Worth a mention - 10/14/11

‘Pacific Rim’ Shortens Release Date By Two Months

(latinoreview.com) Rawr!!!

Warner Brothers Pictures announced the studio will move the release date for the 3D monster movie “Pacific Rim” to May 10th, 2013. It was originally set for July 12th in the same year.

It allows “Pacific Rim” to be one of the first action films released for the summer lineup.

The film is about a large monsters destroying the earth and everyone unites together to save humankind by using giant robots.

The production will begin shooting next month.




Pixar Pulls Back the Curtain on Vancouver Studio

(vancouversun.com) VANCOUVER — As the debut looms for the first locally produced Cars ‘toon, Pixar’s new Vancouver studio is shifting into high gear.

The world’s leading animation studio on Thursday threw back the curtain on the 30,000 square foot facility it is creating inside the brick shell of an old office building in Gastown.

It also gave a preview of the 75-person studio’s first piece of entertainment, a five-minute cartoon entry in Pixar’s Tall Tales series featuring folksy tow truck Mater from its 2006 movie Cars.

Pixar Canada will specialize in short films featuring iconic characters such as Buzz Lightyear, Woody and Mater.

The definitive review on the first cartoon, Air Mater, won’t be public until its intended audience gets its youthful eyes onto it when it’s released Nov. 1 as part of the DVD and Blue Ray packages for Cars 2.

The Pixar Canada studio, on the other hand, warrants immediate raves. The location, barely a block from the Downtown Eastside, is grittier than a Northern California suburb, but it’s potentially a high-tech hub that could be the next Yaletown.

It has expansive views of the Vancouver waterfront, Burrard Inlet and the North Shore mountains, an outdoor patio, an open, inclusive floor plan, a huge lunchroom and lounge with bar stools and long wooden counters, plump couches, a gas fireplace, indirect lighting and plenty of B.C. cedar accents to soften the look of the walls and work stations.

The computer server room, linking the Vancouver satellite studio to Pixar’s primary campus in Emeryville, Calif., just north of Oakland, is big enough that Pixar needed BC Hydro to install a dedicated transformer to service the power load.

Eighteen months ago, the Vancouver studio had less than 20 staff in 7,000 square feet on one floor of a four storey building on Water Street, but was able to negotiate for two more floors.

They essentially gutted the building down to its shell, pillars and floors — and were surprised to find walled-in staircases, decommissioned elevator shafts, and other unexpected relics including horsehair insulation in the walls.

Pixar is tight-lipped about the cost of the redevelopment project, and wouldn’t allow reporters to use video recording equipment inside the studio.

But staff and studio executives were otherwise open to questions.

“What you are seeing is the result of nearly two years of looking for space and building it up,” chief technology officer Darwyn Peachey said in an interview.

Putting the team together, finding “the right people” was the biggest challenge, Peachey recalled, with Vancouver’s international reputation as a livable city giving the recruiters a distinct edge.

“We knew that Pixar as a brand would be a powerful tool in recruiting good people. What we found is that Vancouver is also a very powerful draw.

“We hired a lot of our people here in Vancouver, but some came in from New Zealand, Australia, the Far East, the U.K., and getting those people here in Vancouver was pretty easy.”

Amir Nasrabadi, vice-president and general manager of Pixar Canada, said the studio arose from the company’s desire to have a “dedicated, high quality team” to focus on production of animated shorts — a feature of less than six minutes can take seven to nine months to complete.

“We felt like Vancouver had a very mature, very good talent pool. It’s not the biggest but it is a very good pool.”

Having a studio in the same time zone as Emeryville was also a priority, one that ruled out Eastern Canada.

“The last thing was [that] the tax credits are really quite helpful for us,” Nasrabadi said.

The convergence of building renovations and production deadlines was challenging as well “but we took the long term approach, which is [to] find a place that we really love, that we think we can call a home for a long time and then really just take a little bit of pain early on to make this the right place for us,” he added.

Creative director Dylan Brown said the open floor plan reflects an aspect of Pixar’s conviction that collaboration breeds creativity.

