Hasta La Motion!

Nov 04

GOODBYE, OLD GLORY

‘Goodbye, Old Glory’ is a vérité-style short documentary capturing the protests surrounding the controversial municipal removal of the Jefferson Davis Confederate monument in New Orleans, Louisiana. Shot entirely at night, this film is equal parts entertaining, thought provoking, and downright disturbing. The film objectively balances on-the-fly interviews from both the Confederate protesters and ANTIFA counter-protestors in order to demonstrate the cataclysmic political divide happening across American society today. Directed & Produced by Jordan Haro Edited by James Crouch Cinematography by Jordan Haro, Paavo Hanninen Associate Producers: Sarah Ravits, Jacky Lee Morgan Sound Mix by Korey Pereira @ Soularity Sound Color: Bruce Goodman Assistant Editors: Molly Much, Ryan Medeiros Music Provided by Rose McGowan & Killer Tracks Special Thanks – Dan Carr, Andrew Shapter, Brandon Kapelow, Everyone Who Gave Notes – You Know Who You Are!

Nov 04

Moodles

Posted in: Animation

Moodles is a short animation based on the effects of negative emotions on one’s self. It turns built up tension, stress, and anxiety into creative catharsis. Frozen figures – once paralyzed by moods – are reduced to heaps of flexible nothingness. Behance – http://behance.net/ascend Instagram – http://instagram.com/ariweinkle Twitter – http://twitter.com/ariweinkle Facebook – http://facebook.com/ariweinkle WWW – http://ariweinkle.com ✌

Nov 04

Musikalische Muster bei Christopher Nolan (D)

Posted in: Animation

Oswald Iten analysiert die musikalische Muster in den Filmen von Christopher Nolan. Die inneren Welten der Protagonisten äussern sich in einem Soundtrack, der zwischen drängenden Rhythmen und sphärischer Statik pendelt.

Nov 04

Musical Patterns in the Films of Christopher Nolan

Posted in: Animation

Christopher Nolan strives to make his films the most immersive experience possible. So he prefers the score to support the atmosphere and the pace of his films and not elicit emotions by way of sentimental melodies. While this is very obvious in DUNKIRK (2017), Hans Zimmer’s lauded score follows some of the same basic patterns that can be found in all of Nolan’s prior films – regardless of the composer. He even said that it basically “is Chris Nolan’s score” (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/26/movies/the-secrets-of-the-dunkirk-score-christopher-nolan.html). So here is a tour d’horizon on these musical patterns and their evolution from FOLLOWING (1998) to INTERSTELLAR (2014). Of course, this is only a broad, subjective overview. It is impossible to do justice to the many complexities of each individual score within 10 minutes. For educational purposes only. German version for filmbulletin.ch: https://vimeo.com/239957027

Nov 04

Burt Lancaster Was a Movie Star

Posted in: Animation

They don’t make movie stars like Burt Lancaster anymore. Athletic and commanding, but also sensitive, Lancaster worked in movies for six decades. Born November 2, 1913 – Died October 20, 1994.

Nov 04

VIDEO ESSAY: Doug Liman: Opening Moments

Posted in: Animation

Full article: http://freecinemanow.blogspot.com/2017/11/video-essay-doug-liman-opening-moments.html — Fair use is codified at Section 107 of the Copyright Act. Under the fair use doctrine, it is not an infringement to use the copyrighted works of another in some circumstances, such as for commentary, criticism, news reporting, or educational use.

Nov 04

Prominent Indonesian media mogul to headline ATF 2017

Posted in: Animation

Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) today announced that Indonesian magnate, Hary Tanoesoedibjo, has joined the ATF Leaders’ Summit (28 November 2017) speaker line-up, adding to the list of C-Level executives presenting at the ATF Conference, who represent leading content brands such as Amazon Prime, Marvel Entertainment, PCCW Media Group and Sony Pictures Television.

From 28 to 30 November 2017, more than 90 thought leaders will deliver fresh insight at over 24 ATF conference sessions, discussing present-day issues such as big data, movement in the over-the-top (OTT) scene, new monetisation strategies, unscripted entertainment formats and kids content.

ATF and ScreenSingapore senior project director Yeow Hui Leng said, “ATF has always sought to present the most relevant speakers, to keep delegates abreast of major industry developments and shifts. The addition of Hary Tanoesoedibjo – a prominent figure in Indonesia’s media scene – is a testament to ATF’s standing. With many a-list content experts headlining the ATF 2017 conference, we are confident that attendees will receive critical knowledge as they plan for the New Year.”

