Illumination’s Minions strut the runway with UK designer Bobby Abley

In anticipation of this summer’s Minions: The Rise of Gru theatrical release, Illumination’s Minions have joined the ranks of London’s high street with UK designer Bobby Abley, who launched a new collection inspired by the world’s biggest animated franchise of all time at London Fashion Week. In a first for the designer and the blockbuster Minions franchise, the 18 February catwalk is followed by the launch of the Bobby Abley x Minions diffusion line that debuts exclusively at Primark stores today (19 February) supported by a display window at its Marble Arch flagship, instore POS and a heavyweight online and social media campaign.

Bobby Abley’s catwalk show is always a highlight of London Fashion Week, and this year was no different as models took to the runway to preview Abley’s AW2020 collection which takes a trip to 1970’s California – drawing on the area’s vibrant subcultures.

Joining him on this colourful journey are Illumination’s expressive Minions who have been put to work on a series of bespoke prints including an Argyle silk design, denim printed with an op-art Minions graphics and a neoprene Minions camouflage. Key shapes in the collection include extra short and extra-long kimono-inspired robes, and oversized sweatshirts and shirts playing with the proportions of Minions verses humans. Workwear-inspired dungarees and boiler suits are also featured.

Fashionistas can say ‘Bello!’ to the new ‘inspired by’ collection available at Primark following the runway show on 19th February. The range is displayed in a creative execution that has been curated and directed by Bobby Abley himself. The speed to retail is a direct reaction to the ‘see now, buy now’ movement that is reshaping the traditional lag time between the runway and retail shelves, and it also reflects Primark’s dedication to delivering on-trend fashion at affordable prices.

Abley is renowned for his unique and inspired designs that draw upon animated characters, showcasing them in a whole new light. His special gift for injecting humour to the world of fashion has catapulted him to the upper echelon of the profession and has made the fresh designer a favourite of celebrities and influencers.

This new partnership sets the stage for Illumination’s new movie, Minions: The Rise of Gru, which is set to hit theatres worldwide this summer.

The post Illumination’s Minions strut the runway with UK designer Bobby Abley appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Greetings from PAI College of VEDA!

Visual effects design and arts popular and recognised as by its acronym, VEDA is a leading animation and VFX training college located in the heart of Pune. Apart from boasting of the best-in-class teaching infrastructure, faculty and quality training, we place our students in the best of animation and VFX studios to name few of them: Green Gold Animation; Deluxe Studios, Shalini plus News Channel.
KALOTSAV 2020 is our Annual Inter-College extravaganza is being held from the 1 March to 7 March 2020, consisting of the following:

  • Golden Pixel Awards 
  • Kala Gaurav Samman Puruskar 
  • Pune Animation Film Mahotsav 
  • Coffee With College 
  • Award Ceremony along with Annual Function

Student Work Exhibition will be held from 1 to 7 March in the green Azam campus where PAI College of VEDA situated. Spread over 24 acres of lush greenery with state-of-the-art infrastructure, housing 32 colleges with over 40,000 students, this is one place one should visit even otherwise.

Golden Pixel Award:
The aim of the Golden Pixel Awards is to recognise and reward the Indian animation, media, graphics, VFX and gaming industry workforce who are shining the name of our Industry and country through their talent and hard work. The awards also recognise the faculties, educators and teachers who are giving their lives in making the new generation creative and talented.

Pune Animation Film Mahotsav:
The Pune Animation Film Mahotsav event aims to bring some of the most amazing short films created by students and professionals of Indian animation industry.

Kala Gaurav Samman Puruskar:
Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Education Society’s, P.A.Inamdar College of Visual Effects, Design & Arts implements various schemes, projects, and programmes for the benefit of art, artist & students of this great Institution. The Akhil Bharatiya Kala Gaurav Samman’ is one of the schemes of MCE Society through which the eminent artist/teachers from all over India who have given extraordinary contribution in their respective field of Animation, Films, Visual Design & Fine Art are honoured by the Institution. This is the 4th year of this award ceremony .

Coffee with College:
Coffee with College is a platform of Veda College where personalities like you come and inspire students with your work and success and many untold incidents you have kept in your memory lanes. There is no substitute of meeting the real achievers, watching videos or reading books cannot create that magic. Hence we request you to come and share your journey with our students to keep the flame burning.

