Lumen-escent: the VFX of I Am Number Four
Visual effects supervisor Greg McMurry oversaw 800 shots for I Am Number Four, the story of an alien fugitive on the run from other-worldly pursuers. We take a look at some of the key effects scenes from the film.
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fxpodcast: Dr. Mark Sagar
In the last of our series on the tech behind the major studios, we switch gear to facial animation and Dr. Mark Sagar of Weta Digital. Mark is a back to back 2010 and 2011 winner of the Sci-Tech Award (Scientific and Engineering Award) from the Academy. At Weta Digital he has directed the development of the performance driven facial animation system for Avatar and King Kong.
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Union’s 350 shots for 127 Hours
Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours tells the story of mountain climber Aron Ralston (James Franco) who becomes trapped beneath a boulder in Utah. We talk to VFX supe Adam Gascoyne from Union Visual Effects about how his studio helped tell this real-life tale of survival.
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Framestore goes under seige
A stand-out commercial airing during this year’s Super Bowl was Coca-Cola’s ‘Seige’, featuring a group of evil fire-warriors invading the village of a band of furry, friendly creatures. The Wieden + Kennedy spot was directed by Nexus’ Fx&Mat, with CGI and animation work by Framestore. We talk to Framestore’s visual effects supervisor Diarmid Harrison-Murray.
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The future of Furnace on Flame
Recently on Flame-news it was reported that the Foundry would no longer fix bugs or develop for Furnace on Flame.
We spoke exclusively to the Foundry to find out if Furnace was “end of life” on Flame
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Skulley Effects freezes fire for Stone Sour
Skulley Effects was behind the frozen moment work in ‘Hesitate’, a music video for Stone Sour that caught our eye. We talk to senior visual effects artist and Skulley owner Culley Bunker.
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fxpodcast: Ken Ralston
We speak with Ken Ralston, Senior Visual Effects Supervisor of the Oscar-nominated Alice in Wonderland, about the movie, Sony Pictures Imageworks’ tech and creative resources, and his career in general.
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the vfx show #117: Black Swan
Mike Seymour, TyRuben Ellingson and Matt Wallin discuss the visual effects in the Darren Aronofsky film, Black Swan.
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Life with the EliteBook: DreamColor Overview
One of the attractive aspects of the EliteBook is its DreamColor display, which provides outstanding color response and calibration capabilities which are suited towards film and video pros. In the second of our multi-part series, we take a look at DreamColor and review some of the tech details behind it.
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Stargate crashes The Event
In the second episode of NBC series The Event, a plane once headed to kill the President mysteriously emerges from a wormhole only to crash-land in the desert, care of VFX from Stargate Studios. Lead compositor Diego Galtieri discusses the crash seen in the episode, which received a VES Award nom in the Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series category.
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IATSE Informational Meetings this Sunday in Los Angeles and Vancouver
IATSE will host their first public informational meetings in Santa Monica and Vancouver on Sunday, February 13th. IATSE 891 VFX in Vancouver describes the events as an opportunity to “chat with your fellow artists, compare working conditions, and ask the questions you want answered of the union about the organizing drive, the benefits of a […]
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Glassworks goes big for MINI
‘MINI vs Monster’, a stereoscopic spot directed by Robert Jitzmark, features digital crowds and other VFX by Glassworks. Lead 2D and 3D artists Morten Vinther and Markus Lauterbach from the studio’s Amsterdam office break down the work. Included is a making of VFX clip.
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fxpodcast: History of Animation Unions
We talk with Tom Sito about the history of animation unions and how that history applies to efforts to organize Visual Effects artists. Sito is an animator and the author of DRAWING THE LINE: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson.
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Super vfx for the Super Bowl – part 2
In part two of our Super Bowl spot coverage, we put the VFX spotlight on some of the other outstanding commercials that aired during the game.
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the rc #82: You can’t change film on the moon
Jason and Mike discuss the week’s news and are joined by Lee Peterson in the Red Room to discuss digital camera sensor calibration and the cameras of the Apollo Moon Landing.
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Super vfx for the Super Bowl – part 1
In part one of our Super Bowl XLV commercials coverage, we look at Method Studios’ ‘Carma’ spot for Bridgestone Tires and The Mill’s Cars.com ‘Reviews Are In’ ad. And check out episode #101 of fxguidetv for an in-depth look at Animal Logic’s ‘One Epic Ride’ spot.
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fxpodcast: Disney Stereo Tools
We talk with Robert Neuman, Stereo Supervisor from Disney, about the in house tools they use to achieve their award winning Stereo Feature films. Part of our fxpodcast “Tech behind the films” series.
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Building a Boardwalk Empire
We talk to Brainstorm Digital visual effects producer Richard Friedlander about his studio’s work for HBO series Boardwalk Empire. This week Richard received, along with Robert Stromberg, Dave Taritero and Paul Graff, a VES Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program for the show.
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