Hasta La Motion!

Jan 23

Tunnel House

Posted in: 1

Tunnel House was an art installation created by Dan Havel and Dean Ruck a few months before this house was going to be demolished. Click here for more.

Jan 23

The Ambassadors: “The Big Bank Theory”

Posted in: 3d, Alex "The Big Bank Theory", Commercial, Dutch, General, The Ambassadors

Dutch post Production studio The Ambassadors puts out this playful and engaging commercial for Alex Bank and agency Dawn. The clever take on the “Big Bang Theory” works really well, getting the message across and making a dry subject quite entertaining.

The whole spot is one big “evolution,” from the duo-tone color palette and sharp geometric shapes in the beginning to a colorful, organic, full-of-life ending. I’m also loving the character design, typography work and overall animation. The sound design wraps everything up perfectly.

I hadn’t heard of The Ambassadors before and I was impressed by their body of work, some solid pieces in there.

Thanks to Vincent Lammers for the initial tip! And a huge thanks to Debbie van de Ven for the translation!

English Translation
00:02 Have you heard about the ‘Big Bank Theory’?
00:04 It works like this.
00:06 Once there were no banks at all.
00:07 Later came a lot of banks.
00:09 And now there are just a few left.
00:11 There will be fewer banks, because every bank wants to become the largest.
00:15 Until there is just one big bank left.
00:19 And it keeps them occupied. More managers, who hire managers, because all managers need to be managed.
00:26 The bank expands, buys, is being sold, and keeps on expanding.
00:30 This requires a lot of money. Fusions, golden handshakes, bonuses.
00:35 But who’s money was it anyway?
00:38 Exactly.
00:40 More people choose to go to a bank who doesn’t participate in this.
00:44 Who doesn’t concentrate on it’s own, but on your capacity.
00:47 On savings, the stock market and investment management.
00:49 Who makes sure you are the boss over your own money.
00:53 That sure isn’t a Big Bank, but it is the smartest investment bank of Holland.
00:57 You know us!
00:59 We’re Alex.

Original Dutch
00:02 Heb je al gehoord van de ‘Big Bank theory’?
00:04 Die werkt zo.
00:06 Ooit bestonden er geen banken.
00:07 Later had je veel banken.
00:09 En nu, zijn er nog maar een paar.
00:11 Het worden er steeds minder, want elke bank wil de grootste worden.
00:15 Net zo lang tot er maar 1 Big Bank over is.
00:19 En daar zijn ze heel erg druk mee. Steeds meer managers, die managers inhuren, want alle managers moeten ook gemanaged worden.
00:26 De bank groeit, koopt, wordt verkocht, en groeit door.
00:30 Daar is veel geld voor nodig. Fusies, gouden handdrukken, bonussen.
00:35 Maar van wie was dat geld ook alweer?
00:38 Juist.
00:40 Steeds meer mensen gaan naar een bank die hier niet aan mee doet.
00:44 Die niet met het eigen, maar met jouw vermogen bezig is.
00:47 Met sparen, beleggen en vermogensbeheer.
00:49 Die zorgt dat je weer zelf de baas bent over eigen geld.
00:53 Dat is zeker geen big bank, maar wel de slimste vermogensbank van Nederland.
00:57 Je kent ons wel!
00:59 Wij zijn Alex.

Credits
Client: Axel Vermogensbank
Agency: Dawn
Director: Paul Postma & Raoul Deleo
Post-production: The Ambassadors
Editor: Michelle hofman
Production company: Hazazah
Sound Design: The Ambassadors

Posted on Motionographer

The Ambassadors: “The Big Bank Theory”

Jan 23

raytracing in Nuke

Posted in: NUKE from The Foundry

It would be so nice to have some kind of simple raytracing in Nuke for window reflections and such…

Jan 23

Compositor/Roto Artists wanted

Posted in: The Job Lot

The Dark Side of the Earth is a fantasy adventure movie in the vein of Dark Crystal, Return to Oz and Willow. Just before Christmas I shot a 4 minute pilot to help promote the project and get the whole feature off the ground. I was lucky enough to get an amazing cast and crew together and thanks to brilliant deals from Panavision and Kodak we were able to shoot 35mm anamorphic, so it looks stunning.