We take this opportunity to invite the students from various institutes to be part of this extravaganza.
For More details: https://www.veda-edu.com/kalotsav/

Contact details:
For Event Cordinator:
Mr. Swatantra Jain
Mobile: 8888808544
Email ID: admissions@veda-edu.com

For Academic Cordinator:
Prof. Ajay Popalghat
Mobile: 9822610109
Email ID: ajayvfx@veda-edu.com

For Sponsorships & Branding:
Mr. Tahir Khan
Mobile: 8550966911
Email ID: Tahirkhan@azamcampus.org

For Final Approvals & Final Decisions:
Prof. Dr. Rishi Aacharya
Mobile: 8888808108
Email ID: dean@veda-edu.com

The post Greetings from PAI College of VEDA! appeared first on AnimationXpress.

‘Shaun the Sheep’ series joins Netflix

Aardman Animations has announced that Shaun will return for a brand new 20 x 7’ series with the flock, for new adventures in Shaun the Sheep: Adventures from Mossy Bottom. Shaun will cause mayhem on Netflix in the U.K., U.S., Canada and Latin America on 17 March, Spain, Turkey, Poland, Israel and U.A.E. on 16 March.

Shaun the Sheep: Adventures from Mossy Bottom introduces four new characters to Mossingham: Stash, a hyperactive squirrel; no-nonsense Rita, who delivers the parcels; and new rival Farmer Ben and his Afghan hound, Lexi, exuding an air of superiority — much to Bitzer and the Farmer’s annoyance.

Shaun the Sheep: Adventures from Mossy Bottom — a.k.a. Shaun the Sheep: series six — will also premiere on linear broadcasters WDR Germany, NHK Japan, WarnerMedia’s Boomerang & Cartoon Network platforms Southeast Asia & Taiwan, RAI Italy, SVT Sweden, YLE Finland, FRANCE TV France, NRK Norway, NPO Netherlands, Ceska TV Czech Republic, Canal PANDA Portugal, Knowledge Network Canada, Télé-Québec Canada, Children’s edutainment channel MBC3 MENA and TV3 Catalonia

The post ‘Shaun the Sheep’ series joins Netflix appeared first on AnimationXpress.

‘Ben 10 vs. The Universe: The Movie’ to premiere on Cartoon Network this fall

Cartoon Network’s Ben 10 will expand to take on the universe with Ben 10 vs. The Universe: The Movie, set for a global premiere this fall. Featuring new characters, settings and powers for Ben, fans won’t want to miss his most epic adventure yet. The movie is the first for the newest iteration of Ben 10, which debuted around the world in 2016.

Currently, in production, the action-packed movie will focus around a blast from Ben’s past returning to do double the damage on Team Tennyson and planet Earth itself, forcing Ben to go interstellar to save the day. Meanwhile, Gwen and Grandpa Max team up to help protect the world in Ben’s absence. But when our boy hero is confused for the villain in space, Ben must figure out a way to get back to Earth to help save it!

Produced by Cartoon Network Studios, and created and executive produced by Man of Action Entertainment (Big Hero 6, Generator Rex), with John Fang (Mixels, Generator Rex) as executive producer, Ben 10 is currently in its fourth season, taking fans on journeys with Team Tennyson through Rome, Tokyo, the Yucatán and more.

The post ‘Ben 10 vs. The Universe: The Movie’ to premiere on Cartoon Network this fall appeared first on AnimationXpress.

FanFight unveils play and win big campaign

FanFight launches play and win big campaign. A player comes to FanFight with a very minimal contribution of as low as Rs. 39 and can win Rs. 1 lakh and more.

 Sek Sabiruddin from Bengaluru won 1 Lakh prize money by just Joining with Rs.39 on FanFight’s Mega contest. He also won a dream mobile set OnePlus 7T Pro by joining with just Rs.5 in gadget pool contest in the recent match of India Vs New Zealand.

Sabiruddin said, “I am delighted to win prizes on FanFight. I am a Chef by profession and it shows that anyone from any field can play fantasy cricket on this platform and win prizes regularly. My experience on this platform is that the chances of winning prizes is very high on FanFight. Keeping track of players performances helped me pick my winning XI. Playing on FanFight is easy and it has a commendable user interface & the features on the platform are better than other available platforms.”

FanFight uses data analytics and other AI techniques to increase the chances of players winning on the platform by ensuring that the users are competing against equally skilled players. For example, FanFight identifies new users on its platform and ensures that they play against users who also fall in the same pool. This ensures fairness in playing fantasy cricket.