“Great ideas can come from anywhere,” Brown said, who laughed at himself for paraphrasing one of Pixar’s own characters, aspiring chef Ratatouille.

“If everything has to run up some kind of rigid chain, people at the bottom of the chain may have great ideas that never see the light of day,” Brown said.

“It can be an intern that started yesterday that’s got the right idea that makes that thing better or funnier or more heartwarming.”




"Lone Ranger" Date Set, Delays "Thor 2"

(darkhorizons.com) Disney's big-budget "The Lone Ranger" project looks to be a go, but it's coming at a price - a delayed return trip to Asgard.

THR reports that fees for the principal players involved in the production have been reduced 20%, including certain payments deferered until the box office results start coming in.

Bruckheimer Films is also agreeing to pony up for any cost overruns on the now $215 million-budgeted Western epic. In fact the filmmakers will reportedly sacrifice much of their back-end participation if the film comes in over budget.

Two important dates have now been set - shooting on the Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer-led project will now commence in February in New Mexico. More pertinent however, it has pushed back its release date five months from next December to May 31st 2013.

Partly as a result of that, and also likely give it more time to get itself together, Marvel's "Thor 2" has been kicked from the same May '13 slot to a mid-Fall bow on November 15th 2013. Disney has also slotted in the "Phineas and Ferb" movie for July 26th 2013.




Cop Meets Space Opera In "Hyperdrive"

(darkhorizons.com) Paramount Pictures has acquired Morgan Jurgenson and David Daniels' sci-fi spec script "Hyperdrive" says Heat Vision.

The story follows a tough cop who recruits a geeky sci-fi author to help him track down a mysterious murder witness. While on their search, they find themselves in the middle of a space opera playing out on Earth.

The film is described as a hybrid of "The Fifth Element" and "48 Hrs". Mary Parent will produce.




"Avatar" Is The Most Pirated Movie Ever

(darkhorizons.com) "Avatar" is not only the biggest selling movie of all time, it's also the most pirated film in Hollywood history according to TorrentFreak (via THR Esq.).

A list of the "most pirated movies" of all time on the site show that the most pirated films are not just the most geek friendly but amongst the biggest grossers too with only one, "Kick Ass", failing to crack the $100 million mark. "Avatar" took the top spot with 21 million downloads since its release in 2009.

The Top 10 are:

1. Avatar (21 million downloads)
2. The Dark Knight (19 million)
3. Transformers (19 million)
4. Inception (18 million)
5. The Hangover (17 million)
6. Star Trek (16 million)
7. Kick-Ass (15 million)
8. The Departed (14 million)
9. The Incredible Hulk (14 million)
10. Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End (14 million)




Unix Developer Dies at 70

(latimes.com) Dennis Ritchie, a computer scientist who wrote the popular C programming language and helped develop the Unix operating system, has died. He was 70.

Ritchie died a month after his birthday, according to his biography on a Web page of Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs. Ritchie joined Bell Labs in the late 1960s.

The company announced his death Thursday but did not give the cause or say when Ritchie died.

Ritchie is best known for his contributions to computer programming and software. The C programming language, which he developed in the early 1970s, is still popular. It has gone through a number of upgrades, and it is commonly used for website development and other computer tasks. The Unix operating software also surged in popularity. It and its offshoots, including the open-source Linux, are widely used today, in corporate servers and even cellphones.

Ritchie was born Sept. 9, 1941, in Bronxville, N.Y. His father, Alistair, was a systems engineer at Bell Labs and his mother, Jean, was a homemaker. After studying physics and math at Harvard University, Ritchie joined Bell Labs.

"My undergraduate experience convinced me that I was not smart enough to be a physicist, and that computers were quite neat," Ritchie wrote. "My graduate school experience convinced me that I was not smart enough to be an expert in the theory of algorithms and also that I liked procedural languages better than functional ones."

