Jan 14

Shilo Gets Gruesome For Scion Fable

Posted in: Industry News
[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/shilo_scion_thumb.jpg”]18233[/NEWS]Us Award winning production company Shilo recently joined forces with creative branding agency ATTIK, on the cinematic spot ‘Scion Fable’ for car brand Scion. This mysterious and incredibly original automotive campaign continuously pushed boundaries, from the initial work on character studies, and throughout the look and feel of the city and underground background settings. ‘Scion Fable’ is a Poe-esque tale that follows the misadventures of a bland people called ‘Sheeple’ as they fall prey to all manner of grisly fates at the hands of the rebellious ‘Deviants’.

The end result is a dark and twisted world where conformity and individuality fight to the death. The outcome is gruesome and far from pretty.

Quote:

“The Scion brand, and particularly this car, is about counter-culture, customization and individuality. This spot represents ATTIK’s and Scion’s willingness to push boundaries and we are proud of our role in bringing this very original automotive campaign to life.” Shilo.

About Shilo
Shilo is an Emmy Award-winning creative production company representing a group of filmmakers led by directors Jose Gomez and Andre Stringer.

Internationally known for creating original and commissioned work that is powerful, provocative and visually extraordinary, Shilo’s deeply held passions for design-infused storytelling and innovative application of live-action, design, and animation techniques deliver breakthrough experiences for screens large and small.

About ATTIK
ATTIK is a creative communications and branding agency owned by Dentsu, the largest brand agency in the world. Originally founded in the UK in 1986 on a grant provided by the UK’s Prince’s Trust, ATTIK has a reputation for bringing brands to life in fresh, unorthodox and often provocative ways. ATTIK joined the Dentsu family in November 2007.

Credits:
Agency: ATTIK
Director: Shilo
Production Company: Shilo
Creative Director: Jose Gomez
Lead Design: Jose Gomez, Tom Green
Lead 3D Design and Animation: Cody Smith
Additional 3D modeling: Scott Denton
3D Animation: Billy Maloney, Nate Davies, Blake Guest
Character Animation: Kiel Figgins, Chris Mead, Jorma Auburn,Bren Wilson, Christopher Adams, Richard Lico, Dax Pallotta, Joe Jones
Compositors: Jose Gomez, Tom Green, Jon Wu, Marco Giampaolo
Editor: Mike Goubeaux
Producer: Jake Hibler
Executive Producer: Tracy Chandler, Santino Sladavic

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Jan 09

Robot Films’ Syndrome Thinks Outside the Box for T-Pain

Posted in: Industry News
[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/tpain_good_thumb.jpg”]18167[/NEWS]Every so often a music video comes along that breaks new ground with its creativity, and this trilogy of videos for T-Pain helmed by directing collective Syndrome out of Robot Films is a perfect example of just that. Utilizing vibrant color fluctuations, Syndrome was able to launch these videos into a realm all their own. In Can’t Believe It, the plethora of unique ingredients include miniature apparitions of T-Pain and Lil Wayne and a cyber-roller coaster ride among other things. An ongoing galactic backdrop, with simultaneous circus and carnival themes make the video nearly impossible to classify.

In Chopped and Screwed, T-Pain and fellow hip hop star, Ludacris are portrayed in an animated wonder world with T-Pain depicted as a lion and transforming scenarios. The bold colors and elaborate camera moves transcend us into an extravagant, surreal world.

Freeze features T-Pain’s collabo track with Chris Brown and exhibits fluid motion and contemporary dance moves dipping and weaving in an otherworldly environment. Pulsating digital animation, neon colors and dance offs performed amid dynamic 3D aesthetics are only a few unconventional, yet engaging aspects of this video.

While most hip hop videos are faced with ongoing criticism for redundancy, these efforts show an evolution that feature similar aspects of the usual formula, but explore a variety of new and creative alternatives.

Quote:

“These videos have been an amazing experience for us. T-Pain and Jive gave us their full trust and creative freedom to bring our flavor to their already unique aesthetic. We are grateful for the opportunity and realize how rare that is, especially in today’s market. With that said, it was important for us to establish a cohesive look and feel which played off the album’s cover as this series of videos were specifically designed to be an overall branding campaign for T-Pain.” Syndrome comments on T-Pain project.

