Hasta La Motion!

NYC FLOW is an exploration of video processing technics introduced by neural-style code. Made for Deep Slow Flow project – follow at www.instagram.com/deepslowflow Camera: Tatiana Stolpovskaya Editing: Viktoriya Yakubova Music: Candles by Jon Hopkins Direction & VFX: Danil Krivoruchko Open source code by Manuel Ruder, Alexey Dosovitskiy and Thomas Brox

Every living being on this planet has a need to connect with something greater than itself. From the tiniest snail attempting to cross a vast and unpredictable sidewalk, to each surfer ignoring their own fragile ‘shells’ every time they paddle out into the awesome power of the ocean.

Samsung believes it’s this basic need that leads to progress, and that progress always leads to more progress. As sponsor of the WSL World Championship Tour, Samsung has continually witnessed the world’s best surfers push their limits and in the process, spread the love of the sport to new and unexpected parts of the world.

In ‘Snail,’ we watch as a young boy in India pushes beyond both his physical and cultural limitations to connect with a world of surfing he’s only seen on his phone.

Come celebrate with Samsung.
Proud sponsor of those who defy barriers.
#DoWhatYouCant

As we observe VFX and animation studios springing up or expanding its branches, there’s an of melancholy in one of the leading Canadian animation and visual effects studio. As reported by CartoonBrew, the studio behind LEGO Marvel Super Heroes: Avengers Reassembled!, Elena of Avalor, Robosapien: Rebooted, Arc Productions is permanently shutting down.

“We regret to inform you that Arc is experiencing significant financial difficulties and a liquidity crisis,” CEO, Tom Murray wrote to his staff in a letter. “Despite the very best efforts of management to find a solution to this financial emergency, we have not been able to resolve this matter with our lender.”

Arc Productions has shifted hands with many companies over the years. In 2004, USA animation producer IDT Corp. purchased the studio from the founders of DKP Studios and in 2006, Starz Media’s parent company Liberty Media bought IDT Entertainment. Under its new management in 2007, the studio began a “Starz Shortz” program which has produced Bundle of Joy, Enter the Sandbox, and in 2010, the studio opened a major VFX wing to create all the effects for the new Starz Channel/Graham King Productions miniseries, Camelot, Alcon Entertainment’s Dolphin Tale, and producer Avi Arad’s family feature, Robosapien: Rebooted.

In April 2011, finally, the Starz Animation was sold to a Canadian consortium, and renamed itself to Arc Productions. Throughout the years, the company has been awarded tens of millions of dollars in Canadian taxpayer dollars to operate.

Currently, Arc was in production on the feature Blazing Samurai, which is scheduled for release in August 2017 by Open Road Films and so far no word has come regarding what will happen to that project.

It’s unclear what went wrong at Arc, but it’s known that the studio was aggressively expanding its workforce earlier this year, and even unveiled a new logo in April. The first sign that something was wrong was last Friday when employees were told they weren’t being paid because of a “glitch.” Now, according to CEO Tom Murray, the company has no money to pay its artists anymore.

“We are still working diligently to find a solution that will allow us to pay outstanding wages due to you,” Murray wrote, “but, in the event that wages are not paid and the Receiver is appointed, there is a federal government program known as the Wager Earner Protection Program where employees of companies that have gone into receivership may be able to make a claim for unpaid wages, severance and vacation pay.” That program only pays up to $3,900 per individual.

Here is the full text of the letter that Murray sent to employees that explains how the lenders intend to take control of the company’s assets on 4 August.

The post Toronto’s animation and VFX studio, Arc Productions declares bankruptcy appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Visa’s sponsorship of the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio is being promoted with “Carpool to Rio”, a global campaign running across all media channels from digital to broadcast. The Visa Carpool to Rio campaign’s centrepiece film follows 20 Visa-sponsored Olympic and Paralympic athletes as they join a fun and light-hearted carpool to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, leveraging payment innovations to make purchases on route, using technologies such as Visa Checkout, Samsung Pay and chip cards.

The Carpool film features the following Team Visa Rio 2016 athletes: Missy Franklin (USA – Swimming), Ibtihaj Muhammad (USA – Fencing), Carli Lloyd (USA – Soccer), Kerri Walsh Jennings (USA – Beach Volleyball), Valerie Adams (New Zealand – Shot Put), Ashton Eaton (USA – Decathlon), Terezinha Guilhermina (Brazil – Paralympic Athletics), Jennifer Abel (Canada – Diving), Pamela Ware (Canada – Diving), Alison Cerutti (Brazil – Beach Volleyball), Wayde van Niekerk (South Africa – Athletics), Daiya Seto (Japan – Swimming), Kanako Watanabe (Japan – Swimming) and Maria Espinoza (Mexico – Taekwondo).

The film was shot in the United States, Brazil and Japan and includes input from markets such as Africa, Australia, Canada, Central Europe, Latin America, Mexico, Middle East and New Zealand. It will run globally with each market featuring a different carpool sequence that highlights local Olympic athletes using a variety of payment technologies, making it Visa’s most global campaign to-date.

Visa extended the creative theme of “Carpool” in the North American market, by working with three major merchant partners, Best Buy, Costco and United Airlines, developing custom “Carpool” spots for each brand. Costco’s spot, “The Shopping List”, shows Kerri Walsh-Jennings and English Gardner using their Visa card to stock up on the latest summer finds in a Costco warehouse.

In the Best Buy spot, Ashton Eaton and Brianne Theisen-Eaton show off their speed and competitiveness in pre-Olympic Games by shopping on the Best Buy website using Visa Checkout. The United Airlines spot shows a humorous look at pre-game preparations featuring Ashton Eaton, Ibtihaj Muhammad and Carli Lloyd, culminating in a last minute flight purchase from Missy Franklin using Visa Checkout on United.com.

In addition to television, Visa will leverage its innovative digital, social and technology partnerships to amplify the campaign during critical times throughout The Olympics. Visa will also host fun, experiential activations onsite to drive local product and merchant preference.

Visa Carpool to Rio Credits

The Visa Carpool to Rio campaign was developed at BBDO New York by chief creative officer (worldwide) David Lubars, chief creative officer (New York) Greg Hahn, executive creative director Michael Aimette, creative directors Melinda Kanipe and Levi Slavin, art director Mike Lomanto, copywriter Fred Kovey, group executive producer Diane Hill, senior producer Sofia Doctor, post producer Leelee Groome, global account director Olivia Farr, account director Becca Valle, account executive Blake Maraoui, account manager Sigourney Hudson-Clemons, and assistant account executive Tucker Glenn.

Filming was shot by director A.G. Rojas via Park Pictures with executive producer Dinah Rodrigues with directors of photography Greig Fraser and Tim Hudson.

Editors were Ian McKenzie, Nick Divers at Mackcut.

Post production was done at Method Studios by producer Heather Saunders and colourist Tom Poole.

Sound was produced at Heard City by sound engineer Evan Mangiamele.

Music, “25 Miles” by Edwin Starr, was licensed via IMG.

Here is the full, two-minute version of the Concerned Childrens Advertisers PSA about putting stuff in your mouth.