Debuting Sept. 7, Gap's new KEEP IT SIMPLE TV spots juxtapose classic footage of Audrey Hepburn from the movie FUNNY FACE dancing in skinny black pants to the 1980 AC/DC hit song Back in Black."
Fred Galpern talks to Massive Black, the San Francisco-based indie team of concept artists, sculptors and animators. They are the go-to guys when the entertainment industry needs visual development and asset creation.
BLACK HOLE is the latest installment in the current season of SC FI Movies. It premiered June 10, 2006, and encores on June 15 at 9:00 pm on the SCI FI Channel.
When a St. Louis based particle accelerator malfunctions, an ever-expanding and unstoppable black hole forms. Out of the hole comes a vicious "energy creature" that begins destroying everything in its path. It stars Kristy Swanson, Judd Nelson and Julia Sinks.
Lionsgate has dropped the development on a live-action feature film version of Marvel Comics' BLACK WIDOW, reports IGN FILMFORCE. Insiders say the studio balked on the project after poor box office results for other recent female-driven action films like ULTRAVIOLET and AEON FLUX.
Writer/director David Hayter said, "Marvel and I then spoke to a few other financing entities, but I never felt comfortable that we had found a place that was willing to take the movie, and the character, seriously."
New Line Cinema has obtained domestic rights to writer-director Michel Gondry's next project, BE KIND REWIND, starring Jack Black, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Gondry's partner in Partizan Prods., Georges Bermann, is producing.
Five films have made the cut for the 8th Annual HBO Short Film Award, with the filmmakers attending Film Life's 9th Annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF) in South Beach, Miami, July 13-17, for the final round of competition. Film Life Inc. and Time Warner, with HBO as founding sponsor, will present the festival.
Rushes Post-production Ltd. has announced the short list for the seventh Rushes Soho Shorts Festival to be held between July 30 and Aug. 5, 2005. After seven successful years based solely in the capital, the festival has teamed up with VUE CINEMAS to become a Nation-wide event with screenings across the U.K. In addition, a record breaking 1,900 Short Films, Newcomer Films, Music Videos, Title Sequences and Idents were entered into this years festival, reinforcing the U.K.s reputation as one of the leading creative industries in the World.
On January 11, 2005, Central Park Media will release TIME BOKAN and BLACK JACK: MUTATION on DVD each priced at $19.99. Both DVDs will have audio tracks in both English and Japanese with English subtitles.
TIME BOKAN pits teams of bad guys against each other to be crowned the meanest villains ever. To be a cartoon super villain, it takes a ruthless heart, a cunning mind and the most ridiculous mecha on the planet.
Black Maria Film and Video FestivalOver 50 Cities, USAJanuary 4 June 29, 2005Deadline: November 20, 2004
Prolific composer Elmer Bernstein, who wrote music for more than 250 film and television productions, including Disneys animated feature, THE BLACK CAULDRON, died Aug. 18, 2004, during his sleep at his home in Ojai, California, at the age of 82.
In our second visual development gallery for Disney's new short Lorenzo, VFXWorld takes a look at the characters conceived by Joe Grant and transformed by Mike Gabriel.
In celebration of the DuSable Museum of African American History's upcoming 30th Annual Arts and Crafts Festival, a special Children's Claymation Workshop and a discussion entitled "Illustrations & Images - The Evolution of Black Cartoons and Animation" has been scheduled. The workshop will take place at the DuSable Museum, which is located at 740 East 56th Place (57th Street and South Cottage Grove Avenue) in Chicago's Washington Park.
CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK director/writer David Twohy has announced he is writing a two-hour movie for The Sci Fi Channel that would follow the fate of the Kyra character from the upcoming PITCH BLACK sequel, reports SCI FI WIRE. The character was first introduced as a boyish young teen in PITCH BLACK, but has grown into a beautiful but ferocious fighter for CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK. The movie will serve as an end-around pilot for a potential series tentatively titled KYRA, THE LOST YEARS, which would show what happened when Kyra chose to find Riddick after the events of PITCH BLACK.
In part one of the Lorenzo visual development gallery, VFXWorld provides an exclusive look at some of Mike Gabriels stunning background paintings for this groundbreaking short.
