May
23
How animators kept ‘Jungle Book’ real
Posted in: Animation
I explored with MPC how animators on The Jungle Book kept the animals real, in this piece for Cartoon Brew.
May
23
The Mission: Impossible spread from Masters of FX, detailing ILM and John Knoll’s work on the film, today celebrating its 20th anniversary.
1996 really was a big year in film releases and in vfx break-throughs. Mission: Impossible might not necessarily be thought of as a vfx blockbuster in the same vein as Twister or Independence Day from that year, but in many ways it ushered in several new techniques and drew upon a raft old ones to help tell this thrilling first story in the M:I franchise. Now 20 years old, here’s a quick look back at one particular technique – projecting mapping – that was used on the film at a time that the effect was still not all that common.
Leading ILM on Mission: Impossible was visual effects supervisor John Knoll. In my chapter on Knoll in Masters of FX, he recounted the stunning old-school miniatures work for the dramatic helicopter/train sequence while also elaborating on how he approached the planning and storyboarding for the climax of the film. Plus, shots leading up to that sequence included a series of matte paintings achieved via projection mapping, something Knoll would continue to develop further, especially for the pod race in The Phantom Menace.
Here’s an excerpt from my original interview with Knoll for the book, in which he talks about how he came to rely on projection mapping approaches in a much bigger way than on previous shows (it had also been employed on Terminator 2 and Hook):
I was talking to a friend at Electric Image and I explained this idea of camera mapping and it took a little while to explain what I wanted to do. And he suddenly went, ‘Oh the UV co-ordinates come from a projection to camera frustum – oh I can write that in like an hour!’ And he wrote me a little plugin for Electric Image that did that where you could pass it to a camera and the geometry you wanted to texture from it, and we’d do these camera mappings and it was really easy to use.
A bunch of people in our matte department had started using Electric Image and Paul Huston was one of my co-conspirators – we did these projection maps on Mission: Impossible and then a whole bunch more on Star Trek: First Contact and then the Star Wars Special Editions.
By this time the technique looked really promising, and we felt that it gave a very new take on matte painting – it wasn’t the static kind of look that had been done before. When I needed to do all these computer generated landscapes for the pod race (in Phantom Menace) I was worried that I hadn’t seen anybody do a completely synthetic environment that really looked believable. There were programs out there that did fully synthetic terrains but they looked super fake – you would never believe you were looking at a photograph. But this projection mapping technique – you could take a photograph and do this image warping trick with it.
Download the Mission: Impossible page from Masters of FX.
For more on the VFX of Mission: Impossible, check out:
Cinefex 67: http://www.cinefex.com/backissues/issue67.htm
VFXHQ: http://www.vfxhq.com/1996/mission.html
May
23
Blizzard had previously spoken about releasing four animated shorts to provide better insight to the backgrounds of their characters, from their upcoming first person shooter (FPS), Overwatch.
Primarily, they released an animated short named ‘Recall’ which showcased the scientist chimp Winston, the second one titled ‘Alive’ featured the time warping adventurer, Tracer, trying to stop the assassin Widowmaker from executing a monk. The third short shed light on the background of the two dragon brothers of the game, Hanzo and Genji and went by the name ‘Dragons’.
Now, the company has launched its fourth and final instalment of animated shorts, titled ‘Hero’ and featured the vigilante warrior, Soldier 76 aka Jim Morrison, the founder and commander of the Overwatch organisation.
The story follows a little girl, in the alleys of Dorado. When her mother asks her to go out and get something, she is intercepted on the way by some members of a gang named ‘Los Muertos’, who take away her money and bully her. All of a sudden, from the shadow, they are ambushed by the masked Soldier 76, who thrashes every single member in sight. But he too is put to test when the goons dispose a grenade and he has to choose between the life of the little girl and chasing after the criminals.
He saves the girl and soon the little girl recognises him from the posters and asks if he is one of those ‘heroes’. Fading into the shadows Soldier asserts that he used to be a hero not anymore, while the girl mumbles that to her he was still a hero as he saved her life. The short ends with the girl reaching home safely and narrating her mother about the incident as her mother delivers an assuring monologue, while Soldier 76 watches everything from a distance, as if he was concerned with the girl’s safety and that she reached her destination safely.
The short was released just two days before the official launch of the game. Unlike previous shorts, the latest one does not feature many of the character’s in-game abilities, except for his ultimate ability, ‘tactical visor’. The lighting and music score for the short is brilliant none the less. As a rumour was doing rounds over the internet that Soldier will face a new villain “Sombra”, who would also be the new character which will be launched with the game. Although the short did not feature anyone else and Blizzard has already confirmed that there will only be the already revealed 21 heroes available at launch. But from all the evidences and theories doing rounds over the internet forums, it seems a new character named Sombra is definitely on the lines.
Not sure about the game?
Read our Overwatch review here
The post Blizzard releases final animated short ‘Hero’, featuring Soldier 76 appeared first on AnimationXpress.
May
23
Asus’s mystery box finally opened with a live event to announce new variant of its already successful phone Zenfone Max.
The new phone (ZC550KL) has a lot of improvements over its predecessor as it packs all-new powerful octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor clocked at 1.5 Ghz with 32GB in-built storage. The earlier version of Zenfone Max ran on a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 and had 16 GB in-built memory.
The phone comes in two variants when it comes to memory. The 2GB version of the phone will cost you Rs 9,999 while the 3GB version will set you back by Rs 12,999. Both the versions of the phones are available on Flipkart for pre-order. Asus will still sell the old Zenfone Max but for a reduced price of Rs 8,999.
A 5.5-inch HD (720×1280 pixels) IPS TFT display sits on the front and supports expandable storage via microSD card (up to 64GB). Available in three different colours – black, orange and blue, the phone comes with 5000 mAh battery – the selling point for Zenfone Max, and an OTG cable through which you can charge other phones via Max making the phone a power bank.