Quote:

“Upon shooting Can’t Believe It, it was clear that this was going to be a lot of fun and something special. The vibe and energy clicked very naturally between Pain and ourselves and that energy spilled all over these videos. It’s one thing to have an artist stand in front of a green screen and perform, but when they interact and play off of what the treatment calls for, that interaction takes it to another level by adding the emotion and soul. T-Pain really went hard with his performances and got what we were going for ultimately being the key ingredient to bringing the concepts to fruition.” Syndrome elaborates on T-Pain work.
Quote:

“When we were first kicking around ideas for Can’t Believe It, it was important to all of us that we find a way to reference all the far flung locations in Pain’s lyrics in a fresh and imaginative way. Chartering a 747 for a week long shoot in Aspen, Wisconsin, Costa Rica and Toronto proved not to be cost effective, so we decided that a post-intensive approach was the way to go. From there, it was a no brainer that Syndrome were right for the job. We were all tremendous fans of their work and had been looking forward to an opportunity to work with them. Little did we know the end result would surpass all expectations and blow our collective minds. The way the guys perfectly captured T-Pain’s charisma, humor and imagination, highlighting those qualities and more with their ground breaking visuals, it was clear that they would do all three of the videos we had slated. What we didn’t know was that they would achieve the near impossible by topping their previous effort each time out. I have never gotten so many enthusiastic calls and emails about a series of videos. I can’t wait to see what the guys come up with next. I just hope it’ll be for one of my projects.” Max Nichols, VP of Video Production at Zomba Label Group.

About Robot Films:
Robot Films is a Los Angeles-based creative lab producing music videos, feature and short film, web content, TV and commercials. Lead by veteran Founder/Director Chris Robinson and Executive Producer Amanda Fox, Robot offers a wide range of services, boundless energy, and vast experience . In addition, Robot houses directing collective and design/animation group, Syndrome who are prolific directors and often collaborate on Robot directed jobs. Syndrome is a multi-disciplined trio comprised of Directors/Designers Micah Hancock, James Larese, and Mars Sandoval. Syndrome’s primary focus is merging science with soul, and manipulating technology for the sake of creative growth and artistic expression.

CREDITS
Artist: T-Pain
Song Title(s): Can’t Believe It, Chopped and Screwed, Freeze
Airdate: January 2009

Label: Zomba Label Group

Prod Co: Robot Films/LA
Director(s): Syndrome
EP: Amanda Fox

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Jan 08

Animated Feature Film ‘9′ – Trailer

Posted in: Industry News
[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/9_pink_thumb.jpg”]18159[/NEWS]9 is a feature length animated film written and directed by Shane Acker, which re-tells the age old story of good against evil. The film centres on a society of ‘rag-dollesque’ people who live their lives in constant fear of an enemy intent on the destruction of the remains of civilisation. When the main character “9″ (voiced by Elijah Wood) first comes to life he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world where others like him spend their days hiding in fear of a terrifying mechanical beast. 9 emerges as an unlikely leader who convinces his comrades that to survive they must take the offensive and fight.

Quote:

Shane Acker has previously likened the rag-doll characters in his film to the Jawas from Star Wars, almost scavengers of the land that “ take things and sort of keep them inside themselves until there comes a moment which they need them or can use them”.

The storyline sees 9 and his friends using their collected and stored intellect to fight their dangerous enemy, using mind over muscle, the pen over the sword.

Quote:

Acker has explained the philosophy behind the number naming of his main character: “ 9 was about as close as you can get to perfection. You know, let’s say perfection is 10. So I think that we can never achieve that perfection. We’re always flawed – every one of us. And I think 9 represents as close as you can ever possibly get to that perfection.”

9 was adapted from the Academy Award nominated short film by Shane Acker and has been produced by the visionary film makers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov. Animation for the film initially began at Attitude Studio in Luxembourg, but was subsequently moved to Starz Animation in Canada. It is due for release release on 9 September 2009.

About Starz Animation:
Starz Animation Toronto, one of Canada’s largest 3D animation studios, specializes in high-end computer-animated motion pictures, DVD’s, TV series, commercials, shorts and visual effects. In 2007, the studio opened its expansive new state-of-the-art 45,000 square-foot facility in downtown Toronto, where more than 200 of the top artists, producers, technical directors, and programmers in contemporary animation work together to craft offerings like 9, the computer-animated Tim Burton film currently in production for Universal’s Focus Features.


