Working in the CG industry, I have always been fascinated with stop motion animation. Growing up watching films like Tim Burton's 'Nightmare Before Christmas', I have always wondered what goes on behind the scenes and how it all works. And, funnily enough, a couple of months ago, the flat where I live actually turned into an animation studio overnight.
Ben Cantor Tips
There is a lot of nonsense out there on the internet, and often the line between fact and fiction is a blurred one. For the VFX industry however, the net provides a sturdy back catalogue of fact based webinars, tutorials and breakdowns, with many of the key players in the business regularly exhibiting online what they do. The internet is truly a tool that when utilised, can inspire and educate.
Wreck-It Ralph
I think it's safe to say that most of you now know I love a bit of Disney. So, whenever I hear news of new releases, you get to hear about them. Therefore, I would like to bring to your attention the trailer for Disney’s new release; Wreck-it Ralph.
Do you only have eyes for NUKE?
A few months ago our very own Simon Richardson, Escape’s in-house 2D genius, posted a series of blogs declaring his undying love for NUKE.
11 Days And Counting
The suspense and build up to The Dark Knight Rises is literally killing us at Escape, we are so excited for the release date it's almost agony how slow time seems to be going. It also doesn’t make it any easier that new footage, trailers and behind the scene sneak peeks keep being released!
From Past To Present
It’s always interesting to see how different studios rank, whether it’s in regards to gaming, films or television. On Wednesday, Develop Online released its top 100 best studios, which, let’s be honest is always good to have a nose at. This time, however, what made it more interesting for us is the fact that two escapees have gone on to work for the number one voted UK game’s developer, Traveller’s Tales!
Scene Stealers
Film4’s innovative new project ‘Scene Stealers’, is one that waters the seed of creative license, and thus, one that is screaming out to our free thinking, boundary smashing escapees. The project is an opportunity to get your work onto a global platform and represent the world of Visual Effects.
Super Trooper
Don’t you just hate it when you watch a couple get together that you’ve been rooting for throughout the movie and then a giant mutant bug stabs her in the stomach and it’s all over? Yeah we hate it too. If you’re um-ing and ah-ing where this scene-setting image is from then it was, of course, the original Starship Troopers film, released in 1997.
Now Announced... Speakers For HUG London!
Less than one week to go before the UK's first HIERO user group, HUG London and we have kept you waiting long enough as to who will be speaking.
Success Story: Mark Pascoe
Success stories about our escapees are always a pleasure to write up. What's even better though is the opportunity to write another, on the same person, just a year later! Mark Pascoe recently answered some questions for us, explaining his journey from studying Sports Science at University to working on the VFX for an Emmy nominated TV Show for the Discovery channel.
Success Story: Allyn Lawson
It’s fair to say that the world of VFX is a bit like a tardis, a tardis that escapee Allyn Lawson knows all about.
The Alenka Abraham Success Story
We’ve been catching up with lots of the escapees from over the years, and one story in particular has been hugely inspiring to us. Having studied a ten week Maya comprehensive course at Escape Studios back in 2003, Alenka Abraham has paved a very exciting career for herself. Taking on an R&D software project at Glassworks, Alenka met her future business partner, Adam Cubitt. Together they set up Existential Ltd., a company that develops both real-time and off-line computer visualisation and animation technology. Collaborating with leading post-production companies like MPC, and many others across the UK, they’ve been involved in pioneering projects and are making quite a name for themselves.
Carmine Agnone: Success Story
Carmine Agnone, a lifelong Tim Burton fan and escapee, finished his course with us in April 2011 to work on shots for Burtons new film Dark Shadows only months later - a real dream come true! Since then, he’s worked on many projects and built extensively on his wealth of career knowledge.
Escape Studios Graduation Day
Today is a very exciting day for a lot of people here at Escape Studios. Yes, today marks the end of course for a few of our classes (Visual Effects Production and Visual Effects Animation Professional). And to celebrate this graduation day, we thought we’d give a little preview of what we do as a Bon Voyage for our escapees.
Bad Hair Day?
If we are watching a live action film with actors, it’s very rare that one of the main character features we concentrate on is the hair. Occasionally a judgemental comment of whether it looks good or not is thrown out there but that’s the extent of it. The average viewer will fail to notice if the colour looks wrong in one of the scenes or that it doesn’t look realistic enough.
Next Generation Of Sony Entertainment
Huge news was announced this morning that SCE (or Sony Computer Entertainment to those of you not familiar with the Sony department responsible for all things Playstation and games) has purchased the online gaming streaming company GaiKai for $380 million.
Can You ‘Recall’ The Original?
Yes, I really went there. A new trailer has been released for the updated version of Total Recall, and gone are the days of Arnie showing his rippling torso and basking in the limelight. This adaptation follows Doug Quaid (Colin Farrell) on his quest to find something better than his current life. After discovering ‘Rekall’, and being warned against it, he decides to rebel (against the norm, funnily enough) and visit the place regardless. This results in Doug Quaid having to question everything to try discover what is, and isn’t, real. The film boasts robots, a futuristic (yet dark) London and a whole lot of CG from MPC, Double Negative and Prime Focus. So from an industry point of view, it's definitely going to be worth a watch.
Studio Secrets Come Out From The Shadows
During it’s opening weekend, Dark Shadows topped just over $29million at the Box Office. This may not be up to the usual par of some of Johnny Depp’s films but the CG within the film didn’t fail to impress once again.
Pixar Top 10 Characters
I like to end a Friday with a chirpy, feel good post. So, following on from my blog yesterday of Pixar’s top 13 movies; I had to post about this second Pixar ranking order. IGN has released their thoughts on who the top 10 Pixar characters are, and I have to say that I am genuinely shocked at who, and where, they have placed certain individuals.
Get To Grips With HIERO... HUG London!
Just a reminder to register your place at HUG London, HIERO's first UK user group.