Sometimes, the only way to deal with events so sinister, so beyond comprehension, is to lay them bare with the darkest of humor. Never shying from controversy, the South Park team confronts the Penn State scandal head on as well as from behind.
Noted animation producer / director / technologist / multimedia guru / man of international mystery Christopher Panzner has launched a brand new bi-yearly digital magazine, LHOOQ (pronounced “Look”), a pluridisciplinary (pronounced “double-you tee eff”) look at mindstyle, lifestyle, arts, literature, anything, everything. The first issue includes a great piece spotlighting three well-known Canadian (pronounced “Kun-ay-dee-yan”) animation-type folks, none other than Mike Fallows, Chris Robinson and L. Elliot Taylor.
Longtime fans of the Harry Potter film franchise are familiar with the series’ ample visual effects (VFX). Among the many emotive sequences in the Harry Potter film franchise is the memory pool sequence created by Gradient Effects. Here is a behind-the-scenes look at how Gradient Effects and Exocortex Technologies worked together to pull off this visually stunning special effect.
Yesterday, the Motion Picture Academy screened 45 qualified animated short films for short list voting in a program from which the eventual 2011 Oscar winner will be chosen.
Call of Duty is much more than a video game; it’s a cultural phenomenon. Nowhere was that more evident than at Raleigh Studios in Playa Vista, Calif., where Activision threw a shindig unlike anything ever done in the game industry. For three days in early September, Call of Duty invaded the 12-acre compound Howard Hughes created, the Spruce Goose. Unlike the world’s largest plane, which failed miserably in flight, Call of Duty has soared to new heights with each successive game.
As more and more schools around the globe offer game-design degrees, wannabe game makers have a variety of programs to choose from. Many schools offer vocational programs, but nowadays the academic and creative aspects of game design are also coming into play. Here, we take a look at the Game Center at New York University, one of the newest game design programs that take the latter approach.
Weta Digital’s Wayne Stables, Digital Domain’s Eric Nash, Pixar's Sharon Calahan, ILM's Scott Farrar, ILM's Roger Guyett, DNeg's Gavin Graham and PDI Founder Glenn Entis are some of the speakers slated to present next week at VIEW, Italy's largest computer graphics conference.
If you've ever gone down in flames trying to impersonate Mr. Walken, this video is for you. Or if you like zombies.
Now, I love kids just as much as anyone. Well, that's really a lie. I like kids that take out the trash the first time asked and can be trusted around my scotch. Which is to say, there are no kids that I like. However, this short video has me hoping someone who knows their way around a vfx shot had a hand in its making.
The next Anima, the Brussels International Animation Film Festival, will take place in Flagey from February 17 to 26, 2012.
FLIP International Animation Festival returns this October with a host ofspecial guests from the exciting world of animation and an eclectic mix of experimental animation for all ages to the West Midlands.
The folks at Buzzco Associates have taken on big business and the pervasive economic and political dissatisfaction spilling over on Wall Street with a set of 7 animated shorts. In the time-tested spirit of political humor, where one can only laugh when faced with daunting issues that are anything but funny, each short is based on a traditional nursery rhyme, spinning topical issues together with little childhood ditties we all know and love. The latest film, Itsy Bitsy Spider, was just released last week.
Innovation takes many forms within the gaming space, often beginning with insight and inspiration from a single person, be they a game developer, an engineer, a sociologist or anything else within the industry. That’s why we’re tracking down these thought leaders to give you a sneak peek of the digital arts future through their eyes. In this installment, we sit down with Kyle Orland, a games journalist who writes for Gamasutra. Orland gives his thoughts on the impact journalism will have on the future of gaming and the relationship between the two.
In a surprise addition to an already powerful roster of speakers lined up for the VIEW Conference, October 25 to 28, overall visual effects supervisor Erik Nash from Digital Domain has chosen to give the world’s first presentation of that studio’s work at VIEW Conference.
Coming November 18-20, 2011 to Burbank, California, CTN brings you a variety of business, creative, technical and inspirational presenters from various walks of life to reaffirm that CTN-X as that jewel in the crown, that "one of a kind" show where we get to rise out of the production trenches for 3 whole days to experience visual stimulation, fantastic connections and powerful inspiration.
Let Snoopy and Charlie Brown brighten your holidays with seven merry-making Peanuts DVD titles available from Warner Home Video (WHV) this fall. Among the animated classics offered to consumers is Happiness is…Peanuts™: Snow Days, a new title making its debut on DVD October 18, 2011. Several iconic Peanuts holiday classics will also be available in stores including: It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown; A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving; A Charlie Brown Christmas, among others.
I cannot emphasize the importance of the globalization trend enough. By percentage of market share, as other geographies begin to mature and disposable income rates increase abroad, the U.S. and other traditional gaming geos become smaller as an overall percentage of market share. Most of the industrialized nations’ markets have already been saturated with game systems. Makes sense, but why should we care? There are several reasons why the entire gaming ecosystem should pay heed: source of revenue, more choices, fierce competition, and innovation and growth shifts.
With over 11 million subscribers worldwide, Blizzard Entertainment keeps online gamers coming back for more World of Warcraft (WoW) by consistently adding to the virtual world of Azeroth. Cataclysm is the most ambitious expansion to date for the massively multiplayer online (MMO) fantasy role-playing game. While most of the attention has been focused on the new 3D facelift that the game has undergone, Cataclysm is pushing the linear aspect of interactive entertainment forward with its Hollywood-inspired, in-game cinematics.
Wayne Stables, visual effects supervisor at Weta Digital for Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin has chosen to give the world’s first presentation of that studio’s work on the film at the VIEW Conference in Turin, Italy.
Last Saturday the VES hosted its third annual Production Summit, this time at the quaint Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills. Despite all about VES 2.0 and the Bill of Rights to help facilitate quality of life improvements for artists and VFX companies, the purpose was to address the paradigm shift going on and to discuss better biz practices.
