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Category: Visual Effects

Effects Headline News

fmx/08 Confirms Initial Speakers

fmx/08, the 13th International Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Digital Media, which takes place May 5-8 in Stuttgart, Germany, has announced its initial program of speakers.

They include Pixar DP Sharon Calahan, who will discuss creating the look for RATATOUILLE, Production Designer Alex McDowell (WATCHMEN) will share his ideas on Immersive Design and producer Paco Rodriguez will talk about his experience with NOCTURNA.

Series Headline News

SCI FI Secures Jericho

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 12:00am

SCI FI Channel has acquired the cable rerun rights to CBS TV Distribution's post-apocalyptic drama JERICHO, according to THE HOLLYWOD REPORTER. The cable net has gained the first and second season of the show in the three-year deal, which contains a six-month first-run clause for basic cable.

SCI FI plans to debut the series on Feb. 11 with a four-episode marathon, starting at 7:00 pm. This is a day before the second season starts airing on CBS. The regular slot for the show on SCI FI will be Mondays at 10:00 pm.

Headline News

Phil Spitler Joins Phoenix Editorial & Designs

Phoenix Editorial & Designs has recruited motion graphics and visual effects artist Phil Spitler. The 15-year industry vet has worked with major ad agencies and prestigious clients in both the US and in his native England, where he was a founding partner of leading motion graphics studio Keyframe.

Studios Headline News

Pixar Offers RenderMan Certified Courseware

Pixar Animation Studios released the first version of its RenderMan Certified Courseware created in association with Escape Studios. With contributions from the world's most accomplished visual effects and feature animation studios, Pixar's RenderMan Certified Courseware is the perfect educational resource for everyone from the beginner to the advanced professional.

Headline News

Digital Musings From the Editor:

Congratulations to VFX Oscar nominees THE GOLDEN COMPASS (Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood), THE PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END (John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier) and TRANSFORMERS (Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier). VFXWORLD looks forward to providing continuing Oscar coverage to keep you fully informed.

Sound Headline News

Lucasfilm Nabs Six Oscar Nominations

Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Skywalker Sound were nominated for six Academy Awards this morning. For the third year in a row, ILM pulled in two of the three vfx nomination spots with TRANSFORMERS and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END. Skywalker Sound also dominated the sound nominations taking three of the five slots in Sound Editing for their work on THERE WILL BE BLOOD, TRANSFORMERS and RATATOUILLE, which also received another nomination in the Sound Mixing category.

Digital Headline News

Autodesk & EA Introduce New Project Design Workshop in Canada

Autodesk and Electronic Arts have introduced a new project design workshop for Canada's first Masters for Digital Media (MDM) program at Great Northern Way Campus in Vancouver, British Columbia.

As part of the 20-month MDM program, the workshop will equip students with techniques to plan and manage digital media projects in their academic and professional careers.

Headline News

Cloverfield Monster Revealed as Action Figure

Hasbro Inc. brings to market the figure of one of the most tightly held secrets in recent Hollywood history -- the CLOVERFIELD Monster. Fans of the Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot feature can order a highly detailed representation of the beast exclusively on HasbroToyShop.com.

Standing 14 inches tall, the creature that wreaks havoc on New York City has been transformed into a super-articulated figure. The figure also comes with two interchangeable heads, each depicting one of the Monster's moods -- calm or agitated. The head of the Statue of Liberty is also included.

Motion Headline News

Vicon's FK Extreme MoCap System Gains Momentum

Vicon's low-cost motion capture system, FK Extreme, has been gaining momentum with continually growing system sales to both entertainment and educational facilities worldwide. FK Extreme was first introduced at last year's Game Developer's Conference.

Headline News

Watanabe Barks Up Freak Role

Ken Watanabe (LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA) will play the carnival barker, Mr. Tall, in Universal Pictures' screen adaptation of Darren Shan's 12-volume children's series CIRQUE DU FREAK, reports VARIETY. He joins fellow cast members John C. Reilly and Salma Hayek in the Paul Weitz-directed production.

Adapted by MYSTIC RIVER screenwriter Brian Helgeland, the story follows a vampire (Reilly) who transforms a 14-year-old boy into his half-vampire assistant. The teen goes on to spur an epic battle between the vampires and their rivals, the Vampanese.

Technology Headline News

Chuck Dages To Oversee Emerging Technology for WB Home Ent.

Chuck Dages, who oversees Emerging Technology for Warner Bros., has been shifted from Technical Operations to Warner Bros. Home Ent. Group. He retains the title of EVP and continues to have oversight of Motion Picture Imaging (the studio's postproduction facility for film mastering, restoration and digital imaging for movies and television) and the Advanced Media Editorial department (which prepares feature films for distribution on airlines, cable networks and broadcast television).

Production Headline News

Abrams Finds Fringe Actors

Kirk Acevedo (INVINCIBLE) and Tomas Arana (THE BOURNE SUPREMACY) have been cast in J.J. Abrams' new sci-fi series FRINGE, reports VARIETY. The show, which will air on FOX, is the first production from Abrams' new deal with Warner Bros. TV.

The story follows a female FBI agent who teams with a tormented scientist and his estranged son to uncover supernatural occurrences.

With the script already penned before the strike, production on the pilot is set to start in February in Toronto.

Headline News

Strike Kills Justice League

The writers strike has claimed another victim -- Warner Bros.'s big-screen adaptation of JUSTICE LEAGUE. The trades are reporting that director George Miller was not content to go in front of the cameras with the current script, written by Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney.

