John Knoll Promoted to Chief Creative Officer at ILM

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Animation, Movies, Oscar, previs, Tech, Uncategorized, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

Industrial Light & Magic’s veteran VFX supervisor, John Knoll, has been upped to chief creative officer, assuming a new creative role as the Disney-owned VFX powerhouse ramps up production on the rebooted Star Wars franchise with J.J. Abrams. Read more

Pacific Rim Offers Drift Space Featurette

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Animation, Clips, Movies, performance capture, previs, Tech, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

We go deeper into “pilot to pilot connection” in a new “Drift Space” featurette from Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim (July 12). Read more

Zod Threatens Fate of Your Planet

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Animation, Movies, performance capture, previs, Production Design, Tech, Trailers, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

There’s a new threat from General Zod in Man of Steel’s final “Fate of Your Planet” trailer. Read more

Trailering New Lone Ranger

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Animation, Movies, previs, Tech, Trailers, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

The latest action-packed trailer for The Lone Ranger (July 3), featuring the mother of all train sequences, still happily looks like Rango meets Pirates of the Caribbean (with echoes of The Wild Wild West and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). Read more

New Man of Steel Featurette

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Animation, Clips, Movies, performance capture, previs, Production Design, Tech, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

A new Man of Steel (June 14) featurette explores Zack Snyder’s new post-9/11 vision of Superman. Read more

Star Wars Rebels Gets Animated

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in Animation, Clips, previs, Tech, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

Goodbye Clone Wars, hello Star Wars Rebels. Disney unveiled plans to produce a new Lucasfilm animated TV series, Star Wars Rebels, which will premiere as a one-hour special fall 2014 on the Disney Channel followed by airing as a series on Disney XD. Read more

VFX Retrofitting Star Trek Into Darkness

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Animation, Clips, Movies, previs, Tech, Trailers, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

Like Skyfall, Star Trek Into Darkness is a hybrid of the old and the new in completing its rite of passage reboot. Except that J.J. Abrams has the advantage of time travel, which he introduced in the first movie, for creating a parallel universe that allows him to break the rules of the beloved sci-fi franchise for the 21st century while still honoring its iconic spirit. Read more

The Academy Tackles Storytelling in the Digital Age

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Clips, Editing, Movies, Oscar, Tech, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

Tech and storytelling converged during a fascinating series of discussions at the Academy on May 15 about Zero Dark Thirty, Argo, and Star Trek Into Darkness, hosted by screenwriter John August. Read more

Chris Wedge Gets Epic

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Animation, Movies, Tech, Trailers, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

Epic is not only Blue Sky’s best movie but also director Chris Wedge’s most personal, too: a swashbuckling, samurai action/adventure that takes place in a lush, microscopic forest world. It beautifully translates N.C. Wyeth for Alice in Wonderland meets The Adventures of Robin Hood. Throw in Seven Samurai and Gladiator for good measure with just a sprinkling of Avatar for seasoning. It’s familiar and new; naturalistic and fantastical. And it’s about looking beneath the surface and discovering hidden truths about life and nature. Read more

Full Trailering of Planes

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Animation, Movies, Tech, Trailers, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

The official Planes trailer has taken flight, highlighted by Mark Mancina’s majestic score, accentuating the connection to Cars. Read more

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