Featuring the voices of:
Elijah Wood
Christopher Plummer
Martin Landau
John C. Reilly
Jennifer Connelly
Crispin Glover

Credits:
Directed and Written by: Shane Acker
Produced by: Tim Burton & Timur Bekmambetov
Screen play by: Pamela Pettler
Animation: Starz Animation
Distributed by: Focus Features
Prod Co: Robot Films/LA
Director(s): Syndrome
EP: Amanda Fox
About Robot Films:

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Jan 07

Method Builds Monsters for The Ladders

Posted in: Industry News
[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/monsters_thumb.jpg”]18138[/NEWS]If you’re a monster, you announce your presence with authority. Such is the story behind “Monsters,” a new spot directed by Dante Ariola of MJZ for high-end job search engine The Ladders. The spot was directed by MJZ’s Dante Ariola in collaboration with Method Studios, ad agency Fallon Minneapolis and Company 3. Seamlessly blending old-school movie monsters with the latest visual effects and computer generated animation, the spot takes a humorous look at what it takes to get a big job done. To augment the authenticity of the classic movie monster motif, “Monsters” features multiple versions of Guilala, the destructive star of the classic 1967 Japanese monster movie The X from Outer Space.

Quote:

“The Ladders is a job search service for people making over 100K per year,” explains Alex Frisch, Method’s VFX Supervisor and Flame Artist on the project. “They are exclusively dedicated to finding people with the ‘monster-size’ talents that will ensure big jobs are completed the right way. The spot was very challenging, but also played to the strengths of our team, particularly when it comes to the seamless integration of CG characters and live action. It was also a lot of fun working with Guilala.”

Opening with an imposing, reptile-like creature lumbering towards an oncoming truck, the spot looks like a typical 1960’s era monster movie. As the creature emits what should be an earth-shaking roar, however, we quickly discover things are not quite what they seem. In fact, this monster is so small that the truck passes over his head. As the mini-monster slouches dejectedly, many more like him are revealed, all of them vainly attempting to frighten the townsfolk.

One heaves pebbles at a store window, prompting only a bemused smirk from the woman in the window. Another spits a tiny fireball into a businessman’s newspaper, only to be unceremoniously shooed away. No less than five of the creatures team up for the attempted destruction of a compact car, only to be overwhelmed by its hubcaps. Just when all seems lost, the tiny creatures look up to see a suitably immense version of themselves laying appropriate waste to the city. A wry voiceover then reminds viewers that “some people are ready for the big jobs… and some aren’t.”

Quote:

“The agency selected Guilala from a range of potential creatures,” says Andy Boyd, Lead CG Artist and VFX Supervisor on the project. “What made this commercial really funny and special from our perspective was that we did a studio shoot of an actor in the Guilala suit and took high resolution photographs of the suit itself, all of which turned out to be a fantastic resource for our animations. All the subsequent animated characters in the spot were rotoscoped from the actual rubber suit, so we were able to imbue these very complex contemporary animations with a campy 1960’s feel. We even created a rubber system to make the fingers and toes wobble appropriately.”

On “Monsters,” Method continues to display their skill integrating CG animation with live action. According to Frisch, achieving that seamless blend required that the Method team combine its full arsenal of talents with a meticulous attention to detail.

Quote:

“We pulled out our entire bag of tricks for this one,” he says. “From miniatures and puppets to blue screen compositing and 3D animation, this spot used it all. Andy and I also attended the three day shoot in Cape Town, South Africa, and Dante got a fantastic performance from the actor in the rubber suit which helped a great deal. We did the entire job at 2K resolution, and went back and forth with Company 3 to achieve a truly pristine color correct and composite. In the end, we were able to create 3D monsters that are absolutely identical to the practical one.”

Quote:

“What is most impressive for me was the combination of skill sets on this spot,” says Boyd. “If you look at the final scene with the explosions and the huge monster, for instance, there is a studio shot monster in the background, multiple 3D monsters in the foreground, a CG car, and a bunch of other elements in one seamless scene.”

CREDITS:

Production Company
Director: Dante Ariola
EP: Jeff Scruton
Producer: Natalie Hill
DP: Philipe Le Sourd

Agency
Agency: Fallon Minneapolis
Agency EP: Vic Palumbo
Agency Producer: Amanda Revere

Editorial
Editorial: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Kirk Baxter
Producer: Mike Goble

Method Studios:
VFX Supervisor and Flame Artist: Alex Frisch
VFX Supervisor and Lead CG: Andy Boyd
Flame: Katrina Salicrup, Noah Caddis, Andy Davis
CG: Matt Hackett, Floyd Raymer, Jonathan Vaughn, Jack Zaloga, Alex Lee, Todd Herman
Assist/Roto: Andy Mower, Ryan Raith, Craig Hilditch, Amanda Burton, Edgar Diaz, Jay Robinson, Pam Gonzales
EP/Director of Production: Helen Hughes
PM: Moylene Boyd

