Category: Visual Effects

Its a scramble for maximum hang time as visual effects and animation company Quiet Man recently completed CUBED, a :15 spot for Adidas and distributor Foot Locker. The commercial began airing Aug. 17.

We really achieved the look we wanted in this project, something sleek and sophisticated but still conveying that the shoes are available and accessible to everyone, said Amy Taylor, exec director of Quiet Man.

Angelina Jolie will star as the queen of darkness in BEOWULF, director Robert Zemeckis latest feature that will rely on the same performance capture technique at Sony Pictures Imageworks (Imagemotion) used on THE POLAR EXPRESS and next summers MONSTER HOUSE, reports VARIETY.

Distribution may wind up at Paramount domestically and Warner Bros. internationally.

Jolie will play the queen that tempts the Viking that would be king. Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Brendan Gleeson, Robin Wright Penn and John Malkovich.

eyeon Software, which introduced Fusion 5, the latest in its flagship compositing software at SIGGRAPH 2005 (shipping Aug. 31), has expanded its European office, appointing Rüdiger Knoblach to director of operations for eyeon Europe, while London-based Tim Doidge has been promoted to director of sales.

The European visual effects community dominates the sales of DFX+, one of eyeons signature broadcast products, allowing the expansion to take place before the release of Fusion 5.

3Dlabs Inc. Ltd. announced the Wildcat Realizm 500 professional graphics accelerator. The new Wildcat Realizm 500 offers high-end graphics performance to Computer-aided Design (CAD) and Digital Content and Creation (DCC) professionals for an MSRP of only $899.99.

Warner Home Video has announced that BATMAN BEGINS will released on DVD Oct. 18 in both a single-disc ($28.98) and two-disc Deluxe Edition ($30.97), with the movie in anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1) and English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, DIGITAL BITS reports. The Chris Nolan-directed feature, which set an IMAX record for 2D DMR presentation, boasts vfx from The Moving Picture Co., Double Negative, Rising Sun, BUF and The Senate Visual Effects Ltd.

IMAX Corp. and Warner Bros. Pictures announced that BATMAN BEGINS: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE is now IMAX's highest grossing digitally re-mastered 2D release, reaching the milestone in less than nine weeks. With total grosses of $14.5 million on 72 worldwide IMAX screens, it eclipses the record set by THE MATRIX RELOADED: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE, which grossed a little more than $14 million in 22 weeks. For the three-day period from Aug. 12 to Aug.

Award-winning exec producer, visual effects supervisor and director Jim Riche has joined the Nice Shoes Family, consisting of Nice Shoes, Guava and Freestyle Collective, acting as head of production for both Nice Shoes and Guava. Riche will oversee the companies production staffs, work to foster collaboration between the two studios and capitalize on the natural synergies that exist between their services and artistic staffs. Riche will also serve as a visual effects supervisor for special projects on a bicoastal basis.

Baraka Post Production recently completed vfx and other post duties on a new rock and roll pop promo titled 50 TO A £ (POUND) for indie band, The Paddingtons, directed by Caswell Coggins and produced by Patrick Holtkamp from Draw Pictures. Tom Bird at Mercury Records commissioned the video.

The music video portrays the band smashing up a pub-kind-of-gig and initiating a rather considerable punch-up.