Digital Musings From the Editor:
As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday, we finish our focus on gaming, as Jacquie Kubin explores how MoCap is helping to drive the technology for the next-generation of consoles.
As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday, we finish our focus on gaming, as Jacquie Kubin explores how MoCap is helping to drive the technology for the next-generation of consoles.
Steven Spielbergs WAR OF THE WORLDS remake comes to DVD Nov. 22, 2005 (DreamWorks Home Ent., $30). Meanwhile, the 1953 original containing special visual effects by Gordon Jennings was recently released in a remastered special collectors edition (Paramount Home Ent., $14.99). The colors are eye-popping, but the wires have not been digitally removed and are more clearly visible. Extras include the entire Orson Welles radio broadcast.
Peter Jackson has petitioned the Directors Guild of America to give an Animation Directed By credit on KING KONG to the supervisors who helped bring Kong to life, reports David Poland of MOVIE CITY NEWS (www.moviecitynews.com). However, the animators are not identified by Poland. Joe Letteri and Ben Snow served as visual effects supervisors and Christian Rivers directed the MoCap sessions with Andy Serkis.
The DGA has never allowed such a credit before.
Digital-Tutors announced its annual Thanksgiving sale, with 20% off all training products storewide. Save today by simply entering dtgive at checkout. The sale ends Nov. 29, 2005 at 9:00 am. (Central Time). Popular titles include: INTERMEDIATE: REALFLOW AND MAYA INTEGRATION, INTRODUCTION TO MAYA: 2ND EDITION, INTRODUCTION TO PAINT EFFECT, FUNDAMENTALS OF MENTAL RAY IN XSI, INTRODUCTION TO XSI and INTRODUCTION TO XSI RENDER TREE.
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SCI FI's next Saturday Action Movie premiere is MANTICORE, an original movie produced to air on the SCI FI Channel Nov. 26, 2005, at 9:00 pm and encores Dec. 1 at 9:00 pm.
Some 2,000 years ago, the ancient Babylonians created the ultimate weapon twin beasts insatiable in their thirst for blood, intended to drive the infidels from Babylon. With their mission accomplished, the beasts were imprisoned in stone by a mystical spell and have slept undisturbed.
Atari Inc. and Marathon Animation have released the TOTALLY SPIES! videogame to U.S. stores for the Game Boy Advance. This is the first game based on the TOTALLY SPIES! hit animated TV series that stars three teen super-spies from Beverly Hills, who fight international crime. Airing since 2001, Totally Spies! is seen in more than 100 markets worldwide, including the Cartoon Network in the USA.
The extensive overhaul of the TV-Loonland sales team produced a host of contracts with broadcasters and Home Entertainment vendors in Europe, Latin America and Australia the international producer/distributor of childrens and family entertainment reports. Projects with the greatest interest from buyers are new production HEIDI and the new in-house production, RUDI & TRUDI.
TripleTake Media, a company specializing in global entertainment brand development and a division of Los Angeles-based Diversified Ent. Properties Inc., and Steel River Prods., an independent childrens multi-media production company, have established a joint venture to develop and co-produce an animated series based on Steel Rivers original preschool property GOING TOPSY-TURVY.
Starz Ent. Group (SEG), Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media announced that they will partner to bring Starz and Encore viewers an exclusive sneak peek at Walt Disney Pictures' and Walden Media's THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE prior to its nationwide theatrical release on Dec. 9, 2005. Starz, Starz Kids & Family and Encore viewers will be taken behind the wardrobe door to experience a 30-minute Starz Original production and a nine-minute sneak peek of the film beginning on Thanksgiving day, Thursday, Nov. 24.
Winners were announced on Nov, 19, 2005, during the 3rd annual Spike TV "Video Game Awards 2005" ceremony held at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Hosted by Samuel L. Jackson, the two-hour "game vs. game" extravaganza will premiere on Spike TV Saturday, Dec. 10 (9:00-11:00 pm, ET/PT).
