A lighthearted Summery track and a calming music video. “Love Survive” is taken from Michael Nau’s forthcoming album “Mowing” out 18th November. Pre-order form http://fulltimehobbystore.com/buy/mowing-1 Director & Animator: Parallel Teeth | http://parallelteeth.com Music: Michael Nau | https://www.facebook.com/michaelnaucottonjones
Broken Social Scene co-founder Brendan Canning returns with a new solo record Home Wrecking Years, out now! Get the album: iTunes: http://smarturl.it/HomeWreckingYears Arts & Crafts: http://bit.ly/HomeWreckingYears Directors: Luke McCutcheon & Michael Yablonski Actors: William Ellis, Dan Sanderson & Stéphane Deschênes Editor: Ted Husband Director of Photography: Luke McCutcheon Camera Operator: John Ker Drone Operator: Adam Christopher Seward Special thanks to: Everyone at Bare Oaks Family Naturist Park
These words suggest one thing, but their histories tell us another. Produced for Mental Floss.
THE DIRECTORS SERIES is an educational/editorial non-profit collection of video and text essays by filmmaker Cameron Beyl, dedicated to appreciating and deconstructing the work of contemporary and classic film directors. This ongoing project is made possible in part by our generous supporters on Patreon. Please visit our profile page to learn how you can become a patron: patreon.com/directorsseries 4.5: SCREWBALL SCOUNDRELS is the fifth installment of THE DIRECTORS SERIES’ examination into the films and careers of directors Joel and Ethan Coen, covering their brief foray into the slapstick caper genre with mass commercial appeal: -GAP “TWO WHITE SHIRTS” COMMERCIAL (2002) -INTOLERABLE CRUELTY (2003) -THE LADYKILLERS (2004) -PARIS JE T’AIME: “TUILERIES” (2006) THE DIRECTORS SERIES channel on Vimeo: vimeo.com/channels/directorsseries Official Website: directorsseries.net Facebook: facebook.com/directorsseriesessays Twitter: @directorsseries About the author: www.cameronbeyl.com
This Coldplay music video with VFX by Vania Heymann (who also co-directed the clip and GloriaFX and others just won the MTV VMA for Best Visual Effects. Check out the behind the scenes video which shows how some of the contrasting VFX were achieved – some very neat comp work and clever design in there.
It has been about eight months since Tomb Raider’s previous director, Brian Horton bid adieu to Crystal Dynamics for Infinity Ward, the studio of Activision which is known for its Call of Duty game. Crystal Dynamics launched Rise of the Tomb Raider in January and it was the last title Horton had probably worked on.
Now, Crystal Dynamics has roped in Ian Milham to helm the Tomb Raider franchise as a game director. Milham, who has been in the industry for almost 20 years, started off his career as an environment artist, then transitioned into the role of an art director and finally to the role of a creative director. He spent a major chunk of his art director days at Electronic Arts’ Dead Space games (the series and its sequels). He further worked as a creative lead for Battlefield Hardline, at Visceral Games.
On a tumblr post announcing the news, Crystal Dynamics, co-head of studio, Scot Amos said, “Ian is one of those rare veterans who combine creativity, artistry, and passion into excellence on-screen. It’s a matching type of DNA that Crystal Dynamics has forged itself upon over these last few years.”
Millham also seemed quite excited about the position as his quote read, “Adventure games have always been my first love,” further adding, “When the opportunity came to join Crystal Dynamics, I had to jump on it. This is the home of Lara Croft, who is a legend in action-adventure gaming and a pillar of the industry. I’ve admired Crystal’s work for a while now, as they continue to deliver top notch narrative and spectacle, coupled with deep systems and player choice. I’m very excited about where the studio is headed and I’m eager to be a part of it.”
Rise of the Tomb Raider is also set to get a DLC on 11 October named Blood Ties.
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With pumped up volunteers and organisers waiting for the third day of TASI’s Anifest India 2016 to begin, nature had its own plans. Instead of waking up to a sunny morning, people in Mumbai were greeted with heavy rain showers, affecting the turnout of students even though it was Sunday. Nonetheless the drab weather or the less than expected turnout, couldn’t dampen the spirit of TASI members and the speakers.
What lay ahead for the students and professionals alike the following day was: The Art of Storyboarding and Visual Development, Independent short film showcase – Every Drop Counts, Life-cycle of a Gaming Asset, Student short film showcase – Chaaya and India Premier of Anima Instanbul’s Turkish animated feature film ‘Bad Cat’. However due to technical issues, the Bad Cat movie India premier had to be canned and instead the fest was open for Q&A interaction.