At Bell, Ritchie and colleague Kenneth Thompson worked closely to create Unix. In writing the C language, Ritchie built on Thompson's earlier B language. Their collaborations were intended to simplify operating systems and make the software portable and easy to move from existing hardware to new computers, resulting in the open-source movement of sharing ideas.

"I wanted to find out what things a program or operating system could make possible that you couldn't do before," Ritchie told Investors Business Daily in 2003.

Bell Labs' emphasis on research provided opportunities for Ritchie and Thompson to develop pioneering innovations.

"There are features in C that everyone takes for granted now," Doug McIlroy, a Bell colleague, told Investors Business Daily. "But when Dennis created them, they were new to the world."





Watch Live-Action 'Voltron' Short 'The End'

(latinoreview.com) Watch Live-Action 'Voltron' Short 'The End' It came out at this past San Diego Comic-Con that Relativity Media and Atlas Entertainment are teaming up to bring the popular animated television show, 'Voltron: Defenders of the Universe' to the big screen as a live-action film. Since the announcement, things have been quiet. According to the New York Times, World Event Productions is at the New York Comic-Con, which runs from October 13-16. The organization is there to promote the television series, presumably sculptures, box sets and the like. Perhaps a blurb about the movie will come out.

In the meantime while fans wait, you can view a short film based on the television series. Called 'Voltron: The End,' it comes from director Alex Albrecht. Actor Timothy Omundson stars. He had a minor role in 'Starship Troopers.' Was that enough to earn him his lion licence?

Here's the brief synopsis of the short:

"When a man regains consciousness in a Voltron battle lion after an 'accident' he has to decide does he live a few more minutes or try to tell the world what happened... the end is only the beginning."

VIDEO - Take a look: http://www.latinoreview.com/news/watch-live-action-voltron-short-the-end-15070




Importance of Visual Effects Schools

(royalvisuals.com) If you are a fan of video games, special effects, mind blowing art and have a passion for animation you should study or consider a career in visual effects. Visual effects can be described as a subcategory of special effects where images are manipulated. VFX adds imagery to movies that would be too dangerous, difficult, or expensive to capture with live footage, like explosions, the destruction of national monuments, flying objects and so on. With the growth of movie budgets the demand for VFX has grown drastically.

Some of the best visual effects schools found worldwide are: full sail university, the Gnomon School of Visual Effects, the academy of art and arts institutes. They are considered the best because they prepare students for a booming career in visual effects. Some of the courses, which are being taught in these animation schools, are geared toward helping students become visual effects artist.

When you watch the news or the latest blockbuster movie what you are watching is the work of a visual effects specialist. Visual effects can be described as the application of computer generated imagery into live footage movie. For example if you place an image next to the news anchor and she is reporting on a story or creating an illusion of a giant flood like in the movie 2012. These types of effects help generate blockbuster films like: titanic, Lord of the rings, star wars and Independence Day.

In order to achieve success in visual effects a comprehensive education is essential. Technology keeps on changing daily and you need to update your skills daily. Some of the programs that visual effects students should take are: composting, video editing, modeling, masks, storyboards, digital painting, animation, business and marketing. After learn these skills and having a great portfolio you should be ready for a career in visual effects.

A strong portfolio is what most prospective employers find most important when look to hire there next visual effects specialist. A lot of money is at stake for filmmaker and movie studios so they are always looking for visual effects artist with great work experience and great portfolios to create the mind-blowing effects that bring movie goers into the theaters.

You can also learn VFX by taking courses online but you must have a Macintosh or Pc and have your own VFX software. Animationschool.net talks about the best schools that offer degrees in visual effects in detail they also have features on 3D animation schools and schools that offer degrees in video game design. Remember visual effects are not just for the movies it can also be used in banners, videos, video games, phone apps and more.

So with a degree in visual effects you will have flexibility in which direction you want to take your career in.

To know more about the Visual Effects and Video Game Design Schools, visit the website: www.animationschool.net




‘Thing’ Filmmakers: ‘Hybrid’ Special Effects Build a Better Monster

“The Thing” may be director Matthijs Van Heijningen Jr.’s first feature film, but he wasn’t shy about giving the studio his demands when he signed on to the prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 classic horror film, famously inspired by 1951′s “The Thing from Another World.” He told Universal he would direct the film on a couple of conditions. One was that film’s eponymous creature had to be created using practical effects.

