Hasta La Motion!

Chipotle Mexican Grill has announced its official partnership with DreamHack, the premier gaming and digital lifestyle festival, and ESL, the world’s largest esports company. Already a fan favourite and staple among professional gamers, streamers and fans, Chipotle looks to further establish its esports presence as the official partner of DreamHack Masters Dallas.

Chipotle will also serve as the presenting partner of DreamHack Open Atlanta and an integral part of ESL’s Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Chicago. Activations at DreamHack competitions will include launching the Chipotle Challenger Series, player and VIP hospitality programs and digital content surrounding the events.

“Our partnership with DreamHack allows Chipotle to become even more ingrained in the esports community. This sponsorship provides the perfect platform to directly engage new and longtime loyal Chipotle fans on-site and online, and we are excited to recognize and reward possible up-and-coming talent in the space,” said Chipotle chief marketing officer Chris Brandt.

“Since launching our first North American event in 2016, DreamHack has been able to continue to grow and capture a larger audience both online and on-site in the United States. Having a partner like Chipotle on board to support what we are already doing while adding more content to the event is tremendously exciting for us. DreamHack Dallas will be the biggest North American event we have hosted to date and is the perfect location to kick off this partnership,” said DreamHack chief product officer Michael Van Driel.

Most notably, Chipotle, DreamHack and ESL will be launching the Chipotle Challenger Series, a new on-site amateur tournament that gives attending fans the opportunity to join the competition and prove their skills in some of the world’s most popular games. Champions will win the custom Chipotle Challenger Series trophy, a special card for a year of free Chipotle and one-of-a-kind Chipotle swag. Registration will be open to all event attendees at DreamHack Dallas and DreamHack Atlanta.

“Chipotle’s integration is a natural fit, and we would like to officially welcome them to the ESL family. The Chipotle Challenger Series is exemplary of how a brand can activate in a smart and creative way that allows fans to join the action,” said ESL SVP, brand partnerships Paul Brewer.

In addition to the Chipotle Challenger Series, Chipotle will be sponsoring the player lounges at all three of these high-profile events as well as Rank S Combine. The VIP lounge lets players, talent and celebrities relax and refuel with Chipotle in between games and performances. All of the on-site consumer and VIP experiences will be supported by Chipotle-branded digital content. This content, which will be viewed by fans tuning in all over the world, will feature popular influencers and spotlight the Chipotle Challenger Series as well as all on-site elements.

Chipotle has turned to REV/XP, a global leader in esports marketing and activation, to manage and execute the various components of its comprehensive esports sponsorship with DreamHack and ESL. This includes sponsorship strategy, creative design and experiential production.

“When we initially sat down with Chipotle’s marketing team, they recognized how passionate fans are about the games they play and follow in esports, and Chris’s team really wanted to throw Chipotle’s support behind these passions. The collaboration with ESL, and DreamHack specifically, will appeal to a variety of gaming interests and is a great way to bring value to space by recognizing and rewarding fans that get directly involved at events. We are privileged to be a part of these efforts,” said REV/XP co-founder and SVP Dan Ciccone.

The partnership begins with the Chipotle-sponsored player lounge at Rank S Combine 12 April to 14 April, 2019 at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. Learn more about the partnership and be sure to register on-site for the Chipotle Challenger Series if attending the mentioned DreamHack events.

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Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame is arguably the most anticipated movie of all time. With the plot strictly under wraps, every tiny bit of clue from teasers and trailer is a welcome sight. And the makers just dropped another clip that hints at an important plot point.

Titled “Mission” TV spot, we can overhear Captain America issuing the team talk as our beloved heroes are about to be divvied up again. Yes, that’s correct – we’re going to see more of the various superhero match-ups like we witnessed in Avengers: Infinity War last year.

“You know your teams; you know your missions,” reminds Cap as the surviving group huddle around in the Avengers mansion in what’s touted to be the quantum suit. “No mistakes; no do-overs. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives!”.

From what we’ve accumulated so far, we can safely assume Rocket and Rhodey are certainly pairing up for the “mission”. Also, the scene from inside the Benatar shows Captain Marvel, Captain America, Thor and Black Widow alongside the aforementioned duo, which possibly means this quartet is set to go different ways.

Iron Man and Nebula are conspicuous by their absence in that moment and so are Ant-Man and Hawkeye-cum-Ronin, although they all suit up in the new red and white costumes too. We can only assume these heroes are on a mission of their own. But then there’s the curious case of Bruce Banner too, who’s totally missing from the scene.

However, questions still linger: What is this mission? Which way are which heroes going? If it indeed involves time travel, aren’t all traveling back in time?

We still have 14 days to uncover the answer.

Based on Marvel Comics, Avengers: Endgame opens in cinemas on 26 April 2019.

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Falcon and Winter Soldier are set to reunite post ‘Endgame’!

In a really exciting and rabble-raising announcement, Marvel Studios revealed live-action series based on Avengers characters such as Falcon, Winter Soldier, as well as Wanda and Vision, all of which will be coming to Disney’s new streaming service, Disney+.

Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige made the announcement today during a Disney investors meet.