Chetan Sharma showcasing ‘Talisman’ theatrical promo concept boards
The Art of Storyboarding and Visual Development
Animagic’s one of the founder director Chetan Sharma with his enthusiasm and passion for the art of animation began the third and the final day of the festival. He started his session by talking about his journey in the field of animation, right from the age of 15. With Ram Mohan being his inspiration and Ajit Rao as his mentor, coupled with his strong determination and desire to tell stories, Sharma managed to come a long way in his life with plethora of widely acclaimed projects under his hood. He then went on to showcase the various works of Animagic studio over the years; be it in the field of animation, live action, advertisements or graphic novels.
He mentioned that he used to revisit his storyboards again and again to see how can it be improved. How to go about doing the storyboard? Animator, Dave Derrick says, “While doing storyboard, capture the moment” and that’s the mantra Sharma applies in his work too. In 1997, inspired by Walt Disney’s book, he came up with an 18 minute animated short ‘MAA-AA-AA’ based on a story of a Brahmin and a goat which got released in 2007. Back then, another inspiration for Sharma was Hayao Miyazaki, the demigod of the animation industry not just in Japan but across the world. Over the years, the studio has delivered storyboards for various projects; Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Mission Kashmir, Amazon Kindle’s ad wherein the storyboard was showcased and worked upon over a Skype interaction, The Bisleri monster ad, the famous Happydent White ad and many more.
Advising the students, Sharma said, “Storyboard as if the scene has already been shot. There are lots of layers and thinking process involved in this process. The concept art / visualisation should showcase what the shot should focus on. Visualise the action and get its feel in the storyboard as that’s what will give you the feel of the actual sequence.”
Dhimant Vyas explaining the concept behind his animated short ‘Every Drop Counts’
Independent Short Film showcase ’Every Drop Counts’
To tell a story in the least given time has always been challenging. But more than that, telling a story in a limited time frame using a creative medium like animation and yet portraying all the emotions, sending across the message effectively and connecting directly to the audience is the greatest challenge of all.
None other than the legendary stop motion animation artist Dhimant Vyas widely known as ‘Kaka’ in the animation fraternity took up this challenge and created a one minute animated short film Every Drop Counts for Drop Dead Foundation’s One Drop Cinema competition. The competition was about creating a one-minute-film to encourage people to create a viral video around the theme of water conservation and Every Drop Counts came in second over her. The film received a huge uproar from the audience as Kaka managed to strike the right chord by sending across a sensible message and evoking the emotions to highlight a sensitive yet grave issue.
Kaka completed the film in a matter of a week by spending two hours everyday after his daily work hours as he the deadline for submitting the film was nearby. “You don’t need a big budget or high tech software to create a film. All you need is a good idea and the passion to tell a story in the best possible way,” he added. He also shared the idea of his film and took inputs from various people around him just to get a different perspective as he has always followed the practice of learning from people.
The style of storytelling was organic and abrupt without a perfect start or a happy ending because Kaka wanted to open the eyes of the people through this film. “All of us are sometimes so lazy and ignorant in life that we take few aspects of life for granted. We do not care to save water because we get it easily but there are a lot of people dying everyday due to scarcity of it,” said Kaka. Further on, a humble Kaka highlighted that every artist is a learning student all his life. He concluded, “Koi aadmi chhota ya bada nahi hota. Ego kaam ke beech mein nahi aana chahiye.” (Nobody is big or small. Do not let your Ego come in between your work.)
The session was followed by lunch break.
Click here to view the complete coverage of Anifest India 2016
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Continuation of Day 3 coverage of Anifest India 2016
Post the lunch break, the attendees were still hungry for the sessions to come.
From left: Vaibhav Kumaresh, Shyam Deshpande, Arnab Roy, Ranjit ‘Tony’ Singh
Life-cycle of a Gaming Asset
Next in the schedule were Zynga’s proficient gentlemen, principal concept artist, Shyam Deshpande and senior character artist, Arnab Roy. The character design artist on Zynga’s Empires and Allies, Shyam Deshpande left the audience pretty much awestruck with his personal art creations. He explained how a piece of art consumes enormous amount of time and tremendous hard work, while sharing his experience about his journey from scratch. Eventually, he showcased a character design the duo had prepared especially for the fest. They named the character ‘Athena’, a sword-wielding, battle-scarred lady warrior from another planet. He explained step by step the process on how he came up with the character. He said, “Look for character references by searching for similar characteristics in real life people depending on where the character comes from. While creating multiple characters, if one wants to see if they are distinguishable from one another, see their silhouette version as that will help one get a clearer picture to gauge if that character is unique from the rest.”
