imaginary chrome

Check out this lovely short for Google’s Chrome from the artists over at Imaginary Forces. I love the art gallery concept, and the almost zeotropic interior of the Chrome logo. It’s such a simple idea, and extremely well executed.

I think I just loved this right off the bat too because it reminds me of some of the first 3D projects I did back at SCAD when I was learning how to Matchmove. Hell I’ll go out on a limb and say I’m pretty sure there are some other VFX artists out there who have been guilty of filming a coffee table, tracking, and putting a monster or something on it too.

Enjoy!

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LINK: Imaginary Forces

Imaginary Forces was invited to participate in the Google Chrome Shorts project. The resulting short film answers the question: What would the internet look like if represented as a 3-Dimensional object? Observed as if in a museum, the object comes to life revealing the ins and outs of what Google Chrome has to offer.

making of: carousel

About a month ago I posted an article talking about the fantastic Phillips ‘Carousel’ spot/web site Tribal DDB Amsterdam and Stink Digital did for new Cinema brand television.

LINK: Carousel…

What do you get when you mix cops, clowns, and bullet time? Well we get this great short from director Adam Berg, Phillips, and the London based VFX house Stink Digital.

Well this weekend they posted a pretty awesome making of that gives you a look at how they created such a cool spot.

I had a hunch that they used some motion control camera work for the wire removal, but I really had no idea how they could have pulled that off with such a seemless continuous shot. It really gives you even more respect for what they accomplished. Check it out!

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weta wotwots?

Q: What is Weta Workshop keeping busy with until ‘The Hobbit’ gets going? A: The children’s show ‘The WotWots’.

Ya, I didn’t see that one coming either. Some pretty damn nice CG though.

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LINK: The WotWots!

carousel

What do you get when you mix cops, clowns, and bullet time? Well we get this great short from director Adam Berg, Phillips, and the London based VFX house Stink Digital.

LINK: Carousel – A Cinema 21:9 Production

Created entirely by Stink Digital, this new interactive campaign promotes Philips latest entrant into the television market, the CINEMA 21:9. Since the televisions 21:9 frame lends itself so readily to film, our friends at Tribal DDB, Amsterdam commissioned us to create a piece of filmed content that could hold its own with Hollywoods best. Director Adam Berg responded with an idea for an epic frozen moment cops and robbers shootout sequence that included clowns, explosions, a decimated hospital, and plenty of broken glass and bullet casings.

This epic film is the centrepiece of the project. On its own, it clocks in at a (totally coincidental) two minutes and 19 seconds, but Berg conceived it to work as an endless loop. Visitors to the microsite therefore have the option to spin through the films single take shot repeatedly, to stop on a specific frame, or to watch it at the preordained speed. The film also contains embedded hotspots, which, when triggered, transport the viewer seamlessly from the heavily posted film to a behind-the-scenes version of the same shot. This constant moving between two layers of reality proved one of the projects biggest and most ambitious production challenges. Other details of the online execution play off the cinematic theme; the microsites loader doubles as a credit sequence, while rich media takeover banners drive traffic to the site by teasing viewers with an original Carousel trailer. All aspects of the production, from the film shoot to web design and development, were conducted by Stink Digital.

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orloff on fringe

Sci Fi Scoop did an interview with Zoic’s own Andrew Orloff on the VFX work done for Fox’s ‘Fringe’.

LINK: Exclusive Interview – Andrew Orloff On The VFX Of ‘Fringe’

Andrew Orloff, Zoic’s Creative Director and Visual Effects Supervisor, heads up their episodic television division. Andrew recently returned from the set of Fringe in Canada and kindly took the time to field a truck load of questions regarding Zoic Studio’s, it’s work on Fringe, and what we might be able to expect FX wise as the series unfolds.

Following is the audio of our conversation stitched together with more than 50 different images from Zoic’s VFX work.  It runs for almost 30 minutes but if you’re a fan of Fringe, a fan of science fiction, or you’re interested in visual effects in any way, you’ll find what Andrew has to say to be well worth a listen.

so say we all

Did you watch it? I know I did! Twice in fact. And now that I’m writing about it I’m jonsing for a third go as well. It was beautiful, and it wasn’t perfect. But seldom beautiful things are. It was bold and true to it’s original vision. And it left me feeling satified, terrified, and sad. I’m speaking, of course, about the Battlestar Galactica series finale.

It’s been a long four years for this rag-tag fleet. And just as long of a journey for all of us who have watched it since the mini-series. Throughout these four years we’ve seen ground breaking Visual Effects, amazing writing, even have taken a sucker punch or two. And the finale was no exceptions, which left me chomping at the bit for the 3 1/2 extended cut promised by series creator Ron Moore.

But while we wait for that to be released, read this VFXWorld article with me. And learn about all the people and tech behind some of the greatest television Visual Effects work done in the past decade.

LINK: Battlestar Galactica Finale – The End of an Era

In an exclusive chat with VFXWorld, series re-inventor and exec producer Ronald D. Moore says of Hutzel’s team, “Their contribution has been enormous. They provided a reality to the world that allowed the audience to suspend their disbelief and accept the dramatic story taking place with our characters. The vfx team convinced the audience that all of these things were really happening, that these Vipers really did fly around and someone had to go shoot them with real cameras. I feel like this was the first time that what happened outside a spaceship was as real as what was happening inside.”

electrabel

What do you get when you mix 288,000 tea candles, 20 animators, and 4 days of shooting with 1 motion control camera?

Well you get this absurdly brilliant, absurdly beautiful, and yes…absurdly overly complicated commercial for Electrabel titled ‘Happy New Year’.

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Wanna see how they did it? Check out the making of…

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Now surely this same spot could have been done much easier using VFX. But I’m a sucker for old school optical effects and stop motion, so you just have to tip your hat to these mad men behind the camera. They did a commerical that feels like a work of art, and sticks with you. Which is what all commericals should strive for anyways.

fuck pak

You can thank Jess for that little gem right there.

And she brought up a good question too, ‘Does KFC realize though that in the Galactica universe they’ve essentially just named thier new sweepstakes the Fuck Pak?’

facebook bsg

T-Minus 2 days and counting!

Right-click to zoom in.

LINK: Battlestarbook – The Miniseries

Thanks Jess for finding this!

it’s coming

T-Minus 4 days and counting…

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