Hary Tanoesoedibjo to uncover the might of Indonesia

In his position as the MNC Group founder and chairman, Tanoesoedibjo will deep-dive into The Might of Indonesia, and shed light on how Indonesia’s largest media group is shaping the country’s media landscape in the year to come.

His presentation at the ATF Leaders’ Summit adds to other initiatives where ATF will place a spotlight on Indonesia, in conjunction with the Singapore Media Festival’s Country of Focus initiative. At Networking Breakfast – Spotlight on Indonesia 2017, global market intelligence firm IDC will share its latest data on the country’s TV market.

Indonesia will also have a strong showing on the market floor. Content producers looking to sell into Southeast Asia’s most populous nation can look forward to interacting with buyers representing broadcasters and platforms such as Hooq, Indonesia Entertainment Group, MNC Contents and PT Cakrawala Andalas Televisi Antv.

Industry powerhouses to share essential knowledge at more than 24 conference sessions

Along with the Indonesian media mogul, various distinguished content business veterans will delve into content business-technology strategy at the ATF Leaders’ Summit. Another key session for the day will gather head-honchos of leading OTT platforms – Amazon Prime (APAC) head of content James Farrell; PCCW Media Group managing director Janice Lee; iflix co-founder and CEO Mark Britt; and HOOQ CEO Peter Bithos – to deliberate The Evolution of Storytelling in today’s omni-platform environment.

New investment opportunities and business models that have arisen from today’s digital rituals will be brought to the fore at Digital Traditions & Innovations. Speakers include Familia Group futurist and venture capitalist Alexander Shulgin; Reliance Entertainment head for Hollywood and overseas business Dhruv S Sinha; Sony Pictures Television executive vice president (networks) George Chien; and Mediacorp chief commercial and digital officer Parminder Singh.

Other sessions at the ATF Leaders’ Summit will facilitate discussions on big data, leveraging content for consumer engagement, monetisation strategies, technology-driven content and significant leadership shifts in the APAC region.

The Content Connection track on 29 November will spotlight strategic opportunities amid dynamic market conditions. Asian and international businesses keen to learn from the best in China can bookmark “China Exclusive: C2C, The New Content Monetisation Phenomena”, and look forward to hearing from the likes of Media 360 founder and CEO Christine Qian; Konnexions Media founder and CEO Xun Zhang; SMG New Media Business Unit executive deputy director Zhiqiang Lin; Yitiao co-founder/founder Zhixing Fan; and IPCN vice president Zhou Hao. Other sessions on this day will focus on fresh content, as well as the biggest buyers, from the booming Asian markets of India and South Korea.

And on 30 November, the Production Day conference track will seek to grow industry capabilities. Format experts CJ E&M head of formats and global content development Hwang Jin-woo; Viacom International Media Networks head of formats Laura Burrell; Fox Networks Group Asia vice president, acquisition, management and content acquisitions Michael Dick; and Studio Lambert CEO Stephen Lambert will convene for the day’s keynote panel on Superformats – License to Last, a sharing on the ingredients for successful formats.

Kids content will also be a feature on this day. At the panel on The 360 Experience Kids Want, executives behind the successes of Baby Shark, Peppa Pig, Chhota Bheem and Marvel characters will share their experience in creating compelling all-rounded experiences for young audiences. Leading the session as moderator, YouTube APAC Head of Family and Learning Partnerships Don Anderson will direct one of the most captivating of gatherings with SmartStudy (Baby Shark) senior manager (media distribution) Hyemin Gemma Joo; Entertainment One (Peppa Pig) managing director, family and licensing Olivier Dumont; Green Gold Animation (Chhota Bheem) founder and CEO Rajiv Chilaka and Marvel Entertainment director of content & character development Sana Amanat.

Known to many as the co-creator of Marvel’s first Muslim superhero, Kamala Khan (also known as Ms. Marvel), Sana Amanat is also credited for the rebooted Captain Marvel and helped launch the Women of Marvel panels. At ATF, she will also discuss Creative Thinking and Storytelling, with Don Anderson in a candid fireside chat.

