Feb 19

redchillies.vfx is working on a string of Bollywood movies

Posted in: Animation

Amid all the buzz about the BAFTA, VES and OSCAR titles for visual effects conferred on foreign movies, it’s important to remember the movies India has worked upon that have become projects to reckon with for their fidelity and complex imagery.

redchillies.vfx’s groundbreaking work on the movie Zero was recently praised by a popular youtube channel Corridor Crew hosted by VFX experts who couldn’t help being baffled by the techniques deployed to shrink the leading man into a dwarf. So much so that, they implored their subscribers to help them understand or get in touch with the rechillies.vfx artists and supervisors to explain to them as to how they came up with this visual wonder of shortening the height and making it interact with other bodies so seamlessly.

Its rare that an Indian VFX studio has managed to astonish the artists in the west with their visual effects prowess. Its natural that redchillies.vfx’s projects are so alluring that people wait in anticipation to study them.

Here’s the upcoming movies they are going to be working their VFX magic on :-

Gunjan Saxena

Angrezi Medium

We shall post more on future developments.

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Feb 18

Netflix announces animated series, ‘Mighty Express’

Posted in: Animation

Netflix has picked up Spin Master Entertainment’s new CG-animated series Mighty Express. The 52 x 11-minute series will debut globally (excluding Canada) on the SVOD in September.

Executive produced by Spin Master Entertainment EVP Jennifer Dodge and co-CEO Ronnen Harary, with Vancouver-based animation company Atomic Cartoons providing animation services, Mighty Express features an ensemble cast of trains and kids in an expansive world, with the Mighty Express train on big adventures.

The Mighty Express brand is owned by Spin Master, and the toy and entertainment company retains all distribution rights for the series (excluding SVOD). This deal with Netflix marks the first time Spin Master has launched a series straight to a streaming platform and is part of the company’s commitment to a multi-platform distribution strategy. The company will also launch a toy line and a consumer products licensing program in 2021.

The streaming giant also greenlit seven new titles, including DreamWorks’ Dragons Rescue Riders, which premiered last year, and Go, Dog. Go!, with WildBrain, which will debut this year. It also added Atomic Cartoons’ Hello Ninja to its lineup, along with Kickstart Entertainment’s CG-animated StarBeam and 7ate9 Entertainment’s What-To-Doodles.

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Feb 18

‘Daiblo’ and ‘Overwatch’ may get animated series

Posted in: Animation

Blizzard may have plans to adapt both Diablo and Overwatch into animated shows. As confirmed by sources, an anime based on Diablo is heading to Netflix. Alongwith the details, a small teaser about an animated Overwatch series was seen, though it’s unclear whether it, too, will end up on Netflix.

As reported, Activision Blizzard Studio co-president Nick van Dyk has revealed the adaptations through his LinkedIn profile. The profile lists him as being the executive producer of a TV adaptation of an anime style Diablo television show that will be distributed worldwide through Netflix.

Overwatch 2 is out later this year and Blizzard has already released a number of animated shorts in a bid to promote its new game. It is a popular game, recently crossing 50 million players across all platforms. Diablo is an action role-playing hack and slash dungeon crawler video game series made up of three core games: Diablo, Diablo II, and Diablo III.

Blizzard or Netflix has not yet made a formal announcement of these animated series, but if made, then Diablo and Overwatch will be seen alongside other game adaptations like The Witcher and Castlevania.

 

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Feb 18

Red Carpet Studio inks a deal with Beijing Joy Culture Media to explore Chinese territory

Posted in: Animation

Russian television and film production studio, Red Carpet Studio, has signed a deal with Beijing Joy Culture Media for the toy show Space Dr. Cat and animated web series Blinky and Knobby.

Launched in October 2019, Space Dr. Cat is a toy show with 2D-animated elements, and tells a story of a cat who lives in a fictional galaxy and works as a doctor. 

Space Dr.Cat flies on a spaceship and helps residents of different planets, and at the end of each episode, the cat gives simple and healthy food recipes, tips on safety, healthy lifestyle and hygiene. Space Dr.Cat has already garnered 1,000,000+ views on YouTube. The second season, which will include 26 episodes of five minutes each, is currently in production.

Blinky and Knobby is a non-dialogue 3D web series, which revolves around two alien friends, Knobby, the purple funny creature and Blinky, is the pink one. Their airship looks like a big cloud. After they had suffered a shipwreck, Blinky and Knobby fell from the sky into the forest, where they had to make friends with earthly inhabitants. Nature thus becomes a source of adventure and surprises for guests from outer space, they are constantly faced with various awkward situations. 

