2008 AICE National Campaign finalist Jordan Green of bicoastal 89 Edit collaborated with Hungry Man's David Gray for a six spot campaign for auto insurance provider, GEICO.
Featuring the ever-cheeky reptilian mascot and his unwanted wildlife observing companion, we follow our hero gecko as he travels to various locations expounding the wide array of services offered by GEICO.
VFX shots in the first half of the strike-interrupted fourth season of Lost played an important -- but supporting -- role. Karen Raugust gets the scoop from VFX Supervisor Mitch Suskin on the abbreviated season.
Curious Pictures has announced two changes to the studio's directorial roster, both of which reflect changes in directorial teams.
For I Am Legend, the vfx team at Sony Pictures Imageworks had to bring the apocalypse to Manhattan and Alain Bielik uncovers how it was done.
Eric Post and Dee-Marie ventured to SIGGRAPH's first iron animator competition, FJORG! Having survived, they fill us in on all the Viking escapades.
Alain Bielik is transported to the land of Stormhold and discovers how the vfx wizards conjured up the world of Stardust.
Traktor has directed MAIL ON SUNDAY'S new theatrical commercial for the weekly newspaper supplements YOU/LIVE MAGAZINE. The ad agency was BBH London and the post work was carried out at MPC. The comical ad, titled "Battle," centers around a GLADIATOR style battle scene appropriately set in the same location as the field seen in the opening sequence of the movie. The fight takes place between an army of men on one side and women on the other.
Leading visual effects software developer, The Foundry, has announced the appointment of Ron Brinkmann as special advisor to its NUKE development team.
Barry Sonnenfeld (MEN IN BLACK) is in talks to helm the supernatural action flick, THE BOX, for 20th Century Fox, reports VARIETY. Southpaw Ent.'s Richard Lewis is the producer while Evan Spiliotopoulos (POOH'S HEFFALUMP MOVIE) is the screenwriter.
This contemporary version of the Pandora's box myth follows a college grad, who unknowingly unleashes evils on the world and must team up with Pandora to save Earth.
The fast tracked film is being shepherded by Emma Watts at the studio.
Following up on the success of spots for Heineken and Tiger Beer, Australian-based Fuel continues its creative partnership with Leo Burnett Sydney with this intriguing spot for Johnnie Walker Red Label scotch.
Alain Bielik visits with the vfx wizards who have brought life to the very interactive natural history museum in Night at the Museum. Includes QuickTime clips!
Electronic Arts Inc. has acquired the development team at Utah-based developer Headgate Studios Inc. EA has partnered with Headgate since 2000 to develop top franchises, such as TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR and MADDEN NFL. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The development team will remain in Bountiful, Utah, and will continue to work in partnership with the EA development teams in California and Florida. The EA Salt Lake Studio team will focus on development for the Nintendo Wii.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced the nominees for this year's British Academy Children's Film and Television Awards in association with Electronic Arts. The winners will be announced at the ceremony on Sunday, Nov. 26, 2006 at the London Hilton.
The nominees are:
ANIMATION THE AMAZING ADRENALINI BROTHERS! David Hodgson, Dan Chambers, Claire Underwood (Pesky Ltd., Studio B Prods., CITV)
KING ARTHUR'S DISASTERS Edward Bignell, Julian Scott (Zenith Ent. Ltd./CiTV)
Electronic Arts has acquired Digital Illusions CE (DICE), the development team and creators of the BATTLEFIELD game franchise. Stockholm, Sweden-based DICE becomes a fully integrated EA studio dedicated to growing the Battlefield franchise and developing new products for the PC, next generation consoles and other new platforms.
Karen Raugust investigates how the vfx work featured in new and returning series this fall focuses on realism and subtlety.
A few of last months 58th Annual Creative Arts Emmy Award-winning teams discussed their work for ROME (Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series), THE TRIANGLE (Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries) and BEFORE THE DINOSAURS (Outstanding Animated Program For Programming One Hour Or More).
The Mill London team has produced a new commercial for Infiniti. Directed by French directing team Pleix for Chiat Day/ TBWA through BlinkInk, the spots contain a very clever use of paint for dramatic effect. In the first spot, we see the Infiniti creating and parting huge waves as it drives through a sea of warm colored paint, and in the second spot a stormy sky of deep blues, purples and yellows crash above the cars below.
DIRECTV and IGN Ent. launch the ground-breaking Championship Gaming Invitational, an international all-star, two-day video-gaming competition to be taped on July 21-22 and scheduled to air on DIRECTV Aug. 25-27.
Teams include: Team 3d (Top U.S. COUNTER-STRIKE 1.6 Team), Complexity (Top U.S. COUNTER-STRIKE 1.6 Team), NIP (Top Swedish COUNTER-STRIKE 1.6 Team), 20iD (Top U.S. BATTLEFIELD 2 Team) and Code 7 (Top Scandinavian BATTLEFIELD 2 Team).
Ubisoft, one of the worlds largest videogame publishers, announced on June 29, 2006, the opening of a new studio in Sofia, Bulgaria. The studio opened its doors with 21 team members and plans to hire 40 additional employees by the end of 2006. Alexandru-Ion Radu, director of recruitment and training at Ubisofts Romania studio, will manage the new studio, reporting directly to Sébastien Delen, md of Ubisoft Romania.
Framestore CFC was the sole London facility to contribute to SUPERMAN RETURNS vfx, and was responsible for the film's climactic sequences.
There's an influx of new talent at game developer Trilogy Studios. Animator Chad Schoonover recently left Sony Pictures Imageworks, where he created 3D facial and body animation for characters in the upcoming animated feature film, MONSTER HOUSE. He is now leading the animation team at Trilogy. He previously worked for five years as an animator on the UNREAL franchise, the demos for Epic's highly vaunted UNREAL 3 tech, as well as three years at Midway Games, where he pioneered the use of motion capture in the Sports division.
Philippe Moins turns the pages on Astix film production history to offer perspective for the latest animated feature, Astix et les Vikings, moving across European theaters.
SUPER ROBOT MONKEY TEAM HYPERFORCE GO! creator and exec producer Ciro Nieli presents his proudest episodes in a two-part special with widescreen versions of "Wormhole," airing Feb. 13, 2006, at 8:30 pm and Belly Of The Beast, airing Feb. 20 at 8:30 pm during the action/adventure Jetix block on Toon Disney.
For the newest ANY ROAD spot to promote the launch of the 2006 Lexus IS sport sedan, A52 was asked to "winterize" it from beginning to end.
"We have a long history of relying on A52 for complex visual feats," explained Jack Epsteen, exec producer with ad agency Team One, "and in this case, we felt that tapping into the company's artistic expertise to add snow effects to this spot would be an interesting way to back-up the 'Why live in one dimension' tagline. They met the challenge in their typical exemplary style."
One of the most powerful sessions at the recent Serious GamesSummit held Oct. 31-Nov. 1, 29005, in Arlington, Virginia, was for an edugame for firefighters, Hazmat HotZone. Ten New York City firefighters showed up in front of the Standing Room Only room to demonstrate the game, including two chiefs, two captains and a lieutenant (an instructor) from the NYFD Training Academy, all of them in full uniform that was really dramatic.