Cable and satellite television network giant HBO will also take the stage with a keynote presentation by HBO Drama Series Home Box Office co-head David Levine. This will be followed by The Directors’ Collective, where HBO Asia senior vice president (HBO Asia original productions) Jessica Kam will deep-dive into present-day movements and partnerships in Asia. She will be joined by directors Ho Yu Hang, Joko Anwar and Lee Sang-woo. The panel will be moderated by Blue3 Asia veteran film producer Daniel Yun.

“Over the past 18 years, ATF has become a crucial business platform for connecting the global content industry with the burgeoning Asian market. With this year’s strong line-up of speakers, the ATF conference will certainly provide essential knowhow for delegates to shape their businesses and thrive in the ever-evolving content landscape,” concluded Yeow Hui Leng.

The post Prominent Indonesian media mogul to headline ATF 2017 appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Nov 04

Flashback Friday: Some nostalgic VFX of yesteryear Indian TV shows

Posted in: Animation

Visual Effects is a buzzword today for every other Bollywood movie and now the mythological TV serials, short films and even webseries have joined the bandwagon! But let’s slip back few years ago. If you watch those old shows today munching popcorn you might laugh it out loud on the amateurish quality or feel happy, proud and surprised that Indian TV shows had VFX even in those times!

Shaktimaan

Kids whirled and swirled uttering the word Shaktiman happily during the 90s, when it was the desi superhero etched in the memory of every kid.

Dinkar Jani’s Shaktimaan introduced the Indian audience to one its first VFX spectacle on the TV screens. With our superhero storming through the high-rise buildings, unleashing metal-piercing laser beam through the eyes, spinning faster than a thunderstorm, fighting the extra-terrestrial beasts and supernatural humans and a whole lot of other theatrics, it was VFX galore mano-a-mano.

Debuted in 1998, the show struck a chord with its viewers and ran for as long as 520 episodes in its seven year long excursion in the television circuit. Some of this credit has to go to the special effects, no matter how outdated and outmoded they now seem. The viewers were thrilled to witness something of a never-seen-before phenomenon on the screen, at least from the Indian industry.

And if nostalgia has already crept in, let me appraise you that Shaktimaan is getting a reboot and the lead Mukesh Khanna has promised “advanced graphics and VFX”!

Captain Vyom

Barely 24 hours after Shaktimaan’s maiden episode on Doordarshan, another VFX-heavy programme dabbled on titled Captain Vyom, a sci-fi television series set in a futuristic 2123 where humans have conquered the solar system and successfully set up space stations on outer planets.

The synopsis of the plot itself springs unreal visuals in our heads, imagine the scale at which this project was executed back in the times when even mobile phones and internet were new to us. Maya Entertainment was the creator of the visuals, and the makers were reported to expend three times as much for its production as any conventional show, due the VFX.

The show may have gone off air just a year later, but the outer space sequences, alienic creatures, radiation beams, the futuristic settings of the show, all piqued our imagination.

Karma

As the concept of VFX continued to gather steam in India, in came Karma, another superhero-based television drama that served up some visual delights for its young audience in its presentations.

Balaji Telefilms launched the show to apparently build on the success of Koi Mil Gaya just a few months earlier, but couldn’t resonate with its viewers as much. A shallow story and inadvertently comical villains were some of the reasons for its undoing, but the kids seemed fascinated some of the VFX-heavy scenes; especially the ones where the universe would collude, sparking thunders all across, and conjure the titular character his superhero costume.

Hatim

Though not a flat-out superhero drama, the plot chronicled Hatim, son of the emperor of Yemen, and his quest to spread peace and goodwill whilst fight off the skulduggery by lord Dajjal and Najumi.

The Sagar Films production was set in the medieval age and trying to portray a similar setting would not only call set extensions, but also certain computerised effects to bring out the realism.

The cinematography as well as the VFX garnered critical acclaim and the show became one of the most watched programmes during its original run. Some of the highlights of the show were the mythical sword that Hatim carried, the kingdom of Paristan, the dark, dystopian den of emperor Jaffar and the good vs the evil confrontation in the climax.

The post Flashback Friday: Some nostalgic VFX of yesteryear Indian TV shows appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Nov 04

5 game releases to look out for in November

Posted in: Animation

We’re almost at the end of the year, but good titles are yet to cease! As we enter into November, here are five game releases from the month which we are looking forward to.