The first season was launched in Russia in March 2019 at one of biggest online video streaming services and in North America on AMEBATV. The show has been rated by ivi.ru audience at 7/10.

Beijing Joy Culture Media founder and CEO Li Yan said, “We are pleased to begin a partnership with Red Carpet Studio as the mission of their kids projects is fully consistent with ours – not only to entertain, but also to educate children and their parents, to show them really useful content that is applicable in real life. Apart from this, I would like to note that Space Dr. Cat has attracted us with the craft toys show format, as well as a combination of edutainment and social values. Blinky and Knobby is about simple discoveries understandable to children in any country.”

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Feb 18

‘Fortnite’ Teases Chapter 2 Season 2

Posted in: Animation

Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2 is slated to start this week. Epic has teased the game’s second chapter across the globe with ads. Reportedly, players have come across these ads in Japan, Brazil, France, and some other regions. The teaser features a golden handprint over the Fortnite logo and text below it that is embossed with golden bars.

Fortnite dataminer ShiinaBR has tweeted a video of the ad with a phone number. The number, when called, plays a recorded message saying, “Yes sir. The agents were called. Card to access the safe purchased.” Fortnite had done a similar stunt before Season 5. If rumours are to be believed, Epic is planning to extend Fortnite to into an Alternate Reality Game.

Fortnite is an online video game developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in three distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: Fortnite: Save the World, a cooperative shooter-survival game for up to four players to fight off zombie-like creatures and defend objects with fortifications they can build; Fortnite Battle Royale, a free-to-play battle royale game where up to 100 players fight to be the last person standing; and Fortnite Creative, where players are given complete freedom to create worlds and battle arenas. The first two-game modes were released in 2017 as early access titles and Creative was released on December 6, 2018. Save the World is available only for Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, while Battle Royale and Creative released for those platforms, in addition for Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android devices.

The gold bars in the teaser are most likely indicating a new material that might be added in Season 2. Players have seen similar gold props in the map, leading to conjectures about gold being the new material. Epic’s website has also drawn details about the Season 2 announcement with gold bars.

The next season is speculated to see gold more often.

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Feb 18

‘Castlevania Season 3’ Trailer: Netflix discloses first look

Posted in: Animation

Netflix has launched a new trailer for the Castlevania: Season 3.. The new trailer doesn’t reveal too much but it does give us some sense of what to expect from the new season.

Although our three heroes – Alucard, Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades –  succeeded in their common goal of slaying Dracula in Season 2, the world seems to be a dangerous place in Season 3. Given the action-oriented take here, it’s clear a great many monsters will be tackled with.


The first two seasons adapt the 1989 entry Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse and follow Trevor Belmont, Alucard and Sypha Belnades as they defend the nation of Wallachia from Dracula and his minions. … A ten-episode third season has been greenlit by Netflix and is scheduled for release on March 5, 2020.

Trailer gives proof that vampire queen Carmilla will become the series new main villain (or at least one of them) in Season three. She already played a major character in Season 2, plotting behind the scenes and playing Dracula’s bloodlust to her advantage.

Inspired by the popular video game series, this anime series is a dark medieval fantasy. It follows the last surviving member of the disgraced Belmont clan, Trevor Belmont, trying to save Eastern Europe from extinction at the hands of Vlad Dracula Tepes. As Dracula and his legion of vampires prepare

This fight between Dracula and Carmilla is one of the most exciting deviations between the animated series and the games (where Carmilla is generally more of a secondary villain faithful to Dracula). However it’s an apt one, given the source material from which Castlevania is borrowing from. The character of Carmilla actually predates Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel by seventy years.

Regarding Isaac, we’d his mad love to Dracula will put him at loggerheads with both our heroes and Carmilla. One of the shots in the trailer reveals that Carmilla may be caught off guard by an unexpected threat, which could well be Isaac.The animated series is geared up for return on Thursday, 5  March 2020

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Feb 18

Disney Junior announces voice cast and premiere date for ‘Mira, Royal Detective’

Posted in: Animation

Disney Junior has announced the voice cast for its animated series Mira, Royal Detective which will premiere in the U.S. on 20 March, Friday, at 11:00 am EDT/PDT on Disney Channel and 7:00 pm EDT/PDT on Disney Junior. 

Disney Channel India will also be showing a sneak-peek on the same day, followed by the premiere on 22 March, Sunday. Set in the magical Indian-inspired land of Jalpur, Mira, Royal Detective introduces a brave and resourceful girl Mira, a commoner who is appointed as the royal detective by the queen. Following its premiere in the U.S. and India, the series will be rolled out worldwide in an estimated 160 countries on Disney Channel and Disney Junior platforms globally.

