Empire Magazine Australia asked me to write about the VFX of The Walking Dead, so I turned to Swedish studio Fido to find out what they’d been up to last season. Really happy with how this came out!
Rob Legato has won two visual effects Oscars (for Titanic and Hugo). He also got nominated for Apollo 13 and he’s won a couple of Emmys for his work on two Star Trek TV series. You most recently saw his vfx supervision in The Jungle Book, an almost all-CG film.
But Legato is one of those vfx artists who doesn’t really think in terms of CG or visual effects – he just thinks in terms of how the shots he’s supervising will be part of the final sequence, the final shot, the final frame.
That might sound like an obvious goal, but it’s hard to do. You have to think like a director, act like a cinematographer, be a storyteller. If you consider what Legato has been able to do with those Oscar-winning films, and with The Jungle Book, you’ll realise he’s one of the masters at making vfx shots not even look like vfx shots.
I interviewed Legato for Masters of FX, and I just loved one of the things he said about making vfx:
“There might be only a handful of truly epic shots due to practicality and the rest of the sequence cinematically set up the crescendo of these epic moments,” continues Legato. “Now all the shots are crescendo moments with little cinematic setup to build to a climax. More actually becomes less. One thing I’ve found with all the films I’ve worked on is that once you really believe it could have been actually filmed live than you become much more emotionally wrapped up in what you’re looking at. You no longer think it’s fake or miniatures or CG.”
There aren’t many opportunities to learn from someone with the calibre of Legato, but at VIEW soon in Turin, Italy, he’ll be there. And he’ll be sharing just how he managed to make The Jungle Book feel so natural despite its heavy reliance on CG and vfx. Legato will be giving a talk entitled ‘The Art and Science behind creating a photo-realistic Jungle Book’ and it’s just one of the highlights of the week (which begins 24 October).
You can find out more about VIEW and book tickets at the website.
Framestore VFX studio has partnered with Campus ADN to launch the Launchpad: PRO initiative, starting in Montréal. With a view to encourage the growth of Montreal’s VFX community, the VFX studio will offer free courses focusing on 2D skills.
Framestore is known for its VFX work in blockbusters like The Legend of Tarzan, The Martian, Everest and so on. The series of Launchpad: PRO courses, starting in October 2016, have been developed to train students in industry-standard skills and are free of charge for the selected students.
The program, developed by Montreal’s Campus ADN, will be led by senior compositor Simon Pierre Puech, an appointed Framestore training supervisor. Across three months, Simon will provide hands-on training to encourage students to be employment ready.
This initiative will ensure that candidates with aptitude are given high-level and relevant training, equipping them for employment within VFX. By training students in the application of artistry as well as in the specific competencies expected within a junior role, the courses will act as an accelerator for students.
To qualify, applicants need to have an awareness of the VFX industry and a good basic knowledge of Nuke. Those who pass the course will be offered a contract for an entry level role within Framestore.
Based in Montréal since 2013 with an initial team of just 20, the VFX facility now boasts around 300 employees, with plans to expand even further since taking on exclusive Montréal-based projects, including the upcoming Blade Runner prequel.
Framestore has collaborated with Campus ADN in this training partnership. Campus ADN has a track record of designing and running highly successful, vocational training within the games and digital media sector.
ADN, coordinator at campus, Isabelle Marazzani commented, “We’ve been hearing about the rising demand for artists locally for a while now and we are excited about this joint venture enabling us to provide real-world training within a highly specialised industry field. We are confident that Framestore will attract those with a real passion for working within the industry.”
Framestore, film, global joint MD, Matt Fox said, “The BCTQ’s recently published workforce study on VFX and animation in Quebec highlights the ‘need to structure a continuing training offer aimed at developing the ability of companies to maintain world-class expertise’ and in our Montreal course initiative we are leading the way in doing just that.”
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9 Story Media has announced that it has secured multiple international sales for the animated series Nature Cat (40 x 22′), aimed at children 3 to 8 years old.
New licenses include SVT (Sweden), TG4 (Ireland), SIC (Portugal), Canal Panda (Spain), Nick Jr (Italy) via Funwood Media, E Junior (Middle East), and Hop TV (Israel). The series premiered in November 2015 on PBS KIDS in the USA and on Family CHRGD in Canada this past July. Nature Cat has been a good performer in both USA and Canada: In the USA, 33 million viewers have watched the series since its premiere; and in Canada, it catapulted into the top 5 on Family CHRGD soon after its debut.
Created by the Emmy award winning creative team at Spiffy Pictures and co-produced by Spiffy Pictures and WTTW Chicago, 9 Story handles international distribution and consumer products outside USA, while HiHat Media handles brand licensing within USA. The series was recently nominated for a 2016 Daytime Emmy Award for ‘Outstanding Writing in an Animation Program’ as well as a Television Critics Association Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming.’
Featuring the vocal talents of Saturday Night Live veterans Taran Killam (Nature Cat), Kate McKinnon (Squeeks), Bobby Moynihan (Hal), Chris Parnell (various characters) and Kenan Thompson (Ronald), along with actress Kate Micucci (Daisy), the series follows the adventures of Nature Cat and his friends. In each episode, Nature Cat can’t wait to get outside for a day of nature excursions and bravery, but there’s one problem: he’s a house cat with no instincts for nature. With the help of his animal friends, Nature Cat embarks on action-packed adventures that include exciting missions full of investigation, discovery moments and humour, all while inspiring children to go outside and play.