The cast, which included D.J. Cotrona, Armie Hammier, Adam Brody, Anton Yelchin, Common, Teresa Palmer and Megan Gale, has now been released from their contracts.

Headline News

Digital Musings From the Editor:

The Oscar VFX bakeoff is tonight at the Academy in Beverly Hills, with seven films vying for three nominations. And we have some very special coverage planned for Friday with exclusive breakdown clips. Jill Smolin, our former Pixel Priestess and SIGGRAPH Conference Entertainment director in charge of this year's expanded Computer Animation Festival, will be reporting once again on the various presentations. So good luck to all the contenders: THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, EVAN ALMIGHTY, THE GOLDEN COMPASS, I AM LEGEND, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END, 300 and TRANSFORMERS.

Super Headline News

Super Friends Hour Now on DVD!

DC Comics legends Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman and Aquaman return to fight for justice and protect the good people of planet Earth in the first season of the SUPER FRIENDS HOUR. Besides fighting evil, our super heroes rescue citizens who find themselves in harm's way, providing some lessons for all of us. This incarnation of the Super Friends also includes the shape-shifting Wonder Twins, Zan and Jayna, and their space monkey, Gleek. SUPER FRIENDS also features guest stars Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and new villains such as the Hydronoids and Dr. Cranum.

Headline News

Online Community Blocks Golden Compass

Knoxville-based, family-friendly site Abunga.com has banned Philip Pullman's fantasy novel THE GOLDEN COMPASS in response to customer demand.

"THE GOLDEN COMPASS was our most frequently blocked book in December," says Abunga.com CEO Adam Slack. "We feel compelled to honor the wishes of our community."

Internet Headline News

DGA and AMPTP Reach Tentative Agreement

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) announced today that it has concluded a tentative agreement on the terms of a new three-year collective bargaining agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

Highlights of the new agreement include:

* Increases both wages and residual bases for each year of the contract.* Establishes DGA jurisdiction over programs produced for distribution on the Internet.

Headline News

Film/Comic Book Hybrid Partnership Yields First Project

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, January 16, 2008 at 12:00am

A first-look agreement between Myriad Pictures and comic book publishers Studio 407 has yielded its first project, the eco-horror movie HYBRID, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Comic creator Peter Kwong will adapt his own work, which follows a group of vacationing college students who become the open-water prey of a mutant monster created by pollution. Producers are Myriad President/CEO Kirk D'Amico and Studio 407 managing director Alex Leung. Filming in Thailand is set to start in mid-2008. The HYBRID comic will hit shelves in June.

Visual Headline News

Crystal Dowd To Lead Pacific Title's VFX Expansion

Pacific Title & Art Studio has drafted Crystal Dowd to lead the expansion of its burgeoning Visual Effects division. As exec producer of Visual Effects, Dowd will oversee all aspects of Pacific Title's vfx services from concept through delivery.

Digital Headline News

Howe Named President of SCI FI Channel

Dave Howe, erstwhile General Manager of SCI FI Channel, has been appointed president of the network, it was announced today. Howe will oversee Original Development, Programming and Marketing, Global Brand Strategy and Market Development, Strategic Planning, SCI FI Digital (SCIFI.COM, SCI FI Pulse, DVICE.com), SCI FI MAGAZINE, Media Relations and SCI FI's recently launched public affairs initiative, Visions for Tomorrow.

Headline News

Jaden Smith Spins Role in Earth Stood Still

Jaden Smith, son of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith and co-star of THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, has joined the cast of Fox's remake of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Smith has landed the role of Jacob, the eight-year-old who befriends the alien Klaatu, played by Keanu Reeves. The cast also includes Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates and Golden Globe-winning MAD MEN star Jon Hamm.

Headline News

Theron Walks McCarthy's The Road

Charlize Theron will star oppostite Viggo Mortensen in 2929 Ent.'s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's bestselling novel THE ROAD, VARIETY reports. Dimension Films will release the film in the U.S.

Adapted by Joe Penhall, the story follows a father (Mortensen) who must lead his son through a cannibal-filled post-apocalyptic America. Theron will play Mortensen's wife in flashback.

The project reteams Theron with THE YARDS producer Nick Wechsler, who will produce THE ROAD with Steve Schwartz and Paula Mae Schwartz. THE PROPOSITION director John Hillcoat will helm.

Years Headline News

Sarah Connor Terminates the Competition

The series premiere of TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES is the highest-rated series debut of the 07/08 season and broadcast television's highest-rated scripted series debut in three years among Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34, and the highest-rated in almost two years in Total Viewers. Compared to the previous highest-rated debut of the season (NBC's AMERICAN GLADIATOR last Sunday), TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES shows a significant advantage, including +31% among Adults 18-49 and +52% in Total Viewers.

Headline News

NewTek Launches Multi-City Tour

NewTek will be hitting the road for a four-month tour demonstrating how to produce professional live productions faster and more economical using NewTek TriCaster. The free Red Carpet Tour events, which kick off Jan. 22 in Houston, will cover more than 40 cities in more than five countries in North, Central & Latin America and will highlight NewTek' s powerful production tools, including TriCaster STUDIO, SpeedEDIT and 3D Arsenal.

Final Headline News

Final Harry Potter Book To Be Two Films?

The DAILY MAIL is reporting that Warner Bros. is discussing the option of splitting the final HARRY POTTER book, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, into two films. With each book increasing in length, rumors about splitting the books into two films began as far back as PRISONER OF AZKABAN.

JK Rowling states on her website, "It is simply impossible to incorporate every storyline into a film under four hours long."

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