Hasta La Motion!

In 2014, it was announced that comiXology, a cloud-based digital comics digital distribution platform has been acquired by Amazon. comiXology offers the widest selection of digital comics in the world with over 75,000 comics, graphic novels and manga from more than 75 publishers. And now, news has come that Amazon has introduced comiXology Unlimited, a new service on the distributor’s website that lets the customer pay for an unlimited membership.

It’s been termed as the ‘Netflix of comic books’. Over here  instead of buying individual comic books or series, one just has to pay $5.99 monthly and get access to the unlimited titles available from various publishers.

The digital comic books will be available via app on devices such as Fire Tablet, Android, iOS and on the web. However, it will be available only to customers in the US for the time being. comiXology senior director of communications Chip Mosher said in an email that the company was “excited to share our love of comics worldwide and we plan to expand Comixology Unlimited in other regions in the future.”

Publishers such as Image Comics, Dark Horse, Oni Press, IDW, Fantagraphics, Archie Comics, BOOM! Studios are on board this new service, however industries leading comic publisher – DC and Marvel (Marvel has its own subscription model) are giving it a miss. The service offers a 30 day free trial and post that it will be available for a fee. Only one or two issues or volumes of each book are available through the comiXology Unlimited. These will be changed on a monthly basis and could serve, in the long run, to help drive up sales.

Mosher explained, “Customers have the ability to borrow up to 50 comics, graphic novels and manga from a selection of thousands. Once the they hit 50 all they need to do is return some to borrow more. The book’s download to your device for offline reading, too.”

While publishers were approached, certain individual creators weren’t aware of this deal as the information was not passed down to them either by the publisher or comiXology, so they didn’t really get to choose if they wanted to to participate in it or not.

With regards to comiXology, Mosher clarified, “We don’t discuss our business terms, but please know that every comic, graphic novel and manga appearing in the service was approved by the publishers to be in our subscription program. comiXology Unlimited is designed to spur sampling and the discovery of new series, which spreads the love of comics and increases revenue for all publishers and creators on comiXology. Everyone – the creators, the publishers and comiXology – all benefit when more people are reading and buying more comics.”

Seems like few publishers failed to notify the comic creators about the new development and as this news come, many independent creators have raised their concerns regarding this mode of payment.

However, this is probably the best time for a comic book fanatic to live in as comiXology Unlimited with its monthly subscription model will surely attract a lot more readers due to its cheap offering. And we hope, it soon ventures into other regions as well.

The post Amazon’s comiXology with ‘comiXology Unlimited’ offers unlimited comics at a nominal $5.99 subscription model appeared first on AnimationXpress.

At Content Tokyo 2016, around 1,530 exhibitors are expected to gather from across Japan and the world to showcase their latest, most creative and innovative products and technologies. It will be replete with various genres of content such as music, game, animation, TV, film, technology in expression, AI, publishing and so on.

The event consists of six specialised shows. While Production Companies Expo, Creators’ Expo, and LICENSING JAPAN will feature major production companies to up-and-coming creators and unique licensors. The other three shows Advanced Content Technology Expo, Content Solutions Expo and Content Marketing Expo are aimed at providing business solutions.

At the conference, industry leaders will reveal their secrets to make attractive content. David Lee from Netflix will be speaking about useful factors for when making original films and Netflix’s objectives for Japanese and Asian markets. PIXAR, camera operator, Sandra Karpman will be presenting, how the world of PIXAR is created through their camera techniques. Katsuro Onoue, the film director of Attack on Titan, will speak focusing on SFX/VFX. The website contains the full details and list of the speakers. These sessions are likely to be free of charge, especially for visitors coming from outside of Japan.

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Prime Focus, the global media and entertainment industry service provider has delivered Digital Intermediate (DI) services for the movie ‘Sarbjit’, a biopic of an Indian farmer who was mistaken for a spy after accidentally crossing the Pakistan border, and subsequently sentenced to death. The movie is narrated from the perspective of Sarbjit Singh’s sister Dalbir Kaur, played by Aishwarya Rai.

Talking about the experience, Sarbjit, director, Omung Kumar said “The movie ‘Sarbjit’ is my second collaboration with Prime Focus after ‘Mary Kom’. The team at Prime Focus has done a wonderful job and I am extremely happy with the final results.”

“Prime Focus’ DI team delivered an impressive grade that supported the storyline while bringing out the authenticity of the visuals. It was very important for the team to understand the sensibility of the movie and design the grade accordingly. They did a great job and we are extremely happy,” said Sarbjit, producer, Sandeep Singh.

One of the key considerations in grading the movie seems to have been, subtly bring out the gritty realism of the locations. Since the movie was mainly set in Pakistan, it was very important to bring out the authenticity of the location, enhancing the colours in such a way that the DI supports the storyline of the movie without standing out or being too noticeable. Every song  from the movie was treated uniquely to correspond with the themes of the song.

Talking about the collaboration, Prime Focus, Sr. VP, Film Sales, Niraj Sanghai said, “‘Sarbjit’ marks Prime Focus’ second association with Director Omung Kumar, and we really appreciate the trust he has placed in us following our work on ‘Mary Kom’. DoP Kiran Deohans has brilliantly captured every mood and emotion of the main characters in the movie, which helps us immeasurably in the grade. A special thanks to the Producer Sandeep Singh.”

The movie was graded by Prime Focus Colourist Aashirwad Hadkar, who has previously worked on some of Bollywood’s blockbusters, including ‘Bajirao Mastani’, ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’, ‘Bang Bang’, ‘Kick’ and the national award-winning movie ‘Mary Kom’

The post Prime Focus delivers DI for Omung Kumar’s biopic movie ‘Sarabjit’ appeared first on AnimationXpress.

“When we conceptualized the video, we wanted moments of teenage angst to unfold in one, inescapable shot, so the viewer’s transported back to those feelings we’ve all experienced. Our video is a nostalgic ode to our hometown of Moorpark, California. The band, cast, and crew all came up together in the area, so making this video in our old stomping grounds was special for us. ” Directed by Anthony Pham Produced by Alex Feig and Christian Lum 1st AD – Jesse Hayes Cinematography by Brandon Kapelow 1st AC – Jared Wennberg 2nd AC – Loie Templeton Production Assistants – Nathan Shoop and TJ Lasure Sound Design by Jackie Zhou Visual Effects by Patrick Kujawski Wardrobe by Cassidy Cooper Choreography by Michelle Guererro Color by Anthony Hammily Production Company – Whitelist Collective Starring: Spencer Fraye Garrett Fraye Meghan Kolarik Mitchell Fraye Jeremy Lujan Karina Evans Jason Clark Dylan Roberts Listen to Private Island: https://www.facebook.com/PVTILND/

Part 1 of my upcoming Almodóvar serie where I display spanish filmmaker’s obsessions with more prestige and most recognized in the world. Films used: – Entre tinieblas (Dark Habits, 1983) – ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? (Have I Done to Deserve this?, 1984) – Matador (1986) – La ley del deseo (Law of Desire, 1987) – Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, 1989) – ¡Átame! (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, 1990) – Tacones lejanos (High Heels, 1991) – Kika (1993) – La flor de mi secreto (The Flower of My Secret, 1995) – Carne trémula (Live Flesh, 1997) – Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother, 1999) – Hable con ella (Talk with Her, 2002) – La mala educación (Bad Education, 2004) – Volver (2006) – Los abrazos rotos (Broken Embraces, 2009) – La piel que habito (The Skin I live In, 2011) – Los amantes pasajeros (I’m so Excited, 2013) – Julieta (2016) Song: Luz Casal- Un año de amor (from soundtrack High Heels)