This post is a day late, since I was on the road coming back from a nice long weekend in Indiana. But at least it sure as hell feels like Monday today!

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Besides watching the Indy 500 and an awesome trip to the Zoo, we also got a chance to go check out ‘Night at the Museum 2′. Which, was pretty good actually. I liked it a lot more than the first one at least.  Plus there’s nothing like going back to the theater you grew up watching movies in.

There’s not much coverage is out there yet, but VFXWorld has a pretty good article talking with one of a handful of VFX vendors for the show, New Deal Studios. Who incedently also did some work for ‘Terminator 4′. Which…well…wasn’t too good. And let’s just leave it at that. But let’s kill two birds with one link, and check it out below!

LINK: New Deal Studios Effects Night at the Museum 2 & Terminator Salvation

“We live in a democratized visual effects world. How do you differentiate yourself in today’s age of globalization, commoditization, ubiquity of effects tools and ‘free on the internet’ mentality?” asks Shannon Blake Gans, managing partner at New Deal. “We are combating all these downward pressures by getting back to the basics and telling a compelling story fueled by passion for our art.”

UPDATE!

VFXWorld has just posted a much bigger article on the VFX for ‘Night at the Museum 2′. I haven’t had time to read it yet but it looks like it’s got some pretty good insight on some cool compositing techniques. Check it out!

LINK: Night Turns to Battle of the Smithsonian

Leading the team is Visual Effects Supervisor Raymond Chen, whose 13 years of work for Rhythm & Hues has included (most recently) The Golden Compass and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. For Smithsonian, Chen found that the sheer scale of the film’s storyline was a call for some ambitious planning.

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But if you’re craving more coverage of T4, CNet has a much more in depth article below.

LINK: Visual effects shoot for realism in explosive ‘Terminator Salvation’

What do you do if you’re a filmmaker trying to capture a scene in which an onrushing tow truck slams into a parked car, sending the car rolling neatly up and over the truck’s back, but you face the reality that the car, vaulted into the air by a cannon shot from below, actually flies high above the truck?

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Also I wanted to remind everyone that Science Channel’s new show ‘Science of the Movies’ premieres tonight at 9pm!

Check out the episode guide below!

LINK: Don’t miss an episode of Science of the Movies

Science of the Movies reveals the science behind the most heart-stopping effects sequences in movies. Don’t miss it Tuesdays at 9 p.m.!

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