit, a team of about 100… (DreamWorks Animation)
October 29, 2011|By Richard Verrier, Los Angeles Times

When the cat bandit "Puss in Boots" strides onto the big screen this weekend, Vanitha Rangaraju and her colleagues in Bangalore, India, will take special pride in the feline's starring role on the global stage.

A spinoff of the hit "Shrek" movies, "Puss in Boots" represents a milestone for DreamWorks Animation and for the fledgling animation industry in the world's second most populous nation.

The film, starring Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek, marks the first time that the Glendale studio has relied on a crew of Indian animators to help produce a full-length feature film. Until now, DreamWorks Animation had used the studio it operates in Bangalore to produce mainly TV specials and DVD bonus material. But after investing more than $10 million over the last three years, DreamWorks has turned the Bangalore studio into an increasingly important piece of its production pipeline.

The investment underscores how Hollywood is increasingly farming out animation and visual effects work to India, both to capitalize on the country's low labor costs and to tap into a large pool of English-speaking workers with sought-after computer skills. The pace of production also is accelerated because of the 24-hour cycle that can be maintained by pairing the Bangalore workers with their counterparts in Hollywood.

"We're very excited because we've been working toward this for three years,'' said Rangaraju, head of lighting for the India animation unit. "This is the first time this has happened in India, and it's going to encourage a lot of people to move into the industry."

DreamWorks is among several studios tapping into the labor pool in India. Sony Pictures Entertainment and Rhythm & Hues, the Los Angeles animation and visual effects house, each have facilities in India that have done work on such feature films as "Yogi Bear" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks." Walt Disney Studios partnered with Mumbai-based Prana Studios to produce its 2008 computer-animated movie "Tinker Bell." Additionally, several large Indian companies, such as Reliance Group, Tata Elxsi and Prime Focus, have established beachheads in Hollywood to do visual effects and 3-D conversion work on films such as "Spider-Man 3" and "Clash of the Titans."

Traditionally, much of the film and TV work Hollywood has outsourced to India has involved low-skill, labor-intensive tasks such as wire removal — the tedious process of digitally erasing wires used to suspend stunt people and stars in action movies. The animation work has been confined mostly to TV series or made-for-DVD movies. But that's beginning to change, as evidenced by "Puss in Boots."

A team of about 100 animators in Bangalore spent six months animating three major scenes in the feature film — including one complex sequence in which Puss, Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) and Kitty Softpaws (Hayek) enter a giant's castle surrounded by a lush jungle in the clouds. "Except for the story boarding, we did everything from start to finish," said Philippe Gluckman, creative director for the DreamWorks India unit, housed on the eleventh floor of a building in a high-tech park in a suburb of Bangalore. "I would hope nobody would be able to tell which sequences came from India."

DreamWorks launched the India studio in early 2008 as part of a partnership with Technicolor, which acquired the Indian animation company Paprika Animation Studios. Technicolor owns the facility but has tapped DreamWorks to hire and train 220 illustrators who work there. DreamWorks sent staff members to India to train the crews and hold master classes on topics such as how to properly shape mouths.

Before embarking on a full-length feature film, the DreamWorks India unit started with smaller projects, such as holiday TV specials including "Merry Madagascar" and "Scared Shrekless" (a separate unit with the Technicolor studio animated the successful Nickelodeon TV series "The Penguins of Madagascar"). Currently, the group is working on its next film projects, including "Madagascar 3," due out next summer, and is expected to have a role in the upcoming Bollywood-style musical "Monkeys of Mumbai."

"It has been a very steep learning curve for all of them," Gluckman said.

"Puss in Boots" Director Chris Miller said he was impressed with the quality of the work from India. "The work that came out of it was terrific and stands up to anything that was done here," said Miller, who also directed "Shrek the Third."

The ability to farm out even a small portion of the work to India has obvious financial advantages to DreamWorks, given the substantially lower labor costs — about 40% less than in the U.S. — and the increasingly competitive market in the U.S. The typical DreamWorks film costs about $130 million to produce.




If You're in New Mexico, 'The Lone Ranger' Wants You
            
(latinoreview.com)               If You're in New Mexico, 'The Lone Ranger' Wants You "The Lone Ranger" may have gotten in trouble over its budget, but they still have the spare cash to hire the neccessary extras.  The production is currently hiring Native American actors (men and women!) in New Mexico, with preference given to anyone who can ride a horse. (A neccessary thing for a Western.)

They're also looking for a young Native American boy, aged 9-11, for a speaking role. If you have a little brother or a cousin that fits the requirements, haul him in! He'll thank you.

If you do happen to be in New Mexico over the coming months, it seems the production is filming under the code name "Silver Bullet."  Some have taken this as an indication the script is still hiding its werewolves under a lower budget, but as Lone Ranger devotees know, the white-hatted crusader uses silver bullets as his trademark.   I think we can see where the scriptwriters got the idea, though -- they thought he needed something other than bandits and corrupt railroad tycoons to aim them at!




The 10 Best Special Effects Movies Ever

(furiousfanboys.com)                 Ask any fanboy and they’ll tell you that one of the big reasons they go see a science fiction or genre movie is to have their face melted off by awesome special effects. Over the years there have been some amazingly convincing effects created, and we’ve compiled a list of the 10 movies that pulled off their special effects so well that they still hold up years after the original release.

Take a look:      http://furiousfanboys.com/2011/11/the-10-best-special-effects-movies-ever/




VFX Artist Stuck Abroad Tweets:    #fuckYouSubsidies

(animationguildblog.blogspot.com)                 The latest news from the realm of entertainment tax breaks is that London and Michigan have reaffirmed their commitment to tax incentives designed to lure production to their corners of the world. Entertainment tax incentives are all the rage these days. People are convinced that without them, Hollywood will find more "lucrative" pastures to host production work.

What astounds me is how little tax payers understand where the incentive money is going and how much they believe those incentives are actually helping their cities.

The basic premise of the tax credits sounds logical: incentivize Hollywood conglomerates making the films to come to your locale, and seed an industry that wasn't previously there. Films are made all the time. Bringing the production work to your constituents means more employment, more local revenue, and happier voters.

Right?

But, once one region benefits from paying Hollywood to play inside its borders, other regions take notice. They initiate incentives that offer more than their neighbor to win the next contract. Then, the other state takes notice and does the same.

.. and so on, and so on.

Every state in our nation now has some kind of incentive. Each state is vying for the same piece of the hollywood pie and by working against each other. Who is really benefiting in the race to be the place with the biggest kick-back? More importantly, who is paying the studio to be there?

Another important factor? The labor force that is brought in to do the work. Production companies regularly bring workers from other states when they make their movie in IncentiveLand. This is prevalent in the visual effects industry. VFX shops have opened satellite locations in areas that offer tax incentives so they can be awarded jobs that pay the hollywood studio a tax credit for having the work done at that location. These satellite locations are staffed mostly by artists from elsewhere as the demand for work done exceeds the amount of local talent available.

