Adam Sandler to write, produce and star in new animated feature

Adam Sandler is set to write, act and produce an untitled animated feature for STX Entertainment. After his long standing performance in the Hotel Transylvania franchise where he voiced the lead character Count Dracula, animation has been a key field of interest for the actor.

Sandler also helmed Hotel Transylvania 2 along with Rober Smigel in writing the screenplay. And, as per what the movie panned out both in terms of story and box office collection, the story has been written effectively.

Sandler’s Happy Maddison Productions, founded in 1999, will now work on this animated feature project for STX Entertainment. Happy Maddison Productions has released several films produced by others like You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, Grown Ups, Grown Ups 2, Anger Management, 50 First Dates and The Shortcut. Sandler has a past relation with STX Entertainment, CEO, Robert Simonds as both of them have worked on films like The Wedding Singer, The Waterboy, Bulletproof, Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy, Billy Maddison and Little Nicky.

Adam Sandler and Hotel Transylvania 2

STX Entertainment, motion picture group chairman, Adam Fogelson said, “As we continue to grow our company, the family arena is of critical importance to STX Entertainment and we are tremendously excited to have Adam Sandler and Happy Madison developing projects with us for the global animation market.”

Plot details have not yet been revealed but it is speculated that this feature is mainly directed towards the kids and family entertainment arena. Considering Adam Sandler’s performance in the movie business, we can probably expect a new breakthrough of entertaining content from this upcoming feature too.

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Amazon’s comiXology with ‘comiXology Unlimited’ offers unlimited comics at a nominal $5.99 subscription model

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.

comiXology Unlimited

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.

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SBL Multimedia

sbl logoSBL offers a range of multimedia services that bring your every imagination to life.

We are an 11 years old IT and Business Process Management (BPM) organization that offers smart solutions to organizations across geographies and industry verticals and empowers them to respond quickly  to the changing market dynamics.

SBL Multimedia services includes Film Post-Production, Image Editing, Graphics Designing, Modeling and Animation.

IMMEDIATE OPENINGS AT SBL LTD,LOCATION – Madurai (Tamil Nadu)

Compositors – Madurai / Cochin

Experience: 3 to 8 Years

  • Candidate should have expertise in Keying
  • Paint
  • Comping both in  VFX and CG
  • Candidate must have knowledge of Nuke

Roto Artists – Madurai

Experience:  2 to 5 Years

  • Experience in VFX and Stereo Roto
  • Nuke & Silhouette knowledge is a must.

Prep Artists / Paint – Madurai

Experience: 3 – 5 plus Years

  • Good experience in  VFX.and Stereo
  • Experience in wires , tracker removal & clean up.
  • Knowledge in Silhouette, Photoshop and Nuke is a must

Candidates who are interested can send their resumes to ganesasubramanian@sblinfo.com

Or reach at  08056659888 / 7200041419

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Content Tokyo 2016 to be held from June 29 to July 1

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.

contents 6 shows
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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HP unveils the ‘Omen’ series of gaming PCs

Although consoles and mobiles have become immensely popular in the current gaming scenario; PC gaming still enjoys a titanic chunk of serious gamers. From casual to professional, most of the gamers around prefer PC over other mediums when it comes to gaming.

HP had delivered some fairly stable and fruitful gaming PCs in the past. Earlier, HP had successfully delivered their mid-range laptop based on Windows 8.1 and further launched gaming PCs under their Envy Phoenix and Pavilion names. However all these names clumped up together seems to have confused the consumers. But now it seems like HP is changing its marketing strategy by bringing their upcoming series of gaming laptops and desktops under one name, ‘Omen’.

HP had delivered some fairly stable and fruitful gaming PCs.  Sometime back, HP had successfully delivered their mid-range laptop based on Windows 8.1 and further launched gaming PCs under their Envy Phoenix and Pavilion names. But all these names clumped up together seems to have confused the consumers, HP seems to be changing its marketing strategy by bringing their upcoming series of gaming laptops and desktops under one name, ‘Omen’.

