Hasta La Motion!

This April you can own Dom Toretto’s Dodge® Ice Charger from Universal Pictures’ explosive movie, The Fate of the Furious™!

The DLC comes with exclusive Wheels and six unique customizations: Clean Cut, Crazy Sandwich, Flames, Rakugaki, Rally, and CCCXL!

Reed MIDEM, organiser of the MIP television markets, announced that 55 companies are now registered to attend the inaugural MIP China Hangzhou which will run from 23 to 25 May, 2017 in the lakeside city of Hangzhou, China.

Chinese companies include powerful regional broadcasters and online platforms such as Shanghai Media Group, Hunan TV, Nanjing Broadcasting, Sichuan TV, Tencent Video, Zhejiang TV, and  ZJSTV; major drama and animation production studios such as Daylight Entertainment, Dream Sky Film, Dream Stardom TV,  Film TV, Hakim Unique Group, Huace Film & TV, New Classics Media, JY Animation, Shengxihuashi Culture and Media, Talent Television and Film, The Leftpocket Animation Studio, Zespa Media, Zhongnan Animation; and consumer brands such as Intel China, L’Óreal, Pepsi and Yili.

MIP China Hangzhou provides matched 1-to-1 meetings between Chinese and international companies interested in developing or co-producing content for China and global markets.

Among 30 International companies that will be participating in MIP China Hangzhou’s unique matchmaking format are All3Media, ABS-CBN, Caracol TV, Flame Media, Global Agency, Globo TV, GMA Worlwide, MBC Group, Millimages, Sony Pictures/Huaso Film, Televisa, TV Azteca, Viacom, and ZDFE.

“The enthusiastic reaction from Chinese and international companies to the inaugural MIP China Hangzhou underlines the potential for cross-border content development between Chinese and international production companies. Over two and a half days delegates will access meetings, social events, and company visits that will help create new business and partnership opportunities,” said Reed MIDEM (television division), director of market development, Ted Baracos.

The deadline for international companies to register for MIP China Hangzhou is 14 April, 2017.

The post MIP China Hangzhou announces 55 participating companies at new co-development market in China appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Voltron fans were treated to an in-depth discussion of the epic second season of the critically acclaimed Netflix original series DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender at WonderCon. Panelists included executive producer Joaquim Dos Santos, co-executive producer Lauren Montgomery, story editor Tim Hedrick, Jeremy Shada (Lance), Josh Keaton (Shiro), Tyler Labine (Hunk), Bex Taylor-Klaus (Pidge), and Kimberly Brooks (Allura).

Each attendee received a WonderCon exclusive poster created by Joaquim Dos Santos and almost had a first look at Prince Lotor, before falling victim to an April Fool’s Day video at the panel.

As a con tradition, Hedrick excitedly handed out original story cards to each audience member who asked a question. Taylor-Klaus shared her favourite Pidge line with the audience: “we’re all interconnected with cosmic dust,” and explained how much she loves that her superpower is what her character hated the most. Labine offered some insight into Hunk’s character explaining that “his instinct is to trust in the good things, but he’s often mistaken.”

After Santos confirmed that season three is coming later this year, a fan thanked both him and Montgomery for keeping action cartoons alive, to which Santos said, “the fans are the quintessence of the show!” Montgomey said that she’s “grateful that fans of the original have been open and accepting of Voltron Legendary Defender.”

The audience got a taste of “a real life Hunk” when a cosplayer that majored in engineering and minored in culinary arts offered Labine a cinnamon roll, and he gladly accepted!

Fans erupted in screams once Lotor’s voice was finally revealed. Shada admitted, “Prince Lotor’s voice is very soothing….even dreamy”

DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender season 1 and 2 are currently available on Netflix.

As if the confirmation of season three wasn’t already enough for fans to go wild, also announced was a brand-new 5 issue mini-series from Lion Forge Comics, a special Facebook live event with Bex Taylor-Klaus to celebrate Pidge’s birthday on 3 April, 2017 and a Voltron Sticker Pack available for free on the app store through 4/1!

