In the final installment of VFXWorlds exclusive production diaries, Jim Berney of Sony Pictures Imageworks chronicles the creation of more mythical CG characters, the Bombing of London and other environmental effects for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Includes a QuickTime clip!
The controversial and previously-banned episode of FAMILY GUY, "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein," will air on Canadian broadcaster, TELETOON, on Dec. 23, 2005, at 9:00 pm and 12:30 am, and again on Dec. 26 at 9:00 pm and 12:30 am.
FOX network censors originally rejected the episode, then allowed it to air in the U.S. after cutting some references they feared would be perceived as anti-Semitic. The uncut episode event was later aired in the U.S. on Cartoon Networks Adult Swim and made its way onto DVD.
In celebration of his long career, Animation World Network presents a tribute to the work and life of Derek Lamb.
The Jim Henson Co. has selected the honorees of the newly established Jim Henson Honors, an annual program that acknowledges organizations, individuals or products that reflect the core values and philosophy of Jim Henson and the company he founded in 1955.
The Studio Ghibli Museum in Japan will debut three new short features from Hayao Miyazaki. Starting Jan. 3, 2006 and running until March 13, the three films will screen in the museums Saturn Theatre.
Autodesk Inc. has begun shipping Autodesk Combustion 4 software for Apple Macintosh. Combustion 4, Autodesk's desktop visual effects software consists of a powerful feature set, including vector paint, particles, effects, animation and 3D compositing. This new version for the Mac operating system streamlines the creative process for visual graphics creation by providing enhanced interoperability with third-party desktop applications, improved paint tools and workflow efficiency.
Sony Corp. of America has appointed Tim Schaaff has been appointed to the newly-created position of svp of Software Development, effective immediately. Schaaff reports to Keiji Kimura, evp and officer in charge of Technology Strategy of Sony Corp.
SUPERMAN RETURNS director Bryan Singer has hired documentary director Kevin Burns to make LOOK UP IN THE SKY: THE AMAZING STORY OF SUPERMAN, Variety reports.
Singer will exec-produce with Burns and is working with Warner Bros. on plans to get the feature-length doc a theatrical release and a TV viewing before Warner bows SUPERMAN RETURNS on June 30.
Singer met Burns when he was a film student and was impressed with CLEOPATRA: THE FILM THAT CHANGED HOLLYWOOD, which Burns co-directed with Brent Zacky, and EMPIRE OF DREAMS: THE STORY OF THE STAR WARS TRILOGY.
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE will be released spring 2006 in China.
The first half of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's second season comes to DVD just in time for the holidays (Universal Studios Home Ent., $49.98). SEASON 2.0 further explores creator Ron Moore's (STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE and CARNIVALE) take on the nature of humanity and spirituality, but Sci Fi's hottest series is still about "the chase," as Moore likes to call it. The first 10 episodes are spread across three discs and Zoic serves as lead vfx house.
Bonus features include:* Deleted scenes, including 17 minutes from the premiere episode, "Scattered."
Warner Home Video often includes animated classics as bonus features with its catalog titles, but in the case of the spectacularly successful and moving MARCH OF THE PENGUINS documentary ($28.98), they've thrown in 8 BALL BUNNY.
In this memorable 1950 Warner Bros. short (directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese, Bugs helps a penguin go home via New Orleans, Martinique, the Panama Canal and the Sorth Pole. But the gag is that the penguin's home is actually in New Jersey. Along the way, they come across Bogey from THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE.
Greg Singer sat down with Drew Carey in October of last year to discuss his experience of creating Drew Careys Green Screen Show.
VFXWORLD finishes off 2005 with a look at the latest trends in digital acting and CG environments.
South West Screen, Skillset and Bristol-based Aardman Features are hosting a unique masterclass for animation professionals. Experts from Aardman and DreamWorks will show 2D and stop-frame animators how their skills can be transferred to CGI.
As Aardmans principal animator, Loyd Price who is part of the masterclass team, says The masterclasses are about taking animators on a journey.
DreamWorks has secured the North American rights to TYPHOON, the most expensive Korean film ever made, reports VARIETY. The budget for the film is listed as $15 million, but it is rumored to have cost several million more.
The multi-language film was produced by South Korean major CJ Ent. The K.T. Kwak directed film follows a modern-day pirate planning a massive attack on North and South Korea.
Seoul, South Korea-based Gravity Co. Ltd. announced that it has decided to invest 1 billion Japanese Yen in "Online Game Revolution Vol. 1," an investment fund organized in Japan. "Online Game Revolution Vol.1," with a total proposed investment size of 10 billion Japanese Yen, has an investment objective of investing in companies that develop online games in Japan. Movida Investment Inc., an affiliate of SoftBank Group, will operate the fund as the general partner of the fund. Several Japanese and Korean developers of online games, including CJ Internet Corp.
IGN.com has unveiled its extensive picks for the best games, movies, DVDs and comics of the year.
When the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced last month that it will award a new category of the Emmy Awards for original programming created specifically for non-traditional viewing platforms, it was overwhelmed by response from the creative community.
NBC Universal Television Studio has completed a new, two-year overall production deal with writer/producer Ronald D. Moore (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE) to develop various projects for the studio.
Moore's new deal allows him to continue as one of the show-running exec producers of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA for NBC Universal's SCI FI Channel. Moore's development plans are expected to skew toward SCI FI programming.
D2 Software Inc., a subsidiary of Digital Domain Inc., is now shipping v4.5 of Nuke, the high-end compositing system built by artists, for artists, was and recently used by Weta Digital on KING KONG.
Animazoo UK has opened a new motion capture studio on the south coast city of Brighton, in the U.K.
Already attracting a stream of international visitors, the studio offers users the latest motion capture technology with expert operators to ensure projects run smoothly. Using state of the art Gypsy systems, the studio can handle applications that are impossible with traditional studio based optical systems.
Corresponding with the months theme of digital acting and 3D environments, Barbara Robertson chatted with visual effects supervisor Jay Redd about his work on Sony Pictures Imageworks next performance capture feature, Monster House.
Dear Filmmakers
have you made a stop-motion animation short?morph 2005 is the online animation contest put on by stopmotionfilm.de, the first german stop-motion website. you can enter your film into one of the following categories and win a prize.
- best stop-motion quickie- best stop-motion character
your film will be presented on our website and will be viewed by other creative types all around the world.
requirements: seven minutes or shorter
British music channel Fuse is set to debut its first animated TV series, EMPIRE SQUARE. The show follows three foul-mouthed characters Rabbit, Hooks and Tourette's-afflicted wannabe rocker Richie. The trio always gets into strange get-rich-quick schemes while trying to obtain rock stardom.
BioWare Game Writing Contest World Wide WebFebruary 27, 2006Deadline: January 30, 2006
BioWare is holding a contest to find talented writers to help develop its award-winning roleplaying games. BioWare's director of design James Ohlen and assistant director of design Kevin Barrett have agreed to make the process of submitting work as easy as possible for writers looking to work for BioWare.