Los Angeles born visual effects artist David Stripinis tweeted on the anniversary of his working in London:

    Two years ago today I left Los Angeles for what I thought would be one year. Now I don't think I'll ever get back. #fuckYouSubsidies

Regional tax incentives, paid by the local population, don't kick-start a local entertainment industry. Instead, these incentives drain municipal coffers to lure Hollywood studios in to temporarily squat in their provinces and make with the Movie Magic. Artists and craftspeople are flown in by production companies eager to be paid by the local population to do their work.

Then, when the work is done, they fly back to their lives and families in lands across the globe.

I'm reminded of the movie line from a supercomputer who tried to figure out the best way to win a Global Thermonuclear War




The Countries Most Threatened By VFX Outsourcing Are India And China

(vfxsoldier.wordpress.com)         When I first started this blog, I asked a rhetorical question:

    when I look at the evidence and get asked which countries are most threatened by outsourcing of vfx work you know what my answer is?

    India and China

Most would think the US is at most risk but much of that is due to government film subsidies used as a lure to artificialize the price of VFX.

For India and China, their bread and butter is having the cheapest labor. However the double edged sword is in the reality that wages are rising in both countries, the quality is stagnant, and other cheaper labor pools are joining the market to compete as bottom feeders.

Still Don’t Believe Me? Look At Indian Animation

I wrote another post linking to an Indian article about the demise of it’s animation industry. The hope was that a new film called Delhi Safari would turn things around. It was supposed to be released last month but then nothing. No mention of when it will be actually released. You’d figure the claim that this was India’s best animated film to date would at least have a release date. No show radio!

If you still believe that India will soon catch up and dominate the VFX and animation industry then do me a favor: Put your money where your mouth is.

Last week Digital Domain was lampooned for trying to become a publicly traded stock. It turns out India’s Crest Animation which made last year’s Alpha & Omega has been a publicly traded stock in India for the last 12 years. Take a look at their historical stock price which was $US 23 a share at one point. It’s now hovering at around 55 cents a share.

Would you put your money in an Indian animation company? Given the return on investment, you might be better off outsourcing that decision to a table in Las Vegas.

Full Article:     http://vfxsoldier.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/is-it-over-for-indias-outsourcing-model/

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 Earns $283.5M Worldwide

(ComingSoon.net)             

    Summit Entertainment's The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 has earned a massive $283.5 million worldwide since opening internationally on Wednesday. Based on the Stephenie Meyer book, "Breaking Dawn - Part 1" grossed $139.5 million domestically from 4,061 theaters this weekend and added another $144 million overseas for the five days in 54 markets. The $139.5 million domestic opening is the fifth-best ever, trailing just The Twilight Saga: New Moon's $142.8 million, Spider-Man 3's $151.1 million, The Dark Knight's $158.4 million and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2's $169.2 million. The $283.5 million worldwide opening is the 10th largest ever and a franchise best, passing up "New Moon's" $274.9 million launch.

Directed by Bill Condon from a Melissa Rosenberg script, the $110 million-budgeted "Breaking Dawn --- Part 1" stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Peter Facinelli, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Jackson Rathbone, Elizabeth Reaser, Nikki Reed and Billy Burke. "Part 2" will hit theaters on November 16, 2012.




Transformers The Ride - Unveiling the Preshow Video Preview

Thanks to Resorts World Sentosa blog we have some new looks at The Ride via a new video previde that transports us into the Transformers universe when you step into the NEST facility.

Transformers The Ride will be opening first at Universal Studios in Singapore on December 3rd, 2011.

The storytelling starts from the queue lines at TRANSFORMERS The Ride. Get transported into the TRANSFORMERS universe when you step into the NEST facility at Universal Studios Singapore. If you have not seen a the blockbuster movie franchise, fret not, the preshow segment of the queue lines will prepare you for the ultimate 3D battle.

The ride is in undergoing technical rehearsal now, so if you happen to be one of the lucky ones who took the ride, share your experience with us on this blog, twitter or our Facebook page!

Even if you have never owned a TRANSFORMERS action figure, or watched a single installment of the TRANSFORMERS films, don't fret! The queue lines are built to transport you into the world of TRANSFORMERS and immerse you into the story from the moment you step in. That's why we call it the Pre-Show!

The world's first TRANSFORMERS ride will open at Universal Studios Singapore on 3 December 2011.

VIDEO - Take a look:    http://tformers.com/transformers-the-ride-unveiling-the/16798/news.html




Special Effects Master Phil Tippett Comments on Commercial Film Industry

(dailycal.org)                  Northern California during the 1970s served as a bastion of cinema with such enduring filmmakers as Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas and Philip Kaufman basing their projects in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Seen as a practical alternative to the established hierarchy of Los Angeles, Northern California attracted a multitude of technical talent disillusioned with the business of Hollywood, from writers to film editors to sound mixers.

Of course, the ’70s were an era long past. Now, only the remnants of the period remain in the form of LucasArts and Industrial Light & Magic in San Francisco’s Presidio District as well as Coppola’s relatively meager American Zoetrope (not to mention his multitude of restaurants, cafes and wine estates all over the North Bay).

However, nestled only a few blocks away from Berkeley’s San Pablo Park stands special effects wizard Phil Tippett’s very own Tippett Studios. Established in the 1980s after the runaway success of the original “Star Wars” trilogy, Tippett Studios is at once a relic of the past as well as evidence of an industry that has experienced tremendous change in its last 30 years.

In his recent presentation as a part of the Pacific Film Archive’s “Behind the Scenes: The Art and Craft of Cinema” series, Tippett focused on his early memories of movies, his involvement with the “Star Wars” films, and the massive changes that have taken place in the special effects business in the last 20 years.  Disillusioned yet surprisingly funny in a blunt manner, the joy he infuses in his work translated to his lecture as a packed audience burst into laughter with every story.

Citing the works of Willis O’Brien (“King Kong”), and especially Ray Harryhausen (“The 7th Voyage of Sinbad,” “Jason and the Argonauts,” “Clash of the Titans”) as direct influences, Tippett stressed the importance of mentors in his life, while recalling the day he had a beer with Harryhausen as one of the greatest moments of his life.  Childhood experiences continued to play a major role in his life, leading to one of his major goals of wanting to work on a dinosaur movie. “Every boy is either into dinosaurs or trucks,” said Tippett. “I was into dinosaurs.”

It was once Tippett met George Lucas and Steven Spielberg that his career really took off.  “These guys understood how to get people to come back to theaters. They knew the importance of spectacle in movies, and we had similar influences,” said Tippett.

Although Tippett wouldn’t work with Spielberg until the early ’90s, his involvement with the “Star Wars” films would rewrite the possibilities of films heavy on the special effects in the future.  “There weren’t a lot of people working in the field at the time, very different from today,” he explained.  As technology progressed, so did the filmmaking process with more and more directors relying on special effects.  Tippett alone worked on such box office hits as “Dragonslayer,” “Robocop” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” through the ‘80s.