Transfer:
Facility: Company 3
Colorist: Stefan Sonnenfeld

Related Links:
www.theladders.com
www.methodstudios.com
www.fallon.com
www.company3.com

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Jan 05

Huge reduction in Foundry Sparks as Audodesk revokes development license

Posted in: Industry News
[NEWS=”../images/articles05/nuke_5_logo.jpg”]18092[/NEWS]The Foundry, a leading developer of visual effects, image-processing and compositing software, announced today that effective immediately, it has significantly reduced prices on plug-ins for Autodesk® advanced systems, as it is no longer part of the Autodesk Authorised Developer Network programme and can no longer guarantee continued development or support. The decision follows notification by Autodesk that it will not renew its development license with The Foundry, citing competitive issues. The decision ends Autodesk’s twelve-year development relationship with The Foundry and its users.

Autodesk has provided a non-binding, verbal assurance to The Foundry that may be sufficient to enable The Foundry to continue supporting Autodesk plug-in products (Sparks). Due to the uncertain nature of this assurance, The Foundry can only guarantee ‘best effort’ support to its Autodesk plug-in customers at this time. The Foundry is also unable to predict whether it will be able to develop or support future releases on Autodesk systems platforms.

The Foundry, formed in 1996, was the first developer of Sparks on Discreet Logic’s® Flame® systems and has continued to bring its Academy Award®-winning technology to digital artists worldwide through a variety of highly regarded and popular plug-in products including Tinder, Furnace and Keylight.

Quote:

Simon Robinson, The Foundry’s chief scientist and co-founder, said: “The Foundry was originally established to develop Tinder on Discreet Logic® so it is particularly sad that this relationship is altering so significantly. We’d like to thank our loyal Autodesk customers who helped us build The Foundry into the successful company it is today.”
Quote:

The Foundry’s CEO, Bill Collis, aded: “Our customers always come first and we will, of course, continue to support them to the best of our ability. However, without a legal agreement in place, we cannot guarantee how long we will be able to continue to provide this service. Many of our Autodesk customers are key industry players who have strongly influenced our development path and we are committed to keeping them informed about any changes in service or development.”

REDUCED PRICING ON NODE LOCKED AUTODESK® PLUG-INS
Effective 1st January 2009

Furnace GUI = $1000 / £650 + VAT
Tinder GUI = $1000 / £650 + VAT
Keylight GUI = $500 / £325 + VAT

FREE BURN LICENSES

For more information on Autodesk plug-ins, please visit www.thefoundry.co.uk, where you’ll also find examples and client testimonials.

Notes to Customers:
The Foundry cannot guarantee to make any new builds after 1st January 2009. Bug fixing or upgrades to future versions of Autodesk systems may not be possible.

About The Foundry
The Foundry is a world-leading innovator of visual effects and image processing technologies that boost productivity in motion picture and video post production. On February 10th 2007, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded a Sci-Tech Award® to The Foundry’s development team for the Furnace image processing suite. The company now holds two products with Academy Award® winning technology including high-end compositing system Nuke.

The Foundry’s products support a wide range of host platforms including After Effects, Autodesk® Media and Entertainment Systems, Avid DS, Baselight, Film Master, NUKE, Scratch, Shake and Final Cut Pro. The company has also driven OpenFX, an open standard for visual effects plug-ins, now broadly adopted by host and plug-in developers such as Autodesk, Assimilate, FilmLight, Digital Vision, eyeon Software Inc, Grass Valley, Soluciones Graficas por Ordenador (S.G.O.), Photron and others.

Customers include: Digital Domain, The Moving Picture Company, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Warner Bros and Weta Digital Ltd.

The Foundry is headquartered in London, and has offices in Los Angeles. For more information please visit The Foundry’s website at www.thefoundry.co.uk, or call +44 20 7434 0449.

© The Foundry, its logo and product names are registered trademarks in the UK, USA and and/or other countries. Academy Award is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

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Dec 31

SMNY & Mother Protect Human With Amnesty

Posted in: Industry News
[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/sm_amnesty_thumb.jpg”]18048[/NEWS]Director Kim Gehrig of Academy Films and New York-based Smoke & Mirrors New York (SMNY) Creative Director Sean Broughton create a compelling 1:30 tale for Amnesty International via Mother. With Michael Stipe’s arresting song, Until the Day is Done, playing throughout the spot, we are left simultaneously bewildered and proud. Bewildered at the astonishing violence in our world, and proud of the selfless among us attempting to hinder its relentless surge. Seven racially diverse individuals are superimposed onto scenes of violence wherein they appear to stand between aggressors and their targets; releasing prisoners, removing nooses off necks and withdrawing weapons from children.

