Hasta La Motion!

Just when things seemed all fine and dandy after defeating the God of speed Savitar, the speedforce ruined Barry Allan’s moment with Iris West as the former had to depart to the parallel universe.

Now, months later, The Flash returns – for the fourth bite of the cherry.

Newer challenges lie in wait as newer supervillains are lurking around Central City, waiting to rear their ugly heads. And of course, the impending wedding of Barry and Iris is what the fans are keenly looking forward to as well.

Whilst the third season witnessed a minor slump from its usual standards (and also in viewership), the trailers for the upcoming installment of The Flash seem promising enough to restore the franchise back to its dizzy heights.

Here’s what we’d love to see from the fourth season. And also, what we’d detest.

No more speedsters, please!

(From left to right) Reverse Flash, Zoom and Savitar

Let’s just call a spade a spade. We don’t want to see another speedster villain (or even hero) slaloming through Central City. We’ve had enough.

Reverse-Flash, Zoom, Jay Garrick (Flash from Earth-2), The Rival, Savitar, Jesse “Quick” Wells, and Kid Flash – all exhibited the instrumental commonality with the Flash himself – supernatural speed.

Barring Kid Flash, who’s become a central figure of the show now, the rest have either been killed or left rooting in a different universe. And for heaven’s sake, there be no another twinkle-toed crusader/criminal in the fourth season.

This “more the Flash-alikes, more the fun” ideology certainly went haywire by the time the third season commenced, and hopefully the makers don’t tread the same rake this time around.

Barry and Iris tying the knot

Although it goes without saying that our lead pair will surely walk down the aisle in the new season, the question that lingers is – when?

According to the trailers, as Barry returns from the speedforce, he isn’t at his optimal fitness and recuperates in the hospital. Meanwhile, the rest of the team Flash would have their hands full with the freakish, blood-thirsty metahumans wreaking havoc in the city.

Amid all the madness and mayhem, a happy marriage talking place seems highly unlikely. Moreover once Barry returns to the pink of health, the superhero mantle falls back on his shoulders.

Childhood sweethearts, Barry and Iris went through the ninth circle of hell last season as the evil shadow of Savitar loomed large. The courtship could only be seen strengthening post the traumatic events. Now all that’s left is to tie the knot.

But it seems we’ll have to wait a long time into the new season to witness the ceremony.

Treacherous time-travels

Ever since Barry realised his ability to travel back in time (and ahead), we’ve seen him going back and forth by the drop of a hat. It was as if the solution to his every problem could be found after a run into the past (in Savitar’s case – the future) and subsequently alter the course of the timeline.

Now, we’ve reached the end of our tether. Too many time-travels spoil the fun. Can’t we just have a story without anyone having to move between different points in time?

Hopefully, the fourth season will.

A better version of Harrison Wells

Harrison Wells of Earth-19

The Harrison Wells of third season was perhaps the dumbest we’ve seen thus far. Brought in from earth-19 to cement the void left by Wells from earth-two, this particular Wells was arguably the least appealing.

Actor Tom Cavanagh himself looked like a fish out of water, trying to portray a drumstick-fiddling playboy-ish character that didn’t suit him from the off. But now that he’s gone, the door’s ajar for a new Wells. And that would most likely be the one from earth-two.

Harrison Wells of Earth-2

Whilst we all loved watching Wells in the first season, the one from earth-two wasn’t half-shabby either. Only barring the notoriety of his deceased doppelganger, this Wells oozed just as much menace but with his heart at the right place.

Just get him back into the team already!

Caitlin Snow just being Caitlin Snow

How can someone as innocent and adorable as Caitlin possibly be a blood-thirsty, ice-flakes firing Killer Frost? The Snow that worked as a biologist with Team Flash was infinitely more endearing to watch than her villainous alter-ego that we so frequently saw in the previous season.

Now currently on a soul-searching journey, Danielle Panabaker’s character is sure to return to the fore one way or the other, but we hope that when it does, she returns as the Caitlin Snow of old.

Cue the forgetful Killer Frost.

Based on DC Comics, The Flash season four premieres on The CW on 9 October 2017.

The post ‘The Flash’ season four: What we can expect appeared first on AnimationXpress.

It was at last year’s Tokyo Game Show that Bandai Namco revealed that they were indeed working on another God Eater title. And now we have the announcement trailer.

If you like slicing and dicing giant monsters with runic weapons powered by ‘Oracle Cells’ in a sci-fi universe, you should definitely check it out.