1993 marked another turning point in the history of the spectacle (or now considered the blockbuster) movie with the release of Spielberg’s seminal film, “Jurassic Park.” The picture marked the end of physical special effects through models and stop-motion and the start of the CGI revolution. “Spielberg decided all his movies would be done this way [with CGI]. I didn’t get depressed, but I got sick,” said Tippett. So began what Tippett called the “corporatization” of the film industry, something he blames the lack of quality blockbusters coming out of Hollywood on.  “Even the layperson asks, ‘Why is everything so bad after Jurassic Park?’ It’s because it’s all been corporatized.”

Since then, Tippett Studios has been responsible for the special effects on some of the biggest box office and critical bombs of the CGI-era, including “Evolution,” “The Spiderwick Chronicles,” and the “Twilight” franchise. While admitting the shortcomings of these films and the industry in general, Tippett ended his program with a glimmer of hope by showcasing an animated trailer he’s been working on for the last 20 years entitled “Mad God.” As usual, it all depends on financial backing and marketability, but the passion Tippett exudes for this long-gestating project further illustrates the immense level of joy a disillusioned master can still hold for his work.




Red Digital Cinema Releases Scarlet-X

(dpreview.com)                 Red Digital Cinema has released the Scarlet-X professional video camera with Canon EF or PL mount. With 4K video from 1-30 fps and burst modes up to 12 fps at 5K resolution, it enables users to capture motion footage and still content simultaneously. Available for pre-orders, the basic kit (which is primarily the body, or as Red calls it "The Brain") is priced at $9750 while the Scarlet-X AL Canon Mount Package is priced at $14,015 and includes such essentials as a power adaptor, 5" touch LCD, and  hand grip.

Launched the same day as Canon's new EOS C300 Digital Cinema Camera, the Scarlet-X appears competitively specified and priced. Whether an amateur or professional film-maker should use the Scarlet-X or the lower resolution Canon C300 (or perhaps Canon's forthcoming 4K DSLR) will become an interesting debate in the coming year.




Dwayne Johnson Takes The Monster Hunter's Survival Guide

(Deadline)                Dwayne Johnson has just signed on to headline The Monster Hunter's Survival Guide, Deadline reports. It will be based on the comic book series by John Paul Russ (and published by Zenescope), officially described as follows:

Monsters surround us. They're everywhere; on TV, in movies, they haunt our nightmares... But are they real? Do Vampires, Werewolves and Zombies really exist? And if so how can we survive against them? At last here is the comprehensive guide every Monster Hunter must have! Whether youre a weekend Bigfoot hunter or a hardcore Vampire slayer you simply cant afford not to own this book.

Johnson, who earlier this year starred in Fast Five, will appear in 2012 in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Snitch.




Digital Domain Declines 15.9% Post-IPO

(online.wsj.com)                Digital movie production company Digital Domain Media Group Inc. (DDMG) declined nearly 16% on its first day as a public company Friday.

The company's stock closed at $7.15 a share on the New York Stock Exchange, down 15.9% from its initial public offering price of $8.50. It sold 5.5 million shares at a price below its expected $10 to $12 range.

The company's debut was the worst first-day performance since dating site operator FriendFinder Networks Inc. (FFN) lost 21.5% of its value during its May IPO launch.

Based in Port St. Lucie, Fla., Digital Domain Media provides computer-generated animation and digital effects for movie studios and advertisers, and converts two-dimensional imagery into 3-D effects, which generates substantially all its revenue. The company is also establishing an animation feature film business to develop original animated films, and a for-profit post-secondary training school with Florida State University.

Since it began in 1993, the company says it has established relationships with major Hollywood studios, working with each of the six major studios, and many of the industry's leading directors and producers. It has won three Academy Awards for best visual effects and four awards for scientific and technical achievement. Movies it has worked on include "TRON: Legacy," the "Transformers" trilogy, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Apollo 13" and "Titanic."

The company says it is benefitting from increased demand for digital visual effects, including 3D content, in Hollywood films and advertising.

Digital Domain Media is the parent to Digital Domain, which it acquired in 2009. That subsidiary attempted to go public in 2008 before throwing in the towel during a difficult period for IPOs amid the global economic crisis.

In the first half of 2011, total revenue rose 39% to $61 million; it booked a net loss of $11 million compared to a loss of $6.4 million in the same period of 2010.

The company warns that it has a history of losses, and that the visual effects industry is highly competitive with rivals located in low-cost countries such as South Korea, China and India having access to a lower-cost pool of labor. A substantial part of its business relies on the success of films made in 3D, so it is dependent on that area of entertainment growing.




Happy Feet 2 Stumbles

(sfgate.com)                  "Happy Feet 2" stumbled, pulling in just $22 million over opening weekend. That's barely half what the first film did in its 2006 opening.

The comparison is even worse considering the original did not have the sequel's price advantage for 3-D screenings, which cost a few dollars more than 2-D shows.




Cronenberg: No "Fly 2"

(darkhorizons.com)                       A little while back "A History of Violence" and "A Dangerous Method" director David Cronenberg revealed that he has working on a script for a part remake/mostly sequel to his 1986 body horror classic "The Fly".

The original followed a scientist (Jeff Goldblum) who accidently crosses his DNA with a humble housefly. The results are disturbing, disgusting and twisted in a way you'd expect from the director of "Dead Ringers," "Videodrome," "Naked Lunch" and "Scanners". Yet it was also one of his biggest crossover hits.

Cut to this week and Cronenberg tells The Playlist that he completed said script and submitted it to Fox but they are "not wanting to do the project" presently.




Motherlode of Dark Crystal and Labyrinth Art Comes to New York

(io9.com)                 Faerie artist Brian Froud is one of our favorite illustrators of the weird and fantastical — but we're especially fascinated by his design work on The Dark Crystal. Now a new exhibition is opening in New York that showcases the work of Brian, Wendy and Toby Froud, plus some "lost" Labyrinth concept art.

Check out an exclusive gallery of some amazing Dark Crystal and Labyrinth art from the exhibition!

The exhibition Brian Froud: Visions for Film & Faerie opens Dec. 2 at the Animazing Gallery in SoHo, New York. In addition to all the Dark Crystal art, there's a site-specific installation — and Wendy Froud has recreated Kira, Dark Crystal's Gelfling, for the exhibition. Kira stands 33 inches tall and was sculpted using hair and beading from the original film production.

with a signing featuring the Frouds on Dec. 3, with some proceeds going to the Jim Henson Foundation. There's also a screening of The Dark Crystal, introduced by Brian and Wendy Froud, on November 20, and a special talk at the American Society of Illustrators on Dec. 2.

Here's the complete press release:

    This December, Animazing Gallery will be presenting the first U.S. exhibition of Brian Froud's paintings and drawings, including original artworks from his published, international best-selling books and all of his concept drawings from Jim Henson's film Labyrinth. The exhibition will be open to the public daily. Animazing Gallery is located at 54 Greene Street (at Broome) in SoHo. For more information: 212-226-7374 or visit www.animazing.com

    Brian Froud is regarded as the pre-eminent fairy artist of today and has redefined the image of Faeries in the 21st century. Froud is part of a long lineage of faerie painters and illustrators including Arthur Rackham, Richard Dadd, Walter Crane and Edmund Dulac and his work has hung alongside these exceptional artists - the greats of the genre - in museum exhibitions throughout the U.K. Froud's imagery; sensual, humorous and at times frightening, has rescued fairies from the Victorian nursery, to which they were relegated for so many years, and returned them to the dark, elusive and mysterious world of Faerie where they belong.