The post 9 Story Media announces list of International Sales for animated series ‘Nature Cat’ appeared first on AnimationXpress.
It’s been a while since digital means of marketing and promotion has become an integral part when it comes to movies. From Hollywood to Bollywood, the trend is quite prevalent and is more in numbers than ever.
In Bollywood, most of the big films now have a game attached to their promotional schedule featuring some of the story elements and mostly the main character of the movie as the protagonist of the game. From Sultan to A Flying Jatt, almost all the movies that are being created now has a game to their name.
Not making an exception is MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, which already has its official game released over Android. Created by Hungama Games, the game portrays Sushant Singh Rajput as MS Dhoni, the protagonist. No surprises for guessing that it is a cricket game but the unexpected is that it also has a racing segment in one of the tabs of the game (because MS Dhoni is reportedly a motorbike enthusiast).
Here’s the official description of the game:
In this game we will be playing as Mahendra Singh Dhoni and playing through important phases of his cricketing career. Unlike other cricket games this game will be focused entirely on Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s career. It’s a first ever mobile Cricket game in the world to incorporate manual wicket keeping and fielding system.
The initial run of the game takes you through the batting tutorial and then leaps into the story mode where you are on strike as the captain himself. The four categories you can try out in the game are: story, wicket keeping, bike racer and cricket. The Cricket tab further has various sub categories, including the store option for in-app purchases.
The game seems quite simple with very minimal controls, however there’s an advertisement every time you get out, which can make you shift from the game’s flow.
The post Hungama Games launches ‘MS Dhoni: The Untold Story Game’ appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Twitter has become one of the most widely used social networking platforms. Be it a celebrity or a renowned brand, everybody takes to Twitter to spread their message across the digital medium. However, if reports are to be believed, the company might soon be acquired. The contenders for the bidding have big names like Google and Salesforce.
Now, as reported by Bloomberg, Disney has joined the race of acquiring Twitter. Although no official bid has been made yet, The Walt Disney Company is reportedly working with a financial advisor to place one and seal the deal. Even Microsoft is reportedly planning to make a bid on the social media giant.
Why does Disney fit the bill more than any other players in the race to acquire Twitter?
To start off, Twitter, CEO, Jack Dorsey is on Disney’s board panel. Now, with more and more people shifting their focus on to digital means of entertainment by abandoning traditional cable means, it would be a good deal for Disney, who owns channels like ABC and ESPN. Disney has also previously invested in digital names like Hulu, Vice, BAMTech.
Twitter’s stocks rose by around 20 per cent last week when the news of its acquisition started doing rounds. However, it would be interesting to see how it all pans out as all the players reportedly in the race are major ones.
The post Is Disney in a bid to acquire Twitter? appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Audi USA has provided a dramatic take on the lead up to the 2016 US Presidential elections with “Duel”, a commercial released to coincide with the first Presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. A very physical fight between two hotel valets rolls out in reverse, before revealing the nature of their rivalry, the desire to drive a new Audi RS 7. Easter eggs in the Audi Duel commercial include elephant and donkey ice sculptures, a Presidential Tower, a mobile phone with classified emails, a dossier of classified documents, a copy of William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. The Audi Duel ad concludes with the call to action: “Beautiful things are worth fighting for. Choose the next driver wisely.”
The Audi Duel campaign was developed at Venables Bell & Partners by partner/executive creative director Will McGinness, founder, chairman Paul Venables, creative directors Justin Moore, Erich Pfeifer, associate creative director/copywriter Matt Keats, associate creative director/art director Matt Miller, director of integrated production Craig Allen, senior producer Matt Flaker, producer Gabby Gardner, head of brand management David Corns, brand director Chris Bergen, brand supervisor Justin Wang, brand manager Abu Ngauja, project managers Talya Fisher and Leah Murphy.
Filming was shot by director Ringan Ledwidge via Rattling Stick with director of photography Greig Fraser, head of production Richard McIntosh, exec producers Joe Biggins and Jeff Shupe, line producer Greg Haggart, stunt coordinator Robert Alonzo, production designer K.K. Barrett.
Editor was Rich Orrick at Work Editorial with assistant editor Mike Horan, executive producer Marlo Baird and producer Brandee Probasco.
Music was produced at Woodwork Music by composer Philip Kay and music coordinator Andy Oskwarek.
Sound was designed at The Sound Lab at Technicolor by executive producer Debbie Gonzalez, lead sound designer/mix engineer Scott Gershin, and sound designer Johannes Hammers.
Visual effects were produced at The Mill by executive creative director Phil Crowe, VFX supervisor John Shirley, CG lead David Lawson, senior producer Anastasia von Rahl, associate producer Karina Slater, colonist Greg Reese.
Whether you are new to Windows or an experienced user, you can always use new tools to make your day-to-day work easier. In this video, I break down my Top Five Free Windows Utilities for Motion Designers.
So many Mac users are making the switch to Windows to take advantage of GPU renderers, that I thought I’d share some of my favorite little tools to help make their transition easier.
Links to the Top Five:
Rainmeter: https://www.rainmeter.net/
Xnview: http://www.xnview.com/en/
Renamer: http://www.den4b.com/?x=products&product=renamer
DJV: http://djv.sourceforge.net/
ShareX: https://getsharex.com/
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A. during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