MIRA, ROYAL DETECTIVE – Voice Cast. (Disney Channel)

 Mira, Royal Detective, which has already been greenlit for a second season, stars a notable voice cast with the likes of Freida Pinto, Kal Penn, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Hannah Simone, Jameela Jamil, Aparna Nancherla, Aasif Mandvi, Karan Soni, Maulik Pancholy, Sarayu Blue and Sarita Choudhury. Newcomer Leela Ladnier stars as the voice of Mira, alongside additional cast members Roshni Edwards, Kamran Lucas, Karan Brar, Parvesh Cheena and Sonal Shah. Set in a fairyland inspired by the cultures and customs of India, Mira, Royal Detective has an all-star cast of South Asian actors.

Created for kids aged two to seven and their families, Mira, Royal Detective centers around Mira, who along with her friend Prince Neel, creative cousin Priya, and comical mongoose sidekicks Mikku and Chikku, set out on mystery-solving adventures that highlight critical thinking and encourage deductive reasoning for young viewers. 

Each episode is comprised of two 11-minute stories that celebrate the cultures and customs of India by incorporating authentic food, fashion, language and art. Reflecting their importance in Indian culture, music and dance play an integral role in Mira, Royal Detective, with each episode featuring at least one original song and dance number that showcases the diversity of the culture.

Joining the previously announced cast in recurring and guest star roles are Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory), Danny Pudi (DuckTales), Iqbal Theba (Glee), Sunita Mani (GLOW), Karen David (Fear the Walking Dead), Rizwan Manji (Perfect Harmony), Hari Kondabolu (Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell), Nardeep Khurmi (Jane the Virgin), Aarti Sequeira (The Next Food Network Star), Avantika Vandanapu (Diary of a Future President), Julian Zane (Doc McStuffins), Brian George (The Big Bang Theory), Sakina Jaffrey (House of Cards) and Madhur Jaffrey (I Feel Bad).

A music video featuring a mash-up of the series’ main title song and Mira’s song, We’re on the Case, will debut on 21 February, on DisneyMusicVevo and in the DisneyNOW app. In conjunction with the series premiere 20 March, Walt Disney Records will release a digital soundtrack with 20 songs from the series, and the DisneyNOW app will debut a hidden object game in which players are invited to help Mira solve mysteries by following a trail of clues in an immersive 3D environment. Additional extensions for the series will continue to roll out later this year.

 In advance of the series premiere, Disney Parks, Experiences & Products will debut a product line by Just Play at the 2020 American International Toy Fair. Featuring dolls, role-play products, figures, playset and more, the line is set to release Fall 2020.

 Emmy Award-nominated Sascha Paladino is executive producer. Becca Topol is series developer and story editor, and will also serve as co-producer on season two. IW Group’s Shagorika Ghosh Perkins is the series’ cultural consultant and consulting producer. 

Additional consultants include Bollywood dancer and choreographer Nakul Dev Mahajan and music producer Deepak Ramapriyan . Emmy Award nominees Matthew Tishler and Jeannie Lurie have written and produced the original songs, and Amritha Vaz is the composer. The series is produced by Wild Canary in association with Disney Junior, with animation provided by Technicolor India.

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Feb 18

Dell’s insight: Will the PC market continue to leap in 2020?

Posted in: Animation

Amidst the digital waves today, we are quite dependent on the configuration of the system we work on. Last year the PC market experienced a growth of 2.3 per cent for the first time in eight years with worldwide PC shipments which totalled to 70.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2019 (according to Gartner). According to Gartner senior principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa, the growth of the PC market will continue to rise through this year.

There are various factors and industries are responsible for the growth of the PC market. One of which is the gaming sector.  Last year have witnessed pack full of game creation, the rise of Indian gamers, streamers and esports players which has pushed the growth of the gaming PCs and laptop sales. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), unsurprisingly,  the gaming laptops and PC segment has grown by 41.1 per cent in the last quarter and is defining the growth of the whole PC segment. Gaming laptops account for five per cent (year to date) of the overall laptop sales (close to four million units yearly) in India.

Sharing about the Indian gaming PC market scene, a Dell spokesperson told AnimationXpress, “The PC gaming industry is thriving in India.” This has put the technology creators at a position where they have to innovate systems with new features which will be laudable to the gaming ecosystem. The spokesperson highlighted that the announcements made by Dell at CES this year aim to pave the way for interesting trends and updates to support the ecosystem augmentation.