The company has recently unveiled some of their products for the upcoming ‘Omen’ series. For now, they have revealed laptops which will be available in two specific sizes, 15.6 and 17.3 inches. The laptops have a red LED lighting throughout with the ‘Omen’ branding on the keyboard and the lid. Each of them can be optimised in various ways, they can be upgraded up to NVIDIA GTX 965M, up to 6th Generation Quad-core Intel Core i7 processors, up to 16GB of memory, and up to 512GB PCIe SSD. There’s also a dual storage option with up to 4TB HDD and 128GB SSD on selected models.
The laptops will be available for sale on 10 June. The 15.6-inch one will have a price starting from $899.99 while the 17.3-inch one starts at $979.99.

HP Omen LaptopThe Omen desktop looks like a winner here for one reason. It has been revealed that the gaming rig will be equipped OMEN by HP Desktop PCwith enough juice to be compatible with VR systems like HTC Vibe and Oculus Rift. At max the system can be configured to Intel Core i7-6700K processor, 32GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and a 3TB standard hard drive. It also has the option of water-cooling.  These will be ready to ship in August (it seems) although no pricing has been revealed yet.

The company also revealed a 32 inch Omen-Display which sports a Quad HD (2560 x 1440) resolution.Omen 32 inch Display

The logo of the Omen branding is however a bit familiar as people would remember it from a company’s symbol that HP had acquired in 2006. Yes, VoodooPC and seems like HP is trying to bring everything under one umbrella as it tries to shine into the gaming sphere, again. We hope the Omens work in their favour.

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Prime Focus delivers DI for Omung Kumar’s biopic movie ‘Sarabjit’

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.

Sarbjit

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’

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Fujitsu Digital Transformations

Fujitsu is continuing their focus on human centric innovation and digital transformation with Digital Transformations, a commercial using a mixture of front and back projections, 3D projection mapping and a state-of-the-art holographic projection technique. Found, a London-based film company, had the challenge of creating a film with a multitude of characters and locations as well as visual effects and animation, all within the confines of a 32ft sq white cube. All VFX and animations in the film were shot entirely in-camera, using various projection techniques. ‘Holo-gauze’ was used for all the info-graphics. This is a virtually transparent projection gauze that, under the correct lighting conditions, can create the effect of 3D holograms. Working with Projection Artworks, the team created a new and unique viewing angle for each individual shot. The end result brings together a father connecting remotely with his children’s dietary choices, a retail shopping experience, a farmer monitoring livestock, keeping remote workers safe, and making city traffic fluid.

Fujitsu Digital Transformations

See the previous work in the Human Centric campaign, focused on education, medical developments and industry design.

Found takes us behind the scenes with two videos.

Fujitsu Digital Transformations Credits

The Fujitsu Digital Transformations campaign was developed at mcgarrybowen by creative directors Jane Briers and Dave Cornmell, and agency producer Kate Banks.

Filming was shot by director Mike Sharpe via Found with producers Ian Walker and Sean Stuart, director of photography Marcus Domleo, 1st AD James Dyer, production designer Oliver Hogan, and stylist Emma-Jayne Savill. Animation was produced at Found by art director/lead animator Tom Geraedts, animators Tom Langton, Richard Hallsworth, Jim Campbell, Abel Reverter, Marcus Chaloner, Daniel Burke, Andy Evans, matte painter Tim Holleyman, storyboard artist Johann Auroux, and editor Tom Starr.

Projection technology was by Projection Artworks. Holo-gauze was by Stuart Warren-Hill at Holotronica.

Colourist was George K at MPC.

Sound was designed and mixed at Jungle Studios by Owen Griffiths. Music was produced at Native.

Private Island – Drugs


“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/

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Pedro Almodóvar's Obsessions (I): Red Color


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)