The new ZenFone Max variants run Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box and weighs 202 grams. The dual-SIM device sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash and Laser Auto-Focus feature. It also comes with a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.
The handset, similar to original ZenFone Max smartphone in India, supports Indian LTE bands. It packs accelerometer, compass, proximity, and ambient light sensors. Other connectivity options include 3G, GPRS/ EDGE, GPS, Glonass, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi.
Commenting on the launch, Asus, region head – South Asia and country manager Peter Chang said, “Zenfone Max has been one of our star products. The product features including its long battery life, ability to be a portable charger for other devices, stunning good looks and an affordable price resonated well with our audiences and helped us deliver our promise of making luxury affordable. The enhanced version of the Zenfone Max with a brand new processor, increased memory and more personalization options helps us stay true to our ethos and offer an extremely cost-effective high-end luxury product.”
The post Asus unveils new Zenfone Max with Snapdragon 615 priced at Rs 9,999 appeared first on AnimationXpress.
May
23
Star Trek Starfleet Academy Experience
Posted in: AnimationStar Trek: The Starfleet Academy Experience is an <a href="immersive exhibit by EMS Entertainment that will teach participants about the real and speculative science behind Star Trek’s fictional technology as they are “recruited” and “trained” to become members of Starlet. To launch the world premiere of the Experience at Canada Aviation and Space Museum, Acart Communications was selected to develop an immersive campaign using multiple tactics. It began with a mysterious, unbranded, “UFO” video that was featured on local TV news, and argued over on Reddit and social media. Next, the museum released an “intercepted transmission” of a Starfleet Shuttle in trouble. At the same time, an experiential installation of a crashed shuttle nacelle appeared in various locations, with two Starfleet science officers examining it with tricorders and two security officers guarding it. (Those curious enough to ask about it were handed metal cards with the campaign URL, joinstarfleetacademy.ca.) This scene was the subject of a front-page takeover on Metro Ottawa, with a news story entirely in Klingon (which one Redditor successfully translated). Next, a replica of Kirk’s Captain’s Chair toured malls and events, allowing the public to don a captain’s uniform and read authentic Kirk lines into a moderated Twitter feed, @jimmykirk2370. Finally, the main campaign creative was released on street-level posters and bus wraps. All creative was approved by the Star Trek intellectual property owner, CBS.
Starfleet Academy Experience Credits
The Starfleet Academy Experience campaign was developed at Acart by creative director/copywriter Tom Megginson, head of experiential Patrick Kavanagh, experiential project manager Jean-Rene Ello, executive creative director John Staresinic, associate creative director Vernon Lai, account director Craig Cebryk, graphic designer Patrick Harris, digital strategist Charles Crosbie, coding Leighton Rodney, video producer/director/French copywriter Emmanuelle Coutu, videographers Jérémy Prud’homme, Steven Desjardins, production managers Sarah Deschamps, and Lynn Norris.
Illustration was by Marc Audet at Rocket 57.
Klingon adaptations were done at Klingon Language Institute.
May
22
Band Of Horses – Casual Party
Posted in: Animation
A music video I directed for Band Of Horses new single, “Casual Party.” Sometimes an awesome band lets you be as weird as you like for their awesome song. Monsters! Cheese Puffs! Cold Cut Man!!! Director: Ben Fee Production Company: Scandinavia Produced by: Colin Shane & Angela Chen Rep: Jen Herrera/Las Bandas Cinematography: Drew Daniels Colorist: Jaime Obradovich / Company 3 Production Designer: Kat Audick Art Director: Margaux Rust Costume Design: Kat Audick More Costume Design: Lauren Wilde Hair & Makeup: Lauren Wilde AD: Tres Stamos PM: Aragorn Fenton Steadicam: Orlando Duguany First AC: Troy “Teddy” Dickerson Makeup assistant: Rebecca Abraham Makeup assistant: Alex French Creatures: Tim Hagerty Erika Zabelle Tim McKeown Thomas Blake Stephanie Griffin Caitlin Rucker Joya Mia Italiano Christi Waldon Jess Bates Jacob Gibson Michael R. Jacobs Mitch Eakins Kevin Bone Maura McDonald Matt Boman Tosca Rivola Elderly Couple: Larry Makrow Betty www.wearescandinavia.com
May
22
GUTTER FEST: THE MOVIE
Posted in: Animation
Self-published animation Written & Directed by Genis Rigol Alzola, Pau Anglada & Marc Torices Illustration by Marc Torices, Néstor F., Pau Anglada, Genís Rigol, Olga Capdevila, Irkus M. Zeberio, Alexis Nolla, Jorge Parras & Jose Abeijón. Animation by Genís Rígol, Pau Anglada, Jorge Parras & Marc Torices Colour Design by Olga capdevila Music by Nico Roig Clean up by Marc Torices Pau, Anglada, Genís Rigol, Brenda Moreno Gracia & Daniel Soms. Voice by Dídac Alcaraz. Sound design by Eric Arajol 3d by Pau Anglada
May
22
Hong Kong Strong: Director's Commentary
Posted in: Animation
Behind-the-scenes about my short film Hong Kong Strong. How it was made, why it was made, what gear was used.
Hong Kong Strong:
Music by Steven Richard Davis
srdmusic – at – me.com
May
22
Downstream Official Trailer
Posted in: Animation
In an ambiguous operation a desperate person’s consciousness is transferred into a foreign body. During the process her memory is erased. She struggles to figure out who she really is in an alien environment. Director: Dylan & Dakota PF Producer: Seager Dixon/LOW-RES Films DOP: Patrick Hanover Production Design: Hanna Lindeyer
Who's in charge here?
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A. during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.