Among all the products that Dell has launched at the CES2020, the spokesperson highlighted on“Dell G5 which has featured a ‘Game Shift’ macro key integrated in the F7 spot that launched the game-ready settings for improved performance; Alienware Command Center that allows for easy access to game settings, peripheral lighting settings; Nahimic 3D Audio for gamers, and a game library for easy customisation. Our laptops, desktops, displays, software and everything in-between make it possible for us to create, innovate and collaborate with people across the globe.”

What are the trends?

PC users have become progressively more savvy about the devices they choose for work and play, by gravitating towards premium products that emphasises on good design, strong performance and intuitive technologies. The spokesperson shared, “The current trends in the professional hardware front show a focus on creating a premium user experience for customers – from exploring high-end materials like carbon fibre and machined aluminium to investing in innovative hardware engineering solutions.”

Considering the trends,  Dell has launched products at CES 2020 which are compatible with the requirements of the ecosystem, which includes features like- artificial intelligence (AI), 5G and innovative design that aims to help people to innovate, collaborate and accomplish more in the next decade. “We showcased some of these trends at CES this year through our Ultrasharp monitors with virtually borderless InfinityEdge displays that offer an uninterrupted view in a multiple screen setup for added productivity. The new Latitude 9510 features 30+ battery hours for consistent productivity on-the-go, is designed for 5G connectivity and comes with carbon blade fans and dual heat pipes that offer a quiet and cool-to-the-touch experience,”the spokesperson added.

Building the right kind of machine for the right kind of task is crucial. Hinting the content creators the spokesperson has expressed that the Alienware m15 systems are quite a potential to ease the task of the content creator especially for the creators in the editing field. The spokesperson has expressed to build a powerful system with Alienware m15 a creator needs to “combine that with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 variant with a dedicated 8GB GDDR6 VRAM and you have a powerful machine that can handle any task easily.”

Along with the PCs and the laptops, Dell has also revealed the concept of UFO at the CES 2020 which is a handheld PC gaming device which has stolen the stole the spotlight for many. We were curious to know more about the project and this is what the Dell spokesperson said –

“With advancements in technology, PCs will become more intelligent, self-aware, and user-aware. Alienware’s primary mission is to deliver the most immersive PC gaming experience possible.  This is our vision for what that could be in the most mobile form. Concept UFO is our latest exploration in high-performance PC gaming experiences in a handheld device. Form factors may change to enable new usage models; and as technology continues to evolve, so will how we experience it.”

PC gaming is booming and now with high-speed 5G connectivity, the optimum potential for online PC gaming will continue to leap in 2020.

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Feb 18

‘Guilty’: Netflix dishes out the trailer for Kiara Advani-starrer

Posted in: Animation

Netflix has dropped the trailer for Guilty, the drama that stars Kiara Advani in the lead, alongside Akansha Ranjan Kapoor, Gurfateh Singh Pirzada, Taher Shabbir, and Dalip Tahi. The Guilty trailer lays out its central characters in the trailer. Their regular life is disrupted after a girl called Tanu Kumar accuses VJ of rape. Guilty has been directed by Ruchi Narain.

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Johar’s digital-focused arm Dharmatic — an extension of Dharma Productions — has produced Guilty, with Dharma CEO Apoorva Mehta also in the role of producer in addition to Johar.

Guilty will be their fifth collaboration of Johar and Netflix after the romantic anthology film Lust Stories, the terrible action film Drive, starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Jacqueline Fernandez, the horror anthology film Ghost Stories, and the dating reality show What The Love? With Karan Johar.

Ma Anand Sheela documentary; a Madhuri Dixit-led series from Baar Baar Dekho writer Sri Rao, and relationship anthology film The Other (working title), starring the likes of Shefali Shah and Manav Kaul are still in the works

“Guilty explores the different versions of truth that emerge when a small-town girl accuses the college heartthrob of rape. Seen through the eyes of his musician girlfriend (Advani), this story makes us question who is truly ‘guilty’ in such circumstances.”

Guilty will release 6 March 2020 on Netflix.

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Feb 18

Young Indian animators are making their presence felt with brilliant award winning creations

Posted in: Animation

Animated films by young, independent and creative filmmakers are gaining praise all over! With the medium gaining more popularity and respect, several film festivals are showcasing and awarding brilliant animated films and their creators. Divakar Kuppan and Swati Agarwal are among the many whose passion and creativity have been recognised and appreciated lately. 

Kuppan has recently won the Silver Conch for Best International Animation at MIFF (Mumbai International Film Festival) 2020 for his animated short film The Fox of the Palmgrove or Panangaatu Nari. The film depicts “how a random television visual triggers the memories of an old man in which we go through a sequence of random events which summarises his entire life.”