FanFight founder & CEO Akhil Suhag never misses a chance to interact with players. The CEO personally distributing prizes to winners and this has built a strong relationship between the users and the portal.FanFight was started by ISB alumni Akhil Suhag, to cater to fans of popular games in India like Cricket, Football and Kabaddi. The current subscribers base on the platform is more than six million and the company is targeting to achieve 10 million subscribers by the end of 2020 IPL season.

Suhag says, “It is really heartening to see how FanFight has grown. It is a platform for players to celebrate with the entire cricket community; and while exhibiting their skills, enjoy the biggest cash prizes too.”

FanFight distinguishes itself from other platforms by not only offering daily cash prizes, but also enables fast cash withdrawal and a chance to compete with one’s friends. It uses the most advanced technology and ensures the shortest lag between the live game and updates the players on their potential wins.

The post FanFight unveils play and win big campaign appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Next-Gen Asus ROG Phone will be fused with Google Stadia

Google had announced that Stadia would be available on non-Pixel devices, including Asus’ ROG Phone and ROG Phone 2. Asus recently announced that it is teaming up with Google to bring Stadia to its next-gen ROG Phone.

Next-gen ROG Phones will come with preloaded Stadia in all participating regions. The partnership covers the following regions—Canada, Belgium, Finland, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, UK, and the US. The ROG and Stadia partnership will run until 2021. Google has not announced when Stadia will be launched in India.

ASUS notes that with Stadia, users can stream the latest games via Wi-Fi directly to any ROG Phone, including the upcoming next-generation ROG Phone, without needing to download them. (Users still need to buy the games.) Stadia supports gaming at up to 4K at 60fps, with HDR and 5.1-channel surround sound support. It’s a good match for the hardware of the ROG Phones. According to ASUS, it cements the position of the ROG Phone as the most desirable gaming phone on the planet. While a lot of this is marketing speak, ASUS did achieve first-mover status here, as competitors such as the Nubia Red Magic series and the Black Shark series haven’t announced any partnerships with Stadia yet.

Details about the next ROG Phone are currently limited. The new flagship could most likely come with Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC. It is also expected to have a display that supports 120Hz refresh rate, chamber cooling tech, and at least 6,000mAh battery, similar to ROG Phone 2.

The post Next-Gen Asus ROG Phone will be fused with Google Stadia appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Sony head wants ‘Spider-Man’ to be a part of the Marvel Universe

After striking an unprecedented agreement to share the movie rights to the web-slinger in early 2015, Sony and Disney’s partnership hit a snag last summer. But Sony chairman Tom Rothman wants to continue the studio’s deal with Disney and keep Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Both Rothman and Disney head Alan Horn participated in a recent THR studio executive roundtable where the Sony-Disney Spider-Man deal was discussed.The duo was asked if the partnership could continue beyond Homecoming 3 and the mystery MCU film Holland is currently contracted to appear in Rothman said, “I hope so. I think this was a classic win-win-win. I think it was a win for Sony. I think it was a win for Disney. And I think it was a win for fans and moviegoers.”

Marvel chief creative officer Kevin Feige will return as a producer for the third film in the Spider-Man: Homecoming series, which is scheduled for a 16 July 2021 release, and Spidey will reportedly appear in, at least, one more MCU film.

Sony came out the winners in the new Spider-Man/Marvel deal; whereas Disney will receive a quarter of the profits from Homecoming 3 (while covering an equal percentage of the costs).

The post Sony head wants ‘Spider-Man’ to be a part of the Marvel Universe appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Exclusive: Recent projects worked upon by One Life Studios

Swastik Productions’ VFX wing One Life Studios have been working their VFX magic on a slew of content over the past couple of months. Renowned for larger than life visually appealing shows, Swastik Productions has delivered shows like Mahabharat, Karmaphal Daata Shani  Mahakali, Porus and recently RadhaKrishn and Chandragupta Maurya.

 

One Life Studios

RadhaKrishn, their outing in the mythological genre, which had opened up to tremendous response had swept awards back to back. The beautiful calendar art, the imagery and the grandeur of the show had even garnered praise internationally owing to its high end VFX.

Speaking about the recent as well as upcoming content in the pipeline, One Life Studios Business Head Summit Jaiswal shared, “There are couple of interesting projects we have worked on and some which are ongoing. We are an associate partner to Prime Focus for Baaghi 3. Recently, we finished working on a Punjabi  film Jind Meriye which was released on 24 Jan. In addition to this, we were also the associate VFX partner Prime Focus (Redefine) for hits such as  Good Newwz, Dabangg 3, Housefull 4 and Pal Pal Dil Ke PassNikka Zailder 3 is  one of our independent Punjabi films produced by Viacom 18. We also worked on Sacred Games 2, Poison and Fixerr lately which were all web series. We also worked with Nippon India Mutual Fund for their Mantra campaign ad film”

One Life Studio has gone from strength to strength in their VFX capabilities and with the advent of digital age, we are anticipating that VFX-rich and more immersive content will be worked upon by them.