“For a director, it’s great. You have something really running around screaming, and you see actors reacting to it,” Heijningen told Hero Complex at the premiere of “The Thing” on Monday.

To reveal what happens to the Norwegian base found destroyed in the 1982 film, Heijningen’s crew blended the use of CGI and practical effects like puppets and animatronics, much to the appreciation of the cast, including star Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

“I’ve been on a lot of sets where there’s a lot of CGI work, and so you’re doing a lot of acting to absolutely nothing, and it can get really confusing,” Winstead said at the premiere at Universal CityWalk. “When you have something to really react to, and something that feels really real and textured and tangible and there, it changes so much.”

With the weighty task of living up to the groundbreaking effects in the 1982 film, Heijningen hired Amalgamated Dynamics Inc., the effects company behind such films as “Alien 3” and “Spider-Man.”

Tom Woodruff Jr. of Amalgamated explained that “there’s a lot of great hybrid technology” that brings together practical and digital effects. They went that route not just for the benefit of the actors’ performances but also to better scare modern movie-watchers.

“Audiences are really savvy today. They’re more technically savvy I think than you give them credit for. They can tell the difference,” Woodruff said.

“The Thing” hits theaters today.

VIDEO - Take a look: http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/10/12/%E2%80%98thing%E2%80%99-filmmakers-hybrid-special-effects-build-a-better-monster/




A VFX Shop Owner Will Never See the Upside of Going Union. Why?

(vfxtalk.com) ... what I was looking for is what does it cost a studio to be union. I have worked at both union and non union and have enjoyed both. I do enjoy union more for the health benefits and the IAP but have enjoyed myself at non union shops as well as far as work goes. ...

In a nutshell, it costs union employers the wage rates in the TAG collective bargaining agreement, plus the cost of benefits. (Seven bucks an hour, give or take.)

Below, I expound on what union employers get in return, but first ...

... Here's a reality you might find surprising coming from a grizzled Business Agent: In the time I've done this, I've seen (some) pretty bad union studios and (some) pretty good non-union studios. One good non-union example:

Film Roman, in the first few years Phil Roman ran it.

Back in studio's early years, Phil's cartoon factory was located in Toluca Lake and producing Garfield. It offered nice benefits, good pay, and fairly relaxed working conditions. TAG attempted to organize the facility in 1991 and failed. (Phil ran the joint much the same way his long-time boss Bill Melendez -- of Bill Melendez Productions -- ran his union shop in Hollywood.)

Over time, however, Phil's studio got bigger, Phil took the FR stock public and then lost control of the place. And working conditions, pay and benefits got crappier. Ultimately, Film Roman employees had enough of the deteriorating workplace conditions and organized the studio under an Animation Guild contract.

I've seen non-union studios that paid as well (and sometimes better) than non-union studios. Generally their benefits packages were comparable or only slightly worse than union places. Occasionally non-union shops offered a generous array of benefits to "permanent staff," while production hires got a minimalist health care package and little to no retirement benefits. (This was true of Sony Pictures Imageworks in its heyday.)

Now to answer the other part of the commenter's question, "What's the point of a union for the studio?" Here's a few:

1) Efficiencies of scale. The Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plan has $5 billion and over 100,000 participants. On the Health Plan side, its size and money enable it to negotiate highly competitive health care rates for participants, something that a studio of 50 or 150 employees has no way of doing. And because it has billions in plan assets, it's able to hire the best financial advisors and legal talent available.

2) Access to a large, well-trained workforce. When Imagi set up shop in Sherman Oaks, it tried to recruit story artists from various big, union studios, but had few takers. One of their execs said to me: "We have to sign a contract with you, because we can't get the people we need without it ..." (This, frankly, is the strength of a lot of entertainment guilds. An employer wants to hire a SAG actor or WGA writer or DGA director, the need to sign a contract with the appropriate labor organization.)

