The best of Hollywood visual effects meets high-definition television in an exclusive HDNet telecast of the fourth annual Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards (held Feb. 15 at the Hollywood Paladium), premiering May 9, 2006, at 10:00 pm.
The 2006 Festival of Visual Effects has been set for July 7-9, 2006 at the famed Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California.
"We are thrilled to be presenting our eighth annual Festival at the Egyptian for the first time," said Visual Effects Society (VES) exec director Eric Roth. "Each year the Festival has grown in scope and number of attendees. This venue shows how much the VES has expanded as well as the visual effects industry's continually increasing influence on the business of films, animation, games and television."
Anthem Visual Effects has once again been tapped to create visual effects for IDT Ent.s anthology series MASTERS OF HORROR, now in its second season.
This new season, a series of 13 original one-hour movies in HD produced by IDT in association with Industry Ent. and Nice Guy Prods., will feature a creative mixture of both former and new MASTERS directors and writers.
The Visual Effects Society (VES) and the Los Angeles Professional Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH are jointly sponsoring "Experiential Narrative in Games and Film," which will take on the issues of how to keep an audience engaged and participating. The event will take place March 25 at the Digital Cinema Laboratory at the Pacific Hollywood Theater, 6433 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, California, 90028. The event begins at 10:00 am with a social hour followed by the panel discussion from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.
Rez-Illusion Visual Effects has completed 136 visual effects shots for Fox Searchlights THE HILLS HAVE EYES (opening March 10).
Directed by Alexandre Aja, the film is a remake of Wes Cravens 1977 cult classic and tells the terrifying story of the Carter family that strays unwittingly into a government atomic testing zone while traveling and becomes the prey of cannibalistic mutant human monsters.
Leading London-based post-production facility, Rushes, has placed a landmark order with Autodesk, as part of its multi-million pound expansion. The project includes the replacement of the facilitys entire visual effects kit with the latest state-of-the-art systems, as well as doubling its capacity for visual effects work.
Toronto-based visual effects firm Mr. X Inc., has completed the visual effects work on 16 BLOCKS, the new Warner Bros. Pictures release (March 3) from director Richard Donner. The action thriller, which stars Bruce Willis and Mos Def, required the sorts of invisible enhancements that have become increasingly common in the past few years.
"Dick (Donner) was not looking to add splashy 'in your face' visual effects," recalled visual effects supervisor Evan Jacobs. "In fact, I think the audience will be hard-pressed to pick out our work on this film."
Anthem Visual Effects has completed more than 200 visual effects for MASTERS OF HORROR, a series of 13 original one-hour movies in HD co-produced by IDT Ent., Industry Ent. and Nice Guy Prods.
Anthem employed greenscreen shots, 3D motion tracking and compositing (using Mac in OS X) to create CG elements and construct 3D environments from bloody knives and disturbing eyes to a creepy cliffs edge shack in the moonlight, a woman with the legs of a deer and a rat with a human face.
Animations sweetheart John Lasseter found himself wedged between the vfx giant pics WAR OF THE WORLDS and KING KONG as they all commanded the awards and praise at the 4th Annual VES Awards tonight, (Feb. 15, 2006) at the Hollywood Paladium in Hollywood to a sold-out crowd attending the Visual Effects Society black-tie fete recognizing outstanding visual effects in 20 categories of film, television, commercials, music videos and games. WAR OF THE WORLDS and KING KONG each won in three categories.
Actress Bonnie Hunt will be a presenter at the fourth annual Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards at the Hollywood Palladium on Feb. 15, 2006, for the annual gathering of visual effects and animation professionals. Hunt will be joining Katherine Helmond, Cheech Marin, Edie McLurg, Craig T. Nelson and John Ratzenberger, it was announced today by VES exec director Eric Roth, who said the awards show is now sold out.
Hollywoods Master Storytellers, the long-running film series, will host Industrial Light & Magics Best Visual Effects Academy Award nominees for WAR OF THE WORLDS on Thursday, Feb. 16, at 7:30 pm. WAR OF THE WORLDS will also be Hollywoods Master Storytellers first regular presentation at its new home, Manns Chinese Theatres Complex at Hollywood & Highland.
