Trailering New Lone Ranger


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). "If these men represent

New Man of Steel Featurette


A new Man of Steel (June 14) featurette explores Zack Snyder's new post-9/11 vision of Superman. Playing off the alien angle for the first time Man of Steel first exposes the outsider in Clark Kent so we can be a part of his existential journey. Then once he becomes

Star Wars Rebels Gets Animated


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. Set for the

•••

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

The Third Floor Talks Iron Man 3 Previs/Postvis

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Animation, Movies, previs, Tech, Trailers, VFX, Virtual Production | 1 Comment

The Third Floor had some new tech challenges and opportunities for the blockbuster Iron Man 3, which had the second highest opening ever last weekend ($175.3 million). I spoke with previs supervisor Todd Constantine and postvis supervisor Gerardo Ramirez about raising their game to keep up with Tony Stark’s new arsenal of suits and the latest terrorist mayhem. Read more

Honoring Previs at the Academy

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

Previs got its props April 15 at the Academy’s “VFX Convergence” presentation (“Pre-and Post-Visualization: Beyond Storyboarding”). Hosted by editor Michael Tronick at the Linwood Dunn Theater, Previs continues to get more expansive and sophisticated-looking, thanks mainly to machine speed and procedural pipelines that allow for enhanced realism. Read more

Halon Partners with Minimo on New Previs Process

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Animation, Below the Line, Movies, performance capture, previs, Production Design, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

Previs boutique Halon Entertainment (The Hunger Games, Prometheus, Life of Pi) has formed a partnership with Minimo Vfx of Barcelona that will usher in a new “build it once” philosophy for CG creatures during pre-production. This will avoid the duplication of making them again later on during VFX. The two companies are currently working together on Dome, directed by VFXer Brandon Fayette. Read more

Halon Tackles John Carter Previs

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Animation, Movies, previs, Tech, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

Daniel Gregoire and his team at Halon helped Andrew Stanton by prevising the White Ape sequence, and John Carter marked the unveiling of Halon’s motion capture/virtual camera system.

And it certainly helped collaborating with producer Colin Wilson, who previously worked on Avatar. “He encouraged us to set it up and use it in San Francisco at the Saul Zaentz building,” Gregoire recalls, “and we went through this process where we looked at the storyboards that [second unit director] Mark Andrews had drawn, and we broke them down into beats and they had a one-day motion capture session with Mark in a suit actually playing the parts of the apes. I had one artist who is a great MotionBuilder guy, Jeremy Agamata, and he took those performances and broke them down into the set ups that we needed to have to shoot the sequence.”

So they broke the action into logical chunks and put the mocap animation together and then shot it with a virtual camera. “This not only allowed us to capture Andrew’s style of filmmaking but it also allowed us to amp up that sequence and turn it into more of a hand-held observational style, which was more energetic and what he wanted for the battle in the arena.”

Trumbull to Receive VES Georges Méliès Award

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Events, Movies, Tech, VES, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

Douglas Trumbull will receive the 2012 Georges Méliès Award from the VES, which will be presented at the 10th Annual VES Awards, held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Feb. 7, 2012. Trumbull, who’s advanced VFX with his pioneering work on 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and Blade Runner, has also directed Silent Running and Brainstorm. He also revolutionized large-format filmmaking with Showscan in the mid-’80s, which offered unparalleled viewing at 120fps.

Trumbull most recently served as a creative consultant on The Tree of Life birth of the universe sequence. With the privately-owned film studio, Trumbull Ventures, he is specializing in the development of advanced integrated systems for high-resolution digital production utilizing virtual sets and locations, high frame rates, 3-D, and advanced previsualization. Trumbull is presently developing multiple feature film projects that he intends to write, produce, and direct, using his virtual set technology

“Doug Trumbull is a leading light in the field of visual effects and technology,” said VES chair Jeffrey A. Okun.  “He is an innovator in all things entertainment and equally important is his genius for re-imagining the impossible into a compelling visual that not only has never been seen before but also goes to the heart of the storytelling. We are seriously honored to know and work with him.”

“It is truly an honor to receive the Georges Méliès Award from the Visual Effects Society,” said Trumbull. “My philosophy is that everything in a movie is an illusion of some kind, and I am very excited that the industry today is now embracing 3D, higher frame rates, and other opportunities that can expand the movie-going experience, and deliver to audiences the kind of immersive and other-worldly images that we in the VES can provide. The role of the VES at this time could not be more important, and I am very grateful to receive this astonishing recognition.”

Trumbull has been the recipient of the American Society of Cinematographer’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and has recently been selected by his peers as a VES Fellow of the Visual Effects Society (only the third to receive this distinction).

Previous recipients of the George Méliès Award were Robert Abel, John Lasseter, Phil Tippett and Ed Catmull.

ADG Wants to Organize Previs Artists

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Bill Desowitz in 3-D, Animation, Below the Line, Movies, Production Design, Tech, VES, VFX, Virtual Production | Leave a comment

Visual effects artists aren’t the only ones being courted by guilds and unions: The Art Directors Guild, Local 800 of the IATSE (ADG), wants to organize previs artists, and has launched an informational site called Artists for Direct Action.

“It’s a natural fit for previs talents to be represented by the Art Directors Guild,” said president Tom Walsh in a prepared statement.  “Our new site will let them know what they can do to claim for themselves the rights all other ADG members currently enjoy.”

ADG claims a long history of visualization synergy with previs artists through its existing crafts professionals: production designers and art directors; scenic and graphic artists; set designers and model makers, illustrators, storyboard, and matte artists.

ADG organizer Peter Koczera noted the guild’s new website will be regularly updated and that he personally is available 24/7 to guide previs artists through the procedures they may follow to assert their rights as artists in the workplace.

It just so happens that I have a prominent association with both the ADG and The Previsualization Society. In fact, I moderated a day-long previs session at the ADG back in January 2008 that directly led to the formation of the Society (see above photo). So I understand the craft of previs and its importance to the industry, and the tug-of-war that exists in a competitive but mutually respective turf war. Moreover, I also understand and appreciate the artistic importance of the crafts associated with the ADG, and how they are leading the way in a whole new digital paradigm.

Thus, in trying to be balanced, I reached out to the Society and got the following response:

“The Previsualization Society, a non-profit trade organization, was formed for a singular purpose — educating professionals who consume and practice previs in order to maximize the effectiveness of the process. A previs department collaborates with a wide range of disciplines and departments from one end of production to the other. Everyone involved needs to be working together toward a common purpose, and the Society has been tasked to focus on fostering the necessary understanding. The ADG was the original anchor and host of the ASC-ADG-VES Joint Technology Subcommittee on Previsualization. The first announcement of The Previs Societies existence was made at ADG headquarters. The Previs Society will continue to pursue our mission of education regardless of what actions the ADG takes in pursuit of its goals.

“The Society was formed to be a collaborative voice for the previs discipline. ADG seems to want to draw the Society into the debate over whether unionization  is right for employees and employers involved in previs. The Society is not the forum for this debate and should not be drawn into it.“

I will definitely be exploring this further.