3) Training programs. The Contract Services Administration Trust Fund provides block grants for training to employees of union shops, which offers skill boosts to union members in dozens of guilds every year. And a while back, TAG partnered with Disney to offer computer training to animation artists that went on for over two years. Today, the Animation Guild offers classes in various related crafts at its building in Burbank, as well as providing training DVDs from its growing library to any TAG member who needs them.

It's easy to forget in this corporatist age that the United States wasn't originally set up for the exclusive benefit of conglomerates and international corporations the size of France. The Wagner Act, also known as the Fair Labor Standards Act, was enacted seven decades ago to protect workers from corporate over-reach and give them an independent voice in the workplace. The Act has been muffled and subverted over the years, but I still think it's a commendable piece of legislation that continues to have meaning. It's also the reason TAG and other unions and guilds exist.




Ray Harryhausen Does War of the Worlds?

(axiomsedge-scifi.com) Ray Harryhausen is widely known as the master of stop motion whose “Dynamation” came to life in such classic genre films as The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts, and Clash of the Titans. But did you know that Harryhausen tried to interest Hollywood in a movie based on H.G. Wells’s War of the Worlds several years before the George Pal version hit the screens in 1953, and that some test footage of that endeavor still exists?

War of the Worlds had been a favorite book of Harryhausen’s and early in his career, just after working on Mighty Joe Young, he drafted and outline for a film adaptation. Like the Pal’s 1953 movie, Harryhausen decided to set the movie in contemporary America (inspired in part by Orson Wells’ infamous radio version). He planned to have the action of the film take place in and around the New York/New Jersey area and it would involve the destruction of several well-known landmarks there with the obliteration of the Statue of Liberty “symbolically heralding the end of man’s freedom”.

He sketched several key scenes for his proposed movie (if you have never seen his work Harryhausen is a fantastic artist, as the drawing here proves) and then began work on test footage to prove the concept. He produced a short clip (which you can see below) of a Martian emerging from its cylinder and succumbing to Earth’s atmosphere. He took his proposal, drawings, and test-reel to several studios and even tried to contact Orson Wells to get his support, but nothing came of it. He then talked with legendary director Frank Capra whom he had met through his early work in film, and Capra pointed him to George Pal. Harryhausen presented his work to Pal, who as it turns out had already been working on making a War of the Worlds movie. Ultimately, Pal went in a different direction with his film, but we can only wonder at this point how it would have looked with Harryhausen animating the Martians and their fighting machines. The clip below at least gives us a glimpse of how the Martians would look, though Harryhausen later decided they appeared too cartoonish and he feared audiences would have laughed at them.

As an additional note, Harryhausen considered adapting two other H.G. Wells books. He and his mentor Willis O’Brien (King Kong) toyed with a movie version of Food of the Gods shortly after completing Mighty Joe Young and Harryhausen continued to try and revive the project over the years with no success. One sketch that he did with giant chickens menacing a village still survives. He also considered adapting The Island of Dr. Moreau, figuring that the creations of the titular scientist would be a perfect fit for his “Dynamation”, but nothing ever came of this one either.




FX Makeup Artist Tom Savini Joins Django Unchained

(themortonreport.com) Just when you thought there couldn’t be any more ridiculous casting announcements in store for Quentin Tarantino’s slavery Western Django Unchained, the fast talking director has gone and made another eccentric casting choice. It appears that horror icon Tom Savini, who created the pioneering gore makeup for horror films like Dawn Of The Dead and Friday The 13th, will now be playing a role in the film.
savinimakeup.gif

Savini moonlights as an actor when he isn’t tearing limbs apart, with his most famous role probably being the character Sex Machine in the Tarantino-penned From Dusk Till Dawn. It’s unclear who Savini will play in the movie just yet, but we can assume he’ll be responsible for some disgusting act of violence as a reference to his makeup effects career. I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but Tarantino does love to reference other movies. That’s kind of his thing.