La Anima Sola

Showing posts with label Directors. Show all posts

GDT and MTh make a Studio Mirada

Wowsie Wow!

In light of all the studios closing,

this is great news!

Mirada will house all of the tools that filmmakers need to create entertainment that lives partly on the Web, partly in movie theaters, partly in video games – so-called transmedia – under one roof.

“The goal is to create a creative business that fuses together all of those different disciplines,” said Mathew Cullen, a Mirada partner and well-known director of commercials and music videos. The other two partners are Javier Jimenez, a co-founder with Mr. Cullen of Motion Theory, a video production company, and Guillermo Navarro, a cinematographer whose work includes Mr. del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” and the coming “Twilight” installments.

Read More at the NYT...

Subaru WRX STI

Zoetrope style animation frame by frame on the side wall of a test track
driving a camera attached to a WRX one foot away from the wall.

INSANE!!!

Modification

I couldn't decide if I could post this due to the nudity, but decided it has nothing on the tv show Nip/Tuck. Pretty fun little short completed by the defyAgeny in Culver City. The composer contacted me to show it and we will probably be working together on my short.

Director: Jimmie Rhee

Composer: Paolo Palazzo

To see it full-rez go here.

George Lucas To Donate More Than Half Of His Wealth To Education

In a letter dated July 16, 2010, Lucas has agreed that he will donate the majority of his wealth (a.k.a. more than 50 percent) to improving our schools through the George Lucas

Educational Foundation. In the letter, he cites the importance of technology in the classroom as well as a fear that the "education system as little better than an assembly line with producing diplomas as its only goal."

Read More at Cinema Blend

Shymalana Ding Dong

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Piranha 3D Producer Rips James Cameron: ‘Jim, Are You Kidding or What?’

This is just all kinds of awesome. As an animator who has

worked on their share of campy horror flicks

- FREDDY VS. JASON, HITCHER...etc.

My favorite quote from this rant is

"Let’s just keep this in mind Jim….you did not invent 3D."

This afternoon, a Piranha 3D rep dropped Canton’s nearly 1,400-word reply over the transom at Movieline HQ:

“As a producer in the entertainment industry, Jim Cameron’s comments on VanityFair.com are very disappointing to me and the team that made Piranha 3D. Mr. Cameron, who singles himself out to be a visionary of movie-making, seems to have a small vision regarding any motion pictures that are not his own. It is amazing that in the movie-making process - which is certainly a team sport - that Cameron consistently celebrates himself out as though he is a team of one. His comments are ridiculous, self-serving and insulting to those of us who are not caught up in serving his ego and his rhetoric.

For more read here...

Scott Ross for President

Everyone should listen to this interview...

Interview with Scott Ross

This is the most articulate, solution oriented conversation I have heard yet on this subject. If the VFX shops are awarded the money, respect, education, and deserved appreciation Ross proposes a trade organization would provide... I am confident there would be trickle down to the employees. Ten years ago, these needs (401k, benefits, fair hiring practices) were being met. Some shops back in the day even had car washing, dry cleaning services, meals provided, studio sponsored parties, etc. VFX shops managed to provide these things to artists even on a "next to nothing" profit margin. Then, times changed. The movie studios told shops you have half the budget , twice the work, and half the time... even though profits on VFX driven films are higher than ever. Studios told the shops, if you don't like it, the shop down the street beet your bid by 150k! So, the VFX shops began to hire cheap labor just to make ends meet.

The VFX companies are not the enemy in this situation and the situation is not personal. What have we got to lose? If the shops don't organize and fix the situation now, they are out of business anyways. Then, no one has a job. If the VFX shops paid dues to a trade organization like artists do to the VES, we might get somewhere. As long as the new trade organization does the job presented to them and isn't fluff and just talk, like some organizations we know. I think this is what Scott means by he would be willing to help organize as long as people made a commitment to the mission. If shops all agreed to pay dues to get the organization started, they might have a fighting chance in this as Ross put it "race to the bottom."

I also agree completely with Ross on a Union. The biz model for VFX shops is not one that could work with a Union. at this time The issues that artists have with the shops (401k, benefits, fair hiring practices) are only symptoms of the bigger problem. VFX was never working off of fat, it was lean muscle ten years ago... now we are cutting ligaments and bone as far as budgets and any profits. There is no room for negotiating. A union could help after we recover from the current circumstances... possibly, but I do not see how a Union would fix the profit margin issue between the Movie Studios and FX shops. How would a union deal with Runaway Production. I am curious how are they handling it now? I am pretty sure 2D ran away to Korea... no?

The one thing that did bother me in their talk was when they said the whole issue since the town hall "died because people are working." I know more people out of work than ever. Artists have no power, no money, no leaders, no experience in this stuff and mouths to feed. We feel helpless. That is why it died. If the VFX studios have no cash, you think out of work artists do? So, artists go overseas to help the lack of local talent for 1/3rd of their salary on even smaller budgeted movies and leave their wife and kids behind to keep a roof over their heads. It's the unskilled talent pool overseas that needs our artists to make the incentive program work. Again, worst biz model ever. And I digress.. Anyways, it's the first real discussion I have seen anywhere so far.

Kubrick vs Scorsese

Kubrick vs Scorsese from Leandro Copperfield on Vimeo.

Spielberg Loves Animators

Henry Selick Signs a New Deal to Return to Disney/Pixar

Henry Selick, the director of last year’s critical hit "Coraline," has agreed to a new long-standing deal with Disney/Pixar to both write and direct stop-motion films.

The father of stop-motion films is finally making his long-awaited return to Disney. Review St. Louis reports that Henry Selick, the director of last year’s critical hit Coraline, has agreed to a new long-standing deal with Disney/Pixar to both write and direct stop-motion films for the Mouse House.

Furthermore, the new agreement gives the acclaimed animator the opportunity to work from his own home located in the Bay Area. Whether original or literary, Selick is entitled to work from his home studio.

Selick’s new deal with Disney/Pixar should come as no surprise as the writer/director went to school with John Lasseter, the current head of Disney animation.

Selick set a new precedent for stop-motion films and made them mainstream fare with his directorial debut in the cult classic A Nightmare Before Christmas
. Although many believe Tim Burton helmed the project, Burton served as a producer to Selick’s direction.

Selick’s latest film, Coraline, was both a critical and box office hit that garnered the director an Oscar nominee for Best Animated Feature. In addition, the film lent itself nicely to the ever-so-popular 3-D format.

via Celebrity Cafe

More at Variety...

Henry Selick's take on Performance Capture

In the LA Times, animation director Henry Selick also weighed in publicly on mocrap:

“The academy has to come to terms with where [performance capture] goes. Is it animation? Is it a new category? I’m like the academy. I don’t know where it fits. I will tell you this, animators have to work very, very hard with the motion-capture data. After the performance is captured, it’s not just plugged into the computer which spits out big blue people. It’s a hybrid.”

read more...

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Review

This takes some dedication to watch, but it is VERY funny.
Because he is right.
"A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing..." ~Lucas
Now, I am curious about the guy who spent all the time making this thing!