WandaVision will delve deeper into the relationship between Scarlett Witch and her Android bae Vision, as Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany are set to reprise their respective roles. Another series, Falcon and Winter Soldier, will follow the Avengers comrades into their new adventures together as both Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan are set to continue their respective roles from the MCU.

However, the release date of either of the shows are yet to be confirmed.

WandaVision and Falcon and Winter Soldier join the growing list of MCU live action series with one on Loki and Hawkeye already in development. Tom Hiddlestone and Jeremy Renner would be reprising their roles as the God of Mischief and the Golden Archer respectively.

Wanda and Vision will pair up once again

Kevin Feige also confirmed that each of the new shows would tie into the post-Avengers: Endgame universe, although dodged questions on what this would mean for each of their fate in Endgame. But it only makes sense for each of these characters to re-appear towards the end of the film as the surviving Avengers somehow undo the snap and the other cohorts continue their heroics.

In another announcement, Disney also confirmed that the streaming service would be going live on 12 November this year, with over 5,000 episodes of Disney Channel content and 100 original Disney movies available to stream at the time of the launch.

Walt Disney chairman and CEO Robert Iger also shared a first-look of Disney+, giving a small sneak-peek into the home page of the streaming channel as Captain Marvel, Snow White, Coco, Free Solo and many other productions could be seen under the recommendations.

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Overall VFX Supervisor Richard Stammers and MPC VFX Supervisor Patrick Ledda oversaw MPC’s teams, made up of more than 1200 artists and production crew, to deliver 1150 shots for “Dumbo”, over the course of two and a half years.

 The film was primarily shot at Pinewood and Cardington studios and MPC’s initial involvement was to assist and provide guidance to the Production VFX Supervisor and Producer.

 The work on set varied greatly due to a large number of scenes and nature of the work that MPC was involved with—from blue screen set extensions to overseeing shots related to character animation and second unit shoots. Of particular interest was working on the motion-base shoot, for which animators created animation cycles that drove the motion base. This allowed actors to ride the motion base and subsequently integrate them with a CG flying Dumbo.

 MPC began by working with Tim Burton to create concept art and designs for Dumbo’s world. MPC’s VFX artists then started working on the creation of CG characters and animation cycles. Its Character Lab team created several characters, including the film’s hero characterDumbo, which took more than a year to develop—although some initial tests at Disney started earlier. From the overall appearance, to how he would physically move, it was both a challenging and creative process. The main challenge was how to get the balance right between what a real and an idealised elephant looked like. MPC wanted to reference the original cartoon as much as possible while working with more realistic attributes.

 For the other elephants, the director’s vision was that they would be visually attractive, healthy specimens. This meant they shouldn’t be too dirty, wrinkly or hairy and have an attractive build. Several months were taken working on the desired look, using huge amounts of reference material.

 Another iconic character MPC crafted was Dumbo’s mother, Mrs Jumbo. Artists used adult Asian elephants as a reference, researching online videos, as well as going on shoots at various zoos to study them in more detail. The team focused to a great extent on creating a realistic looking elephant with complex textural and wrinkle detail.

 MPC R&D developed a key technological advancement for this project: the creation of a resolution skin simulation setup that allowed artists to simulate individual wrinkles on the elephants in detail. This, in turn, allowed the team to mimic the complex dynamic effect of pulling and stretching wrinkles as the elephants walk and move, resulting in skin meshes that are up to 10 times more detailed than any MPC had created in the past.

 MPC also worked on secondary characters, including Barrymore the Capuchin monkey, mice, a python and other additional background animals. Digi-double versions of Joe, Milly and Colette were also created for use during complex flying shots where there was no motion-base element.

One of the standout sequences in the film is when Dumbo is given a bath. The most challenging aspects of the scene were how to create and simulate realistic bath foam—Burton wanted to use the foam as a representation of Dumbo’s mood, so significant creative control was needed. The final result was a combination of computer generated and practical foam which was shot at MPC.

MPC also focused on environments like the Medici Bros. Circus. This required the creation of a replica of the practical circus shot on set. MPC’s Digital Environments team had to meticulously match the existing set while creating additional CG tents and trees. Most shots in the opening few scenes feature a combination of live action and CG circus. Beyond the circus, MPC created CG fields and meadows and were also responsible for the scene in which the Big Top collapses.

MPC also created an expressionistic version of 1930s Manhattan, with the highlight being fully CG shots of Dumbo flying over Brooklyn Bridge with Joe and Milly on his back.

Given that the movie was entirely shot on sound stages, a large number of sequences required set extensions and skies. The director was heavily involved in the look of the skies in particular, with every sequence having its own mood and feel. The composition of clouds and colours became very important.

Another challenging sequence was the creation of a jungle, perhaps the most complex environment in the movie with waterfalls, trees, plants and complex water simulation and elephants. A large number of elephants was created using a combination of hand animation and MPC’s proprietary crowd software.

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Over the top content players have steadily carved their way into the Media and Entertainment space with a growth of 50 per cent in digital subscription in the year 2018. By 2020, the consumers of the OTT space are expected to rise up to four million according to FICCI report.