    In November, 1998, Sotheby's "Realm of the Mind: Fantasy Art and Illustration" featured the work of such artists as; Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Bell Scott, Richard Doyle, John Anster Fitzgerald, Walter Crane, Simeon Solomon and George Cruikshank. Brian Froud's painting from Good Faeries/Bad Faeries was chosen for the auction catalogue cover.

    With over 30 books in publication and over 8 million books sold to date, Brian Froud's best sellers include Good Faeries/Bad Faeries (Hugo and Chesley Awards), Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book (Hugo Award), the Faeries' Oracle and Lady Cottington's Fairy Album. His international best-selling book, Faeries with fantasy and Tolkien illustrator Alan Lee, published in 1978 and reissued in 2002 and again in 2010, is considered a modern classic and has sold more than 3 million copies.

    Brian Froud has influenced a whole new generation of magical painters, book illustrators and filmmakers. Froud's landmark work with Jim Henson as conceptual designer on feature films The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1987), set new standards for design, puppeteering and animatronics in film and are, today, considered landmarks in the evolution of modern day special effects. Both films have achieved an international cult following.

    The Animazing Gallery, NY exhibition entitled, BRIAN FROUD: VISIONS FOR FILM & FAERIE, will be comprised of original paintings of creatures from Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal, concept drawings from Jim Henson's Labyrinth and original material from the published Faerie books: How to See Faeries, Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book and Good Faeries/Bad Faeries.

    BRIAN FROUD: VISIONS FOR FILM & FAERIE will be in collaboration with a site-specific installation by Wendy Froud and their son, Toby Froud; both renowned doll and puppet-makers. Toby was the baby "Toby" in Labyrinth and is presently a puppet fabricator and sculptor at Laika Entertainment, the celebrated studio specializing in stop motion/animation film and television.

    Wendy is the fabricator of "Yoda" from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. She sculpted and fabricated "Kira" & "Jen" from The Dark Crystal as well as some of the Pod People, and sculpted and fabricated some of the goblins in Labyrinth. For this inaugural exhibition, Wendy Froud has recreated the Gelfling, Kira from The Dark Crystal. Kira stands 33" tall, and was sculpted using original hair and beading from original The Dark Crystal production.




Mentor of the Day: Chris Alzmann

(motivarti.org)                   If you’ve ever watched a major block-buster summer hit, you’ve probably seen the work of Christian (Chris) Alzmann at some point.  (Be sure to check out his extensive list of credits at the bottom.) After graduating from Art Center College of Design, Chris began working for  the Academy Award-winning motion picture visual effects company, founded by George Lucas, Industrial Light Magic (ILM) For over twelve years, he’s worked his way through the ranks and currently sits as a Senior Art Director.

In an interview with The Gnomon Workshop, Chris spoke a little bit about being an Art Director compared to a concept artist- “Well now [as an art director] it’s about designing for the whole picture. So you have to keep an eye on the production designer’s vision. For every design you have to art direct someone building that asset. Also depending on the size of the production you might have a crew of artists working with you that will need direction and schedules for their time. All of that and you have to produce a bunch of artwork.”

In both interviews with the SFGate and Gnomon, Chris expressed the need for young artists to develop strong “foundation skills like drawing, sculpting, perspective, anatomy, life drawing and painting. Learning software is great but there will always be new and better software to learn. It will always be changing. The basics will always be the same. Also, look at the world around you for inspiration and ways to set your design sensibilites apart. It’s sad and true, but a lot of great designs can get ovelooked if they are executed poorly. A portfolio or reel always stands out when the foundation in it is strong.”

Currently, Chris Alzmann is willing to take up to 2 mentees for our SPRING 2012 mentorship program and open to mentoring internationally.  Chris is looking to help his mentee advance to the next level in their work, whether that’s improving foundation skills, design skills or just organizing a better portfolio. So if you’re looking to give general career advice for those looking to get into concept design for live action film or animation Chris Alzmann is your man!




'Immortals' Director To Commit A 'Killing On Carnival Row'
             
(latinoreview.com)                     'Immortals' Director To Commit A 'Killing On Carnival Row' Despite telling THR that he wants to tackle something different because "all everyone wants to think is that I want to do visual films," Deadline reports that director Tarsem Singh has signed on for something that sounds to be in line with his previous work, a film titled 'Killing On Carnival Row.'

Scripted by Travis Beacham, ('Dog Days of Summer,' 'Clash of the Titans' 'Pacific Rim') the film is said to take place in the futuristic city of Burgue that is very remincent of 18th century London. The inhabitants are a combination of creatures and humans. As the title implies, among them is a serial killer.

Of Singh taking the position, producers working on the film, Arnold and Anne Kopelson
said:

"I am thrilled that Tarsem will direct Carnival Row, which we’ve been developing over the past six years. His extraordinary visual sense and use of light and color can be compared to that of the great 16th Century Italian painter Michelangelo Caravaggio."




Big Screen Backs Tax Breaks for Game Developers

(theaustralian.com.au)                IF Happy Feet 2 the movie is eligible for tax breaks then Happy Feet 2 the computer game should be eligible for something similar.

This is the thinking behind a campaign by the $100 million computer game development industry that yesterday received an endorsement from Screen Australia chief executive Ruth Harley.

Ms Harley told an audience at the Game Connect Asia-Pacific conference in Melbourne that the sector was being constrained by lack of investment that could be overcome with federal assistance.

A new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers says: "Over a five-year period from the introduction of the offset there would be an additional investment in the interactive entertainment industry of $146 million, of which $100m would come from foreign sources."

This would add $76m to the GDP and create 383 jobs.
Free trial

The Interactive Entertainment (Games) Offset report says: "Modelling indicates games developers deserves access to funding offsets, such as those available to film and television makers."

Ms Harley told The Australian the new data reinforces Screen Australia's support for game developers, as outlined in its submissions to both the Convergence Review and the National Cultural Policy. As a statutory body fully funded by the federal government, Screen Australia cannot lobby government but does offer advice.

Ms Harley said one way that game developers could be helped was by making them eligible for the tax offsets available to foreign film and television makers where the game was considered part of the budget.

If the game was not related to a film, the developer could be eligible for offsets in the same way post-production and digital effects work is eligible regardless of whether physical filmmaking takes place in Australia.

Film and television funding in Australia has always been justified by virtue of its economic and cultural impact.

Tom Crago, chief executive of games developer Tantalus Media, said there was no cultural imperative to game-making.

"Certainly there are games that feature Australian content and stories but we're trying to make games that resonate around the world," he said.




FX Tentpoles Exposed by Software Bugs

(zdnet.com.au)                   Hollywood studios could be exposed to serious intellectual property theft via basic vulnerabilities in the software used by the likes of director James Cameron and CGI house Lucasfilm to produce blockbuster hits such as Iron Man 2, Avatar and Star Trek.