Call of Duty: WWII: Ditching the cyborgs and space battles, Call of Duty looks to go back adhering to the roots of the franchise. Developed by Sledgehammer Games, Call of Duty: WWII will take you back to the basics of this long running franchise, in the heart of the battles of World War II. With the last addition to the series, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare not striking the chord with the audience as much, it would be interesting to see if nostalgia provides the impetus the series needs. The game releases on 3 November.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Nioh: Team Ninja’s latest RPG game came out on 7 February for PlayStation 4. It was published by Koei Tecmo in Japan and Sony Interactive Entertainment internationally. The game is inspired from the Souls series and would revolve around exploring levels and defeating monsters. Now, finally it is about to see the light of the day on PC. It is being launched digitally as Nioh: Complete Edition and will come packed with the original game and the three expansions which had been rolled out on PlayStation 4 post the game’s initial release. The game releases on 7 November.

Platforms: PC.

Need for Speed Payback: As it has already been said, think of the setting of the game somewhat similar to the Fast and Furious movies. High-speed racing throughout the fictional city of Fortune Valley would however not be a smooth ride; you’ve got hurdles to look out for! Race your way through Payback on 10 November!

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Star Wars Battlefront 2: Possibly one of the most anticipated titles of the month. With Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s release right around the corner, EA, DICE and Criterion are collectively working on the game. The protagonist will be an elite TIE Fighter pilot. It will follow the Inferno Squadron from the forest moon of Endor till the Starkiller Base in The Force Awakens. The single-player campaign starts from the closing moments of Return of the Jedi and continues till the occurrences of The Force Awakens. Players will also get a chance to play known characters like Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren through the campaign. Venture into a galaxy far, far away on 17 November.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Pokemon: Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon: Just after a year of the release of Pokemon Sun and Moon, players would be all set to return to the yet to be explored scenarios of the Alola region. This time it seems the story revolves around a legendary beast, Necrozma, who ‘wields light to its will’ and might steal away all the light away from Alola again. It is for trainers and Pokemons to stop the catastrophe from happening. The narrative line looks strong too. You can try and fight off Necrozma on 17 November.

Platforms: Nintendo 3DS.

Apart from the aforementioned releases, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Rocket League and Doom are making their way to Nintendo Switch, so if you have a Switch or planning to get one, this would be a good time!

The post 5 game releases to look out for in November appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Nov 04

How Running Image Studio created spectacular visuals for Aisha!

Posted in: Animation

Running Image Studio founder Mark Troy Dsouza

A lot goes on in the world of VFX; we now have the chance to understand the technicalities and what goes on behind the scenes. Running Image Studio founder Mark Troy Dzouza shares his experience on the Aisha web series which involves the use of a lot of VFX. The story is about a brilliant application designer and his creation, Aisha the virtual assistant. Animation Xpress recently spoke to him and he shared his insights about the project.

The series A.I.S.H.A is India’s first web series to have this level of VFX. All her backgrounds, foregrounds and graphics are all VFX. Various softwares like Adobe After Effects, Nuke and PFtrack was used.

Dsouza said “Initially it took some time to understand the vision of the director (Sahir Raza). We had met a couple of times to get a brief from the direction team, after which things got smoother. After we got in to the flow, it used to take about two to three days to design, create and approve the same.”

Running Image is Mark Troy Dsouza’s own company which is run by his partner Pranil Mahajan. He was also the VFX supervisor on Aisha also the VFX producer for the series. Running Image Studio was looking forward to do something exciting and creative work. Raghu, Rajiv and Sahir visited the studio and then they knew Aisha was something that they had to be a part of. Mark had given his best and tried to create visuals that had never been done before in India and it worked. Post the response in season one, Running Image Studio bagged season two as well.

During Dsouza’s discussion with Sahir, the brief was that Aisha had to browse through the data on internet. They came up with these spherical layers where she could access layers of information from the internet. So they planned to shoot in a way that would show her assets that would appear once she read the information she will slide it to another world on the web itself. Once in the studio, they tracked the cameras and used around four to five layers of graphics to give the desired look as seen on the screen.

Running Image Studio founder Mark Troy Dsouza said “The Aisha series was very challenging as it was something new for artists in India. Our company loves deadlines and challenges hence working on this series was perfect for us.

The most challenging VFX scenes were the ones where the studio juggled with multiple layers of graphics and moving in different directions at the same time.

“The coordination and planning on off shoot and studio work is the most important part to execute and deliver quality work. We worked on more than 40 minutes of VFX with a team of 12 to 15 artists,” added Mark.

(This article has been written by Rohan Rodrigues)