Here’s what the description of the new trailer:

“Earth no longer resembles the home we know of now. The Aragami, terrifying beasts that live only to consume, are carving a path of destruction and misery wherever they are encountered. To combat this threat an elite group of heroes known as God Eaters are called upon to save humanity. God Eaters are individuals who have been bestowed upon them the ability to wield powerful new God Arcs, special weapons powered by Oracle Cells and the only known weapons capable of destroying the monstrous Aragami. However, another mission is coming into focus; something is happening to the God Eaters and the line between light and dark has never been so thin. It’s time to start breaking free from the cursed shackles that bind the souls of the God Eaters as the battle rages on around them.”

Very little concrete details have been revealed apart from the trailer and the synopsis. With no release window or platforms in the picture yet, operational details about the game is really scarce.

The last released instalment of the game was God Eater Resurrection which came out in 2016 over PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita.

The post Bandai Namco officially announces ‘God Eater 3’ appeared first on AnimationXpress.

AnimationXpress has been reporting on several events conducted by the Government of Karnataka and ABAI. At the end of his current term as President, AnimationXpress called to congratulate Biren Ghose on ABAI’s progress and get his views on the highlights and future priorities.

Can you tell us why you got involved with ABAI?

It is my belief that as industries grow and mature, its constituents must learn when to compete and when to collaborate in order to expand the size and scope of the market as well as to influence key stakeholders including the government to create an enabling environment and legislation.

The creative economy globally is fuelled by successful dispensations of governments providing tax credits and other SOPs across UK, Canada, Korea, France, Singapore, Japan, China, Malaysia et cetera. There are also a huge number of co-production treaties supporting the audio-visual sector between such countries. Media and entertainment, inspite of our 100-year-old film industry, has only begun to be recognised as a formal sector over the past 10 to 15 years.

Having been involved in traditional businesses for over 20 years before coming into the sector, I have seen the benefits of collaboration achieved in other sectors- consumer products, engineering, manufacturing et cetera both domestically. I brought this experience in participating in the early interactions among trade associations starting out in our sector in the 1999-2003 period when I was at UTV.

I have been a participant in government-industry interactions at FICCI, CII and NASSCOM for these past 16 years or so, and recognised how fragmented and early stage the creative industries were in such initiatives in comparison with legacy sectors. After joining Technicolor in 2009, my focus has been to build a robust and scalable production services platform for the group and its clients in Bangalore. As a result, when invited to be at the helm of ABAI, which at that time was a very small local entity, I thought that this charter, which was about developing skill sets in Bangalore and Karnataka, would be very complimentary to helping develop the talent at large studios and businesses locally.

In hindsight, building ABAI to become a powerful voice of industry and academia in a strong partnership with the government has been an extraordinary journey.

What was ABAI doing and how has its direction or trajectory changed since you assumed office?

ABAI was formed as the Association of Bangalore Animation Industry in 2006. The objective of the association was to provide interactions within the fraternity and to promote Bangalore as a hub for studios, professionals, academic institutions, events, seminars and formulating policies. I would like to define our growth in three phases-

Phase one: In our start-up phase, we used the first policy primarily for skill development. We conceptualised the first ever ABAI fest and summit and worked towards building this platform for studios, IP creators, students.

Phase two: Buoyed by the positive response from the government, industry, academia and other stakeholders, the teams worked towards gaining additional perspectives by visiting several key markets like FMX, MIPCOM et cetera. We also conducted two digital art symposiums and conducted five ABAI fest and summit in this period.

Phase three: Government alignment to provide support for major industry events for community development; market development; syndicated incubation and production facilities; proposed lab and school projects; skill development support and grants to IP development and industry.

The excitement is palpable.

Is ABAI focused on Bangalore and Karnataka only?

As earlier stated, it was born out of a vision to band the community around building brand Bangalore as an animation hub. However, ABAI has worked closely with the government of Karnataka to bring in many other cities like Gulbarga, Hubli, Mysore, Mangalore and a host of other tier two and tier three cities into the mainstream of the AVGC industry. The Bangalore/Bengaluru tag was therefore restrictive. Similarly, as the industry now encompasses gaming, VFX, AR/VR et cetera, the animation tag was also restrictive. Hence, we have formally changed the name of the association to ABAI (like other diversified entities example ITC) to provide the continuity of branding, the ABAI logo is clearly well known. We are often consulted by other states and the Centre and offer our advice freely to everyone. However, the principle sponsors for our present slate of activities is the government of Karnataka which has defined our focus and events in the past few years. So we have decided not to spread ourselves thin.

What do you see as the key achievements during your tenure?