Reason? For one, it’s the availability of advertisement-free and niche content any time at any place. And falling data charges only make it more viable as the consumer base increasingly moves to phones for video consumption.

One ponders the question as to whether or not that has any positive implications for the VFX enthusiasts who can’t wait to see a ‘Hollywood-style‘ VFX-laden breakthrough in Indian movies..

NY VFXWAALA VFX supervisor Prasad Suthar at the VES event chuckled at the beaten to the hilt question most VFX supervisors are apparently tired of hearing from producers, “Ye Hollywood jaisa dikhega kya?” (Will it be Hollywood-like?)

Explaining the reason why that may be the case, FluidMask Studio founder and VFX expert Viral Thakkar had shared, “There is a lot of time that goes into research and development and VFX supervisors are there with the project right from the start but things work differently in India. There are different departments dedicated to different aspects of film-making and VFX department is relegated at the end in what they call a post-production department which does not give the VFX an adequate amount of time to work on the scenes as things become rushed by then”

In many Netflix originals like Lost in Space, Stranger things and Mowgli from abroad, we have witnessed top-end VFX work that made the imagery as photorealistic as it gets.

Case in point: Lost in Space. Upon being asked about the challenges faced by VFX studios, Imagine Engine’s visual effects executive producer and general manager Shawn Walsh informed, “Some people would be surprised to know that delivering season one of Lost in Space for Legendary Television and Netflix was technically one of the most demanding projects ever at Image Engine due to the necessities inherent in the true 4K delivery specification. Aspects of the work that Image Engine completed are emblematic of the challenges that streaming content represents. For example, many artist tasks related to the details defining the surfaces of computer-generated elements become dramatically more complex when taken to their fullest extent for high-end television visual effects. The data management of the increased resolution for texture artists, digital matte painters and look developers becomes an essential aspect of executing the work efficiently.

As well, aspects of simulation become vastly more complicated due to the sophistication of detailed movement required by the clarity 4K provides”

As we understand, such sophistication and complexity presuppose a great deal of financial backing to allow these experimentations. It’s OTT platforms like Netflix understand that very well. They have no plans for economising on any production budgets.

It has been explored time and again as to why, despite all the requisite talent and expertise and software, we haven’t seen that many VFX-heavy movies that blow our minds in quite the way some of the western projects do.

Most of the time, the discussion would boil down to the budgetary issues. As it were, the issues do have legitimate basis insofar as the dissemination of the content. Since the VFX-heavy Marvel or DC movies or OTT originals for that matter are distributed all around the world, the revenue structures and returns are indeed rewarding enough to merit adequate investments.

Whilst Indian movies are mostly limited to the Indian demographic, it also determines the budget which is six times less than that of the Hollywood movies if we are being practical.

All is not lost as the profusion of OTT platforms may open the stairway to VFX-rich storytelling. Netflix’s omnipresence renders itself to an interestingly viable revenue model. Tracking from the previous year, we have actually seen a tremendous rise in the number of OTT platforms.

2018 saw the Indian OTT  landscape dotted with more than 30 OTT platforms – giant foreign-owned and global, broadcaster-led and independent ones.

According to Fortune, Goldman Sachs projects that Netflix could be spending $22.5 billion per year on content by 2022.

Framestore CG Supervisor Alan Woods who had spoken to Animation Xpress recently said, “Yes, OTT Platforms, especially Netflix has been very accommodative (financially) of the demands of VFX which is why we see such rich photorealistic and seamless imagery on Netflix”

Philm CGI, (a studio which has worked with Netflix on Sacred Games) marketing representative Samridhi Bhati shared at the recent enTTech event that the post-production budgets play a pivotal role in the quality of VFX shots. OTT platforms in India, even though they are a part of the global umbrella, still operate separately in terms of budget allocations of VFX so there are instances of negotiations and limitations but overall yes it sure has paved a way.

However, it seems the times are changing for the better as the relentless profusion of OTT platforms has seen an aggressive competition with players vying for the top three favourite spots in an effort to tap on as many consumers as possible.

India has been the growth leader amongst major economies including Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs) over the last five years.

“In the OTT/ digital space the number of players will shrink and I predict the maximum number of players that will remain in this space will not be more than 10 in the next three to five years. Advertising money is going to get even more fragmented and with increasing players it’s going to get worse,” media veteran Raj Nayak said at the FICCI Frames event.

The competition to maintain the traffic has never been more fierce as they push for original content and more focus on regional space. India has been the growth leader amongst major economies including Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs) over the last five years.

While Pay-TV penetration alone in India has more than doubled from 32 per cent in 2001 to 66 per cent in 2018, paid video subscribers grew from around seven million in 2017 to around 12-15 million in 2018 according to FICCI FRAMES report

Driven by the wherewithal, rising affluence and an increase in penetration of data into rural markets clubbed with the competition to dish out mindblowing imagery in a bid to grab maximum eyeballs, it would be safe to conclude that India is headed towards a paradigm shift in the way the stories are told. As India cruises towards a burgeoning increase in the share of digital in media consumption, the yearning for the Indian VFX-marvel will see its fulfilment.

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