Soon, he passed on the baton to Arnab Roy and everyone attending the show was in for a treat. He informed us that he was currently working on Farmville 2, an IP which dominated the social gaming scene at its peak. He spoke about the various steps involved while designing a character; from concept , sculpting, retopology / low poly modeling, baking, PBR maps, lighting to the final output. When an enthusiastic member of the audience asked him about the difference between the previous and the current version of Farmville, he explained by saying that they have turned a 2D game into 3D. The camera has been modified for a better and smoother experience with more brightly coloured farms including character animation which are “not too tony, not too realistic”.
Shyam Deshpande showcasing his art work
Speaking about the character creation for FarmVille 2, Roy added, “Attention was paid more to the eyes as they are the main attraction in any character and attractive colours added to the visual appeal. The light thrown was from above and everything was painted on texture with no effects. Though low polygon and texture was used in the creation of these characters (for smoother gameplay as it’s a social game), they are still distinguishable from each other.”
Finally, he explained and displayed the process on how he sculpted the model of ‘Athena’ from the sketches that Deshpande had earlier mentioned and the end result was pretty amazing.
In the end Deshpande urged the students to ‘pay attention to the basics’, hinting at the fact that aspiring students looking forward to join the industry must hone their skills over physical canvas before venturing into the virtual ones.
Debanjan Nandy explaining the concept art of ‘Chhaya’
Student short film showcase and making of ‘Chhaya’
What is ‘THE’ story that you want to tell? If given just one chance to express yourself, what will be the idea that you would want to portray? Debanjan Nandy, a student of National Film and Television School, asked himself this question and thus directed the award winning animated film Chhaya which gives a reverberating message through a powerful story.
“It is a story that you want to tell people. It’s your idea so don’t copy, find something original and connect it with yourself. Before starting the production, try to know the heart of the film,” claimed Nandy as he explained that the process of filmmaking begins with an idea and the basic story. Once the core essence of the story is set, the other aspects like medium of storytelling, script, production, sets, sound design and packaging follow. He also believed that filmmaking is a team process and it is only teamwork that helps to make a good film, as every artist brings his best to the table and thus contributes to make the film successful.
Survival is the most difficult yet a paramount aspect of life. To let go of the past is not easy as the past does not let you go too; it keeps haunting you time and again. Chhaya gives out an inspiring message to let go of the past, accept reality, move on and survive in life ahead. Nandy explained various aspects of the film like miniature life sets; mix medium of animation used to bring the animated short to life – 3D animation, glass painting animation and background made up of oil painted canvas; canvas texture given to the 3D characters; and music composition. In his parting words, while making any film he urged the audience to constantly ask themselves – Why are you making this film? What do you want to tell?
Winners of Anifest India 2016 storyboarding competition
A storyboarding contest was also held which was judged by Animagic’s directors Gayatri Rao and Chetan Sharma. Three winners were chosen who received graphic tablets by Wacom. As mentioned earlier the Bad Cat film India premier had to be cancelled due to some technical glitch, the organisers opened the festival for the audience for a Q&A / feedback session with Ranjit ‘Tony’ Singh, Vaibhav Kumaresh, Gayatri Rao and Chetan Sharma.
Anifest India 2016 witnessed the screening of animated films like Death Sails, light animation film Rippled for AIR and light animation film commercials based on festivals like Diwali, Christmas and New Year crafted by Ranjit ‘Tony’ Singh.
Click here to view the complete coverage of Anifest India 2016
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“I have a question about the animation space in India” this statement was heard several times during the past three days at the Anifest India 2016 organised by The Animation Society of India (TASI). A festival ‘For the animators – By the animators’ witnessed a great deal of questions and the industry experts attending the festival answered all of it to the best of their knowledge.
The fest opened with the first ever India premiere of Laika’s animated film Kubo and the Two Strings at Whistling Woods International auditorium. It was not surprising to see that the auditorium was packed with over 250 people eager to witness the phenomenal film on the first day of the fest. TASI had also premiered Laika’s Boxtrolls during Anifest 2014.