A security consultant at Security-Assessment.com, Nick Freeman, was interested in exploring the holes that exist in the production process of his favoured form of entertainment, including software used to perform a range of tasks such as script writing, story boarding, CGI, rendering and editing.

In a simulated demonstration at the Ruxcon conference in Melbourne yesterday, Freeman showed how an end-to-end attack could provide access to a post-production film file.

"I took a wide sample, cast the net really wide to see how easy it is to find bugs in [the] film-making process," Freeman told ZDNet Australia. "And it was really easy."

"The bugs I've shown, if you chain them together to exploit different people with access to different parts of the network, you could be able to get to the end point."

After downloading software he identified bugs and found most could be easily exploited by corrupting the application's memory and forcing it to run code.

"A rudimentary bug like memory corruption vulnerability has been around forever and is well documented since the early mid-90s. It's definitely not new attacks, there's no mad ninja skills, pretty basic stuff.

"I took on this project as a way to broaden my skills in exploiting memory test applications and to learn something new, but everything I found here is at a beginner's level of exploitation.

"I can understand not having security awareness, but it shouldn't be this easy."

Full Story:    http://www.zdnet.com.au/hollywood-exposed-by-software-bugs-339326524.htm





Motion Capture Perfs Under Review

(variety.com)                    British actor Andy Serkis, a previous SAG Award winner, has cemented a reputation for bringing emotion to his technology-enhanced roles.

When actor Andy Serkis approaches the security gate on a studio lot, he probably should have his photo ID ready.

Serkis may be the most famous film actor people don't recognize. He played Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the namesake gorilla of "King Kong" and, most recently, the chimpanzee Caesar in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes."

All of which should make Serkis the poster boy for motion capture -- the technique of digitally capturing actors' movements that become the basis for animated characters.

This year it will be hard to ignore what Serkis has achieved: His poignant performance as Caesar was pivotal in "Apes," and he plays a major role in "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn," for which Steven Spielberg used motion capture to transform the drawings of Herge into stylized animation. These two uses of motion capture couldn't be more different.

Now the question is whether voters will consider motion capture performances worthy of awards attention.

"It's very gratifying," Serkis says about those who believe his work should be noted during kudos season. "People were emotionally engaged with Caesar as a character; he just happened to be an ape."

The actor admits, though, that "from an acting perspective, it's taking a while. For 'Avatar,' Jim Cameron wanted support for his actors, and I think that opened people's eyes. The biggest block at the moment is convincing the acting community that performance capture is just acting."

The Screen Actors Guild has embraced this view, honoring Serkis' Gollum along with the rest of the cast in its 2004 film ensemble nod for "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." SAG now has a performance capture committee, chaired by Woody Schultz, whose credits include "Avatar" and "Tintin."

"I understand the confusion on the part of some actors about honoring these kinds of performances," says Schultz. "Especially when a character isn't human, it's difficult for people to recognize the acting."

Schultz notes capture technology was used in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," and Brad Pitt landed a lead actor Oscar nom.

Serkis sees signs of growing awareness. "People used to say, 'Andy Serkis lent his movements to Gollum,' and now they say 'Andy Serkis played Caesar.' That's a significant leap," he says. But greater acceptance among actors voting on acting honors may ultimately depend upon more of them getting comfortable with the process, especially as motion capture becomes physically less cumbersome.

On "Apes," the actors were captured by motion capture cameras right alongside film cameras, which Serkis thinks makes the process easier.

"Every single moment was crafted by actors on a live-action set, so we could capture the intensity of a scene," he recalls. "That's becoming more of an industry standard now. I'm currently doing 'The Hobbit,' and actors are coming on set and knocking performances out of the park."

When it comes to parsing eligibility for awards, there will be continued debates about what part of a character's performance is actor-driven and what part is "authored" by animators.

"It's a slippery slope," says Richard Edlund, longtime member of the AMPAS board of governors and of its VFX branch. "Motion capture is always tweaked by animators, sometimes to a great extent, but if it's a character performance, it's acting."




Stealing Demo Reels?

(vfxsoldier.wordpress.com)                      Apparently that’s what happened to a compositor/roto artist based in California after he found out an Indian VFX Crew was using his demo reel (which has been taken down) to market VFX services with the following message:

    hi….

    am thilak working as a compositor in inida and I have 25 person team in india.Am strong in rotoscopy and chroma keying and cleanups ,
    and i do have an experiance of 5 years in roto and touch up .i have attached my demoreel and resume with this mail .so kindly have a look at this, contact me if u have any freelancing jobs…like roto or cleanup, looking forwrd for your reply

    my contact number +919789855744

    This is my online Demoreel link

    http://vimeo.com/24981689

    regards

I find this impossible to believe. Afterall as we all know VFX has left California to all go to India and why would anyone have to resort to stealing another artist’s reel when the work they do there is just as good and it’s cheaper too! ;)

But seriously, if you read the thread there are others who claim to have the same thing done to them by some artists in India and I’m not surprised. I once was going through demo reels where many of them came from India and found some of the claims of work performed to be flat out ridiculous.

Just a few weeks ago I did a post on a video that was marketing Technicolor India’s work for DreamWorks Animation. I questioned the claim of some of the work they did after some comments at the TAG blog about the inability to finish work in India. Now even that promotional video was taken down.

What sucks about this is that is taints the work of legitimately good VFX artists in India.

Also what’s funny is that I’ve heard of a similar story of US artists stealing shots that they did not work on. An acquaintanceship applied for a job at a very large facility and it turned out he was using shots on his reel that belonged to one of the supervisors reviewing the demo reel! What’s crazy is he still got hired! I couldn’t believe it.

“Happy Feet Two” Looks For $30 million Open

(reuters.com)                Box office watchers predict that “Happy Feet Two” will fall short of the $41.5 million opening enjoyed by the first film.

The dancing penguins sequel is predicted to rack up $30 million over the weekend in 3,606 locations, 2,800 of which are 3D compatible. The Warner Brothers film cost $140 million to produce.




Digital Domain Attempts To Go Public Today

(vfxsoldier.wordpress.com)   

                 Later today Digital Domain will attempt to become a publicly traded stock on the New York Stock Exchange:

    Digital Domain Media Group, a special effects company whose work appears in Transformers, TRON and Titanic, hopes to raise $54.8 million in an initial public offering of stock set for Friday.

I never agree with Fox News but their segment on Digital Domain was pretty much spot on.

Why is this such a huge story in the VFX industry?

Digital Domain is the only stand alone VFX company to have tried to go public and by doing so, they must publicly report their finances for all to see… and it isn’t pretty:

    When adding in non-cash charges for depreciation and amortization and stock warrants to employees, the losses ballooned to $45.2 million in 2010 and $112 million in the first half of 2011.

Just “Paper Losses”?

According to DD CEO John Textor, who boosted his pay to $750,000 from $500,000, these are all just “paper losses”.

This was in reaction to a former business partner and Florida politician Carl Domino who tried to stop the state of Florida from giving subsidies to Digital Domain:

    Every indication is that this is a failed business model,” Domino said this week. “I don’t know how long you can keep losing that kind of money.”

