Hasta La Motion!

It has been a rather great year for Activision Blizzard, revenue-wise. The company reported a revenue of $6.61 billion for the full year during the company’s yearly earnings report. This is a record number in the company history. The numbers are up by 42 per cent than 2015 when the company reported $4.66 billion in revenues.

The fourth quarter has been a winner for Activision Blizzard as it reported that their GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles, or earned) revenues were up by 49 per cent which is $2.01 billion compared to $1.35 billion in the same period, last year.

“Our record performance in 2016 further strengthened our position as the world’s leading standalone interactive entertainment company,” stated Activision Blizzard, chief executive officer, Bobby Kotick, in the financial release. “For the quarter and the year, we delivered our highest revenues, non-GAAP redefined operating margins and earnings per share, well surpassing our own expectations.”

Activision Blizzard stock up 9.5% after earnings.

Whew! pic.twitter.com/LT5qa4Ywpf

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) February 9, 2017

Digital revenues was the major earner for the company as it raked in $4.87 billion, which is almost double the figure of 2015 and 74 per cent of Activision’s total revenue. The increase in the revenue might also be contributed by the company’s acquisition of Stockholm-based mobile publisher, King, who are the force behind the successful IP, Candy Crush.

Blizzard contributed majorly to the revenue as well. It was the company’s 25th anniversary and their games performed well in the market. They released Overwatch in May, the smash-hit multiplayer which reached 25 million player-base faster than any other of the company’s IPs. The launch of the Legion expansion for World of Warcraft also raised the game’s player-base by 10 per cent. It’s card-based game, Hearthstone, also did fairly well. Overall, Blizzard contributed $2.43 billion, making up 39 per cent of the entire company’s revenue.

To summarise the impact of consumer reach, this statement should suffice:

“In 2016, consumers spent approximately 43 billion hours playing and watching Activision Blizzard content, on par with Netflix and over one-and-a-half times Snapchat.”

The post Activision Blizzard reports 42 per cent increase in their yearly revenue figures compared to 2015 appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Audi’s Super Bowl 2017 commercial “Daughter” picks up the theme of pay equity for women and men. The Audi Daughter commercial shows a young girl competing in a downhill cart race in her home town as her father looks on. As she races around the track, her father contemplates whether his daughter’s worth is measured by her gender. He wonders, “What should I tell my daughter, that she will automatically be valued less than every man she’ll ever meet?” As he stands hopeful on the sidelines, watching her outwit her adversaries to win the race, he finds a new-found confidence, celebrating her victory and the tangible hope for equality in her bright future. The commercial concludes with a powerful message on “equal pay for equal work,” and that “progress is for everyone.”

“Pay equality is a big message for a big stage,” said Loren Angelo, Vice President of marketing, Audi of America. “As a business built on bold innovation – from LED lighting to Audi quattro – progress is at the heart of what we do. We’re a brand that’s ahead of the curve and looking towards the future, just like our next generation of buyers.”

Audi will use he hashtag #DriveProgress in the coming year to promote new and ongoing initiatives. Fans can follow the #DriveProgress story @Audi on Facebook and Twitter. Additionally, Audi will launch a custom Snapchat filter nationally encouraging fans to participate in the #DriveProgress conversation by sharing their own stories.

Audi of America has made a public commitment to supporting pay equality, inclusivity, and the growth and development of all employees. The company has pledged to support ongoing commitment to women’s pay equality in the workplace and to foster a work environment that drives equality for all employees. Audi also instituted a graduate internship program where 50 percent of enrollment must be female establishing greater equality for our future workforce. The company also supports external initiatives to develop opportunities for women at the educational, career and leadership levels in art and film, STEM, and business that will inspire and secure the next generation of female leaders. Already this year, the brand collaborated with longtime partner AFI FEST to create the Audi Fellowship scholarship program, which will grant one promising female director AFI Conservatory enrollment. Audi has been the official automotive sponsor of AFI FEST for over 14 years.

The all-new 2018 Audi S5 Sportback Prestige featured in the commercial will be available in Spring 2017.

Audi Daughter Credits

The Audi Daughter campaign was developed at Venables Bell and Partners, San Francisco, by chairman Paul Venables, executive creative director Will McGinness, creative director Justin Moore, associate creative director Allison Hayes, copywriters Mike McGuire and Kathy Hepinstall, director of integrated production Craig Allen, senior producer Matt Flaker, head of brand management David Corns, group brand director Chris Bergen, brand supervisor Justin Wang, brand manager Abu Ngauja, group strategy director Tonia Lowe, director of business affairs Quynh-Ahn Phan, and project manager Leah Murphy.

Filming was shot by director Aoife McCardle via Somesuch & Co and Anonymous Content with director of photography Pat Scola, executive producers Nicky Barnes, Sally Campbell, and Sueellen Clair, head of production Kerry Haynie and producer Gracie Bodie.

Editors were Stewart Reeves and Arielle Zakowski at Work Editorial with assistant editors Josh Hasson and Erik Vogt-Nilsen, executive producer Marlo Baird, and producer Lynne Mannino.

Sound was designed and mixed at Lime Studios by sound designer/mixer Matt Miller, assistant mixer Peter Lapinski, executive producer Susie Boyajan and associate producer Kayla Phungglan.

Visual effects were produced at Electric Theatre Collective by creative director/VFX supervisor Adam Watson, 2D artists Tommy Smith, Dave Damant, Jessenia Nauta, CG lead Corinne Deorsay, CG artists Nate Lapinski, Remi Dessinges, Steve Beck, executive producer Kate Hitchings, and VFX producer Catherine Yi.

Colorist was Stefan Sonnenfeld at Company 3 with senior producer Katie Andrews.

Music was produced at Human by composer John Christopher Barnes, creative director Craig Deleon and executive producer Jonathan Sanford.

Charlottesville VA native and talented C4D freelancer David Ariew recently traveled to outer space. David was not truly in the stratosphere, but he did create an amazing music video for “A Bad Think” created entirely in C4D with Otoy’s Octane Renderer.

David also used one of our tools, which made us very proud. David used Signal to help him with all those beautiful flickering lights. Here is what David had to say about his experience with Signal:

“I really wanted to create a run-down looking space station to complement the melancholy vibe of the song, and having the lights flicker both brought life into the static scenes and created a moody feel. GSG Signal allowed me to create that animation procedurally, with no keyframes, and there’s even a flicker preset under the Signal scripts folder! Then it was just a matter of linking the power of the light to the blank Signal tag, and increasing the strength and variation until the power hit the zero mark on occasion.”

David was also nice enough to record a quick video demonstrating his blinking light technique with Signal and Octane.

You can learn more about our Signal Plugin here.

The wizards at Platige Image packed 110 shots of San Francisco into this cyberpunk trailer for Ubisoft’s “Watch_Dogs 2.”

Making Of

A minute and a half from BURDEN OF DREAMS, Les Blank’s chronicle of the tumultuous production of FITZCARRALDO.

Available now on DVD: http://www.criterion.com/films/546-burden-of-dreams