We’re now in need of compositors/roto artists to paint out puppeteers who are controlling a Victorian robot character which was shot live on set as a rod puppet.

Most shots are fairly straightforward but a few will be tricky and some will involve tracking some rope elements in. Some shots could also do with retiming to make swordfighting moves more dramatic and others could use dust elements.

You must have the experience and computer power to work on 2K DPX files which will ultimately be recorded back to 35mm for a screening at a London film festival in May. I expect the raw shots to be scanned and ready for you to work on by Feb 8th at the latest.

Our compositing supervisor works at one of London’s leading FX houses. We aim to get a good number of artists on board so that each person just has a few shots to concentrate on.

You can see a production photo from the main shoot, watch behind-the-scenes podcasts and generally find out more about the movie at http://www.darksideoftheearth.com

I’m afraid these are unpaid positions due to the self-financed nature of the project. I hope to be able to work with the same people when the full feature gets off the ground.

To apply, please send a CV and any links to your work to jigawattpictures@live.com

Cheers,
Neil

Jan 23

XSI Generalist

Posted in: The Job Lot

A UK based 3D animation and visual effects studio are about to start a really interesting project that\’s expected to last around 2-4 months.

They require an XSI Generalist for a quick start. You should have particularly good modeling. texturing, lighting and rendering skills.

http://www.smoothdevil.com/index.php?page=job&job_id=770

closes: 24 Mar 2009

Jan 23

Diesel and Walker – Fast & Furious Once More

Posted in: Industry News

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/fast_men_thumb.jpg”]18374[/NEWS]Vin Diesel and Paul Walker regroup for the ultimate chapter of the film franchise built on speed — ‘Fast & Furious’. This is the fourth movie to be produced in the series but it is a sequel to the first and second, and a prequel to the third ‘The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift’. The plot connects with the original film allowing Diesel and Walker to reprise their roles alongside Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster. This is the first time the four actors have been reunited on set since ‘The Fast and The Furious’. Only Walker appeared in the second film of the series and Diesel made a brief solitary cameo in the ending of the third.

‘Fast & Furious’ is a high-octane action-thriller that sees Diesel, Walker et al “blast muscle, tuner and exotic cars across Los Angeles and floor through the Mexican desert”.

The storyline begins with fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto returning to LA where he reignites his old feud with agent Brian O’Conner. But as they are forced to confront a shared enemy, Dom and Brian must give in to an uncertain new trust if they hope to out-maneuvere him.

Quote:

“From convoy heists to precision tunnel crawls across international lines, two men will find the best way to get revenge: push the limits of what’s possible behind the wheel.” Universal Pictures.

An Empire online review urges viewers to file the film under ‘guilty pleasure’ stating that “petrol-heads are in for another dose of shamelessly dumb fun”. Both the teaser and the new trailer for the film can be viewed at the Fast & Furious website.

Quote:

“The giggles of stupid glee should be reserved for the end, however, where Toretto speeds his car underneath a bouncing, flaming tanker. If this were an Xbox game then that would surely be an Achievement Unlocked moment.” Empire online 15 January 2009.

Fast & Furious is due for release early April 2009.

