Jun
29
The Function of Music with Jad Abumrad
Posted in: Animation
I sat down with Jad Abumrad and talked about sound, music and the function of music. Then I turned that conversation into a film.
Jun
29
Caught in an in-between world of flyovers, grass verges and dead-ends, where the motorway hum serves as a constant reminder of the speed of other lives, Marvin is not going anywhere. Into this forgotten corner of English countryside and motorway services arrives an extraordinary adolescent, changing his world forever. SEPTEMBER directed by Esther May Campbell won the BAFTA for Short Film in 2009. “Support great British film. Bring LIGHT YEARS to a cinema near you.” Light Years is Esther’s first feature film and Third Films are currently running a crowdfunding campaign to aid the distribution and get the film in as many cinemas as possible in the UK, in the autumn. The plan is to release the film on DVD and VOD at a later date. Check out the crowdfunder page below to view the trailer and see the rewards that are on offer! crowdfunder.co.uk/lightyears lightyearsfilm.co.uk facebook.com/lightyearsthefilm
Jun
29
The new album from Steven Wilson “4 ½” is OUT NOW, so titled because it forms an interim release between Steven’s recently released fourth album Hand. Cannot. Erase. and the next studio album. CD: http://smarturl.it/4_AND_A_HALF_CD Vinyl: http://smarturl.it/4_AND_A_HALF_Vinyl Blu-Ray: http://smarturl.it/4_AND_A_HALF_BluRay Digital: http://smarturl.it/4_AND_A_HALF_DIGITAL Steven Wilson has launched the stunning animated video for ‘Routine’. The hugely emotive track featuring a beautiful guest vocal performance by Ninet Tayeb is taken from his latest album Hand. Cannot. Erase. Steven Wilson “Amongst the hundreds of songs I have written over the years Routine has a very special place. It’s a deeply sad story of loss and denial, but at its conclusion the clouds lift and there is acceptance at least. Having worked with her on 3 previous videos, I knew as soon as I wrote it that it was perfect for Jess to do something amazing with. Even then nothing prepared me for the organic beauty and power of the film she made, a painstaking labour of love that took her months to produce. When we play the song live I look out into the audience and see people swept away with emotion at the combination of music and animation. To find poetry and beauty in sadness is a wonderful thing I think.” Director Jess Cope of Owlhouse Studios (www.OwlHouseStudios.com) talks about working with Steven Wilson and the creation of the ‘Routine’ video “Routine is the forth film that Owl House Studio has made in collaboration with Steven Wilson and the biggest one yet. The story centres on a woman dealing with the tragic loss of her family and the routine she creates for herself to try and cope. The themes in Steven’s music are often quite morbid and macabre and when we heard Routine for the first time, Tom Kaye (Writer/Producer) and I knew the story had to be really strong, to do justice to the music. Working with Steven is always a fantastic experience for us creatively. In the early stages, Steven often has a strong concept in mind for a song or album, but allows us the creative freedom to add our own style and ideas to it. Our use of traditional animation and the painstaking efforts of the whole Owl House Studios team, have resulted in a film with a level of beauty and detail not previously achieved by the studio – at the same time it is simple enough that the music always drives the story. We’re so pleased with the look of the puppet and sets, and especially the level of detail Alison Cross (Art Director/Prop Maker) managed to get into the props. This project also saw us working with Adam Oehlers (Concept Artist) for the first time and he was able to capture the tone from our script so perfectly. Working with such a diverse team and amazingly talented animators, we were able to bring this woman’s world to life. I’m proud of all the films we’ve made with Steven Wilson, but I’m especially fond of ‘Routine’. The response we’ve received has been phenomenal. It’s incredibly humbling to see that something we’ve helped create has touched so many people and reduced a good number of them to tears… It’s an extraordinary and ironic satisfaction! Hand. Cannot. Erase. the fourth solo album from the four-time Grammy nominee, multi-instrumentalist and producer has received universal praise from the media and fans alike rewarding Steven Wilson his highest chart positions worldwide including UK #13 ,Germany # 3, Netherlands #2, USA – #39 Billboard Top 200, Canada #24 & Finland #4 national album charts. Steven Wilson was, recently, awarded an unprecedented 3 PROG Magazine Awards for Hand. Cannot. Erase. including Best Album, Commercial Breakthrough, and Boxset Design alongside a nomination for Classic Rock Magazine’s Album Of The Year. With sold out shows around the world including his 2 recent performances at London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall Steven Wilson will be continuing to tour Hand. Cannot. Erase. starting in Germany on January 12th, the 2016 European tour takes Steven to Belgium, Holland, UK, France, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Hungary, Italy and Greece. Check http://www.stevenwilsonhq.com for dates
Jun
29
BUVETTE – STARING AT THE LINES
Posted in: Animation
Directors : Félicien Colmet-Daâge & Ludovic Versace Production : Les Monstres Animation : Félicien Colmet Daâge, Ludovic Versace, Siying Yu Coloring : Alex Bouvier, Siying Yu Compositing : Félicien Colmet-Daâge, Arthur Sotto, Ludovic Versace http://www.les-monstres.com Pan European Recording http://paneuropeanrecording.com/ Follow Buvette : Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/BUVETTE-1060… Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/buvette_/
Jun
29
Accidents, Blunders and Calamities
Posted in: Animation
A father possum reads his kids a story that’s an alphabet of the most dangerous animal of all – HUMANS! Inspired by the Edward Gorey classic, this black-comedy for kids and parents alike is a hilarious and brutal alphabet of death and mayhem exacted upon animals by ignorant humans. 30 CGI animals were meticulously crafted and killed by a team of 44 students at Media Design School.