Knowledge outpoured in abundance to the curious minds who assembled on the second day of the fest at Jai Hind College Auditorium. Sessions covering a variety topics like Interactive Light Animation Workshop by Vaibhav Kumaresh from Vaibhav Studios and Ranjit ‘Tony’ Singh, Blender and its potential by Niyal Parmar and Pratik Solanki from Weybec Studio and Behind the Scenes of The Jungle Book by Amit Sharma from MPC enlightened the audience.
Creativity and craftsmanship took the rudder as the audience dived into the third day of the fest at the same venue. Chetan Sharma from Animagic explained The Art of Storyboarding and Visual development, Dhimant Vyas shared his idea behind the creation of animated short Every Drop Counts, Shyam Deshpande and Arnab Roy from Zynga Games drew light on the Life-cycle of a Gaming Asset and Debanjan Nandy highlighted the whole process of filmmaking and his journey in creating the award winning film Chhaya.
Each presentation was followed by a Q&A session where the audience inclusive of young aspirants, early animators, arts students, interns, professionals and even teachers posed a bunch of questions to the industry speakers. In fact, it was enlightening to see that some of the Q&A sessions were longer than the presentations. It clearly indicated the interest level of the audience, the thirst for knowledge and essence of active participation.
Anifest India 2016 team
Apart from the sessions, a variety of films like Monkaa, Big Buck Bunny, Cosmos Loundromat, Dunder, Death Sails, Rippled, Light animation commercials, few of Chetan’s storyboard commercials (Happydent White, Bisleri and Bijlipur), Every Drop Counts and Chhaya were showcased. Out of which, Kubo and the Two Strings and Dunder received the first ever India premiere.
Anifest India 2016 encouraged and appreciated the art among the audience with a storyboarding contest. The winners of the contest received graphic tablets by Wacom. A team of around 20 volunteers were also felicitated with certificates for their contributions to make the festival possible.
The most interesting aspect observed throughout were the Q&A sessions and to feed the hunger, the organisers opened the festival for the audience for a Q&A / feedback session with Ranjit ‘Tony’ Singh, Vaibhav Kumaresh, Gayatri Rao and Chetan Sharma on the final day. This session witnessed a range of questions raised by the audience concerning different aspects of the animation space of India, studios, artists, education system, work culture, pay cycle and kind of projects.
One interesting and relevant question was thrown at the jury – What should one do when a company shuts down?
Tony replied to this by saying, “Join a studio gauging the employer and the studio’s history. Don’t enter the studio just because someone had told you about it, enter only after doing your research.” Kumaresh further added, “There are times when even big studios pulls down its shutters; in these scenarios unfortunately nothing can be done.” Sharma went on to mention that, “There are times when studios are opened up without the founder having any knowledge about the industry. In these cases, he hires personnel who have been in the industry for long with reputable studios. However, he fails to understand what kind of experience does the personnel hold. There are times when a fresher in the industry due to his/her skills supervises a personnel who has 15 years of experience. That’s why one must understand, years of experience doesn’t matter, what matters is the work.”
From left: Ranjit ‘Tony’ Singh, Vaibhav Kumaresh, Gayatri Rao, Chetan Sharma
Having said that, there are times when employees leave the workplace before completing their contract period or serving the notice time because they get an offer from the other studio. Commenting on this issue Kumaresh said, “When employees leave early, it shows their integrity and commitment. Not just employees, this also shows the mentality of the employer as he/she is asking you to leave an organisation in midway. So it all boils down to one’s own decision and how do they want to go ahead in their career.”
Sharma ended by saying, “You can only commit on what can you do, not what others do. So as an artist concentrate on your work and not let other factors distract you from your goal.”
TASI, senior founding member, Ranjit ‘Tony’ Singh said, “The turnout in terms of numbers is not important. What is important is that the people who land up here for the festival should get a fulfilling experience. In future, we will see some more films from Indian studios that are available. Every year the endeavour has been to get new content and interesting topics so for the next Anifest we will maintain the same.”
TASI, core committee member, Vaibhav Kumaresh commented, “The quality of every session has increased every year. The Q&A sessions were great as the audience were so curious, engrossed and interested to know more about; be it a creative session, technology talk or an interactive workshop. We are trying our best to give as much as we can to the audience and we will continue to do so.”
‘For the animators – By the animators’ Anifest India 2016 organised by The Animation Society of India (TASI) has definitely quenched the thirst of a footfall of around 200-250 each day. Imparting knowledge, displaying creativity, showcasing art, targeting various issues and answering queries, Anifest India 2016 has filled the young aspirants with abundant knowledge in three days.
Click here to view the complete coverage of Anifest India 2016
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