Seeking Alpha agrees:

    An award-winning digital production company, DDMG is an artistic success but business failure to-date based on its income statement.

Executive Pay and Facility Overhead Costs Are Too Expensive

What’s interesting is that the vast majority of those losses were overhead costs for opening facilities in locations that are offering subsidies like Australia, London, Vancouver, Abu Dhabi, and Florida and compensation for executives and board members.

I went over the salaries of some of the DD execs and had to ask: With so many bonuses and extra pay in severance, what incentive is there for these execs to change the VFX business model?

And as far as the subsidies are concerned, the only location foolish enough to give subsidy money directly to Digital Domain is the state of Florida. It’s important to understand that the other locations offer subsidies to the US studios producing the film. DD is having it’s arms twisted into opening these other facilities to get the work and swallow the expensive facility costs. As you can see, $100 million in the first 6 months of 2011 is HUGE.

Will Digital Domain IPO Be Successful?

VFX artist Joe Harkins concludes that the DD IPO will fail. On the other hand Dave Rand is supportive.

I honestly don’t know. There have been many companies that have gone public without generating any profits. Hell I’ve done vfx for companies that never even generating a dime in revenue and they are still in business. DD is definitely generating revenue and are getting involved in creating their own IP and also co-producing a number of films.

This is the second time they are attempting to go public. The first time they didn’t even come close to this point. They’ve lowered the amount they are trying to raise from $115 million to about $60 million so the amount is much less. I seriously doubt they would try to list if they didn’t think the possibility for funding was out there.

Granted there are some huge problems and shady suspicions. The fact the IPO is happening on a Friday before the holiday and a small no-name accounting firm was hired to replace a big-name accounting firm brings back memories of the wrongful termination lawsuit DD lost to Ex-President Brad Call.

Will A Studio Buy-Out Digital Domain?

Don’t laugh but I’ve sometimes come to the same conclusion as one of the commentators in that Fox News segment above: That a bigger conglomerate will buy the big VFX studios out. Afterall, many VFX facilities like MPC, Imageworks, Cinesite, ILM, and Weta are backed by very large companies or producers with deep pockets.

The studios NEED visual effects in their films and while all you wanna-be director/editor/actor/student/waiters/cgtalk-trolls think its easy to just open your own shop and do big league effects, they still rely on the big facilities to get the job done.

Yes, they are treated like mules but the studios need them to tend to the VFX for their films and if one of them dies, that’s less VFX bidding competition.

It’s going to be a wild ride. We’ll see where it goes.




"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" Sinks Into Rewrites

(Deadline)                 Andrew Kevin Walker has come aboard to rewrite Walt Disney Pictures' 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Deadline reports. This will mark a second teaming between he and director David Fincher, who previously worked with him on Se7en.

Originally scripted by Scott J. Burns, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is based on the classic Jules Verne novel of underwater adventure with Captain Nemo and the crew of his submarine vessel, the Nautilus.

The film's previous screenwriter, Scott Z. Burns, recently spoke with ComingSoon.net and drops a few details about the tone of his screenplay.

"'20,000 Leagues' came about because David and I were trying very hard to find something to do together," he said. "I wanted to do something that was science fiction with David because I think science fiction is maybe the most exciting area to work in right now. David is so visually gifted that I was like, I'd love to be able to sit there at my desk and come up with any kinda crazy sh*t and know that David Fincher is going to turn it into something. As it so happened, David and I both loved '20,000 Leagues' when we were kids. It was one of my favorite books. So David came to me and said that Sean Bailey had contacted him about doing '20,000 Leagues' at Disney and I said, 'I would love to do that.'Then we met with Sean who was really great and said, 'Come to Disney and let's try and make a really cool version of a classic story.'"

Fincher, meanwhile, is gearing up for the December 21st release of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and has not yet announced whether or not 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea will be his very next project.




The Award Winning 10 Minute CGI Short Sci-Fi Film Made in a Basement for Less Than $100

(alphanerd.me)                   ROSA is an epic sci-fi short film that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where all natural life has disappeared. From the destruction awakes Rosa, a cyborg deployed from the Kernel project, mankind’s last attempt to restore the earth’s ecosystem. Rosa will soon learn that she is not the only entity that has awakened and must fight for her survival.

The short-film was created entirely by young comic-artist Jesús Orellana with no budget during a single year. Since it’s world premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival, ROSA has been an official selection at film festivals around the world such as Screamfest, Toronto After Dark, Anima Mundi or Los Angeles Shorts Film Festival. In October ROSA was screened at the opening night of the Sitges International Film Festival, considered the world’s best festival specialized in genre films. Following the succesful festival run, the short film has attracted the attention of the major talent-agencies and Hollywood producers. Currently ROSA is in development to be a live-action motion picture.

For more information regarding ROSA, please visit rosamovie.com

VIDEO - Take a look:   http://www.alphanerd.me/?p=1032




New Line Goes on a Giant Monster Rampage

(The Hollywood Reporter)                     New Line Cinema is interested in bringing some classic 8-Bit action to the big screen. The Hollywood Reporter has word that a feature film version of Rampage is in early development, based on the 1986 game from Atari.

The Kaiju-themed game was a cross-platform hit and spawned five sequels with the most recent, "Rampage: Total Destruction" arriving in 2006 for the 20th anniversary. The original game is officially described as follows (thanks to Moby Games):

George, Lizzy and Ralph were just ordinary Americans, until an experiment went wrong, turning them into a Gorilla, Lizard and Werewolf respectively. Following this, the three of them plan to go round destroying buildings, and up to three human players can join in.

Smashing at the edges of the buildings for long enough will make them collapse. The police and military are after you, and will shoot at you, so try to destroy them (failing that, you can avoid the bullets). You will need to eat regularly, with things like plants on offer, to avoid shrinking back to being human.

The project is now out to writers so check back for developments as they become available.




Transformers Ride Visual Effects : The Challenges of Industrial Light and Magic

(disneydigest.com)               On December 3rd, Universal Studios Singapore will launch the highly awaited Transformers ride and Universal promise that this motion thrill ride will showcase "the most advanced evolution of immersive theme park entertainment". Universal Studios Singapore will celebrate the Transformers world premiere at an exclusive evening event on December 2 and Michael Bay, director and executive producer of the blockbuster movies who also served as the attraction’s creative consultant, will be there to help commemorate the opening.

Now, more about the ride itself: The Transformers ride will feature 12 scenes, comprising sets blended seamlessly with hyper-realistic 3-D digital media and special effects to bring tactile realism to every moment. Guests will be unable to discern illusion from reality as they get transported onboard advanced motion-based ride vehicles into the Transformers universe, and partake in the ultimate 3D battle against the Decepticons right alongside the Autobots.

Enlisted as NEST recruits, guests are tasked to help the Autobots protect a remaining shard of the ALLSPARK – a powerful energy cube that gives life to the Transformers. As the Decepticons attack the facility in a bid to obtain the shard, guests will be introduced to a new Autobot – EVAC – created exclusively for the ride.