The heroes are placed in the heart of nations that are war-torn and plagued with cruelty, in order to attest our own capacity to protect human rights.

Quote:

SMNY’s Sean Broughton acknowledges, “This was an opportunity to do some real good, so pulling out all the stops was the only way to go. When the time came, I met with Director Kim Gehrig in London to work out how every scene and element should be shot. The seven scenes were split up amongst the three post companies involved in the project SMNY, Rushes and Framestore. We had to complete the work in record time, but the ego-less efforts made by all was a joy to be a part of.”
Quote:

“Interaction was a key aspect of the film, so each ‘hero’ was shot against green screen, with the distance traveled, terrain, camera heights and angles calculated prior to shoot. Lighting was matched to the pre-selected background scenes and everything was shot with locked off camera in HD to allow for movement later in post. Kim wanted to make sure the heroes stood out, so it was an old VHS machine that finished the catalogue of work executed in each scene. The hero character was played off to the old tape format and then matted back in.”

Quote:

Ed Sayers from Mother adds, “There are many ways to approach any post task and in this case we gained the eclectic opinions of all this top worldwide post talent and when anyone talked, everyone listened. So the film received the benefit of all that experience and the joy of all that talent. It couldn’t have been done in the time without this total and ego-less cooperation, not to mention a client who allowed everyone to crack on and come back and truly wow them with a very powerful film.”

About SMNY:
New York and London-based design, animation and VFX studio, Smoke & Mirrors was founded by Creative Director/VFX Artist Sean Broughton (NY), Penny Verbe (UK) and Mark Wildig (UK). Production in the New York office is lead by Managing Director Jo Morgan and Executive Producer Celest Gilbert. Diverse projects range from work on the Harry Potter and Bond film series, to commercials campaigns for Mercedes, Burger King, Miller Lite and Sirius. Recent music vid clips include Feists 1 2 3 4, and I Feel It All.

The Creds:
Client: Amnesty International
Title: You Are Powerful
Air Date: December 2008

Agency: Mother
Producer: Ed Sayer

Prod Company: Academy Films
DOP: Mattias Montero
Director: Kim Gehrig
Producer: Lucy Gossage

Post/Effects: Smoke & Mirrors – NY/London
CD: Sean Broughton/SMNY
Flame Artist: Marios Theodosi/London
Managing Director: Jo Morgan/SMNY
EP: Celest Gilbert/SMNY
Producer(s): Belinda Grew, Paul Schleicher/London
Producer: Lauren Shawe/SMNY

Post/Effects: Rushes/Framestore

Editorial: Final Cut
Editor: Joe Guest

Audio Post: Factory
Mixer: Ben Firth

Music: Until the Day is Done
Artist: Michael Stipe

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Dec 29

Coraline Trailer – Behind The Scenes

Posted in: Industry News
[NEWS=http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/coraline_purple_thumb.jpg]18026[/NEWS]Coraline is a horror fantasy film based on the novella Coraline by Neil Gaiman. The film is the first stop motion animation to be created in 3D and is directed by Henry Selick. Coraline tells the story of a young girl who encounters a parallel reality when she unlocks and enters a mysterious door in her home. The new world through the door appears to be thrilling and fantastical, however events soon take a dark turn and Corlaine finds herself fighting to return to her real life. Reportedly a combination of Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, Where the Wild Things Are and Pans Labyrinth, Corlaine is set to provide “terror and joy in roughly equal doses”.

This trailer takes a look behind the scenes of Coraline and the characters in the film. Featuring interviews with author Neil Gaiman and director Henry Selick, here you can meet the inhabitants of Coraline’s world.

The main cast includes voices by Dakota Fanning as Coraline, Ian McShane as Mr. Bobinksi; and Terri Hatcher and John Hodgman as Coralines parents.

Other characters in this special animation are voiced by Keith David, Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French. Coraline is due for release in February 2009 and is distributed by Focus Features.

About Focus Features:
Focus Features is part of NBC Universal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80% owned by General Electric and 20% owned by Vivendi.

Credits:
Author: Neil Gaiman
Director: Henry Selick
Executive Producers: Bill Mechanic, Henry Selick, Michael Soumas
Music: Bruno Coulais
Cinematography: Pete Zozachik
Editor: Christopher Murrie

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