Vin Diesel will reprise his break-out role as PITCH BLACK's anti-hero Richard B. Riddick in THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, a sci-fi action/adventure that just started shooting for Universal Pictures, in association with Radar Pictures and One Race Prods. Co-starring Colm Feore, Alexa Davalos, Karl Urban, Linus Roache, Thandie Newton and Dame Judi Dench the film is written and directed by David Twohy (BELOW and PITCH BLACK), produced by Scott Kroopf (THE LAST SAMURAI and PITCH BLACK) and Vin Diesel (XXX).
Two blockbuster special editions are available on DVD November 26, 2002 and both feature some innovative CG animation.
The CGI and visual effects team of Black Logic recently collaborated with agency Foote Cone and Belding to create CGI and visual effects for a new commercial introducing Nabiscos new Oreo Cookie Barz. The spot, entitled "UFO," was directed by Greg Kohs and edited by Jerry Fried. Mixing live-action with animation, the spot features documentary-style news interviews of various teenagers describing what seems to be a UFO sighting. As the last teen reveals that she is talking about a new cookie bar, a silver UFO created in CGI by Black Logic, appears behind her and flies out of frame.
At the 2002 London Effects and Animation Festival (LEAF), visual effects house The Mill will give a detailed presentation on the visual effects it created for Ridley Scott's Oscar-winning film BLACK HAWK DOWN. Further supporting the festival, The Mill has created animated IDs for the LEAF Awards to be held on October 10, 2002 at London's Olympia exhibition center. "We are very excited to be involved with this year's LEAF," says The Mill's 3D operations manager Stephen Venning.
Sony Imageworks first 3D animated short, a 5 1/2 minute comedy titled THE CHUBBCHUBBS, is now playing in theaters before the feature film MEN IN BLACK II. Produced by Imageworks, and directed by Eric Armstrong, animation supervisor for STUART LITTLE 2, THE CHUBBCHUBBS features an alien hero named Meeper who valiantly tries to warn the patrons of the Ale-E-Inn of impending intergalactic danger. According to VARIETY, the short was never intended for the public and was made as an internal systems test.
New York-based visualeffects and computer animation company Black Logic, a division of theTape House Companies, has restructured its staff with new leadershipand numerous new hires. Ivan Molomut has been named executiveproducer, after serving as head of sales for Black Logic for the pastthree years. Molomut is responsible for key new hires including CGIdirector Doug Johnson, who comes to Black Logic after many years inthe New York City computer graphics community. After a stint at the
Hollywood-based animation studio Toonshoppe has delivered the first of many interstitial episodes of CISCO AND RIPPLE for Urban Entertainment and Encore Media Group's Black Starz! cable network. The 3:30 interstitial features two animated hosts, Cisco and Ripple, who review the movies airing on Black Starz! Toonshoppe recreated the show for television based on character designs by creators A.J. Jamal and Spencer, who also voice the characters. The show originally appeared on Urban Entertainment's Website, and was animated for the Internet by Flip Your Lid Animation.
Black Belt Systems announced the release of WinImages R6 - a major new upgrade to their effects and image-processing suite. The new release boasts a complete overhaul of the "layering" system often found in image editing packages such as PhotoShop. Black Belt have added a broad range of new layer tools including a new "warp layer mode," which allows users to incorporate image distortions (such as ripples) in separate "warp layers" so that the actual pixel data in the layered image is never changed. This means that distortions can be stacked and slid around with instant results.
Bob Clampett is recognized today as perhaps the key force in the shaping of Warner Brothers Animation. This program offers a rare chance to see two hours of his films as he meant us to see them. Uncut. In black and white if they were made in black and white, color if they were made in color.Stars Bugs, Daffy, Porky, the original nude Tweety & lots more.
Black Logic has created the special effects and graphics for the 30-second ZOOG MOVIE opening. The project was completed for ad agency PMcD Design and client The Disney Channel. The spot opens with several bouncing kids descending from a dark-blue sky. The perspective then widens to reveal a neon green trampoline that spells out "Zoog." As the children continue to flip, a filmstrip takes the viewer on a roller coaster ride through the air. "ZOOG is a main title animation disguised as a ride film," said John Mabey, head of CGI at Black Logic.
Black Logic has signed London-based spot and feature film special effects director David Lane. Lane made his directing debut in television on the cult series THUNDERBIRDS. His other television credits include SPACE 1999, STINGRAY, UFO, CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE MYSTERIONS and CATWEZEL. His film credits include SUPERGIRL and SANTA CLAUS. "With David (Lane) on the Black Logic team, we can offer clients an expanded perspective on visual effects.