With the release of Peter Jacksons KING KONG in theaters Dec. 14, 2005, the giant ape has begun making his presence felt in the videogame world as well. On the same day the official game based on the movie picked up an award at the Spike TV Video Game Awards, Ubisoft and Universal Studios Consumer Products Group announced that Academy Award-nominee Naomi Watts and Jack Black appear via likeness and provide voice talent for the videogame PETER JACKSON'S KING KONG: THE OFFICIAL GAME OF THE MOVIE.
Hida International Animation Festival of Folktales and FablesHida, JapanMarch 17-19, 2006Deadline: December 31, 2005
5th Annual International Festival of Animated Films AniFest 2006Trebon, Czech RepublicMay 410, 2006Deadline: January 16, 2006
The long-awaited DVD debut of the original KING KONG (Warner Home Video, $26.99 for special edition or $39.92 for collectors edition) arrives Nov. 22, 2005, looking as great as you might expect of a vintage movie whose negative has long since vanished. Superb contrast and clarity are the result of a DVD production two years in the making, and now we can view the uncensored version in all its terror and glory. As Ray Harryhausen suggests in his commentary, this is the first example of an animated character in a starring role the first modern movie monster.
THE POLAR EXPRESS DVD hits retail shelves on Nov. 22, 2005 (Warner Home Video, $29.95). The two-disc special edition contains lots of bonus features devoted to the performance capture (Imagemotion from Sony Pictures Imageworks) that was the driving force behind the Robert Zemeckis/Tom Hanks movie adaptation of the popular Christmas tale by Chris Van Allsburg.
Disc two bonus features include:* You Look Familiar: Hear about Hanks' five unique roles, how each character was different and what it took for him to bring each one to life.
IMAX Corp. and Warner Bros. Pictures announced that HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE shattered every record for an IMAX Hollywood simultaneous release. In its debut at 66 North American IMAX theaters, the film posted the biggest three-day opening ever, beating the previous record by more than 30%, with an estimated $2.93 million over the period ended Nov. 20, for a per-screen average of more than $44,000.
The Producers Guild of America has expanded the annual PGA Awards to include a seventh competitive category Producer of the Year in Animated Film. The PGA defines an animated feature film is defined as a motion picture created using a frame-by-frame technique of at least 70 minutes in running time with a significant number of the major characters animated, and in which animation figures in no less than 75% of the picture's running time.
Viacom Inc. today (Nov. 22, 2005) announced the election of seven independent directors to the boards of the two new publicly traded companies that will be created following the separation of Viacom. Four directors join the board of CBS Corp. and three directors join the board of new Viacom, upon completion of the separation, is expected to occur by the end of 2005.
Rushes has just completed the vfx on a stunning new video for Enya titled AMARANTINE for Warner Music.
BOXX Technologies Inc. will co-sponsor a series of events with Alias surrounding the new release of Alias StudioTools13, the standard for outstanding design in transportation and consumer products.
The Design for the Senses events will gather leading designers in eight major design centers through the months of November, December and January. The tour represents an opportunity to showcase how the close cooperation between BOXX and Alias benefits the design community.
Visual effects and animation company, Quiet Man, goes boating in their latest spot for Visa via BBDO. A preview of the upcoming holiday season, the spot started airing Nov. 1.
Autodesk Inc. has released a new configuration of its Academy Award-winning Discreet Inferno visual effects system for the Japanese market. The system is designed to meet the specific platform performance and branding requirements of many Japanese post-production facilities.
NaturalMotion Ltd. announced the immediate availability of the companys free endorphin 2.5 Learning Edition (eLE). Based on endorphin, NaturalMotions award-winning character animation software, the new eLE includes all relevant product documentation and a comprehensive support network via the companys active endorphin forum. The software has no time restrictions and is fully functional; however, it is motion file export disabled and is not to be used for commercial production.