Thursday, December 12, 2013

The State of Practical Special Effects in Filmmaking

TESTED sits down with Fon Davis to discuss the state of visual effects in film, the resurgence of interest in practical effects. Fon is a visual effects veteran who has worked on films like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, Galaxy Quest, Star Wars, Mission: Impossible III, among many others.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Making of 'Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Cinematic'


Here's a very in depth panel discussion about the making of Blizzard's Diablo III: Reaper of Souls cinematic. The animation section starts around 10:30. And a big congrats to my friend Dan Cox who who was the lighting supervisor on the project!







Thursday, November 14, 2013

EVENT: The Art and Craft of Cinema with Randy Thom, Sound Designer // Berkely Art Museum




Thursday, November 21, 2013  7:00 p.m.
Behind the Scenes: Randy Thom on Sound Design
followed by Wild at Heart
Two-time Academy Award recipient Randy Thom speaks on the art of sound design, and his own working experiences on films like Apocalypse Now, The Empire Strikes Back, The Right Stuff, and The Incredibles. Followed by David Lynch’s crazed neo-noir, Wild at Heart. (127 mins, plus presentation)

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

The Legacy of STAN WINSTON

Here are some great interviews with artists that worked for  the man the myth the legend Stan Winston.

Also, this book is a much have:
// The Winston Effect: The Art  History of Stan Winston Studio

Check out Legacy Effects (previously Stan Winston Studios)
// Legacy Effects


Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Friday, September 13, 2013

Cinematographer Style


The industry's most talented and visionary cinematographers explain the importance of proper lighting and the techniques required for appropriate illumination.



Wednesday, September 11, 2013

SculptGL: zBrush Style Sculpting On The Web











Just discovered this app today via fellow FS animator Max Adams. Check it out!

//SculptGL by Stéphane GINIER

'SculptGL is tiny sculpting application, powered by WebGL. Source code on github here.
It features dynamic subdivision, decimation, uniformisation and adaptive sculpting.

Uniformisation is simply a call to subdivision followed by a decimation.
Adaptive sculpting lies on the uniformisation and enables changes in the topological genus (holes and merges).
Inflate and deflate are the best tools to trigger topological changes :D.
Adaptive sculpting is a little buggy... (for example you shouldn't use it with a mesh that already contains self-intersection).
Well, I don't think you can create anything that doesn't look weird... but who knows?

Right now, best performance are reached on Chrome.
On Firefox 22, the number of vertices is limited to 65536, on version 24 the limitation will be gone.'





Friday, August 30, 2013

The Making Of Ralph Bakshi And Frank Frazetta's 'Fire And Ice'





Illustrator and author James Gurney has posted a collection of articles about the making of 'Fire And Ice' over on his blog Gurney Journey.

// Art Of Fire And Ice via James Gurney



Check out the full movie here

// Fire And Ice [Full Movie]




Tuesday, August 27, 2013

'Gravity' Comic Con and TIFF

Proud to have worked on this project. And for the record there's no motion capture in the film. The production didn't use the 'Vomit Comet' and it's completely animated except for the facial performances. It's the most complex film I've worked on to date.



















Framestore VFX crew for GRAVITY





























Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan (Special screening with Dennis Muren and Craig Barron)


// RAY HARRYHAUSEN: SPECIAL EFFECTS TITAN

Special Screening at the Rafael Theater
Sunday, August 18, 7:00, Introduced by Dennis Muren
Sunday, August 25, 7:00, Introduced by Craig Barron


'Produced by the Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation, this is the definitive documentary on the visual effects and stop-motion pioneer whose imagination thrilled millions. Special Effects Titan traces the productions of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts and other Harryhausen classics, with archival footage, on-camera commentary by the master himself and interviews with many who knew or learned from him, including: Ray Bradbury, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Nick Park, Phil Tippett, Joe Dante, John Landis, Dennis Muren, John Lassiter, Tim Burton, Henry Selick, Guillermo del Toro, Terry Gilliam and others. Producers: Alexandre Poncet, Tony Dalton. Writer/Director: Gilles Penso. (France/UK 2012) 92 min.
We are happy that two of Ray Harryhausen's friends will introduce our screenings. Dennis Muren has received nine Academy Awards for his visual effects on Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park and others. Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Craig Barron (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) serves on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.' via Rafael Theater


Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Filmmaking 'Master Class': Interview with Alfred Hitchcock (1976)

In this fantastic interview with Alfred Hitchcock from a 1976 press conference for his last film 'The Family Plot'. During this interview (1.5hr) Hitchcock responds to a range of serious and comical questions about his career, his filmmaking style, story, and directing.








Wednesday, July 10, 2013

How World War Z Used AI to Build Smarter Zombies


Here's a great behind the scenes vid from WIRED about the vfx of WWZ. Also, check out the recent vfxguide article below for more details about the making of the film.

// Zombie Warfare: World War Z via vfxguide


Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Tonight! VFX Town Hall Meeting [Live Streaming Video]














/UPDATE/ Here's the video of the meeting 






Live Video Feed Here:

// VFX Town Hall on IATSE

Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Time: International broadcast begins at 8pm PDT, see below for specific venue schedules.

VFX Town Hall is presenting a night of independent discussion to answer some tough questions about the IATSE union on this Tuesday, June 25 at 8pm PDT. Following our panel presentation, we will have a Q&A session, fielding questions from attendants and internet viewers. Please join us for this open conversation, investigating the pros and cons of unions.

This event will concentrate on the specifics of the existing North American entertainment union, but will also offer a blueprint of topics for the international audience.

Attendants are encouraged to bring challenging questions and confirm what they've heard and read on the internet, from the smallest detail to the most sweeping proclamation.

IATSE Local 80 Hall
2520 West Olive Avenue
Burbank, CA 91505
Doors open at 7:30pm PST, international program begins at 8pm


Past Events (Videos):

Collider - Live From New York - June 10, 2013
VFX Facilities Town Hall - April 26, 2013
Pi Day Town Hall - March 14, 2013