Through my evangelising and outreach actions, ABAI has managed to build up a massive web of interconnections locally and globally. Some of these highlights are (in no particular order):

• A reciprocity with MIFA and Annecy to showcase the best of Annecy for the past three years exclusively for ABAI in India. An invitation by the Ambassador of France and the Minister – ITBT, Karnataka to tie up Annecy with Bengaluru GAFX in the future.
• An MoU with the Children’s Media Conference to host twin b2b events in India with top buyers and broadcasters in an International Exchange
• A bid to bring SIGGRAPH Asia to India which has not yet fructified.
• Delegations to Annecy and Cannes, for events and market access.
• A first interface with FMX, Stuttgart for exchange for programmes.
• Initiated festival conversations with Russia, Ukraine, Mexico and USA.
• Served as a jury member on some of these in the past two years.

We have already got the minister’s approval three months ago to engage and attract the technology community as a prelude to the Bangalore Media City proposal. On the technology side, we are working to have ALL the major technology companies and ALL major Indian M&E CIOs and CTOs at a Karnataka sponsored meet in Delhi on the sideline of a national event as provisionally accepted by the Minister. This will formally launch Bengaluru as the digital creative capital of India. This is a CII event and GoK will sponsor this. I have truly enjoyed creating these bridges. Today’s world is about continuously moving ahead and ABAI is on the verge of becoming the connective tissue linking ecosystems of government – education, skills and jobs, SME platforms and IP industry and international connections.

Looking ahead, what are your thoughts for what ABAI will do next?

My future vision for where the industry needs to go is clear. It needs for many constituencies to take India beyond its sub one per cent share of the global market. Trade associations like ABAI have a specific role to play as platforms on which to launch industry initiatives. The new KAVGC policy addresses the priorities we have been discussing with the Government and is positioned to promote growth and mitigate many of these issues.

The key areas where ABAI can help industry are:

• Syndicated infrastructure (which would greatly benefit SMEs and project by project initiatives)
• Business development support – arranging B2B interactions (helping local companies to be at key markets)
• Skill development – Short term courses for ‘production readiness’ and long-term initiatives to build a pipeline for computer graphics careers.
• Financial support – Grants and incentives to compete with other large countries offering such assistance.

How would you measure your success and that of the team?

The best acknowledgments are from those people who have been on the fringe of the industry. I am blessed, honoured and motivated by the constant encouragement given to me which has helped me to lead my previous teams and keep them engaged and committed.

I understand that a number of industry leaders have shared their appreciation for the work done by my team at ABAI. I am truly grateful to them. I believe the best is yet to come!

The industry veterans were unanimous in their acclaim of Biren Ghose. Here’s some of the bytes:

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (Biocon CMD; Government of Karnataka vision group of biotechnology chairman)

“Biren Ghose has worked diligently to take a niche industry like animation, visual effects and gaming and give it a prominent status among the larger, more mature technology industries in Bangalore. His vision and leadership in building the Technicolor India studio is well known. I am pleased to congratulate him on his six years as the President of ABAI and for his steering of the Karnataka AVGC policy. This has focused on building a grassroots level skill-sets development program which helps grow the industry for the future. He has engaged the local government in this dialogue and I hope he will continue to drive this sector to greater heights given its immense potential.”

MN Vidyashankar (Former department of C&I additional chief secretary and former principal secretary of department of IT, Biotechnology and Sciences and S&T, Government of Karnataka. Currently in a dozen boards and corporations as an independent director)

“During my tenure, heading the ITBT department at Karnataka and later as Additional Chief Secretary Commerce and Industries, Dr. Biren Ghose, as President of ABAI and a keen industry voice, was uniquely instrumental in giving us the vision and agenda to help push through the 1st Karnataka AVGC policy. He and his team then helped to execute some pioneering projects like the world’s first ‘Train the Trainer’ which gave the community close to 10 trainers during its tenure. The digital arts programs also helped bring 6 upcountry government art colleges into the mainstream in Tier II and III cities. He has been ‘Captain Animation’ for Karnataka and I wish him continued success.”

Ashish Kulkarni (Punnaryug founder, FICCI for AVGC chairman)

“As an ABAI founding member, it gives me a great pleasure to see the great effort by Mr. Biren Ghose and teams from various committees have put in to bring the association to become a strong industrial platform in Bangalore and Karnataka. The efforts of the team in formulating couple of policies for the state, creating digital education centers and successfully holding several events have set a great example of government and AVGC industry initiative. I wish ABAI a long and successful life.”