Jun
28
“Pocket Money today is amongst the top 5 Apps in the category with huge traction. We have built Pocket Money as a successful and profitable business in less than 18 months.”
This is what Pokkt, founder and CEO, Rohit Sharma had to say about Pocket Money, the IP from the Alternate mobile payment platform, which assists owners of digital assets to monetise their users through an advertisement funded model.
Pocket Money has been acquired by Japanese mobile marketing firm, Adways, who recently launched their Indian subsidiary titled Adways Innovations India, placing Yu Ishida as their country manager.
Pocket Money is an advertising platform which assists app developers in engaging and acquiring consumers in a targeted manner. Being a reward-based platform it gratifies one in exchange of engagement.
Pokkt seems to have an average user base of over 6 million throughout country and South East Asia.
Speaking in respect to the event, Adways, country manager, Yu Ishida said, “India is one of the largest smart phone using markets in the world. With more number of smart phone owners, the advertising is also moving from passive attention seeking to engagement driven exercise. Pocket Money is one of India’s leading incentivising app. We are excited to enter the country with such a dynamic and young team as Pocket Money. Launching Adways India and acquiring Pocket Money is another step towards consolidating our foothold in the Asian market.”
Commenting from the side of Pokkt, Rohit informed that, “We want to focus on our core business POKKT Video Ads, which is the leading Mobile Video Ad Platform for Games in India and SEA. Adways is a large Global performance Ad Company and the right partner to scale the Pocket Money Business significantly in India.”
As Adways has quite a name in its genre, it would be interesting to see how things unravel for them in the country.
The post Adways acquires Pokkt’s reward-based ad platform ‘Pocket Money’ appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Jun
28
‘Life, Animated’; a documentary portraying how Disney films help someone to ‘live’ rather than just exist
Posted in: AnimationWhatever you see, reflects in your mind and influences your thoughts at some point of time. Cinema can have a radiating effect on your thoughts and behaviour for whenever you watch an appealing movie, you tend to become a part of the world it creates. Animated movies have an upperhand in captivating minds for they possess visual creativity coupled with an underlying message for life.
We pick up our early lessons from the cartoons we see during our childhood. However for some kids, these cartoons might be the only getaway and source of picking up tips for socialising as they grow up. Academy Award winning director Roger Ross Williams has created a documentary named Life, Animated which is inclusive of both animation and live action sequences.
The film follows the plot of the story of young kid Owen Suskind, who is unable to speak as a child until he and his family discover a unique way to communicate by immersing themselves in the world of classic Disney animated films.
As a kid, Owen is fascinated by Disney animated classics like Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid and The Lion KIng. He picks up various characteristics from these animated characters and thus chalks out his way of living. His parents in turn materialise these movies and characters to communicate with him and understand the society in a broader aspect.
A release by the Orchard (in North America) of a A&E Indiefilms presentation of a Motto Pictures production, this film is produced by Roger Ross Williams and Julie Goldman. Life, Animated, based on the best selling book by Ron Suskind, has been travelling and winning awards at various film festivals and will have a limited theatrical release in the US on 1 July, 2016.
The post ‘Life, Animated’; a documentary portraying how Disney films help someone to ‘live’ rather than just exist appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Jun
28
DreamWorks Animation will debut their all-new comedy animated series Home: Adventures With Tip & Oh and fans can head back to San Lorenzo with season 3 of hilarious series The Adventures of Puss in Boots this July only on Netflix.
The Adventures of Puss in Boots– Season 3 will air on 15 July on the online streaming service. The world’s most legendary swordfighter, Puss in Boots, swings into action with more of your favourite fun-filled magical adventures in the new season.
Season 3 picks up where the epic cliffhanger from last season left off: Puss must go toe-to-toe against the evil Bloodwolf. When Puss realises he can’t do it alone, he forms the Senior Defense Squad and joins a rowdy band of Sky Pirates to help the fight against the Bloodwolf.
Puss comes face-to-face with his ex-girl-fish-monster FeeJee and the Emperor of the Merpeople, takes control of the flying pirate ship when he is crowned Captain, and leads an army of skeletons back to San Lorenzo. Artephius creates a twin for Puss while, Kid Pickles becomes King of San Lorenzo for his birthday.
Home: Adventures With Tip & Oh- Season 1 will air on 29 July on Netflix. What happens after a misfit alien named Oh conquers Earth, befriends an adventurous teen girl named Tip and together they save the day? Oh moves in with Tip and her human family and finally discovers the true meaning of home. The galaxy’s dynamic duo are back in DreamWorks Animation’s this series which is packed with outrageous laughs, tons of heart and contemporary urban pop music performed by teen singing sensation Rachel Crow (Rio 2, X Factor).