Visual effects and 3D animation studio Ocean Visual FX has been formed in Huntington Beach, California, to design and produce effects and animation for feature films, broadcast and corporate marketing, according to Robbie Robfogel, ceo/visual effects supervisor. LuzMary Robfogel is coo.
The studio has brought aboard 3D modeler and animator Brandon MacDougall and character animator Jeff Clifton.
Talk about surprises. With yesterdays dismissal of George Lucas final STARY WARS entry, REVENGE OF THE SITH, from the visual effects Oscar derby, it now looks to be a wide open race between KING KONG, WAR OF THE WORLDS and THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE. Why the snubbing of SITH from the visual effects branch of the academy? One rationale being offered is that it didnt raise the bar technically, while WAR OF THE WORLDS took people by surprise with its less is more approach.
Jill Smolin reports on the particularly stunning and diverse work that was on display at the Academys VFX Bakeoff.
The Visual Effects Society (VES) offered its version of the Academy Bake-Off with SHOW AND TELL 2006, all-day Saturday at Skirball Cultural Center. Boasting the largest turnout ever, with 200 participants, more than a dozen presenters and 30 different presentations, many industry luminaries offered in-depth presentations of the nominated works, including John Knoll (STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH), Joe Letteri (KING KONG), Dennis Muren (WAR OF THE WORLDS) and Dean Wright (THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE).
The Visual Effects Society (VES) will offer SHOW AND TELL 2006, its version of the Academy vfx Bake-Off, on Jan. 21, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, at Skirball Cultural Center (2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, 90049).
The event is free for VES members and open to the public at $20 per ticket. Tickets available by calling the VES office in advance at (310) 822-9181.
In this months Digital Eye column, Scott E. Anderson looks at the current state of VFX, as it becomes more and more a part of the mainstream.
The Visual Effects Society (VES) announced the nominees for the 4th Annual VES Awards recognizing outstanding visual effects in 20 categories of film, television, commercials, music videos and games.
We hope that everyones holidays were wonderful.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the seven films being considered for Achievement in Visual Effects for the 78th Academy Awards.
The films in consideration are listed below in alphabetical order:
* BATMAN BEGINS (Double Negative, MPC, Rising Sun, Buf, Jim Hensons Creature Shop, The Senate and Cutting Edge)* CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (MPC, Framestore CFC, Digital Domain, Cinesite and Asylum)* THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE (Rhythm & Hues, Sony Pictures Imageworks and ILM)
Tara DiLullo talks with Academy Award nominated ILM visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman about winning the invisible visual effects war with their work on Jarhead.
Pixar producer and former ILM senior exec Jim Morris, currently overseeing an Andrew Stanton (FINDING NEMO) feature to be released in summer 08, will receive the Board of Directors Award from the Visual Effects Society. This award will be presented at the 4th Annual VES Awards on Feb.15, 2005, at the Hollywood Palladium, and follows last weeks VES announcement that Pixar founder John Lasseter will receive the 2005 Georges Melies Award for artistic excellence and lifetime achievement.
Visual Effects Society has chosen Pixar founder John Lasseter as its recipient of the 2005 Georges Melies Award for Artistic Excellence, reports the trades.
"The VES is thrilled to have John Lasseter as its lifetime achievement honoree at the fourth annual Visual Effects Awards," said VES exec director Eric Roth. "His genius at creating films that captivate both children and adults alike with their humor, whimsy and intelligence is what makes him a true original. His influence in the field of visual effects is incalculable."
Autodesk Inc. announced that its media and entertainment systems and software are shaping more than 40 television shows for the 2005-2006 TV season. From returning favorites such as LOST and NIP/TUCK to provocative new shows such as PRISON BREAK and ROME, Autodesks technology is relied upon by broadcasters and post-production facilities.
School of Visual Arts (SVA) honors Heinz Edelmann, one of the leading art directors, illustrators and designers of our time, with its Masters Series Award and retrospective exhibition. Every year, SVA bestows the award to a groundbreaking visual artist, designer, photographer or illustrator who, over the course of his/her career, has been recognized as a great visual communicator. The Masters Series: Heinz Edelmann will be on view through Dec. 3, 2005 at the Visual Arts Museum.