Cast:
Vin Diesel – Dominic Toretto
Paul Walker – Brian O’Conner
Michelle Rodriguez – Letty Marciano
Jordana Brewster – Mia Toretto
Laz Alonso – Fenix Rise
Gal Gadot – Gisele Harabo
John Ortiz – Antonio Braga
Sung Kang – Han Lue
Kofi Natei – Main Thug
Wilmer Calderon – Tash
Ron Yuan – David Park
Liza Lapira – Agent Sophie Trinh
Shea Whigham – Agent Ben Stasiak
Tego Calderon – Sunny Pinto
Neil Brown Jr – Malik

Fast & Furious will feature the following cars:
Subaru Impreza WRX STI ‘08 Hatchback
Nissan Silvia S14 & S15
Nissan Skyline GT-R R34
Honda NSX
Ford RS200
Toyota Sprinter Trueno (AE86)
Buick Grand National
Chevrolet Silverado Trophy Truck
Hummer H3
Chevrolet Vega

Credits
Director: Justin Lin
Writers: Chris Morgan & Gary Scott Thompson
Producers: Neal H. Moritz, Vin Diesel & Michael Fottrell
Music by: Brian Tyler
Cinematography: Amir Mokri
Editer: Christian Wagner

Jan 23

Headlight Goes Deep With Olay

Posted in: Industry News

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/head_olay_thumb.jpg”]18373[/NEWS]New York-based Headlight Design + VFX Animation Director John Clausing and VFX Director Steve Zourntos, along with a team of artists go fathoms deep for Olay’s newest spot for their Ribbons brand of body washes. This dazzling underwater spot courtesy of Saatchi & Saatchi showcases the power of Olay moisture in a dazzling display of underwater choreography and VFX that’s as stimulating to the eyes as Olay moisture ribbons are to thirsty skin. The challenge was to really bring the ribbons to life while maintaining the soft, beautiful quality of chiffon underwater.

Comments from Headlight:
The agency had developed the concept of the underwater woman with a ribbon and had featured it in other body wash campaigns. In previous spots, however, the ribbons had a more passive role; for Zeros In, the goal was to bring in a new level of `artificial intelligence’ (a term coined by director Sue Worthy) to the ribbons.

They were on a mission – seek out and target dry skin areas – so our challenge was to really bring the ribbons to life while maintaining the soft, beautiful quality of chiffon underwater. The process required complex fabric simulation and adapting traditional location techniques to an underwater environment.

Depth and caustic lighting passes were necessary to really sell the idea that everything existed in this underwater world. We worked very closely with both Saatchi art director Lisa Bet and director Sue Worthy in creating just the right look and feel of our ribbons.

For the product demo sequence, we were very involved from the beginning. We had to communicate that the product is made up of two separate creams, so we designed a demo that seamlessly transitions from the underwater world into the inside of the actual product. The objective was to illustrate that the pink fabric featured in the main body of the spot was a metaphor for the pink moisturizing liquid contained within the Olay body wash.

Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop, XSI, and Flame were used for the design, animation and compositing of the ribbons and demo. On-set VFX supervision was also provided for the tank shoot at London’s Pinewood Studios.

About Headlight:
New York-based Headlight Design + VFX is a creative, award-winning design, VFX, animation, and full service production company specializing in commercials, music videos, emerging media, feature and long-format clientele. Headlight’s recent projects include: creating show opens for CBS’s Kid Nation, ABC’s Men in Trees, 3D worlds for Ogilvy’s American Express Lost campaign, and executing the VFX for Vidal Partnership’s Sprint Holiday campaign.

The Creds:
Client: P&G/Olay Ribbons Body Wash
Spot Title: Zeros In
Air Date: October 2008

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
EVP/Executive CD: Beverly Okada
SVP/CD: Hy Abady
Art Director: Lisa Bet
EP: Liz Sloane

Prod Company: Home Corp.
Director: Sue Worthy
DP: Adrian Wilde
Producer: Alex Hedges

Editorial: 89 Edit
Editor: Dave Bradley
EP: Bob Cagliero
Producer: Juliet Conti

Telecine: Nice Shoes NY
Colorist: Lez Rudge

Post/Effects: Headlight
VFX Director: Steve Zourntos
Animation Director: John Clausing
AD/Designer: Tico Kanzaki
3D Animator(s): Eric Lampi, Domel Libid, Eddy Estevez
Compositor(s): Ariel Altman, Jeremiah Moorehead
Head of Production: Lana Aklilu

Audio Post: Sound Lounge
Mixer: Keith Reynaud