Picking up where the hit 2015 animated film left off and building upon their enduring friendship, this coming-of-age buddy comedy follows fearless Tip and overenthusiastic Oh, as they navigate the crazily combined human and alien culture they live in, finding adventure wherever they go.
The post DWA brings new season of ‘Puss in Boots’ and ‘Tip & Oh’ on Netflix this July appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Jun
28
Gear up to celebrate the first ever ‘Maruti Suzuki Alto Comic Book Celebration Week’ in India presented by Comic Con India and powered by ReadWhere from 4 to 10 July, 2016. Comics enthusiasts and fans can download a host of Indian Comic book samplers for free straight on their desktop, phone or tablet (iOs & Android Store) from any part of the country.
The main publishers participating in the Comic Book Week are Amar Chitra Katha, Chariot Comics, Graphic India, Abhijeet Kini, Campfire Graphic Novels, Holy Cow Entertainment, Meta Desi Comics, Saumin Patel, Shamik Dasgupta and many more.
Comic Con India started an initiative called ‘Free Comic Book Weekend’ in the year 2013 with an aim to expand the scope and access of comics across India. Alto Comic Book Celebration Week is the extension of the same initiative, with a week-long celebration of comics and lot more activities for the fans.
Online digital content marketplace Readwhere.com has been partnering with Comic Con India since the very beginning to promote this initiative and allow comics enthusiasts download Indian comics for free. This year also, Readwhere.com will be providing the platform to serve free digital comics samplers to fans across India.
Comic Con India, founder, Jatin Varma shared, “I am extremely excited to flag off our latest initiative to promote Indian comics and creators and this year we have a week-long celebration lined up! All thanks to the support from Maruti Suzuki ALTO. We are bringing the latest and the best in Indian comics to fans across the country, in return we hope they will support their local creators and not only download the free comics but also purchase them! Additionally, we have tons of awesome contests and giveaways each from 4 July to 10 July! So, ‘Keep Calm and Read and Buy’ Lots of Comics!”
During this week, fans can download free comics samplers and participate in digital activities like fan art contest where fans can upload their art and the winner will get a chance to showcase his/her art at Alto Hyderabad Comic Con and fan meme contest where fans can upload memes and the winner will get a brand new Tablet. (The winners for both these activities will be decided via public voting and internal judging. Fans can also vote for their favourite artwork/memes and increase their chances of winning)
There will also be trivia contests, where fans can indulge themselves in daily fun contests with a new theme every day. Winners will get awesome prizes like merchandise, graphic novels and comic books from Random house India, Planet Superheroes, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins and Hachette India.
Comic Con India will also host an section called ‘Know your creators’, a dedicated section where people can know more about all popular Indian Creators and publishers taking part in the Alto Comic Book Celebration Week. (All these digital activities will be conducted on the dedicated Comic Con India, microsite for Alto Comic Book Celebration Week.)
This year, the titles featured at Readwhere will be VRICA: Ascension Protocol, Angry Maushi: Heavy Metal, Holy Hell 1, Rakshak, Kaamotsav, Elephant Stories, Birbal, Suppandi 7, Shambhu 7, Beatles, DC Superhero Girls Finals Crisis, Avatar EX, Aghori, Ravanayan, Shaitaan and many more. Users can download these samplers for free and full comic book will be available at very reasonable price with attractive cashback to receive in the readwhere wallet.
So fans get set, the process for Alto Comic Book Celebration Week 2016 will go live on Monday 4 July at 12 am and will conclude on Sunday 10 July.
The post Comic Con India to present India’s first ever ‘Comic book celebration week’ appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Jun
28
Films, commercials and television drama, VFX has ventured into all the spaces possible to enhance the visual outcome of various projects. Creating structures and destroying the same both can be done using CGI and VFX techniques and recently, more than creation destruction of various elements has taken the lead.
The iconic Mercer Arts Center performance space was made to collapse digitally in HBO’s TV series Vinyl. As the series is set in 1970s era of New York, VFX work included environmental enhancements for an authentic 70s aesthetic, including creating a CG theatre marquee, set extensions, matte paintings and covering a subway station with digital graffiti.
Deluxe’s Method Studios delivered approximately 250 VFX shots for this series which mainly included creating the graffiti walls of the subway station, trains and New York city.
Backgrounds, stores, street corners and various outlets were created digitally keeping the base reference which were visually pale and dull. The CGI work is subtle yet quite essential in order to depict the whole setting of the series.
VFX supervisor Jim Rider, CG supervisor John Kishaw and VFX producer Shaina Holmes led the visual effects work for this project. The HBO series has been created by Mick Jagger, Martin Scorsese, Rich Cohen and Terence Winter debuted with a two-hour series premiere directed by Scorsese.
The post Method Studios creates digital graffiti for HBO’s ‘Vinyl’ appeared first on AnimationXpress.
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