The post ‘DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender’ WonderCon panel confirms Season 3 appeared first on AnimationXpress.

A tree fell and somewhere in a cold unknown land, man discovered fire.
Fire saved man and comforted him.
Time passed, trees kept falling and comfortable men fired to take further comfort in unknown lands.
World has come a full circle.

Ever experienced how fast is the world moving? Be it technology, work life, lifestyle or mindset. With each day, the pace escalates. When you are a part of it, you are thrilled; but when you look at it as a whole, it is almost, scary. Scary in terms of what though? You can interpret this in your own way after watching the animated short Far The Days Come. This 1:58 minutes short from Pencillati Studios is directed by Ram Singh with his team of artists, and is based on the present state of the world.

After their previous animated short The Bloop Troop, which won the Best Animated Short Film award at 24FPS International Short Film Festival, there has been a total shift in the genre of Far The Days Come. “The primary factor was the idea about this short. Once the idea was established, we went on to decide the style and mood suited to the film,” said the film’s director Ram Singh, who is also the film lead at Pencillati Studios. Animation is a powerful medium of storytelling, he believes. Hence, they keep themselves open to different styles.

The short is based on the current condition that the world is living in. “Each illustration, or shot, represents a different scenario from a different part of the world, and, at instances, all over the world.” Every shot in the film is novel and in itself says something; but when put together, you get the whole picture and the theme that it is based on. “Although there is a brighter side, (through this short) we wanted to address what we are losing in our constant quest for comfort.”

“The title Far The Days Come is a representation of what the film is about. It talks about how far we have come since we lit the first fire.” It was inspired by the soundtrack Far The Days Come by Letter Box, which is the background score also of the film.

The film talks about a lot of elements- jungle, explosions, soldiers, virtual reality, emoji masks, birds and animals, protests, destruction, burnt down money and fighter tanks. “Each of the illustrations is a glimpse at the world today. On the one hand, we see forests being destroyed and on the other, we see the destruction of human life,” explained Singh. So how do these elements connect with each other? What do they have to say in common? “They talk about a struggle for existence which has become the order of the day, pushing our natural state of happiness to the back. Today we show happiness through smileys and emojis and seek a better world in virtual reality while waging war and destruction on the planet we call home.”

A tree fell and that was when man discovered fire. He used fire in various ways to comfort himself and soon, it turned into a need. As the time passed, we used fire to cause destruction, killed more trees, and found our comfort therein. The source of our comfort has changed. Singh beautifully put it: “In pursuit of greater power and comfort, the destruction which we bring to the world will bring us back to where we stood first.” That is how the world has (or soon will) come a full circle.

This short animated film has narrowed down the various world issues that we are dealing with as a race. “With so much happening around us,” Singh said, “the inspiration was always there.”

Communicating a social issue through animation is a task. Depicting it all (or what is relevant) through illustrations becomes a test. “The entire team had come together to discuss the idea and approach,” observed art lead Samar Malik. “Once the idea for the tonality of presentation was clear, the illustrations were pretty much what we wanted them to be.”

Once the idea for the film was decided, the team started working on the mood and style that was suitable for the film. “We knew we wanted to add drama and grunge, and as we were visualising, there were a lot of colourless blurs and foggy imagery popping up,” Singh recalled. That is how they felt that monochrome would do justice to the film.

During a period of five weeks that the film was made, challenges were no less. One of the greatest was the consistency in the illustrations made by different artists. Another challenge was that, not all the artists involved in the project had a background in animation. Hence, it took several attempts to get the desired results.

Far The Days Come leaves you with a few thoughts that are triggered by the things we read about every day in the newspaper. When asked what message he would like to give through this film, Singh answered, “If it makes you stop and think about your contribution towards the world, good or bad, that fulfills the purpose of this film.”

The post Pencillati Studios’ ‘Far The Days Come’ stirs your conscience with its simplistic illustrations and profound meaning appeared first on AnimationXpress.