Jai Natarajan (iMerit.net technology and marketing VP; Former CEO at Xentrix studios, Bangalore; former managing committee member at ABAI)

“It was a great partnership working with Biren as President- ABAI during my tenure on the committee of ABAI. We were able to take the movement forward significantly and made a lot happen in a remarkably short time. Biren’s effort over several years has resulted in significant progress in the agenda of ABAI and strong engagement by the Government of Karnataka. I am proud that the AVGC scenario is slowly but surely progressing. Karnataka certainly has the first mover advantage.”

Kris Gopalakrishnan (Axilor Ventures chairman, Infosys co-founder, Vision Group for Information Technology – Karnataka chariman)

“We are all proud of the accomplishments that Biren Ghose and the team in his company have achieved winning Oscars, Emmys and Cannes Gold etc, with their global clients. In his role as President- ABAI, we have seen him providing thought leadership and momentum and now a second AVGC policy. He has been promoting animation in Bangalore for the past six to seven years. My compliments and all good wishes to him and his team and hope to see him take this to greater heights.”  

Priyank Kharge (Government of Karnataka IT/BT and Tourism minister)

“I compliment Mr. Biren Ghose on completing eight years at the head of ABAI. During my tenure as Minister, I have admired his energy, visionary thought leadership and forceful direction for the ABAI and he has partnered with my government and its teams to advance the agenda for animation, visual effects, gaming and comics. I am pleased that we could finally realise the Karnataka AVGC 2.0 policy which has been proposed and evolved over the past four years. We will no doubt look to thought leaders like him to partner in realising the potential of this sector to make Bengaluru the creative capital of India.”

Amita Sarkar (CII deputy director general)

“Biren Ghose is an active and important Member of the CII National Committee of Media and Entertainment. CII is grateful to Biren for his contribution towards driving the Technology aspect of Media and Entertainment Industry. He has helped to create an alliance between the Karnataka Government (KBITS and ABAI) and CII for annual flagship event the Big Picture Summit. As the Country Head for Technicolor and as President of ABAI for the past six years, he has been promoting Bangalore as Technology M&E hub on the world stage. We wish him continued success in his future endeavors.”

The post Biren Ghose on the progress of ABAI, the milestones reached and what lies ahead! appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Music video for “Wichita”, by London based duo Domino Gold. The film is a short story about love, compassion and obsession. Follow Domino Gold via Loud Parade: http://www.loudparade.com http://www.facebook.com/loudparadeoff… http://www.soundcloud.com/loudparade Interview in Director’s Notes http://directorsnotes.com/2017/07/24/norman-bates-wichita/ Nominated for Camerimage 2017 Director: Norman Bates Production company: Lovo Films Executive Producer: Bert Brulez Producer: Chou-Jung Kuo Production manager: Juliette Stinglhamber Casting: Stink London Director of photography: Grimm Vandekerkhove Editor: Gert Van Berckelaer 1 AD: Soraya Verbeke 2 AD: Andreas Verlinden 1st AC: Joris Rymen 2nd ACMuna Baradi Gaffer: Gert-Jan Coorevits (Watts) Electrician: Alexandre Sandyck Art Director: Luc Noël Art Department: Thomas Hanon, Martin Pfister Make-up: Gemma Hodgetts Prosthetic SFX Make-up: Gemma Hodgetts SFX fire: : Arne Norman Stunts: Olivier Bisback Stand in Dottie: Ruth Tessely Colourist: Peter Bernaerts Grading company: Pixmix STudios Sound design: Christophe Loerke & Domino Gold Online: Pixmix Studios Cast: Dottie James & George Somner Thanks to: Stink London for their support! normanbates.tv

Лазер (Laser) is an experimental film starring renowned dancer Maria Kochetkova performing on an illuminated stage of laser light and fog. In a previous collaboration with director Tarik Abdel-Gawad (https://vimeo.com/96030980), Kochetkova danced within inches of a robotic camera precisely choreographed to capture her every move. In this film, Kochetkova navigates a world of floating light in a unique improvisation between dancer and environment. Credits: Director: Tarik Abdel-Gawad Dance: Maria Kochetkova Producer: Yovel Schwartz & Bill Galusha Director of Photography: Joe Picard & Devin Whetstone Music: Matthew Stone Design & Animation: Conor Grebel, Jason Kerr, Peter Clark 1st AC: Dean Snodgrass Gaffers: Charles Griswald, Alan Steinheimer Key Grip: Don Henderson Design / Animation: Conor Grebel, Jason Kerr, Peter Clark, Adam Labay Laser Performance: Conor Grebel, Adam Labay Lasers Provided by: Future Weapons Laser & Lighting Design Editor: Ashley Rodholm Colorist: Ayumi Ashley