New to the Autobots family, EVAC is a stealth transportation Autobot stationed on Earth designed to transport personnel and classified materials at hyper speeds. For the ride, park guests will board EVAC and begin the ride of their lives, zipping through subway tunnels, down city streets and across rooftops, with the Decepticons hot on their heels. "Park guests, especially fans of Transformers, will be thrilled as they come face-to-face – and be transported – by an Autobot. This epic ride experience will allow guests the opportunity to truly “Ride The Movies".

And it's no one else than Industrial Light & Magic, the famous Lucasfilm division, which produced the ground-breaking visionary special effects and 3-D images exclusively for the ride. Artists that had worked on the Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie and understood its style also contributed to the ride. Jeff White, visual effects supervisor at ILM says:

"In many ways, creating the media for TRANSFORMERS The Ride built upon the pipeline we have developed for the film’s visual effects but for this project there were a few added twists and challenges. The screens on this project were so large and immersive they required us to render at 8k, four times the resolution that we normally render at.

The process began with a lengthy pre-visualization phase where we collaborated with Universal Creative and creative consultant to work out the main beats of the story that would take us through the ride, all with a focus on making it the best interactive guest experience possible".

"We then used a combination of photography from Chicago and completely digital environments to create the backdrops for the action and seamlessly integrated it into the practical sets. Following which was a lengthy and complicated animation process where we worked out the timing of the characters actions and how they interacted with the cameras to make sure it provided the best experience on the motion simulator. Finally, we added lighting and fx simulation for all the dust, papers, explosions and debris to make sure it felt the films.

The Singapore division of ILM did almost all of the work on the pre-show media as the guests enter the facility. They are an extension of our facility and were able to use the same assets, rendering and compositing tools we do in the US. Additionally, since they are where the ride was being installed, they were an invaluable resource to interface with the Universal Studios Singapore to get any information and data that we needed as it was being built.

There were many unique challenges in the making. For instance, instead of a flat screen we have in the ride 12 different screens in various shapes and sizes. The most complicated were the torus screens which were completely immersive and required rendering a 180-degree field of view. Also, each shot on the ride had to take the viewers angle on the screen into account so that as they approached the screen the perspective feels natural.

This required complicated camera blending from the moving ride into our virtual world and we worked very closely with the motion programmer at Universal to make sure it was a seamless blend."

The ride which open December 3 in Singapore will open next year at Universal Hollywood and i have the feeling that the ride should be as memorable as the Spiderman ride at IOA. In less than a month this should be confirmed.

Source:        http://www.disneydigest.com/dd/?u=http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2011/11/transformers-ride-visual-effects.html




'Breaking Dawn Part 1' on Pace for $140M Open

Sensing that end is nigh for their favorite vampire romance franchise, members of Team Edward and Team Jacob will flock to the movie theaters this weekend to see “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1.”

But will tween ticket-buyers turn out in enough force to propel the Summit sequel to record numbers?

It's unlikely, but even if the sequel falls short of those lofty marks, it still stands to sink its teeth into an awful lot of green. The first installment in the two-part finale is on pace to bank $140 million this weekend in 4,061 theaters.




Animators Quit UK For Tax Breaks Abroad

(ft.com)              Peppa Pig, Wallace and Gromit, Bob the Builder, Noddy and Thomas the Tank Engine are some of the UK’s best-known exports, with television shows watched by children all over the world.

But UK animation companies are warning that they can no longer afford to produce these programmes in Britain, because they are being undercut by subsidies and tax breaks in other regions.

“We have about two to three years before it is all gone,” said Oli Hyatt, co-founder and head of development at Blue Zoo, which makes animations such as Kerwhizz and Get Squiggling for the BBC.

“Five years ago, around 82 to 84 per cent of all UK-originated animation was made in the UK. Now it is just down to 23 per cent,” he said.

Aardman Animations, the Bristol-based maker of the Wallace and Gromit films, warned earlier this month that it was moving its television production overseas. Miles Bullough, head of TV at Aardman, said the company could not produce Ploo, its new pre-school show, in the UK at a competitive rate.

The UK animation industry, which employs an estimated 4,700 people and has revenues of £300m a year, is suffering because a number of other countries have begun offering tax breaks to lure animation projects.

Ireland, for example, allows companies to claim back up to 28 per cent of 80 per cent of their production costs. In Canada, companies can claim back up to 40 per cent of labour costs in some provinces, and South Africa offers tax rebates of up to 25 per cent.

“Our problem is that everyone has tax breaks for animation – Ireland, Belgium, Canada, South Africa. We are doing jobs here that make no money, just to keep the industry going,” Mr Hyatt said. “But we can’t keep doing this at a loss or just to break even.”

Mr Hyatt said his company, which employs about 80 animators, expects to make no profit from its current project, Tree Fu Tom, an animation for the BBC which is expected to air early next year.

Aardman has already gone overseas for a number of projects. Of the 90 people making Chop Socky Chooks, Aardman’s CGI animation series, for example, 70 were based in Canada. Over 50 per cent of Planet Sketch, a children’s show for ITV, was made in Canada.

Other companies are doing the same. Production of the Mr Men animation has moved to the US, while Thomas the Tank Engine is made in Canada. Octonauts has gone to Ireland and part of Alphablocks, which teaches children to read in English, is being made in Israel.

According to a survey by Animation UK, the industry’s trade body, 76 per cent of independent UK animators are considering moving abroad for work.

Chorion, owner of the Mr Men series and Noddy, is due to be broken up because it could not meet interest payments on its bank loans, while HIT Entertainment, owner of Bob the Builder, had to restructure last year and could be sold.

The industry is pushing for tax breaks, similar to those given to the film industry, which allow producers of British films to claim back about 20 per cent of costs. The government recently confirmed that film tax breaks would continue to 2015, but has shown no inclination of extending these to TV animation.

“We will continue to make films in Bristol, but for TV animation, which is much more price sensitive, it is not as clear,” Mr Bullough told the Financial Times. He believes there is a danger that an important part of the UK’s cultural heritage could be lost.

“TV would be worse off if our iconic shows are not made in the UK. I think they would lack authenticity for the viewers.”




Effects So Special, They’re Unnoticeable

(toronto.com)               Step aside, Houdini. Allan Magled and Berj Bannayan can make an airplane appear out of thin air.

Their Toronto company’s work on the Canadian-made horror Final Destination 5 was so convincing, movie studio brass didn’t believe what Soho vfx had accomplished when they first saw it.

Magled and Bannayan showed footage of a passenger jet on a rain-slicked tarmac at Vancouver International Airport. The pilots are visible in the cockpit window, walking around and taking their seats. Ground crews are seen inspecting the underside of the plane as airport vehicles move around the jet. The bright runway lights show the rain pelting down hard. It looks like a terrible night to fly — if it were real.

“You’re not allowed to shoot film in the Vancouver airport, only stills,” Soho vfx CEO Magled explained as he ran the scenes of the plane in the company’s Liberty Village screening room. The studio couldn’t believe it was a sequence created on computers and not the real thing. “So we sent them the (computer) wire mesh version (of the plane) and said, ‘we did all that,’” Magled added with a chuckle. “You get better at everything over time.”