Talking about the concept of his film, he shared, “Being an ardent student of Andrei Tarkovsky films and an hardcore student of the works of Russian Animator Alexander Petrov, I’ve always wondered what it would have looked like if Tarkovsky made an Animation film using Petrov’s technique. This crazy idea is the driving force behind making this project. I felt that the idea was worth trying. Coming to the theme of the film, my village and my grandfather were the biggest inspiration for my art. The visuals in the film are inspired by what I’ve grown seeing around my village. Adding to that was my grandpa’s stories. I just wanted to give life to those visuals through the craft of cinema through animation.”

The Fox of the Palmgrove has received amazing feedback from audience and industry legends alike as well as a lot of awards and nominations, such as – Official Selection at International Film Festival of Ahmednagar 2020; Official Selection at Athens Animfest 2020; Best Student Animation at CVWF Short Film Fest, Mumbai 2020; Official Selection at Rushes National Film Festival, Bangalore 2020; Best Animated Film at Rome Independent Prisma Film Awards 2020; Finalist at FROSTBITE International Indie Fest, Colorado 2020; and Bhimsain Emerging Talent Award 2019 at Anifest India 2019 Mumbai.

Kuppan receiving award at the MIFF 2020

Agarwal’s short film Amrita, on the other hand, about felling of trees and the Bishnoi Village legend, was screened and nominated in the national category in MIFF getting great response, and won the first prize under the Children Films Category at Woodpecker International film festival in December 2019.

“As part of a project in IDC (Industrial Design Centre), IIT Bombay as a research associate, I was asked to make a film related to environment conservation from the Indian folk tales. This project was sponsored by The Ministry Of Culture (NVLI), India and D’source(MHRD). Prof. Ravi Poovaiah and Dr. Ajanta Sen mentored us throughout the film. While researching, I came across the story of ‘Amrita Devi’ who belonged to the Bishnoi community of Rajasthan who are known for their zeal of protecting the trees and animals of their village. This story inspired the film and I wrote the script for it. I hope such films get a larger platform so that more people get to watch it and be moved by it,” she said.

The film was well received in both Indian and International film festivals. Such stories and films should be given exposure so that it inspires people to protect, love and respect our environment for the generations ahead.

Agarwal with her award

Amrita also won the jury selection award for best animation at Mumbai Short International Film Festival lately. Amrita also marked its name as it won the Festival CINEMA et LA MER in the animation category held in Mirleft (Morocco) in 2019; Best environmental film Beyond Earth film festival, Kolkata.

Both films have their unique and innovative style of animation that the film makes its own. The Fox of the Palmgrove took Kuppan three continuous months, working 12-15 hours day and night on a regular basis for the production. 

Added he, “As I said, Petrov inspired me very much and his animated epic, The Oldman and the Sea is like a bible of Animation for me. So, I wanted to try Petrov’s technique of painting on glass Animation and handpainted live under camera with software assistance. But, I didn’t want to replicate the same aesthetics that Petrov has already done. So, I practiced a lot of unorthodox approach to the Petrov’s style and that gave the film a typical aesthetic quite different from that. And for post production, it took a separate month. So the eight minute 56 seconds film was done in roughly 100 -105 working days single handedly.”

The Fox of the Palmgrove

The Fox of the Palmgrove got great feedback from my department final jury which was a big boost for him as at the stage there wasn’t any sound design. So with all the feedback from the department he completed the sound design and started sending it for the festivals starting from TASI 2019. Winning the Bhimsain Emerging Talent award out there and a lovely citation by the juries was a huge confident booster. From there on people started getting amused by the look and style of the film and the storytelling as well. 

For Amrita, Agarwal informed, “We were a small team of five to six people working on it. Shyam Wanare and Ramya Hegde worked wonderfully on the animation and designing the serene backgrounds of the village in the film. Being the director, I designed and animated the characters, which were inspired from the ‘phad’ paintings of Rajasthan. Since Rajasthan is known for being the land of colours, we chose to add vibrant colours to the background and the characters. Simplifying the characters and making it look authentic was a challenge. Adobe Flash and after effects were used to animate all the characters and to add effects to the background. Next came the beautiful music by Uttam bhat and Shantanu Yennemadi that added life to the visuals.”

Currently Agarwal is working on a short stop motion film based on animal non-violence and is inspired from one of the philosophies of Mahatma Gandhi.

These animation enthusiasts wish to create something very exotic and sacred, that will appeal to anyone who has the least idea of the art animation. With young creative talents being acknowledged and appreciated with awards and nominations and screenings, Indian animation industry is moving towards better and glorious days.

Amrita

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