A sad salt shaker, dejected after learning that Knorr’s ‘Sidekicks’ contains 25 per cent less sodium, is the star of ‘Salty’, a David Hicks-directed commercial with visual effects by Toronto-based axyz. Lead animator Dennis Turner and Inferno artist Andres Kirejew talk to fxguide about the challenges of the spot, which included listening repeatedly to Michael Bolton’s ‘How Am I Supposed To Live Without You?’.

In A Christmas Carol, featuring Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge and the three ghosts that haunt him, director Robert Zemeckis relied on the newly formed ImageMovers Digital to bring this performance capture adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novel to life. fxguide speaks with visual effects supervisor George Murphy and animation supervisor Jenn Emberly about making the performances possible.

Bringing a bunch of colourful characters to life in Paul Weitz’s Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant was the job of Rhythm & Hues. Visual effects supervisor Todd Shifflett tells fxguide how his studio approached the diverse range of Freak Show performers in the film.

Grant Heslov’s The Men Who Stare At Goats tells the story of a former U.S. Army member claiming to be a psychic soldier who can, among other things, stop the hearts of animals using only his mind. CIS Hollywood, under the vfx supervision of Thomas J. Smith, realised shots of this so-called power in action, as well as a number of other sequences in the film. Digital fx supervisor Joe Henke talks to fxguide about how the shots were accomplished.

Director Terry Gilliam relied on his longstanding relationship with Peerless Camera Company to delve into the hyper-real visual effects for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Visual effects supervisor John Paul Docherty and lead technical director Patrick Ledda talk to fxguide about the film.

Classic movie car chases are channelled in ‘Cars’, an LG cellphone spot directed by Filip Engstrom with visual effects by Mass Market. Lead Flame artist Nick Tanner talks to fxguide about bringing a unique miniature and old-school quality to the commercial.

Mountains, forests and oceans come to life in ‘World’, a Johnny Green-directed spot for Guinness, with visual effects by The Mill. Lead 2D and Flame artist Rich Roberts gives fxguide an insight into The Mill’s work for the epic commercial.

Ben 10: Alien Swarm is the second live-action film from Cartoon Network based on their popular animated series Ben 10. The film is directed and executive-produced by Alex Winter, who also directed Cartoon Network’s first Ben 10 live-action movie. We take a look behind the scenes at what it took to pull off 600 vfx shots, nearly triple the number of the first film.

Chris Landreth is a unique director with a unique style. His previous short films Ryan, Bingo and The End showcased complex characters using an almost surreal approach to computer animation. Landreth talks to fxguide about his latest animated short, The Spine, which focuses on the tumultuous lives of married couple Dan and Mary.

The Thanksgiving holiday weekend in the U.S. is a great time to catch up with some great vfx movies. With iTunes now providing not only HD movies but DVD style entire films with extras, we figured it was time to highlight a few films that have recently been released with great visual effects. We start by talking to CIS Vancouver and Dneg discussing Angels and Demons.

For Amelia, director Mira Nair called upon Mr. X to deliver photorealistic planes, clouds and crowds to help tell the story of the famous American aviator. Mr. X visual effects supervisor Wojciech Zielinski talks to fxguide about the production.

Floating people, couches and fruit are all part of World Upside Down, an Ad Council spot with visual effects by Asylum. Directed by Derin Seale for agency Cramer-Krasselt, the :60 spot is aimed at raising awareness for disaster preparation. Asylum Lead VFX/Inferno Artist Rob Trent takes fxguide through the compositing work.

For Haeundae, South Korea’s first large scale disaster film, Polygon Entertainment assembled a team of filmmaking and visual effects specialists to realise massive tsnumai waves and daring water rescues. Polygon founder and CEO Hans Uhlig and visual effects producer Jeff Olson talk to fxguide about the challenges of setting up a new studio that offers an entire filmmaking experience.

In its first feature film project, Brickyard VFX was called upon to create more than 300 invisible effects shots for Anne Fletcher’s The Proposal. Brickyard visual effects supervisor Sean Devereaux talks to fxguide about adding mountains, roto-ing hair and puppeteering an eagle.

In a key strategic move, GenArts have bought Wondertouch, makers of the particleIllusion software. Not only does this perfectly balance with GenArts current product line with almost no overlap, but Wondertouch is about to release particleIllusion for After Effects, the result of several years of work by founder and Wondertouch cornerstone, Alan Lorence. We spoke to both Wondertouch and GenArts about what this means to their over 10,000 users.

For ‘Moment’, a Lexus RX spot directed by Adrian de sa Garces for DRAFTFCB Joannesburg, BUF re-created spectacular South African Namaqualand flowers and a very hard-working bee. fxguide talks to BUF visual effects supervisor Nicolas Chevallier about the design and execution of the commercial.

In ‘Emerald Cities’, a Kaiser Permanente spot directed by Biscuit Filmworks’ Noam Murro for agency Campbell Ewald, Animal Logic was called up to integrate live action and miniature trees, buildings and matte painted elements to form a thriving urban landscape. fxguide talks to visual effects supervisor Nick Ponzoni about the spot.

A magical computer factory complete with singing workers, robots and moving parts was the creation of The Mill NY for ‘Treats,’ a Traktor-directed spot featuring Dell’s colourful range of Inspiron laptops. The Mill NY’s 3D supervisor Andrew Proctor takes fxguide through the work.

For three ‘Winning over’ Tiger Beer spots, Oktobor created fully CG architectural icons of London, New York and Paris as a single drop of beer gives rise to the cities that eventually form into the Tiger bottle shape. Oktobor General Manager Patrick McAteer and director Damon Duncan tell fxguide how the spots were accomplished.

For Aliens in the Attic, director John Schultz called on Rhythm & Hues to create an array of cute-but-scary aliens who take on an unlikely band of vacationing kids. Visual effects supervisor Doug Smith and co-visual effects supervisor Mike O’Neal break down Rhythm’s alien animation work for fxguide.

With G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, director Stephen Sommers delved into the world of the popular Hasbro action-figure toy line. Bringing the characters and vehicles to life was partly the role of overall visual effects supervisors Boyd Shermis and Greg McMurry and a host of effects vendors. fxguide profiles some of the key effects shots by Digital Domain, CIS Hollywood and CIS Vancouver, Prime Focus VFX, The Moving Picture Company, CafeFX and Framestore.

For District 9, writer/director Neill Blomkamp turned to a host of Vancouver-based studios, along with Weta Workshop and Weta Digital in New Zealand, to provide alien creatures and other effects for the film. fxguide profiles the work of Image Engine, The Embassy Visual Effects, Zoic Studios and Goldtooth Creative in bringing Blomkamp’s vision to life.