That’s certainly true of Soho, which has created special effects for more than 60 big-budget films since opening in 2002. This year alone it did work for nine major films, including Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the latest in the Twilight saga, Breaking Dawn Part One, opening Friday.

Soho started out with four or five people 10 years ago. Today, 100 technicians sit before glowing computer screens in darkened workrooms, creating digital magic on the latest project, scenes for Spider-Man director Bryan Singer’s new fantasy Jack the Giant Killer, due out next summer, starring Nicholas Hoult, Stanley Tucci and Ewan McGregor.

“You can’t throw a rock in here without hitting a nerd,” Bannayan says with a chuckle, clearly including himself in that number. “Everybody is passionate about their work. That’s the defining characteristic of a geek, somebody who really gets excited about this stuff. All our crew, God bless ’em, they put everything they have into this work.”

Bannayan comes from a computer science background and “started writing the software development we use in this industry.” Magled worked in various places, from construction sites to a butcher shop, before landing in film production. Both worked at globally respected Toronto effects house C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, now defunct, before going out on their own.

Like most visual effects houses, Soho vfx works on a shot-by-shot basis. Studios hire a visual effects producer who oversees all of the effects needed for the movie, based on the director’s vision. Vendors are asked to bid on shots, Magled explains. Simple things like removing cables on a stunt performer’s harness or cleaning up a sky is considered a simple job. Soho does more complex work, like the smash-and-run tunnel chase scene in Knight and Day, starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. The tunnel was empty, Magled said with delight. All of the cars were added digitally.

That’s when they’re going for realism, but sometimes fantasy is the goal, like when Soho helped create the monster in The Incredible Hulk, mutants in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, or a fantasy army in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

The airplane shot for Final Destination 5 took about five months from start to finish, with Bannayan doing one of his favourite tasks, scouting locations with a LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) optical sensor. The camera-like device lets Bannayan get a 3-D image that can be recreated digitally. (He’s just back from England where he scoped castles for Jack the Giant Killer.) For the Final Destination 5 jet, he went to the Mojave Airport in Southern California, a kind of graveyard for grounded aircraft.

“I could have spent months there,” he said.

Back at Soho, artists made a wire mesh model of the plane, a 3-D sculpture on the computer created with the aid of the LIDAR images.

“The texture department starts painting texture on these images and the software takes that and wraps it around the plane like a skin,” Magled explains. Then it goes to lighting, the details added based on night photography taken at the airport. Next the background action is added, along with the rain and the pilots in the plane. The trickiest part is the water on the ground and the reflections it creates, Magled points out.

The final image looks like a plane on a tarmac — completely unremarkable and hardly worth noticing. Far from frustrating Magled and Bannayan, that reaction to all their team’s hard work delights them.

“The goal is to be seamless,” says Bannayan.

“That’s the highest compliment,” adds Magled. “If you saw it and didn’t pay attention, that’s the goal here.

“The airplane is there; it’s right in front of your face. It’s a stereo (3-D) shot that sells 100 per cent as photo-real and we’re very proud of it,” Magled says. “What we’ve done here is bring that kind of work and say it was done by a local artist, rather than going to L.A. or New Zealand or London. We were the first ones to bring that kind of heavy work here and the studios take us seriously.”

Soho VFX Reel:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtMiheRUAVg&feature=player_embedded




Pixar Premiere Animators' Occasion

(stuff.co.nz)                     A small group of Kiwi animators and special effects artists have had a sneak peak at Pixar's latest film, as the industry gathers in Wellington for its annual conference.

The southern hemisphere premiere of short film La Luna was held at animation conference Animfx yesterday at Te Papa.

The film follows a working-class boy who sweeps up fallen stars on the moon with his father and grandfather, and is being considered for an Academy Award.

Pixar director Enrico Casarosa, who was a storyboard artist for the United States giant on films Ratatouille, Cars and Up, afterwards gave an insight into his directorial debut.

Despite lasting only seven minutes, La Luna took nine months to make, using 50 to 60 people at its peak, which is a "small team" for Pixar.

At first the characters appear to be fishermen as they row out to the moon – a throwback to Casarosa's childhood in Italy.

"I grew up with the sea right by. A lot of fishermen. At home we lived with my grandfather, but my dad and my grandfather never got along. I was always the little kid stuck in between these two guys.

"One would ask me a question, and the other would ask me a question, but they would never talk to each other."

There has been a strong turn-out at the conference in Wellington, underlining the importance of the industry to the capital.

Weta Digital was well-known overseas, said Casarosa, who is based in California.

"People are getting excited about The Hobbit again. It feels like there is a little bit of recapturing of some of that magic that was there a few years back during the Lord of the Rings. I think people are very curious about Tintin as well."

There have been claims that Weta Digital is now the world's second-largest special effects workshop after Pixar.

Graham Mitchell, chief executive of ultrafast broadband company Crown Fibre Holdings, said he had heard anecdotally that Weta had achieved the No2 spot.

"I don't think people realise how successful they are."

But Weta spokeswoman Amy Minty said the claim was not easy to quantify.

Although Weta was certainly one of the largest, it would be reluctant "to describe ourselves in such a definitive way". A Technology Investment Network report estimated Weta's revenues climbed by $10 million to $110m this year.

A tour of Weta Digital tomorrow promises to be one of the highlights at Animfx, which has attracted about 400 people in the conference's sixth year.
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Weta has promised "behind the scenes" presentations on how it created the apes in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and on the making of The Adventures of Tintin.




Stop Motion ‘T is For Toilet’ Chosen Contest Winner for ‘The ABCs of Death’

(.latinoreview.com)                 Drafthouse Films, Magnet Pictures and Timpson Films announced Lee Hardcastle-directed short film “T is for Toilet” as the winner of the contest to find the next great horror filmmaker. It will be included with the international co-production of “The ABCs of Death,” an anthology film featuring segments directed by over two dozen filmmakers.

The anthology is inspired by children’s educational books, which will feature 26 individual chapters, helmed by different directors assigned to a letter of the alphabet. The directors were given the freedom to choose a word to represent a form of death based on their letter.

Hardcastle’s “T is For Toilet” used claymation to tell the nightmarish tale of a frightened you boy using the toilet by himself.

The contest received over 170 submissions from all over the world and 50,000 votes were cast from the public. The public vote narrowed the field to 13 finalists, in which the 25 other filmmakers voted on the winning film.

“We are delighted that ‘T is For Toilet’ was as popular with the other directors as it was with the public,” said co-producer Ant Timpson. “And we are thrilled that Hardcastle’s work will be seen alongside modern horror’s greatest filmmakers.”

VIDEO - Take a look:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCmMebE0pIg&feature=player_embedded#!




Occupy Wall Street 'Star Wars': Police With Lightsabers

(huffingtonpost.com)             One internet user decided to go right for the celebrated and clear cut revolutionary story of the past 50 years: "Star Wars." And guess which side was portrayed as the evil Empire?

VIDEO - Take a look:     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExP0BPf3gLI&feature=player_embedded