 

 

The post Exclusive: Recent projects worked upon by One Life Studios appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Coronavirus significantly hampers the cosplay and anime culture

The very famous Nippombashi Street Festa which regularly draws over 200,000 people will not be able to do so this year. Japan has a lot of cosplay events, but few can match the scale of Osaka’s Nippombashi Street Festa. The event’s organisers have sent out a notice that this year’s Street Festa, which was scheduled to take place on 15 March, has been cancelled.

Japan’s number of confirmed infections still trails far, far behind China’s, but the Japanese government has been finding an increasing number of cases within the country, with the first coronavirus death occurring in Kanagawa Prefecture less than a week ago.

Meanwhile, Anime Japan, Tokyo’s largest anime industry event/fan gathering, has sent out a statement advising would-be attendees that it is also considering cancelling this year’s iteration, currently scheduled for 21-24 March at the Tokyo Big Site conference center, though as of this writing the plan is for the convention to go on as scheduled.

The deadly virus has also affected the anime community of Japan. The first anime victim of the coronavirus outbreak was the series A3! Sason Sring & Summer,where the official blog post announced the delay of the series until the end of the season, and was corroborated by a similar announcement from the show’s New Zealand and Australian broadcaster AnimeLab. Asteroid in Love, is the second in the line which delayed their seventh episode by a week, opting to air a recap episode in its original time slot instead.

Infinite Dendrogram became the latest casualty on 18 February, with the series’ official website stating that the “recent spread of the new global coronavirus “COVID-19, we decided to postpone broadcasting and distribution of episode 7 due to production circumstances. We deeply apologize to the fans for the sudden announcement.”

A the virus sweeps the country with millions being quarantined, many business have been repeatedly shut down under various quarantines which prevent workers from performing any of their duties.

The post Coronavirus significantly hampers the cosplay and anime culture appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Mill film turns the VFX wheel to notch up the horror quotient in ‘The Turning’

Director Floria Sigismondi’s The Turning is a haunted-house thriller based on a mysterious estate in the Maine countryside. The movie produced by DreamWorks Pictures and Reliance Entertainment, is based on Henry James’ landmark novella The Turn of the Screw, and stars Mackenzie Davis (Terminator: Dark Fate), Finn Wolfhard (Netflix’s Stranger Things), Brooklynn Prince (The Florida Project), and Joely Richardson (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). The visual effects of the movie done by Mill Film lead by VFX supervisor Aymeric Perceval.

When the director approached for the VFX work to the Mill Film “We jumped at the chance to work with Floria; she’s got a terrific aesthetic and we strove to support that with highly stylized hero VFX,” explains Mill Film’s global managing director Lauren McCallum.

For Mill Film, the VFX work was centred around creating the horror sequences. This includes the dark secrets that both the children in the film and the house harbour throughout the film. The VFX team brought to life the ghosts of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel to haunt the Maine estate and its residents, along with the addition of seamless VFX work to Sigismondi’s evocative and atmospheric project.


The Mill Film team worked closely with the editing department to explore how the project could incorporate director’s intention and artistry through VFX across the choices made in pre-production. “Working closely with Floria on this project was a real thrill. She is a creative powerhouse with a brilliant sense of shot design, able to treat each shot like a haunted piece of art. It was great to partner with her and execute her vision,” explains Perceval.

Mill Film under Technicolor umbrella has shown their VFX artistry with their well-blended shots and invisible detailed work. The craftsmanship of Mill Film was noticeable when the ghosts of Jessel and Quint are conjured on-screen. Perceval continues: “Jessel is like a light being scattered in the night mist, and we had to carefully balance how much we revealed of the contortions and performance [by acclaimed dancer Denna Thomsen] through the multiple layers of ethereal elements. Quint, to the contrary, is all about the darkness within the darkness and had to feel eerie and just solid enough to strangle you. It was a wonderful challenge to work on because, from a creative’s perspective, you need those choices to be clear, but as a viewer you just want it to move you.”

100 moody shots and compositing work completed by the Mill Film crew deliver a sense of entrapment for both the characters and the viewer alike.

The post Mill film turns the VFX wheel to notch up the horror quotient in ‘The Turning’ appeared first on AnimationXpress.